retracted / cancelled bids and why do people give positive feedback on a negative buyer????

[gypsyfoot17]

Can anyone tell me why a bidder can have 132 retracted / cancelled bids in 12 months?  Has retracted 2 bids on 2 different items of mine, with no explanation and does not fit the listed "execptional circumstances".

On checking the feedback there is no negative feedbacak although a very quick scan through the comments reveals that this bidder is very unpopular and often does not pay.  How the F*&% do people get away with this and why is there no negative feedback rating????

[digital*ghost]

People leave positive feedback in these kinds of circumstances because the option to leave a negative or neutral for a buyer is not available (it used to be, was withdrawn some years back, and is very unlikely to ever be reinstated - if anything, there may come a time where buyers can't get feedback at all). 

The purpose of leaving a postive with negative comment is debateable, but the fact that doing so is a breach of eBay policy is not (such comments can be reported / removed, and actually get the seller in trouble, not the buyer).

Non-paying buyers are a PITA, I know, but just speaking personally, I'd rather have a withdrawn bid than a winning buyer who doesn't pay, and I'd rather have 100 non-paying buyers than 1 scamming buying. That being said, I understand that bid retractions can cause other prospective bidders to wonder what's going on and possibly lose interest in an auction, and that non-paying bidders thwart a sale for a minimum of 8 days (which can cause a variety of other issues), so I get the frustration, but - in a nutshell - people get away with it because eBay lets them. 

There are processes sellers can follow, the unpaid item dispute, putting block in place to prevent those with 2 or more unpaid item strikes (which occur after a UPI dispute is closed without payment), but little follow-up action from eBay. It'd be handy if there was a block to put in place on members with frequent bid retractions, but at the moment the UPI dispute and blocks (for strikes) are the best tools sellers have to curb serial pests. 

[collect247]

Is that all ?

I have a bidder that bids on what I bid on and then retracts their bids lol.

They have over 3000 feedbacks and have retracted in the last 6 months over 400 bids **bleep**?

How can this happen is the question and how can they still keep on bidding?

This bidder never rebids like you're supposed to do.

And it's always members with very high feedback,are they ebays precious lol.

The sellers don't seem to give a hoot otherwise blocks in place would stop them. 

[phorum_junkie*]

I don't know if it still happens but at one time ebay did used  to NARU members who had a lot of bid retractions. It only happened if the seller reported it straight away.

Too many sellers cancel the bids themselves even though there are more than 12 hours left and if they made the buyer do it then it would show up on there account for all to see.

Crow why wouldn't you have put that member on your BBL after the first retraction?

[davewil1964]

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@phorum_junkie* wrote:

I don't know if it still happens but at one time ebay did used  to NARU members who had a lot of bid retractions. It only happened if the seller reported it straight away.

Too many sellers cancel the bids themselves even though there are more than 12 hours left and if they made the buyer do it then it would show up on there account for all to see.

Crow why wouldn't you have put that member on your BBL after the first retraction?

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That is a question for the OP, not crow.

Crow's issue is with a competing buyer. Not sure why; Crow would know better than to assume being outbid means you WON'T win the item and if the other bidder withdraws crow (or anybody) should get it. Possibly for less than their max.

[*tippy*toes*]

I can't add to what everyone else has already said, but to stop the serial non payers, set up buyer requirement blocks here http://offer.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BuyerBlockPreferences Set the unpaid one to 2 in 12 months. Add the rest to your requirements. Don't forget to tick the box down the bottom to apply to active and future listings. Also tick the box to stop blocked buyers from contacting you.

Also, add them to your blocked buyer list http://offer.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BidderBlockLogin

[gypsyfoot17]

Thanks all, had no idea that it was so common! I have blocked this bidder and found there is a suspiciously similar bidder who's bid I have cancelled.
I will set up the buyer requirements too, thanks!

[*tippy*toes*]

You can check periodically to see if your blocks have stopped anyone by going to this link http://offer.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BuyerRequirementsActivityLog

If you don't sell to overseas buyers, you can stop them buying your items in the buyer requirements, by ticking the box to stop people buying in locations you don't post to.

Most of the people you see in the activity log will be from people with too many strikes. Unfortunately eBay doesn't say who they are, but it shows their feedback score. It's surprising how many people with less than 10 have struck out on my blocks from having too many unpaid items and even more surprising that high feedback buyers feature quite often too.

If you tick the option to block buyers who haven't been phone verified, their ID will show up in the activity log. You then have the option of unblocking them if you wish.

[springyzone]

There are no negative comments for those who retract bids or don't pay because sellers can't give a neg. Otherwise you can bet your boots some of those buyers would have collected a swag of them.

I think some sellers give a negative comment under a 'positive' green dot simply out of frustration, as a way of hitting back.

Really though, all they are doing is pushing up the positive rating of the pest.

Better to just put the person on their banned list and/or follow through with unpaid item strikes.

Those who retract bids a lot are an absolute pain, they annoy me no end because there are supposed to be rules about retracting bids, as  mentioned. Yet these people seem to break the rules with impunity. There are plenty of ways ebay could tighten it up but they don't, so we can only assume they don't care too much about it.

I'm guessing they figure the nuisance retractor may have at least pushed up the bidding occasionally & that's good for them-more commission.

[shed_finds]

I block all users who retract a bid and don't rebid. A  bid retraction with no fresh bid messes up the auction and invalidates the integrity, such as it (ha ha) of the eBay selling process. On the one occasion in 18 or so years a Buyer contacted me later to question why they had been blocked, I answered with the truth; "You retracted your bid and used the explanation 'entered wrong amount' and then failed to do so".

It's a pain. B/Rs ruin your auction and some of these low characters actually contact you later to say "Oh I see your item didn't sell, I'd be interested in taking it 'off your hands at' <insert a third of the start price here> As if. Implicit in 'Entered wrong amount' is the notice of intent to bid a correct amount and therefore engage in the act of bidding. Other users in this and similar other forums have expressed their views on the many negative aspects of Bid Retractions better than me.