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Why won’t eBay protect buyers on their live auctions?
Summary: roguedragonstormxtreme is frustrated with eBay's live auction system after a bid unexpectedly increased and they were unable to cancel it. They express concern over the lack of buyer protection and the automated help system that doesn't provide direct assistance. They suggest allowing a limited number of bid retractions per day to fix mistakes and argue for a system where payment is confirmed post-auction to avoid such issues. comics-scifi-collectibles advises setting a max bid amount to prevent overbidding, but roguedragonstormxtreme explains that this isn't practical with quick auctions and suggests several potential improvements to protect both buyers and sellers.
I bid on an item for a live auction that was sudden death. The bid should only have been $8 but suddenly it jumped up to $26 and then my bid went through for $27. I tried to cancel but eBay will not let me cancel the bid myself. I have to rely on the seller to cancel and wait and hope that they don't ship it out before they see my message. I can’t be the only one this is happened to so why does eBay not create any protections for buyers against it? I am going to dispute the charge on my credit card either way but it would be wonderful if eBay would actually do something to help protect against bids that come after a jump or lag. I am sure some might abuse it but it the limited it to like 3 a day, at least then it would help people with actual mistakes. Especially if they are going to completely automate the help page so you can’t actually get any help from an actual person.
roguedragonstormxtreme
OP1 month agoMax bid doesn’t always work on a 15-30 second sudden death auction. Not with my internet. By the time you view the item up for bid, see the items condition, open it up and type the number in, half the time the auction is over before you can confirm your max bid. Ebay should allow bidders to retract like 3 bids a day. That way if there is a real mistake they can retract it and the seller can rerun the item. Either that or put a retract bid next to the bid option so buyers could pull their bid if the internet lags or someone decides to jump the price sky high. Or lastly, eBay could wait to collect payment until the buyer confirms that is what they intended to pay when the auction is over. It would slow things down quite a bit but it would make sure no one unexpectedly gets caught by someone else’s max bid. Then the auction could go to the next highest bidder. It would be just as easy to set up as the current model but protect buyers as well as sellers. If the seller ships the item before they read my message, provided it is not blocked from them by the eBay AI system, then when I dispute the charge on my credit card- they could end up losing the item and the money. So it would protect both parties. I am not trying to screw anyone over, I just want a way for buyers like me to be able to help themselves rather than having to go around the system to get their money back.
comics-scifi-collectibles
Mentor1 month ago@roguedragonstormxtreme Just enter the max bid earlier, don't wait until the last minute.
I understand your frustration but eBay is NOT changing the way bidding works on the site. As a matter of fact they made a recent change to all auctions that the buyer can not request to cancel.
Cancelations can be a hardship for the seller. They have to refund out of their pocket then wait sometimes up to 30 days for the buyers original payment to be released.
comics-scifi-collectibles
Mentor1 month ago@roguedragonstormxtreme You need to set your max bid amount so you don't pay more than you are willing to on an item.
How to Use Max Bidding on eBay Live
Select Max Bid: Tap the Max bid option displayed directly on the live lot item.
Enter Amount: Type in the highest price you are comfortable paying.
Confirm Bid: Select Confirm bid to lock the amount into the live system.