Withdrawing from auction after I've been outbid

[gmartinezursi]

Hi,

Is it possible to withdraw from an auction once my maximum bid has been exceeded?

I recently bid on an item, but my maximum bid has been outdone by another buyer while there is still a day and a half to go. Now I´m interested in another item (same characteristics) at a lower price, so I bid on that and, so far, my bid is the highest. But the previous auction is still running, and suddenly I've found out that if the other bidder does not end up buying for some reason, my bid may be the next-best offer, which is not something I would want to be commited to.

I am willing to commit to my highest bid, but once my bid has been exceeded I want to move on to the next auction.

I hope this is making sense and that someone can clear this up for me, because I don´t want to end up having to fork out for the same item twice.

Thanks.

[phorum_junkie*]

The only way you would end up winning is if the bidder current highest bidder withdrew their bid before the end. Tecnically you can withdraw a bid at any time up until the last 12 hours but there are a limited number of reasons you can select and change of mind is not one of them so it comes down to if you are prepared to lie or not.

You have no guarantee that you would win the other auction for less than you would get the current one for if the highest bidder withdrew so you may end up with neither of them.

You have done the wrong thing bidding on two items at once and should certainly cancel the bid on one of them if you are not going to pay for both if you win both, the bid wothdrawal will go on your record and too many in too short a time and you could be suspended.

[northerncardsandcollectables]

Hi gmartinezursi, if you have been outbid on the item I would not be too concerned. The other bidder obviously would like the item as they would not have otherwise bid. If the auction ends and the other bidder wins and does not pay for some reason, the seller may send you a second chance offer, but you are not obligated to accept that offer. The only way you would become the highest bidder again is if the current high bidder retracts their bid, which is not too common. As phorum said, you maybe should have just placed the other item on your watch list whilst the other auction came to an end. Then you could have bid on the other item after the first one had finished, when you were satisfied you did not win that auction. Sometimes patience is a virtue with bidding. I would not be too stressed,,,but maybe you should have waited before bidding on the second item. Sometimes its best to take your time.

[foxette-in-sox]

Why not use a sniping service that bids on your behalf in the last few seconds of an auction?

New people like yourself tend to nibble bid which doesn't achieve much & you could end up paying more for an item than if you'd waited until the end.

There is no need to bid days in advance of an auction ending.

[putney32]

eBay rules state that all bids are 'live' until the end of the auction.

if the other bidder withdraws, or has his bid cancelled by the seller, or his account suspended by eBay YOU will be the winning bidder and expected to pay.

a good reason to not bid on 2 or 3 of the same items, put them on your watch list and bid in the last minutes as suggested by foxette, then you're safe, bidding on one item at a time.

[gmartinezursi]

Thanks for your replies, everyone.

There was no nibble bidding. I bid my max amount and was outbid, so I moved on to next item and, again, placed my maximum bid (reading posts in this forum, I am now aware of sniping and have signed up to AuctionStealer). It was then that I realised that the first auction was still live, which is when I started to worry.

If it came to the crunch, I would have paid for both items and just resold one of them (they are exactly the same and, in fact, from the same seller).

Either way, Kannaman25 says that if the seller gave me a second chance on the first option (in the unlikely event that the highest bidder did not pay for some reason) I would not be obligated, so there's no more cause for concern.

Thanks again.

[marian_100]

Hi gmartin... always remember that yoiu can withdraw your bid at any time UP UNTIL the last 12 hrs... Also you are not obligated to purchase even if you do win. I am sure that if the final bidder DID withdraw their bid... and like you they cannot unless there is 12 hrs left on the auction. You can request a mutual cancellation of the transaction. If your seller has a professional attitude towards selling they will agree. I really do not see you getting into any trouble here... it is extremely rare for winning bidders to not pay. My warm regards Marian.

[the3coopers]

If it came to the crunch, I would have paid for both items and just resold one of them (they are exactly the same and, in fact, from the same seller).

I dunno about Auction Stealer, but with Gixen they have an option called "Group Bidding", which is absolutely perfect for situations like yours.

You add all the (identical) items that you are looking at into the Sniper, and assign them a certain "Group Code". The service then tries to win the first item in the group - if it wins, it cancels all the remaining items in the group. If it doesn't win, then it bids on the second one, then if unsuccessful it tries the third, etc.

This is great for those big sellers who auction the same item every day (or twice a day). You start the Sniping Group and then every day or so you just keep adding new items on as the seller lists them.

I use this type of service very often, and with a really low bid price. Sometimes it takes a month or more to finally win one, but geeze I get them at a good price :^O

[leader-of-the-band]

I use this type of service very often, and with a really low bid price. Sometimes it takes a month or more to finally win one, but geeze I get them at a good price :^O

What do you buy Coops?  C'mon, you can tell me, I won't tell anyone else! 😉