eBay

jobet4337 · ‎10-09-2023

I'm running my first ever auction on ebay.

Started on Friday, runs 7 days.

I had a bidder bid 13 times to run the price up.

I had well over 100 views while the price was ran up over the weekend.

Then, on Monday morning, the bidder retracted 13 bids, saying he "entered the wrong amount".

13 times.

Gee thanks for running the price up all weekend while I had all those views.

ckimodog · ‎10-09-2023

@jobet4337

You may want to reconsider using the auction style listings to avoid this type of behavior. Use a fixed price, buy it now, immediate payment required checked off and NO best offers. You obviously know what your inventory is worth, set the price you want and let it go from there.

You are also a new seller & new sellers are targets for scammers. Be careful with potential buyers who want to do business off eBay, ask to pay off eBay, ship to another address and add a gift card. Buy it now is the way to go.

I wish you good luck and sorry for your situation.

splendidthreads · ‎10-09-2023

Did he actually put in 13 bids or did he place a proxy bid? If it was a proxy, it would have looked like he was actively bidding, when the bid was actually raising each time another person bid higher. It would show as a bid each time, up until it reached his high bid of $516 (if this is the Grizzly).

If it was a proxy, when he went to cancel it, it would just show the one retraction. I'm not sure how it would show, but it might have shown 13 retractions if he had bid 13 separate times.

Silver lining is that the auction still has several days left, so you may still get some good bidding activity on it.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎10-09-2023

@splendidthreads wrote: ... If it was a proxy, when he went to cancel it, it would just show the one retraction. I'm not sure how it would show, but it might have shown 13 retractions if he had bid 13 separate times. ...

If an auction has more than 12 hours left, then any bid retraction (or cancellation) will retract/cancel ALL of the bids placed by that member, but only the highest bid will show in the bid cancellation history.

Since there is only one other bidder on this auction, I suspect that the bidder was nibbling against a higher earlier proxy bid, especially since the OP said, "bid 13 times to run the price up".

I would put this annoying bidder on my blocked-bidder list so he can't cause any more mischief on the auction.

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/BuyerBlock

12345jamesstamps · ‎10-09-2023

You are able to see how many bid retractions this buyer has done in a month and a year.

Just click into his bid history or bid retraction. It will show up at the bottom of his current bidding.

I was bidding on something and the bidder higher than me retracted his bid at night while I was sleeping and I won the auction the next day. It was a great deal for me.

I looked into the history of this bidder who retracted his bid.

He had 63 bid retractions in a month and 652 bid retractions in a year.

I would think when sellers see this they would block this bidder in the process of bidding more but it seems it doesn't happen much.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎10-09-2023

@12345jamesstamps wrote:
You are able to see how many bid retractions this buyer has done in a month and a year.....

We can all see it. This particular bidder has only the one retraction in the past 12 months.

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/ViewBidderProfile?&mode=1&item=196016489607&bidtid=2039328746009&_trksid=p...

a_c_green · ‎10-09-2023

@nobody*s_perfect wrote:
@splendidthreads wrote: ... If it was a proxy, when he went to cancel it, it would just show the one retraction. I'm not sure how it would show, but it might have shown 13 retractions if he had bid 13 separate times. ...
If an auction has more than 12 hours left, then any bid retraction (or cancellation) will retract/cancel ALL of the bids placed by that member, but only the highest bid will show in the bid cancellation history.

Since there is only one other bidder on this auction, I suspect that the bidder was nibbling against a higher earlier proxy bid, especially since the OP said, "bid 13 times to run the price up".

Assuming that we're talking about the lathe auction here (it's the only auction currently running by the OP), there are now two bidders in play besides the guy who retracted, so hopefully the auction will recover from that setback. The new guy has posted three bids so far in an unsuccessful effort to take the lead.

I'm wondering if the guy who retracted his bid(s) didn't notice before bidding that it was Local Pickup Only in Amarillo, TX.

@nobody*s_perfect wrote:
I would put this annoying bidder on my blocked-bidder list so he can't cause any more mischief on the auction.

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/BuyerBlock

Ayup; second that...

jobet4337 · ‎10-09-2023

I do offer shipping if you read the description, and I put the word freight in the title.

I wasn't able to get it freight listed like I wanted it, when I did the listing.

a_c_green · ‎10-09-2023

@jobet4337 wrote:
I do offer shipping if you read the description, and I put the word freight in the title.

Okay, yes, I do see that now. My suspicion is still that your prospective buyer backed out for cost reasons, most likely after he ran the numbers to get it to his place, wherever that might be.

You've had fresh bidding activity since then, so hopefully this will go even higher at the end. Good luck.

mam98031 · ‎10-10-2023

If a bidder is bidding 13 times, they are bidding against other bidders. A bidder can't bid against themselves, the system doesn't allow for that.

Buyers retracting bids is just a part of the auction process. So you need to adjust to that thought and accept it if you want to continue with auctions.

You may find that you don't like to do auctions or you may find that you actually love doing auctions. Give yourself time to learn about the does and don'ts. I'm glad you came here to talk about this and I hope you will continue to come back when anything happens that you are not sure about.

One of the best pieces of advice I can give you is do NOT ASSUME you know something that you don't. Not about Ebay. Ebay has rules on just about everything. What may seem logical to you may not be how it actually works. Some come and ask. There is usually always some knowledgeable person around to help you.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

stuffygrotto · ‎10-10-2023

I certainly wouldn't block the retractor. They probably just had 2nd thoughts about putting in an early high proxy (which we can see was over $500) and will come back at the end to try and snipe.

Could be profitable! 🍀 good luck!

a_c_green · ‎10-13-2023

@jobet4337 : Congratulations on seeing the bidding once again reach where it was before that bid retraction. I agree with the suggestions above, that you might want to hold off on putting the retraction ID on your Blocked Buyer List for now, in case he's planning to snipe the leader at the end with a higher bid. Add him after the auction ends if you like.

I know he technically violated the bidding rules by not entering a "corrected" amount right away, but bidders don't always know or follow the rules perfectly. Good luck with the ending tonight.

stuffygrotto · ‎10-17-2023

That ended well 👍. They did come back at the end. Congrats on the sale and +feedback!

nobody*s_perfect · ‎10-17-2023

Thanks for pointing that out. We do love a happy ending. In this case, not only did the selling price end up exceeding the original retracted bid amount, but feedback shows that the transaction has been completed successfully, yay.

But I'm puzzled by your comment "They did come back at the end," since the original bidder who retracted never came back. The auction was won by a newcomer whose first bid on the auction was placed less than an hour before it ended.

deltilogical · ‎10-17-2023

"Buyers retracting bids is just a part of the auction process. "

Retraction is only supposed to be an exceptional situation. The buyer is <trigger word following> responsible for understanding the listing BEFORE they bid. They don't get to put in a bid and hold their place if they feel like it. I can't believe (but do) that Ebay allows people to have 100's of retractions a year. That is money out of the Ebay shareholders' pockets.