Buyer bid up to reserve price and now wants to cancel...

[6658927]

...because (according to an email just received today), the buyer claims:

"please cancel my BID ....my son used my ebay account and BID on your item without my permission...sorry for the inconvenience...thx"

I only have one active listing so you know what it is - there were two other bidders (neither of whom bid up to reserve), and the auction is still live.

I haven't sold on Ebay for awhile - but to be honest,  even when I had a store, I never ran across this situation.

Any advice on what my options are?

Thanks in advnace ~ KD

[nobody*s_perfect]

Cancel the bid.

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?CancelBidShow

[emerald40]

If this is an ongoing live auction, why can't buyer just retract their own bid?

[ads*and*ends]

There's no need to proceed and force this buyer to commit. You'll just end up in a potential return scenario. I agree with the above, cancelling their bids are your only best option. And then block the buyer ID immediately.

[ads*and*ends]

---

@emerald40 wrote:

If this is an ongoing live auction, why can't buyer just retract their own bid?

---

Oh wow, I actually agree with em on something. I did not consider this. Personally, I would cancel. I'm curious as to the responses on this. 

[pburn]

Little difference of opinion for you: I would suggest to the bidder that s/he retract his/her own bid him/herself, just so s/he gets to have that little reminder not to let his/her son into his/her eBay account on his/her record.

[blueeggsandspam]

I wouldn't engage them further, as a few others have suggested. I'd cancel their bids then block them from ever bidding on my items again.  Why make any extra eye contact with the riffraff if you can avoid it?

[websilverjewel]

I'd just cancel. I've had a few non payers and cancels already. Its best not to push someone to buy something they don't want. It sucks but I've accepted its just part of doing business on here.

[femmefan1946]

Never refuse to cancel a bid-- or even a purchase.

It will not get better.

And it doesn't matter why, just cancel it.

This is the equivalent of finding a box of cereal in the toothpaste aisle at the supermarket.

The customer decided not to buy.

If you are truly annoyed at the guy, put him on your Blocked Bidder List.

Most bids arrive in the last few moments of the auction. You may have, in addition to the current bidders, others who have programmed Snipe Bids to execute in the last few seconds of the listing.

And you can't sell for less than the Reserve.

BTW- as an occasional /returning seller you may find there have been a lot of changes here.

One is that only about 15% of transactions are Auctions. Most are Fixed Price which gives you more/longer exposure for the same price.

That the Reserve fee is payable even if the auction does not reach the Reserve is a longstanding policy.

If you know how much you want for the Thing, you can list at Fixed Price and the first person who pays, wins. No waiting seven days to find you lost.

Also - most customers are using mobiles to bid. They are also into Instant Gratification.

This is a huge difference even from two years ago.

[fashunu4eeuh]

There are two sides to this coin.

First, you can honor the eBayer's request. While this is a disappointment for sure, you can cancel the bid,  taking them at their word that the son bid up the item by taking small bites to discover what the reserve is, for whatever reason. Cancel it and be done.

Or, you can pursue this as policy violations and report the account. What this prospective buyer did could be considered a manipulation of the bidding process and is a big no-no on eBay. Furthermore, if the son was a minor, he has no rights to participate in any facet of eBay and the account owner could be held responsible. The policies state this:

"...Invalid bid retraction policy overview

A bid is a binding contract that's active until an auction-style listing ends. Once you place a bid, you need to pay for the item if you're the winning bidder. You're not allowed to retract bids to manipulate the bidding process, like trying to find out the maximum bid of the current high bidder or to find out the reserve price..."

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/rules-policies-buyers/invalid-bid-retraction-policy?id=4227

While this bidder did not try to retract themselves, they have asked you to do it and i believe the policy applies. The next issue on whether the bidder is an underaged minor, states this:

"..A person under 18 can use an adult's account with the permission of the account holder. However, the account holder is responsible for everything done with that account..."

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/identity-policies/underage-user-policy?id=4233

If it were me, i'd probably just cancel the bid and not try to hold the account owner responsible, because it is complicated and stirs ill will. (Never a good idea to force an item on an unwilling buyer.) However, I might still report them after I cancelled the bid. Good luck to you whatever you decide. So sorry that your auction was interfered with.

[ittybitnot]

and the auction is still live.

I used to send the errant bidder the link on how to retract their own bid.  Sometimes they just don't want to take the responsibility especially in the "old days" when too many retractions would cause unfavorable attention to the bidder ID.  That is no longer the case.  Bidders (or retractors) are no longer sanctioned for same. 

[pburn]

Such excellent points!

(But I'd still make them retract those bids. LOL!)

[femmefan1946]

Yah.

Those Bid Retractions show on the FB page, for the very few sellers who have a chance to look at the customer's FB before purchase.

But again, that's not many.

85% Fixed Price- we meet our customer when he buys.

Buy It Now used on Auctions- we meet our customer when he buys.

I agree that grown ups should take responsibility for their decisions and retract bids rather than depending on others to cancel.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Seller has already canceled the bid, around the time that post #7 went up, instead of waiting around for a bid retraction that might never happen. 

[juststuffisell]

On a live auction, with an errant bid, that can disrupt the entire flow of the auction.

I have had this occur a few times where a bidder has asked to retract the bid late in the game. Early in a 10 day auction is no biggie, but halfway of more is a problem to me.

In a couple instances I have contacted the bidder and let them know that it is in the backend of the auction and would disrupt the entire flow of the auction and that I would have to cancel the auction, pay a fee to ebay, and start over with another (usually) 10 day auction. eBay themselves recommends not to cancel a bid late in the auction (at least the rep I spoke with said that) and to let the auction close out as at the end, the person requesting the bid cancellation may not be the high bidder. That was back when you actually got a lot of bids on misc. stuff though.

You can let the bid canceller know that you will cancel the order if they end up the high bidder with the reason being the buyer requested the order be canceled.

Just my two cents and what I do when I have one late in my auctions.

Cheers