advice on a cascade of retracted bids

[radagasty]

I'm selling a PVR by auction, on a ten-day listing with about two days to go, and I've been faced with a cascade of retracted bids.

There were four bidders, say A, B, C, D (in that order). A few days ago, C put in a high bid, double the starting price, and then yesterday, D made a series of three bids, getting most of the way to C's bid, but falling short by a small amount, leaving C as the highest bidder.

Soon thereafter, C retracted his bid, and a few hours later, so did D, and another few hours later, so did A. All three cited 'bid wrong amount' as the reason for retracting, but none have entered a new bid, leaving B as the highest bidder, at the starting price.

My reading of the scenario is that C simply changed his mind, because D had nibbled away at his high bid, and wasn't prepared to pay what he bid or was hoping for a better bargain. With C's retraction, D thought that he had probably over-bid, and A then was simply spooked by the two previous retractions.

Anyway, I am concerned that all these retractions will deter new bidders, and I am considering cancelling the listing without selling the item. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome. Thank you.

[kopenhagen5]

OP, keep in mind if you are going to end item it needs to be done with more than 12 hours left otherwise auction continues until the end and it sells.

[*tippy*toes*]

It's not uncommon for opening bidders to place more than one bid. They'll place an opening bid then decide they may as well place their maximum bid. I had one buyer go back and place 6 bids on an item so clearly he wanted it. No one else bid so he probably felt like he'd got a bargain. 

[radagasty]

My gut instinct was to do as Springyzone suggested: scrap the listing and start over. But pragmatism and laziness won out in the end, and I have decided to go with Lyndal and Kopenhagen's advice instead and just get the thing sold.

I am not in a hurry to sell, and in principle would prefer a better price over a quick sale, but I guess I don't really want to expend any more mental energy over it, second guessing this, that and the other. There have been a few more bids to date, so I think it will get over my target price by the close of auction anyway, and anything beyond that is a bonus.

I am still annoyed by the retractions, I have to say, as I don't think any of the bids were retracted because of 'wrong amount entered'. C's high bid was his second consecutive bid, D's three bids were carefully incremented and A's bid was at the starting price.

At any rate, thank you to everyone who took the time to comment on my predicament and to offer suggestions. Laziness, I guess, won out over optimum sales strategy in the end.