Auction problems

[ldsrptcvt]

Is anyone having problems like this : someone starts the bidding on an item and a second person tries to up the bid but the second bid doesn't register. The "auction"  is a failure.

[friskya]

One bid is not a failure. It may be less than you hoped for, but once the auction has ended (even with just one bid), it's considered sold.

How were you able to determine that a second bidder wasn't able to place their bid? 

[mooreandmoore]

Could be that the original bidder upped their bid - if they did it would not show an increase in your price. 

[luckythewinner]

@ldsrptcvt wrote:

Is anyone having problems like this : someone starts the bidding on an item and a second person tries to up the bid but the second bid doesn't register. The "auction"  is a failure.

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Please explain exactly what you mean by "the second bid doesn't register".

If this was the "victorian folding needle case", there were two bids by the same buyer, so the second bid would not have changed the final price.

If so, this is not a "failure" - this is expected behavior, and it is how eBay auctions have worked for over 20 years.

[mooreandmoore]

If the original bidder ups their bid ( say goes from 9.99 to 15.99.  ) that will not up the price as they already are the high bidder.  If someone else bids then the price should go higher. You can check by clicking on your bids - it will list the names of the bidders who bid. If the names are the same then you know the original bidder decided to bid higher. 

[gjs_16]

Congratulations, your item sold!

Once the buyer has paid you should ship the item to your lucky buyer!

[redmodelt]

If the starting price is, for example, $10, bidder 1 bids the starting price. Later that same bidder decides to up their bid to $15 just in case. No one else bids, so that bidder is the winner at the starting price of $10.

Now if there had been an actual 2ed bidder, and they bid $16, they would be in the lead at $15.50. Bids are in increments, .50, $1 etc depending on where the bidding amount is.

It is proxy bidding. Upping your own bid, does not bump the price up till someone else bids.

[a_c_green]

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@ldsrptcvt wrote:

Is anyone having problems like this : someone starts the bidding on an item and a second person tries to up the bid but the second bid doesn't register. The "auction"  is a failure.

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Are you looking at a current auction or a completed one? What exactly is that second person telling you?

I occasionally get sour-grapes messages from someone who missed the end of the auction and is hoping I'll sell to them instead of to the winner, on the basis that somehow their higher bid didn't go through.

[ldsrptcvt]

It has happened on THREE auctions now - ebay tells me there were two bids but the price does not increase from the start price. I don't believe all three people tried to up their own bids.  Others are trying to enter the auction but cannot. I am losing money.

[soh.maryl]

If there's only one bidder, the bid price will not increase until/unless there is a competing bidder.

How can you be sure that all three bidders were not the solitary bidders?

How, exactly, do you know that "Others are trying to enter the auction but cannot."?

[luckythewinner]

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@ldsrptcvt wrote:

I don't believe all three people tried to up their own bids.  

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You do not have to "believe".

You can go LOOK at the bidding history and CONFIRM. 

Which auctions are they? 

For instance, for this auction the bidding history shows it was the SAME BIDDER: 

[soh.maryl]

My previous reply got lost somewhere.

Of the 34 items you currently have listed, at least 14 are Buy It Now.

How do you know other people are trying to up the bid?

[luckythewinner]

Same here: 

[coolections]

Hopefully after reading the responses you now know how auctions work. One bidder never increases the price, it takes two separate people and you did not have two people.

[7606dennis]

If the second bid is merely the same bidder increasing their original bid, eBay's system will not let them bid against themselves so the price will remain the same.  Unless, of course, you have placed a reserve on the item and the first bid did not meet that reserve.  If the second bid meets or exceeds the reserve, the price jumps to the amount of the reserve.