Bids canceled in the middle of the night!
In the middle of the night (2/7) I had seven listings that all of the bids canceled. I never cancelled a bid or ended the items. Support says maybe a "glitch" I now have POed buyers contacting me asking why I did this as they received email stating I cancelled their bids. eBay won't give me a list of the buyer so I can contact them to explain. Anyone else have this happen?
15 comments
a_c_green
·2 years agoA "glitch" is their go-to excuse when they cannot find a solid answer for you.
Can you point us to one or two of the affected listings? Was there more than one bidder in any of the auctions? (A bidder can plug in multiple bids with no competition, generally to boost his hidden maximum, although the price won't go up until there is someone to bid against him.) Were these actually logged as cancellations (which would have been by you, the seller), or were they retractions supposedly initiated by the bidder(s)?
Unavailable member
·2 years agoThe most likely scenarios that you cancelled the bids - maybe sleepwalking, maybe inadvertently hitting links while the app was open and you tossing and turning.
gator08041971
·2 years agoDo you have the ebay app on your phone? For example, when you "butt dial" someone sometimes, I wonder if something similar happened and it canceled your listings... Just an odd thought, but its potentially feasible.
I have accidentally had weird things happen when something interacted with my phone's screen before without me realizing it.
toylandbay
OP2 years agoAfter spending an hour with eBay Support and eBay Safety and Security this morning, they determined eBay must have had a glitch as there was nothing wrong with any of the listings and the account was not compromised! Relisting, hoping eBay has fixed the glitch! In 25 years selling on eBay I don’t think I’ve canceled more than 1 or 2 bids a year, only when a buyer requested it. I’ve notified the buyers that have contacted me I hope they and the others are are understanding!
djvp53
·2 years agoWhen I first started with auctions on eBay, I would occasionally see aggressive bidding on an item by a new user and then the bids would disappear, usually pretty quickly. When I looked up the username, the user id also disappeared. I think in those couple of cases, eBay cancelled the bids and closed the user's account, probably because they suspected fraud or bidding manipulation. I'm still not certain that's what happened. Could that have happened to you?
toylandbay
OP2 years agoAfter spending an hour with eBay Support and eBay Safety and Security this morning, they determined eBay must have had a glitch as there was nothing wrong with any of the listings and the account was not compromised! Relisting, hoping eBay has fixed the glitch! In 25 years selling on eBay I don’t think I’ve canceled more than 1 or 2 bids a year, only when a buyer requested it. I’ve notified the buyers that have contacted me I hope they and the others are are understanding!
bennotbill
·2 years agoYou'll have to watch out that the "glitch" doesn't result in you being charged fees for cancelling auctions when there are bidders.
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoStay away from the phone clerks.
The phone reps have a terrible reputation for getting you off the phone as soon as possible even if that means giving you the advice you want to hear instead of the advice you need to have.

https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/ — Message button in upper right on landing page.
https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.


The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.
toylandbay
OP2 years agoThank you for taking the time to reply. I am saving the links you shared for future reference.
After spending an hour with eBay Support and eBay Safety and Security this morning, they determined eBay must have had a glitch as there was nothing wrong with any of the listings and the account was not compromised! Relisting, hoping eBay has fixed the glitch! In 25 years selling on eBay I don’t think I’ve canceled more than 1 or 2 bids a year, only when a buyer requested it. I’ve notified the buyers that have contacted me I hope they and the others are are understanding!
reallynicestamps
·2 years ago@toylandbay
Just a note that when you have a response for several people you can "call" them by using the "@" symbol, just as I did here.
You will occasionally see a poster with a string of "@s" on a post when they have the same message for several or an "@" for a single person then another for a slightly different answer for a different person.
ittybitnot
·2 years agoAfter spending an hour with eBay Support and eBay Safety and Security this morning, they determined eBay must have had a glitch as there was nothing wrong with any of the listings and the account was not compromised!
@toylandbay
That sounds like they are clueless and calling it a "glitch". Please remain vigilant, for they will often say that when indeed it is something else.
Was just thinking that you can probably see the bidder IDs in the bid history for the ones that had cancellations by the "ghost" and have not written to you already. Good luck to you!
ittybitnot
·2 years ago@toylandbay
A quick look at some of your items that "ended" on that date, some apparently ended (with no bids) naturally. Others say "item was ended by the seller because it is no longer available (no bids).
Then there is the THIRD option for which I will post a screen shot of one of yours. All bids cancelled, ended by seller because item is no longer available. I have seen in the past where eBay pulled items and posted that the seller did 'because the item is no longer for sale' when indeed it was not the case.
However, due to the nature of your products in general, it doesn't seem likely it was an eBay takedown, because they usually send you a message.
I would seriously consider that perhaps your account has been compromised. Change your password now. Then contact US based customer support (not the regular call back or chat reps) via one of their social media portals. Use the blue message box at the top of this page:
https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness
OR
https://twitter.com/askebay
https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/
12345jamesstamps
·2 years agoAre they retractions(cancel) bids by the buyers? You usually get an email(s) from eBay not in eBay but in your "inbox" of emails of general emails of cancellations(retractions) by buyers.
mam98031
·2 years agoWow, this is a new one on me.
When you go look at the page on the listing that shows bids, it also has reasons for cancellation if the buyer filed for it. Do you see anything there? If so what?
Did you get an email from Ebay? Or could it have been a Vero take down?
The only think I can think of doing is Relist the auction. If any of those previous bidders had it on their Watch list, they will get notified that you relisted it.
I hope this all works out for you and your buyers. Very odd stuff !
hartungcards
·2 years agoUhhhmm.......if you've had buyers contacting you, then you have a list of those buyers and you can contact them by replying to their inquiry, no?