OT: ebay's Retraction Policy Doesn't Stand

[Buythatcard]

Last night I had a Ty Cobb Sweet Caporal Pin - PSA 5 listing that ended at 11:12 PM EST.

One buyer had multiple bids on the pin along with other bidders. With less than 4 minutes to go in the auction, he decided to retract his highest bid. He did not enter another bid. In the final 5 seconds, some other bidder swept in and picked up the pin at a nice discount.

This particular bidder who retracted his bid had 73 retractions to his name.

I thought that eBay's policy says that you cannot retract a bid without rebidding.

I called eBay and they didn't have much sympathy about the existing item that was retracted in the final 4 minutes. They did say that they are opening
an investigation into the buyers 73 retractions.

Another example of eBay not protecting the Seller.

[LACardsGuy]

not enforced. probably not enforceable.

[1880nonsports]

unsure what happened but eBay has always (well at least the past 15 years anyway) restricted withdrawing from an auction if there is less than 12 hours to the close. I've been on there since 1996 and have had it crop up a couple of times when something I was bidding on was revealed to be altered or fake. You know, back when we could see the bidder id's :-)

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by 1880nonsports

unsure what happened but eBay has always (well at least the past 15 years anyway) restricted withdrawing from an auction if there is less than 12 hours to the close. I've been on there since 1996 and have had it crop up a couple of times when something I was bidding on was revealed to be altered or fake. You know, back when we could see the bidder id's :-)

Yeah, seriously....WTF!

It's bad enough with the retractions already, but if Ebay is now letting bidders retract bids with minutes left to go in auctions, that opens a whole new can of very serious implications.

[D. Bergin]

Please share the id. I'm sure lots here would be grateful to be able to block this bidder.

[Buythatcard]

The buyer in question actually won a few items. I told eBay that I wanted to cancel the transactions because I did not want to have anything to with the buyer anymore. They told me not to cancel transactions because it would go against my Seller status. You just can't get any satisfaction from eBay.

So, once items are paid for and I am done with this Buyer, then I will share his eBay Id.

[thecatspajamas]

I'm not aware of ebay themselves ever having a policy of having to rebid after canceling a bid (not really sure how that could be enforced), but this canceling so close to the auction's ending is new news to me. Historically, once you enter that final 12 hour window, sellers do not have the ability to edit the listing (even when there are no bids), and buyers do not have the ability to retract bids.

I will say though that I cannot recall the last time ebay notified me as a seller that a bidder on one of my items has retracted their bid. I might think there simply have not been any retractions in the last couple of years, except that I know of at least one case where I noticed the bid count drop on an auction item without any notification to me as the seller. So while the ramifications for sellers are troubling if this becomes widespread, it would not surprise me if ebay has taken the stance that auction bids are only final once the hammer falls. And even then, if they're not going to do anything to force payment from a high bidder with buyer's remorse, might as well go ahead and let them off the hook if they get cold feet right before the hammer falls, right?

[buymycards]

Retract a bid
Keep in mind that you can't always retract a bid once it's made –if you're not able to retract your bid, you can also try contacting the seller to see if they'll cancel your bid for you.

When you can retract a bid
You can retract a bid if:

The seller significantly changed the description of the item
You accidentally bid the wrong amount. For example, you meant to bid $20, not $200. In this case, enter the price you intended to bid as soon as you've retracted the incorrect bid
You can't reach the seller. For example, you sent the seller an email and it comes back undeliverable, or you tried calling the seller and the phone number doesn't work
As well as the above, timing is also important when retracting a bid:

If there are 12 hours or more left before the listing ends, all of your bids can be retracted
If the listing is ending in less than 12 hours, you can retract your most recent bid if it's been less than an hour since you placed it
Any other bids can't be retracted, but you can contact the seller to see if they'll agree to cancel a bid for you.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by buymycards

If the listing is ending in less than 12 hours, you can retract your most recent bid if it's been less than an hour since you placed it

Hmmm, I wonder if they snuck that in there recently. Don't remember that part of their bid retraction policy.

[GeoPoto]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

I'm not aware of ebay themselves ever having a policy of having to rebid after canceling a bid (not really sure how that could be enforced),

eBay's system "looks" at every bid retraction. If you rebid (particularly if you bid $556.00, retract it and 30 seconds later bid $5.56, or something similar), the computer will be more inclined to "overlook" the retraction. If you bid higher in $20 increments, become high bidder on your fourth try, and then retract the last bid made, you will probably get "disciplined". It has more to do with the plausibility of "an honest mistake" versus the appearance of intentional deceit.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

eBay's system "looks" at every bid retraction. If you rebid (particularly if you bid $556.00, retract it and 30 seconds later bid $5.56, or something similar), the computer will be more inclined to "overlook" the retraction. If you bid higher in $20 increments, become high bidder on your fourth try, and then retract the last bid made, you will probably get "disciplined". It has more to do with the plausibility of "an honest mistake" versus the appearance of intentional deceit.

Do you think the guy above made 3974 honest mistakes?

[mikemb]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Do you think the guy above made 3974 honest mistakes?

Probably not. He/She is now up to 4002.

My thought is if Ebay has any sort of system to stop this, it's not working very well.

Mike

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by mikemb

Probably not. He/She is now up to 4002.

My thought is if Ebay has any sort of system to stop this, it's not working very well.

Mike

Hey, just think of the silver lining. If they're using some sort of A.I. program to combat this, then I don't have to worry about being outsmarted by the machines when they rise up and try to take over the planet.