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Bid Retractions
I recently experienced 2 buyers who are also sellers that falsified bid retractions on a recent auction. The inital retraction bidder had emailed me twice with a buy it now offer well below my auction starting price. So I removed the options for buyers. She retracted a bid saying it was a mistake "wrong amount". Okay.....but it caused another bidder to become high bidder who emailed me saying "she could not afford the item". WHAT???? Then she retracted her bid, which was falsified. And the intial buyer did the same driving now the price of my item, but she retracted 3 times! I reported them both to ebay and was advised to "block" them, which I thought I did. But the one who retracted 3 times bid again, driving the item price up and then down to bottom out again. I contacted Ebay who assisted with making sure I had blocked this buyer correctly. My question is this???? I have 37+ watchers and other bidders on a rare, expensive item to sale. Do they see these retractions and will that affect my auction? What are your recommendations?
kh-stanley1
·2 years agoHi everyone,
Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.
Thank you for understanding.
downunder-61
·2 years agoOld thread
govote
·2 years agoSimilar issue. have had 3 different users "bid-up" the price on 2 different auction listings, only to "retract" bid due to "entered wrong amount". Have now learned how to "Block buyers", but this is apparently a new ploy by buyers trying to manipulate auction prices.
eBay needs to implement seller protection to remove or suspend users who utilize the bid retraction more than 2-3 times per month. Make allowance for the occasional "oops" which MAY occur, but get rid of those who take advantage!
mam98031
·2 years ago@govote
This is nothing new. It has happened since Auctions started. Why do you think Ebay has not rules on this? Did you take a moment and report the buyer? That helps Ebay to identify these repeat offenders.
Did you know on a buyer's FB page you can see how many times they have done a Bid Retraction?
albertabrightalberta
·2 years agoHere's the link to the bbl:
https://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BidderBlockLogin&&hm=vo.rp73%28%3F310%60%3Eb&hc=1&guest=1
My suggestion to you is to stop having auctions and list your items as BIN/IPR.
mam98031
·2 years agoAuctions can be real money makers in certain categories. A single bad experience should make any seller move away from auctions. Some items are great for auctions and others aren't. Knowing the difference is really important.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoBlock the two twits.
They are timewasters.
Yes the other bidders can see the bid retractions The retractions also show on the bidder's FB page, but your other buyer's cannot see that. When they make Offers in future, those future sellers can take their history into consideration.
The only problem is that when retractions expose the high bid of another, the other bidders may get suspicious that the retractions were from a shill.
cooolccou_0
·2 years agoI recently had a similar issue and it sounds like it luckily all worked out. I listed 2 vintage Motorcycle Helmets, both would sell for a lot of money. The larger one had 20 plus watchers and went up pretty quickly but by day 2, I had one retraction, more bids came in, by day 4 I had another retraction ( 2 different bidders ). Mind you I normally don't do auctions due to issues like these. Both claimed they put in the wrong max amount.
The winning bidder ended up having 4 feedback, all positive and had a location of Malaysia and all I could do was shake my head for not being able to catch it. So I prepared myself for a long 4 days but then i got a message 30 mins later from another high bidder who said in a nut shell that the guy wouldn't pay and I should relist it for a buy it now for MUCH MUCH lower than even his last bid lol I explained that I had to give the winner time to pay and it would be relisted if they didn't. He persisted by offering a little higher but its obviously a scam and even gave me a link to whatsapp which he misspelled but obviously didn't click it. Both the winner of the auction and this guy who messaged both have locations of Malaysia and made within months of each other. Also, how would he know that it wasn't actually paid for unless he owned both accounts ( it could be an educated guess but does anyone believe that lol ) So, here it is the next week ( I always set Auctions to start on Sunday at 8 pm ) and sure enough, guess who messages me right away lol. He offers the start price and pesters quite a bit and even ups the offer. When that didn't work he messaged from ANOTHER **bleep** acct. Smh. Persistent Sob. But always beware of these scammers who try to screw it up or get your money. Ive messaged Ebay with the messages on both accounts and youll be happy to hear that they did.............absolutely nothing. They haven't even responded to it. Smh. Always try to safe guard yourself everyone especially with items that are higher priced sadly. This was definitely a new scam to me and just shows how Ebays on the side of the buyers and not the sellers that basically keep this site afloat. Good Luck everyone
debera0163
OP2 years agoWhat a nightmare for you! Thanks for sharing your experience.
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years ago“Ive messaged Ebay with the messages on both accounts and youll be happy to hear that they did.............absolutely nothing. They haven't even responded to it.â€
Hi @cooolccou_0
It’s eBay’s policy that any actions taken in response to a member’s report are done so privately. As the reporter, you will not be notified beyond a “thanks for reporting†message. Unless the members are NARU’d (no longer registered), the rest of the eBay buying/selling population will remain unaware of whatever disciplinary. steps eBay may have taken. See policy below.
“We don’t disclose the outcomes of cases but if we feel the buyer’s claim is false and malicious, we’ll take action.â€
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/false-reports-policy-violations/false-reports-policy-violations?id=4216
collectfest
·2 years agoTo answer your question, yes people absolutely can see that there are bid retractions, I am looking now and there are 5.
As to can it affect your auction, I can say for myself, it absolutely can affect your offering. As a buyer, I would for sure wonder what's up.
It would not be the only thing I look at but it FOR SURE would cause me pause especially 5 of them. On items with several bids I always research bid history to look at bidder profiles.
I believe, with 3 days left on the listing, as long as there are no more shenanigans, I think all will be well.
a_c_green
·2 years agoWell, yes, but it should be noted that four of them are from the same doofus, and his bidder profile is horrendous in terms of retractions; they're all over the place. Me, as a prospective bidder, I don't think I would be too concerned about that particular set of retractions.
I agree that it's always a good idea to look at the bid history and bidder profiles, especially if I'm planning to snipe an auction at the end, and I can sometimes see a rival's bidding habits that way (e.g. always bids in increments of $10, never adds a penny or two to his bid amount, etc.)
I agree there also; this is already a popular auction. Should be fun to watch in the final minute.
debera0163
OP2 years agoThank you for replying. So appreciated!
debera0163
OP2 years agoThanks so much for your response. I have been worried that new bidders would "question" my item after these numerous retractions.
slippinjimmy
·2 years agoYour current high bidder placed their bid AFTER these retractions and the original bids so apparently it didn't bother them. With 4 days remaining it's likely there are others who are interested that don't intend to bid at all until the last couple of hours.
If you think the two bidders that retracted (really just the one with 480 feedback) could be a problem at the end go ahead and block them. They are bidding on a number of items and make a habit of retracting, my guess is that they have mental health issues (that is not a comment on their niceness or honesty).
Your current high bidder looks like gold (or a hijacked account) I can't see as much detail as you can but the account has been around, they haven't bought anything recently and your doll is the only thing they are bidding on.
debera0163
OP2 years agoThanks so much for your reply. I will try and relax and enjoy the show!
a_c_green
·2 years ago@debera0163 : They do see the retractions if viewing the Bid History page for that auction, yes. However, anyone who clicks on the disguised bidder IDs for those withdrawals will be able to see their record, and in the case of your (480) bidder, it's atrocious: 68 bid retractions in the past 12 months, 5 in this month alone. Weld their ID into your Blocked Buyer List (which I understand you have done now) and forget about them.
The other bid retraction, from your (185) bidder, is the only one they've made in the past year, so I would attribute that to Bidder Remorse. I doubt they'll be back again, but whether to add them to your BBL is your choice.
We can see their 30-day bidding records by clicking on their disguised IDs. You can see the same thing by logging out first (as the seller, you get a different view of the Bid History page with no disguised IDs), or you can view their feedback page and click on their Feedback as a Buyer tab (on a desktop or laptop), where their Bid Retractions count will be shown on the right side of the page.
debera0163
OP2 years agoThank you so much! You have been so helpful. I'm hoping another seller will report this buyer also.
blue_sky_radio
·2 years agoI see this more and more, generally 2 or more bidders working in tandem.
This bidder's retraction record on my auction:
Bid retractions (last 12 months): 146
That alone should disqualify the bidder from using eBay. Plus the bidder made multiple bids and retractions on this auction...all were: "entered wrong amount "
YES, I do block them, but they have a new User ID in 5 minutes.
Seems anything is allowed now on eBay as long as it has the possibility of company profit.
mam98031
·2 years agoThe reason the buyers retracted their bids do not show, but the fact they retracted do.
If you go into your listing. Click on the number of bid. Look at the next page closely. You will see them referenced at the top and then further down you will see the retractions.
It is unlikely it will have any negative effect on your listing. I see you currently have 7 more bids, that is WONDERFUL.
Watchers are NOT bidders. It is always reassuring to see all those watchers but they often do not turn into bidders.
Just make sure you blocked those buyers. Relax and put it out of your mind and just pay attention to current bids and messages.
debera0163
OP2 years agoThanks for your reply to help me ease my mind! They retracted their bids because they claim "they put in the wrong amount". I think the worse offender was trying to manipulate my auction. I've been concerned because my item bid price has been high, like now.....but lowered several times because of their falsified retractions. I have reported them and ebay has been helpful.
Thank you.
mam98031
·2 years agoYou are assuming they were trying to manipulate the auction. Clearly your auction has recovered nicely. I don't see how you were harmed.
Certainly annoyed as I would have been annoyed by those buyers, but you haven't been harmed as far as I can see.
Keep hoping, typically bids that have multiple bidders early on really start going up close to the end. That was always my preferred way to bid. Besides it is FUN! Or at least I found it fun. LOL
debera0163
OP2 years agoThanks so much for the encouragement!
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years agoeBay gives bidders two reasons to retract—1) they put in wrong amount, or 2) seller altered the description substantially. Sadly, some buyers will abuse the retraction privilege because they changed their minds or are bidding on multiple similar listings (neither of which is a valid reason in eBay’s policy to retract). But still, it happens. So it may not be that someone is trying specifically to interfere with your auction. Instead it is just another regular day in the eBay neighborhood.
From another perspective, to be honest, i think i’d rather have my potential buyer retract a bid now, rather than become a non-paying winner later or worse, open a bogus Not As Described case because they long since changed their minds about the item. Some determined unhappy buyers will find a way to get around the rules when there is a now-unwanted item.
(Doesn’t make it right for them to abandon the auction, of course, or falsely state the retraction reason, which becomes a huge time waster for sellers. But it may somewhat explain why a bidder would resort to such a practice.)
debera0163
OP2 years agoThank you for responding. You have been most helpful.
debera0163
OP2 years agoAlso wanted to mention that I reported the buyer who repeatedly falsifyied her bids!
matthekoc4
·2 years agoHow do we make such reports? I don't seem to be able to get anywhere with the automated tool.