I was outbid right up to the end of auction, then I won it? How is this possible?

[allartsemporium]

I bid on an item and was quickly outbid. Right up until the end of the auction I was still outbid. Minutes later I learn that I am the winner!?

I thought you had to give 24 or 12 hours notice of withdrawal of a bid to be withdrawn prior to auction, thus making someone else's bid the winning bid.

How can this happen?

[padi*0409]

Here is the link to eBay's bid retraction policies.

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/buying/bidding/retracting-bid?id=4013

It may also be possible that the seller has more than one of the item.

What is the item number ?

Edit. G'day SLR.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

to better understand what happened it would help if you could post a screen shot of the bidding activity on the item in question.

Alternatively, if you let us know the item number or link to item we can take a look ourselves.

**edit** snap padi!

[audistarelectronics]

Appears to be that you were pushed up by the seller who was being assisted by another party. I think you can only cancel a bid within the later hours of the auction by requesting it from the seller, and being approved by them. Looks like you were done like a dinner, report it and I woudn't be paying.I mean, what seller would approve of a cancellation that late, knowing it would reduce the price collected from the sale. Go hard on it.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@audistarelectronics wrote:

Appears to be that you were pushed up by the seller who was being assisted by another party. I think you can only cancel a bid within the later hours of the auction by requesting it from the seller, and being approved by them. Looks like you were done like a dinner, report it and I woudn't be paying.I mean, what seller would approve of a cancellation that late, knowing it would reduce the price collected from the sale. Go hard on it.

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I’d be hesitant in making the assumption that seller has manipulated the bidding.  I’d like to see the bidding page before passing judgement.

[padi*0409]

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@audistarelectronics wrote:

 I think you can only cancel a bid within the later hours of the auction by requesting it from the seller, and being approved by them.

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Not quite true audi.

"If the listing is ending in less than 12 hours, you can retract your most recent bid if it's been less than an hour since you placed it"

[springyzone]

I don't like the smell of it.

I also thought you could not withdraw a bid in the last few hours, but from what padi said, it seems people can withdraw a bid virtually at will.

I know once ( a while back) when I read cancellation policy after a similar thing had happened to me as happened to you, I noticed that if a person had made a mistake,  they were expected to re-bid with the correct amount.

All I can say is ebay doesn't enforce any rules about it, as far as I can make out. So yes, it is possible for you to win this way.

But the good news is you don't have to play by every rule either.

If I were you, I'd have a close look at what the bidding pattern was. How many different people were bidding? If there were eg 3 or 4 right in the thick of it till the end and only the winner seems to have withdrawn a bid, then maybe ask the seller what happened. It might be safe to go ahead and buy if you still want it because the price is probably going to be ball park if 3 or 4 were all bidding in that range.

On the other, if you find that the bidding towards the end of the auction was just you and Mr final bid withdrawer, then what has happened is your bid has been pushed up beyond what it should have been. The other person wasn't genuine and we can't know at what point they really weren't genuine. They could have been half hearted or playing games right from the start. You may be paying over odds.

In this situation, I probably would not pay and I'd politely tell the seller why I was declining. One strike? Who cares, really, it won't affect you.

Odds are it or something similar will come back on ebay and you might get it cheaper. Some sellers might block non payers, some won't. Depends how much you want the item and if you are prepared to take a chance later.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

@springy

I have been bitten enough times to know that often a new poster does not provide all the information required for an informed reply to be made.

I'm going to wait until I can see the bidding page before making any firm decision about what went on and I think everyone else should too.

[springyzone]

Well, that is very true, K1000. Sometimes people only provide one biased side to the story and it can be misleading.

I was just basing my comments though on what they had presented. If that is not the full story, then my comments could be different.

I didn't mean my words to be taken as a firm conclusion as such, more as what i would do if the situation is as stated.

One thing though that I (as a buyer) would always do in any auction where I won unexpectedly is look at the bidding pattern. I've actually been sent second hand offers several times and pretty well accepted them all because I don't have any trouble with the concept that sales can fall through, some bidders do withdraw offers etc and only once have I ever thought i had been played. I am pretty sure all the other auctions were perfectly above board.

It can be hard, I think, to always know exactly what has happened on ebay. I suspect there are lots of glitches. I know of one seller who had 2 different people 'win' an auction and they were able to produce the paperwork to prove it.

But I have to admit, it is a personal bias of mine to get a bit grouchy about people who bid a lot then withdraw their final offer, which is probably why I reacted to this thread.