Help! Question about retracting a bid!

Hi! I have an auction up on ebay that is ending in under 12hrs. I noticed that the high bidder has really poor feedback, specifically for being a nonpaying bidder. I emailed her to politely ask if she had full intention of paying, and she wrote back saying basically that I better just retract her bid.

I looked into this on the "help" section of ebay and it is not clear to me whether, if I retract her last bid, will all of her other bids be retracted as well? If all her bids get retracted, the item will drop down to $600 less than it is selling for now! From the bidding history it is clear that she and another bidder are in a bidding war and so without this person's bids, the item will be selling for way less.

So...
1) What will happen if I retract her bid? Will it retract all the other bids?
2) Maybe I should just let her win, and then do a second chance offer to the next person?


Please help! My auction is ending tonight.
 
Hi! I have an auction up on ebay that is ending in under 12hrs. I noticed that the high bidder has really poor feedback, specifically for being a nonpaying bidder. I emailed her to politely ask if she had full intention of paying, and she wrote back saying basically that I better just retract her bid.

I looked into this on the "help" section of ebay and it is not clear to me whether, if I retract her last bid, will all of her other bids be retracted as well? If all her bids get retracted, the item will drop down to $600 less than it is selling for now! From the bidding history it is clear that she and another bidder are in a bidding war and so without this person's bids, the item will be selling for way less.

So...
1) What will happen if I retract her bid? Will it retract all the other bids?
2) Maybe I should just let her win, and then do a second chance offer to the next person?


Please help! My auction is ending tonight.

If you delete her bid, all of her bids go away and the high bid will be whatever it would have been if she had never bid (sounds like $600 less.) If you let her bid stand and she doesn't pay, you can offer the item to the next highest bidder, who may or may not accept it. A difficult decision. The current high bidder has alreaady told you she isn't g oing to pay so what is the point of leaving her bids active, except to hope the other bidder outbids her (but remember, if you don't delete her bids now she may just keep bidding, even knowing she doesn't intend to pay.) eBay can be such fun, can't it?
 
Thanks for your reply, Rally! To be honest I am really hestitant to retract all her bids because I think there is a decent chance someone else will swoop in and outbid her at the last minute (and I don't think there's a great chance that this item would be bid all the way back up again either). There are 44 watchers on this item. I searched ebay on how to block specific bidders from bidding
(Managing Bidders: Preapprove, Block Buyers or Cancel Bid, and I added her to my list. Ebay doesn't say whether this applies immediately or not. It looks like it happens pretty much immediately. It did NOT retract any of her current bids (whew).

Please tell me what you think.
 
I was just going to suggest you block her. The block is immediate. If they end up winning, you should wait a few days before doing a 2nd chance offer to the under bidder.
 
i am not sure, but you will know in a minute when you try to do it, but i think i heard on the ebay forums that you can no longer delete a bid in the last 12 hours. something about that one kind of scam you use to bid up the account, then offer it as a second change offer to the next highest real bidder.
 
...I almost wish I hadn't asked the current high bidder about her intentions to pay, because then I wouldn't be in this position. But at least now I have blocked her so she can't make any more bids if someone does outbid her.

I think I have actually blocked a bid on an item I sold within 12 hrs of the auction ending. Same scenario, except the item only had 2 bids, and the "winner" had very bad feedback. But this only resulted in my selling the item for $5 less....
 
I never sell on ebay, only buy, so as a buyer this sounds awful to me. Maybe it is allowed by ebay, but it's almost as if the bidder who has basically said she won't follow through has served as a shill. She is blocked now and can never win, but has driven up the price for later second chance offerees who haven't done anything wrong. Is it really okay to do this?
 
Since the bidder decided maybe she won't be paying, shouldn't she retract her own bid? You're doing her a favour by blocking her and now the bid retraction won't show on her score.

Nevertheless, I think you are well rid of her!
 
Thanks for your reply, Rally! To be honest I am really hestitant to retract all her bids because I think there is a decent chance someone else will swoop in and outbid her at the last minute (and I don't think there's a great chance that this item would be bid all the way back up again either). There are 44 watchers on this item. I searched ebay on how to block specific bidders from bidding
(Managing Bidders: Preapprove, Block Buyers or Cancel Bid, and I added her to my list. Ebay doesn't say whether this applies immediately or not. It looks like it happens pretty much immediately. It did NOT retract any of her current bids (whew).

Please tell me what you think.
Yes t you are right if you cancel her bid then the item will drop in price leave it & file a non paying bidders dispute to get your fees back & send a second chance offer to the under bidder! What a time waster! After this block her from bidding on your items I hope someone does outbid her!
 
I never sell on ebay, only buy, so as a buyer this sounds awful to me. Maybe it is allowed by ebay, but it's almost as if the bidder who has basically said she won't follow through has served as a shill. She is blocked now and can never win, but has driven up the price for later second chance offerees who haven't done anything wrong. Is it really okay to do this?
I understand what you are saying but it is not shill bidding that is when seller does it themselves with another ID or a friends that is very wrong! This person had a choice whether to bid or not & if she hadn't then perhaps someone else would have it is all in the luck of the draw! Seller cannot be held responsible for the actions of silly bidders!
 
Since the bidder decided maybe she won't be paying, shouldn't she retract her own bid? You're doing her a favour by blocking her and now the bid retraction won't show on her score.

Nevertheless, I think you are well rid of her!
ITA, she should be made to retract her own bid so that it will show on her record or else if she wins the item then be given an unpaid item strike, I think it's 2 of these & ebay will close account?
 
I never sell on ebay, only buy, so as a buyer this sounds awful to me. Maybe it is allowed by ebay, but it's almost as if the bidder who has basically said she won't follow through has served as a shill. She is blocked now and can never win, but has driven up the price for later second chance offerees who haven't done anything wrong. Is it really okay to do this?

if it is intentional, it is illegal.