Genuine question about ebay bid retractions

[smotan_02]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I have been on eBay since almost the beginning and I have retracted 1 bid and shilled 1 item. I entered the wrong amount so I retracted my bid and then bid my intended amount several years ago. I also shilled 1 item around 18 years ago. I listed several very rare error cards and put reserves on all of them except 1 I missed by accident. It almost instantly received a bid so I could not correct the listing. I had a friend put in a bid at what my reserve would have been instead of canceling the auction.

I have talked about shilling and bid retracting with people that do it a lot. Most say they do it to protect their investment or get maximum value. Some retract because they over extend themselves and have to retract a bid so if they win another item they can pay for it.

Re: over extend themselves. I think sellers are understanding if someone needs to delay payment. However, when you retract a bid repeatedly because you can not pay for items, it hurts the sellers sales. People see the price of an item fluctuate up and down and do not want to bid out of fear there is risky bidding associated.