I wonder about the practice of cancelling a bid ?

[susansuema]

Hi, just wonder is this common . . I was bidding happily and lost an item. . I went on to bid on something else... Then right before my eyes. . Some one withdrew their bid and I was bidding on two similar items. . Has this happened to anyone else. . ? Still I do enjoy my eBay.

[springyzone]

Susan, I have had worse happen. I have mentioned it in here before so people are probably sick of hearing about it, but here I go again.

I bid on an item, was outbid a few times by the same bidder and decided to leave it. Checked the next day, just out of interest, to see what bidding had reached and it was still in the same spot, with that other bidder winning but no further bids had been placed by anyone. There were still a couple of days to go before the end of the auction, I think. Or at least a day anyway.

Forgot about it. After all, I had been outbid, why would I bother with ebay unless I was watching an item?

Then about a week later, I logged into ebay and was shocked to see I had a winning item listed as awaiting payment, and had a look and lo and behold, it was that item I had been looking at a week previously.

The winning bidder had gone in over a day later and cancelled their bid as a mistake, leaving me as the winner.

I was furious, really upset, because if that bid was a mistake, what about all their other bids, how genuine were they? They ahd pushed the price up and up and only withdrew when it was clear I wasn't going to counterbid. I have often wondered if it was the seller under a different nick or a friend of theirs or just a trouble maker.

But I was left in the situation where I very well might not have looked into ebay for weeks, never known and earned a bad rating for non payment.

If people are allowed to withdraw a bid so long after having made it, then it isn't fair on under bidders.

[springyzone]

And maybe if their winning bid is withdrawn as a mistake and they don't make any more bids (which I think they are supposed to-- to 'correct' a mistake), then maybe all their bids on that item should be regarded as invalid and deleted.

[book-of-hezekiah · Accepted solution]

It happens to lots of people! It's frustrating, isn't it?

Unfortunately, this is one of the things of which we have to be so careful because now both bids are active and if both are won the buyer is obliged to follow-through.

If you don't want both items the best you can hope for is that you are outbid on the one you don't want.  Alternatively you might be able to onsell the one you.

So, it is best to behave as if your maximum bid will be the winning bid until after the auction is over, that way, you can keep within your budget and there is less likely to be any nasty surprises.

[springyzone]

The other thing you could do is just... withdraw your bid on the item you want least.

I didn't think you were supposed to, but obviously ebay lets everyone else get away with it, so if there is more than 12 hours to go on one of the auctions, just retract a bid.

[susansuema]

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated. . . I've only bought 14 times. . And it has happened twice. . I do feel a bit ripped off. . Do you think waiting till the last few minutes is the safest way to bid ? Might be. 🙂

[bsal6160]

It hasnt happened to me but, if it were i would definitely fight it with eaby. you could legally expect that ONCE OUT BID the item was going to sell to the other bidder and would have the legal right to move on and bid/buy something else. ebay are at fault for allowing the bidder to retract then putting you in that position. they themselves would have a record that you were outbid and THEY allowed the bidder to withhdraw. all bids are binding as most sellers will tell but once out bid your obligation is over.

[susansuema]

It happened just at the 12 hour limit. . I wonder if it was a ploy to push up my bid to the limit , then they knew I would not go any higher they withdrew... Leaving my bid as the highest.. Hope not. I will definitely take details next time and ask for a clear explanation. Thanks.

[lyndal1838]

Susan the seller will not give you any explanation...they don't have to, and they will not know any more than you can find out from looking at the bidding history.   That will give you the reason that the bidder entered for retracting their bid.

[springyzone]

True, But ebay should know.

You don't even need humans on this job, ebay could use computers.

If someone retracts a bid and does not  then put in a 'corrected' bid, they could be sent an automated warning.

If the same bidder does it a few times, especially to the same seller's items, that should be a red flag, for sure.