How do you get ebay to take action in relation to misuse of bid retractions

[gutterpunkz05]

How do you get ebay to take action against members misusing bid retractions to corrupt the bidding process.  IE;  Make winning

bid to  ascertain underbidders maximum, then retract bid and place bid equal to underbidders maximum, therefore leaving

the underbidder as the highest bidder exposed to their maximum bid.   I have complained to ebay by phone and email about

one particular bidder who exposed my maximum bid on six seperate items with one seller on 26/1/2014, this bidder has over

280 retracted bids in the last six months.  Another two bidders on items from the same seller have also adopted this practice

on items I have bid on, one of these sellers only has a feedback of 17 with 2 bid retractions and a 100% trading record with

this one seller.  To date there is no indication that ebay intends to act on my complaints as all items remained active with no

bid cancellations.  As far as I am aware this practice is against ebay rules and possibly illegal as is shill bidding.

Does this seem suspect or have I just been extremely unlucky to experience this on such a scale.  I am considering refusing

to pay for items until I receive some feedback from ebay relating to my complaints, but when I complained by phone they

refused to give me a report or case number and stated I would not be advised of the results of any ebay investigation.

HELP.... any advise would be much appreciated

[gutterpunkz05]

By the way Crikey, I dont make complaints or allegations on a whim,   Have only ever complained about one ebay seller before,

I initially came across a bloke trying to sell some very dodgy machinery, how did I know it was dodgy well maybe the fact that

it was advertised elsewhere and situated about 5000km from where Mr ebay seller claimed it was.  I didnt complain at that time

but did shortly after when he was trying to sell $500,000 of non existant real estate.  Guess what he was banned and the item

removed within one hour.  He rebirthed himself about six months later trying to flog of some of the original shonky machinery

one email  and he was gone again.   But now it seems  ebay could not give a toss.

Could you imagine the outcry there would have been if that real estate was sold to a member with an IQ of less than 20

[collect247]

If you are prepared to pay the max amount you bid with and you win a bid then great and if you loose then bad luck and move on.

[gutterpunkz05]

No worries Mooni, please let me know the items you are bidding on and what your maximum bids are so I can outbid you

[*crikey*mate*]

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@padi.0409.0409 wrote:

Invalid Bid Retraction

A bid is a binding contract. All bids are active until the auction ends. If you win a listing, you're obliged to complete the transaction. Except under special circumstances, bid retraction is not permitted. Furthermore, misuse of the bid retraction option to manipulate the bidding process is not permitted. This includes any manipulation of the bidding process to discover the maximum bid of the current high bidder or to uncover the reserve price.

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:

• Listing cancellation

• Limits on account privileges

• Account suspension

• Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings

• Loss of PowerSeller status

  From the horse's mouth on bid retractions Crikey, it's set out pretty clearly in black and white (ROFL with shades of grey.......)

  I'm with Tazz on this, eBay's dropped the ball and no longer seems to take any action on members flouting the rules, especially if they are large buyers/sellers.

  The small fish will get slapped before they know it, the big ones just carry on regardless.

  In my case the buyer was reported both by phone (to a supervisor) and by email, so it appears no matter how the member is reported, little or no action is taken.

                                                                     

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This is eBay policy, it is NOT the law.

11

Payne v Cave (1789) 100 ER 502

Auction with a reserve is an invitation to treat. Offer can be withdrawn at any time prior to acceptance.

Auction with a reserve

Defendant bid for goods that were being auctioned but before they were knocked down to him he withdrew his bid. The auction / advertisement for auction is an invitation to treat.  The offer comes from the bidder and acceptance is communicated by the fall of the hammer. The offeror is entitled to withdraw their bid prior to the fall of the hammer (acceptance).

[*crikey*mate*]

23	Smythe v Thomas	Internet auctions will have similar features to an auction with a reserve.									Registered e-bay user listed aircraft on E-Bay.  Another e-bay user made a bid and eBay notified that user and the seller that the aircraft had been won.  Seller refused to sell.  It was held that in circumstances were both the buyer and the seller agree to accept the terms and conditions of eBay, there is no difficulty in treating that the parties have accepted that online auctions will have similar features to another auction.  Ie. EBay = auctioneer.
24	AGC (Advances) Ltd v McWhirter (1977) 1 BPR 9454	Auction without a reserve may still constitute an invitation to treat with each bid constituting an offer	Rebuttal								AGC exercised power of sale.  Advertised that highest bidder shall be the purchaser.  Auctioneer knocked down ppty to the second highest bidder.  Mr McWhirter had made the highest bid and lodged a caveat over the ppty.  The court did not differentiate between the legal character of the bids on the basis of whether or not there was a reserve.

[*crikey*mate*]

25

Warlow v Harrison (1859) 120 ER 925

Auction without a reserve may constitute an offer (Early English Authority)

Auctioneer engaged to sell houses including a mare which the plaintiff bid.  Sale was expressly advertised as without reserve the effect of which was the vendor may not bid.  Further the ppty being sold was to be sold to the highest bona fide bidder whether or not the bid = the value.  Mare’s owner submitted the final bid which was higher than the plaintiff.  Plaintiff sued and won as the auctioneer had undertaken to sell to the highest bona fide bidder (ie. not the owner).

[*crikey*mate*]

26

Routledge v Grant (1828) 130 ER 920

Offer can be revoked at any time prior to acceptance

WITHDRAWAL (at any time prior to acceptance)

Defendant offered to buy Plaintiff’s house and gave Plaintiff 6 weeks to think about it.  Before 6 weeks had expired, Defendant withdrew offer.  Plaintiff sued. Defendant was entitled to revoke it provided it hadn’t yet been accepted.

[*crikey*mate*]

40

Latec Finance v Knight (1969) 2 NSWR 79

Acceptance must be communicated

[*crikey*mate*]

96

Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre v Selfridge [1915] AC 847

Definition of consideration. Consideration must move from the promise. Party to a contract cannot impose obligations against a third party.

[*crikey*mate*]

99

Coulls v Bagot’s Executor & Trustee Ltd (1967) (1967) 119 CLR 460

Consideration need only flow from one joint promises. If a person receiving a benefit is not a party to the Contract then they may not be able to enforce that Contract (however review S55 of PLA)