I don't know whose idea it was to introduce the ability for buyers to retract bids, but it is so abused by fake buyers that I don't offer auctions. The excuse is ALWAYS 'entered wrong amount' and some buyers will actually commit the same act TWICE on the one item.

I've had heaps of...

Retract bids in the final minutes 

Message me asking for a less than half price item to go with their other items that are bid on. If they don't get what they want, they retract all the bids 

Win the item, then message me that they forgot to retract the bid and they want the item cheaper or they won't pay so give a discount on the invoice. Then they just refuse to pay.

Heaps that win bids but don't actually retract but then just never pay 

No matter which way it swings above, it damages the reputation of the item and then it just never sells. 

Why did eBay ever think letter buyers back out of an auction was a good idea? There hasn't been a single honest mistake on my auctions. Now I just won't do it because it's a time waster, damages the chance of that item selling, so on so forth. 

I won't offer auctions again unless eBay change that policy. Do bid retractions even count against a buyer?