Was I wrong for being concerned about a bidding activity on an item?

[dr_wick]

I sent the following message to an ebay seller, and it, quite frankly, offended him/her. That was not my intent. I have XXed-out the numerical data to avoid pinpointing the seller. I meant no offense to the seller, but after reading things in the ebay forum on certain bidding practices, I was just trying to protect myself. By the way, I can afford the item even over the highest other bid, but I was concerned that there might have been potential/alleged bid inflation. But I can be wrong.

My message: "I am retracting all my bids on this item. I allege, repeat, allege, there are seemingly purported irregularities in my opinion in the bidding. Yesterday, there were XX bids on this item with the highest bid about $XX. XX bids have since been removed. There is now only 1 bidder higher than me, just $XX higher. If that bid is pulled, then I'd be the highest bidder. I've also noticed that some bidders, although they might not be among the current ones, who had allegedly placed numerous bids with your firm with over 95% of their bids being only toward your firm. While I am not accusing you of any bidding irregularity whatsoever, I am retracting all my bids before the 12-hour ebay bid retraction deadline takes effect. Thank you."

Seller response: "your comments are not the least bit appreciated. Of course it is quite normal for buyers to patronize companies exclusively for a multitude of reasons. It's fine to be unfamiliar with the methodology of auctions. It is not fine to fabricate conjecture."

[simba6]

That was NOT a valid reason to retract your bid.  You did break ebay rules.

[*smedley*]

you basically accused him of shilling...

[nobody*s_perfect]

You made a serious accusation. Of course the seller was offended.

If there is only one bidder higher than you , and if that bidder is pulled, then you would win the auction for the opening bid price. Is that something you think the seller would do on purpose?

You can be pretty sure that you're on the "blocked bidder" list for that seller. And possibly others, now.

[lightlily_arts]

There can be any number of reasons for bid retractions.  Some people may bid on multiple auctions that are listing similar items in the attempt to get one at a lower price and then retract their higher bids on auctions where it will cost them more.  However if you suspect shill bidding it's possible too.   However,  I don't think it's a good idea to message the seller with that sort of statement as it can get you blocked from bidding on their listings permanently.

[soh.maryl]

. . . and possibly blocked by other sellers who have read your post here.  

[dr_wick]

All I can say to everyone out there is that "I am truly sorry. I need to better educate myself on the auction process." I've had numerous "atta boys" ratings, now this bad one. I evidently misinterpreted some of the comments I've seen in the past in the ebay forum that essentially stated to watch out for bidders who place numerous bids with a particular seller, and with high percentage of their bids going only to a particular seller.

[reallynicestamps]

I used to write letters for a Cabinet Minister, and boy howdy, that is some passive-aggressive wording.

[*smedley*]

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@dr_wick wrote:

I evidently misinterpreted some of the comments I've seen in the past in the ebay forum that essentially stated to watch out for bidders who place numerous bids with a particular seller, and with high percentage of their bids going only to a particular seller.

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there are legitimate reasons for this...

maybe the seller bought a storage unit chock full of a certain widget and listed them all... one person sees them and for whatever reason wants them all so they bid on each one...

there are those who will only buy from certain sellers because they have bought from them in the past and are comfortable with them, and don't want to take a chance on finding a bad seller...

not everything is nefarious...

[soh.maryl]

Not recently, but a long time ago, there was a certain vintage item that I was collecting.  At the time, it was not easy to find, but there was a certain seller here who was a collector like me, but she often sold duplicated that she had run across, mostly at estate sales.  At that time, if you would have looked at her sales, you would have seen that, in the beginning, about 80% of her sales were to me and one other buyer.

Would that have seemed suspicious? 

[diya_jay]

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there are those who will only buy from certain sellers because they have bought from them in the past and are comfortable with them, and don't want to take a chance on finding a bad seller...

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True....I am one of them. Whenever I need an item I've bought in the past, I go to my Purchase History and try to buy it from the same seller if they have another one listed, unless of course, the price/terms of sale has drastically changed. I'm sure there are many who do the same.

[dr_wick]

Issue resolved. Seller and I agreed all was a mutual misunderstanding. Also, I raised my bid and won. Selling had stated earlier that he was grateful for my business.

[mcc1775]

Thanks for posting.

[mtgraves7984]

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@dr_wick wrote:

Issue resolved. Seller and I agreed all was a mutual misunderstanding. Also, I raised my bid and won. Selling had stated earlier that he was grateful for my business.

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@dr_wick 

Well, that seller was wise. I knew it from the first response you posted. We'll just color you 'lucky' and wiser, too!

[7606dennis]

Since you did not have a valid reason to retract your bid under eBay rules, yes you were wrong in doing it.  In fact, by performing an invalid bid retraction you have committed an eBay policy violation.  While I'm not sure whether eBay is sanctioning bidders for it or not, they haven't, to the best of my knowledge taken the policy off the books.

So the seller took offense.  That is hardly surprising.  Frankly, I expect that many more that have read this thread have done so as well.  I'd be somewhat surprised if you didn't find yourself blocked from bidding by some sellers on their auctions and from buying their fixed price listed items. 

By the way, most state's laws governing auctions deem the placing of a bid as entering into a binding contract enforceable by the courts.  Only eBay, to the best of my knowledge, permits bid retractions at all.