Bid retractions on auctions

Shopstomuch

Shopstomuch

Member
Jul 3, 2007
596
0
#1
Ok, I am getting really really frustrated. I have a 100% all positive record on buying and selling. No issues on my end w/ authenticity, answer all questions promptly, send additional pictures if needed, list in baby steps anything I can in my auctions. So, what is the deal these days with fraudulent bid retractions. I have an auction running right now, due to close in just a few hours. It had hit the reserve last night. Now, today, in the span of 3 hours, there were TEN bid retractions saying "wrong bid amount." Now, per Ebay's policies you are to bid again with the proper amount, not ONE of these ppl did so. At this point I feel my auction has been severly impacted by all these bid retractions and the thing is this is not the first auction I have had this in, just the most noticeable due to it being in that short time.

Do any of you other seller's see this increasing and what are you doing about it if anything? I mean, I am really kind of ticked right now about it as I paid a ton for this listing w/ all Ebay's little bells and whistles and feel this really really has hurt my listing.
 
#2
I am so sorry that this has happened. I do think that eBay has not been doing well lately. I listed a perfect, tags attached $185 bag recently. I usually start my auctions at $9.99, but they always seem to end with at a good price in the past. This bag only had 3 bids and sold for $19.50...it was a brand new with tags and store receipt Kate Spade tote! I was pretty upset...mailed it today.
 
#3
I have found that often people retract their bids after placing them. My hypothesis is that's because it's the easiest way to determine a seller's reserve price. I wonder if this is what happened with your auction.
 
#4
I am wondering myself, but still... why not just ask? I mean I always answer promptly, but TEN retractions??? That whole auction was completely ruined by those actions. I really am very upset on this one.
 
#5
eBay should not allow bid retractions less than 24 hours before end of auction. After all, eBay does not allow sellers to make changes to the listing within 12 hours from the end of auction.
 
#6
Oh, I agree.. and the thing is this was 8 hours before auction close and all ten happened within 2 12/ hours of each other. The thing is, that when the bid retraction happens, an email is sent out to other bidders etc saying "they may be the new highest bidder for misc reasons." It makes an auction look shady to me as you are always thinking the worst. This one really did upset me as I am already selling it for quite a bit less than what I paid because the previous seller has the reputation behind her to get more, never used it and paid to really have all Ebay's features listed and now because of all those retractions I have to relist. Sure, I can understand the reasoning behind the previous poster saying to see what the reserve was, but why not just ask. I mean 10 retracions is quite a lot and I believe they were a domino affect based on the reason I said in my first few sentences.
 
#7
Christiflora said:
eBay should not allow bid retractions less than 24 hours before end of auction. After all, eBay does not allow sellers to make changes to the listing within 12 hours from the end of auction.
Click to expand...

from your lips to eBay's ears.. i really wish they would do this.. it's extremely unfair to us sellers :cursing:
 
#8
I have noticed a lot more of this recently, too. I had never had a bid retracted before about a month ago, and now I've had 3. I don't run that many auctions. One of the people said it was because "seller significantly changed description" which just really ticked me off, since the description was never altered in the slightest! Don't insult me in addition to screwing with my auction, KWIM?
 
#9
Oh, I had one last week that said "could not contact seller" as their reason... they never sent me even ONE "ask seller a question" item. The thing is, can't Ebay see from their OWN messaging system that none was sent from this bidder? I mean, my email address was working fine, and Ebay's messaging system is always checked... yet, they used that excuse?
 
#10
I get annoyed by this too. In the past I've even reported abuse of the bid retraction system (i.e. people with 20+ retractions which were obviously done to see what the high bidder's bid was). However nothing has ever come of it.
 
#11
Were they all the same buyer? If they were ten diff. bidders I'd be concerned. The one time my acct. was highjacked the highjacker went in and cancelled all my bids with the same "wrong bid amount" reason, and then proceeded to send messages to them all offering to sell the bag off Ebay for cheap price.
 
#12
No, I def reported that one last week, that used the "cannot contact seller" excuse. Nothing was done. I sent Ebay a long letter saying that my selling fees should be refunded for this auction due to not ONE of those 10 retractions bidding again if the wrong bid amount was entered and is Ebay's policy as this really really did hurt the auction. It had hit the reserve plus a little and with all 10 retractions ended up at around $110.00 when the reserve was $350.00.

And no, they were all 10 different bidders.
 
#14
LOL.. I think if I fumed anymore I would just burst at this point. I think my kids can see smoke coming from my ears and nostrils. I did relist with a nice big, bold message saying bid retractions not following Ebay's policies would be reported and bidders who have fraudulently bid retracted on the previous auction are blocked from bidding. I mean, I hate, really I do to sound ugly, but this was ridiculous for this to happen like this today. I have an all positive feedback record, in buying AND selling. No complaints, no feedback retractions, nothing... and then slammed with this today. I am baffled, confused, and really concerned like the other poster said. I cannot think of why other than to really think that the domino affect happened when the few retractions had happened and the bidders got the emails saying they were the highest bidder now due to bid retractions. I think bidders got paranoid etc, even with my feedback record and proof of where I bought it etc showing. I had answered and posted almost every question sent to me... and even sent out additional pictures to bidders on this LV. I have no clue at this point other than to fume and be baffled.
 
#15
Is it possible that it was a system glitch? It seems rather odd....:confused1:

Shopstomuch said:
Ok, I am getting really really frustrated. I have a 100% all positive record on buying and selling. No issues on my end w/ authenticity, answer all questions promptly, send additional pictures if needed, list in baby steps anything I can in my auctions. So, what is the deal these days with fraudulent bid retractions. I have an auction running right now, due to close in just a few hours. It had hit the reserve last night. Now, today, in the span of 3 hours, there were TEN bid retractions saying "wrong bid amount." Now, per Ebay's policies you are to bid again with the proper amount, not ONE of these ppl did so. At this point I feel my auction has been severly impacted by all these bid retractions and the thing is this is not the first auction I have had this in, just the most noticeable due to it being in that short time.

Do any of you other seller's see this increasing and what are you doing about it if anything? I mean, I am really kind of ticked right now about it as I paid a ton for this listing w/ all Ebay's little bells and whistles and feel this really really has hurt my listing.
Click to expand...
 
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