Look at this picture and tell me eBay actually cares about buyers abusing bid retractions.

[the_og_surplus]

This person bid one of my listings up to be high bidder, then immediately retracted claiming "wrong amount". Of course there was no follow up with the "correct" amount they supposedly intended to bid. I went and looked at his retractions history (not easy, you have to be logged into a different account than the one selling the item to see it) and I see this.

In the last 30 days they have bid on 29 items and retracted 7 bids, so roughly 25% of the items they bid on they retracted bids. And in the last year they retracted 68 bids!

This tells us two things. First, this person obviously plays games abusing the bid retraction process. Second, there is clearly absolutely no effort made by eBay to monitor the process and flag those abusing it. Because if there was someone would never hit 68 retractions.

Aside from the obvious problems, this also is a problem because it makes other bidders think the seller is using shill accounts to manipulate the bidding when they see people bid up to be high bidder and then retract.

[slippinjimmy]

I looked at the listing,  given the other bidders and the timing this retraction had essentially no effect on your listing. eBay will go after buyers who retract bids for nefarious reasons but not for situations that are "no harm / no foul".

[nobody*s_perfect]

I knew that eBay didn't care about retractions when I saw this:

BTW, the "Total bids," "Items bid on," and "Bid activity with this seller" don't include any auctions where the bidder has retracted their bids, so the percentage is actually 7 out of (7+29=) 36.  Still terrible.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@slippinjimmy wrote: .... eBay will go after buyers who retract bids for nefarious reasons ...

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I'd love to see some evidence of that.

The current high bid on that auction is $10 lower than the retracted bid amount, so clearly the high bid showing would be higher without that retraction. The retracting bidder might have just been looking for the high bidder's proxy.

[mr_lincoln]

@the_og_surplus   You can see that info while logged in to your own account, I do it all the time.  ...click the bid history then the individual bidder's Feedback number then select the "Received as Buyer" tab on their FB history page and then look over on the right to see bid retractions in the last 12 months.

I occasionally get bids retracted so I check their history ... if they don't have many I let it slide ... if they have a lot they earn a coveted spot on my BBL ... 

Obviously eBay could care less about how many Retractions a Buyer has ...

[pcobra93]

This is interesting. I thought Ebay got rid of us seeing this information and calling them out on their paid shill bidders....Nobody will ever convince me that ebay did/does not employ or at least accept shill bidders. That got so out of hand 5-6 years ago that most everyone switched to fixed price listings instead of auctions. 

[wastingtime101]

I once saw a buyer with over 3K bid retractions. eBay does not care.

Do a search and you'll see plenty of reports. Here are just a couple examples:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Buyer-Retracted-bids-Is-this-a-record/td-p/27460113

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/Excessive-bid-retractions-by-a-buyer/td-p/32066308

[stephenmorgan]

Here is another one posted July last year.

[mr_lincoln]

kyle@ebay , elizabeth@ebay , devon@ebay 

I thought this would be another good thread to loop you folks in on and ask some questions like:

-Why doesn't eBay have a LIMIT on Bid Retractions for members???  Sellers have a limit on how many FB Revisions they can send annually so what is preventing eBay form addressing this issue in a similar fashion?

-Why doesn't the Bid Retraction process FORCE the Buyer to enter a new amount before an existing bid can be retracted?  THIS approach would actually make the bid retraction process comply with eBay's Policy on bid retraction.  The way the policy reads a replacement bid is expected but the flow does not enforce that process and it could.

-Since eBay keeps a running total of bid retractions on every account why have they elected not to do anything about those who abuse the policy?

-eBay has been working hard to cut down on UPIs on the Offer flow ... managing Retractions should be addressed as well

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@pcobra93 wrote:

This is interesting. I thought Ebay got rid of us seeing this information .... 

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They did.  That tab on a member's feedback history now shows zero retractions for everyone. This has been checked by a couple of sellers, but right now @the_og_surplus  could go to this particular bidder's feedback page to see whether they show 7 retractions or zero. Maybe the "everyone has zero" was a temporary glitch?

You can still see their retractions in a listing's bid history though of course only the seller knows their ID.

[the_og_surplus]

At least for me every buyer I check who retracted on me shows zero retractions on their feedback page, when I go to the page from the bid history in the account selling the item I can't see it. But when I log into a different account, go to the page via the bid history I see it, and only then.

I think eBay has taken it away from the Feedback page.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@the_og_surplus wrote:

At least for me every buyer I check who retracted on me shows zero retractions on their feedback page, ...

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Thanks for confirming that.  Did you check the "Feedback as a buyer" tab and see zero retractions?

[mr_lincoln]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

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@pcobra93 wrote:

This is interesting. I thought Ebay got rid of us seeing this information .... 

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They did.  That tab on a member's feedback history now shows zero retractions for everyone. This has been checked by a couple of sellers, but right now @the_og_surplus  could go to this particular bidder's feedback page to see whether they show 7 retractions or zero. Maybe the "everyone has zero" was a temporary glitch?

You can still see their retractions in a listing's bid history though of course only the seller knows their ID.

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@nobody*s_perfect   I just checked an auction that ended last weekend and I can still see bid retractions on a member's FB history per the pic below.  

[nobody*s_perfect]

I guess it was a glitch!  Thanks.

[mr_lincoln]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

I guess it was a glitch!  Thanks.

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@nobody*s_perfect    ... 10-4 ...