Retracting Bids

[x23xcustoms]

I never have ran into so many buyers retracting bids since here recently when a bidder messaged me if I could cancel there bid because they entered wrong amount because they didnt have enough funds for it. I told them I cant do that and have to wait for auction to finish then cancel it for them.  Then the "bidder" told me what to do, obviously because they have done this before.  So I ended up removing there bids and the lst bidder ended up winning and 2 weeks past with no payment.  This is ridiculous because there is no punishment for falsing stating they will pay a certain amount for a product. Hurts only seller and other serious buyers. My point here is to at least have feedback towards someone who keeps retracting bids. Its ridiculous because now it just continues to happen all the time. When I buy something or bid I am a serious about it.

[simba6]

It's better they retract than file a false not as described case to return it at your expense.  It's the wally mart shoppers. They return as much as they buy.

[femmefan1946]

I told them I cant do that and have to wait for auction to finish then cancel it for them.

Why did you lie to the customer?

There is no problem with cancelling bids as a seller. You don't really even have to give a reason, although Bidder Request is available.

You made your own problem out of nothing.

the lst bidder ended up winning and 2 weeks past with no payment.

You can open an Unpaid Item Dispute after 96 hours (48 if you are in the USA) and close it again after another 96hours.

If the deadbeat does not pay he gets a Strike that makes it harder to buy on eBay in future.

Again, you are making your own problems.

If you want to have less hassle, just stop using the dying Auction format and switch to Fixed Price/Immediate Payment Required.

Your listing then will stay open until someone pays. Same cost and 30 days exposure.

Make your life easier.

[7606dennis]

Frankly, I don't believe that there is ever a reason to retract a bid.  The system blocks sellers from doing the things that eBay considers justification for retractions.  Even the "bid wrong amount" is, in my opinion carelessness on the part of the bidder. 

My personal policy is to check all bidder's retraction records and block them if they have more than one.  Of course, at my live sales, an attempt to retract a bid once placed would result in the bidder being escorted off the property, a trespass warrant issued and their permanent ban from attending one of my sales. 

Of course, eBay makes it difficult to report invalid bid retractions although they still keep them as policy violations on their books. 

By the way, under most state's auction laws, once a bid is placed it becomes a binding contract enforceable by the courts.

[femmefan1946]

There is really only one reason "I don't want to buy this anymore." Everything else is detail.

It's easier to let him leave.

We run live auctions, although DH has stopped flying cross-country to call them, and it's been Live Internet Bidding only, no floor, for the last couple, and we've seen all kinds of retractions during bidding over the years.

Usually the bidder got confused and was bidding on the last lot, or the next one in the catalogue. This even happens with agents who you'd think were used to bidding for  multiple clients.

I agree that a request to cancel after winning would be indefensible and would drop the winner from our mailing list. We owe that to our consignors.