Can they do that?

[kauvil-us]

Just received an email into my personal inbox from eBay telling me that a bidder had cancelled his/her bid. I went into the messages box of my eBay but found no message telling me about the cancellation. The item in question shows no bids on it. Can a bidder cancel a bid anytime he/she wants? In most auctions, you either cannot cancel your bid or you get a penalty. But what about eBay? But I guess eBay is not a normal auction. Weird!

[bigdeals.etc]

I haven't done auctions in a long time, but if I recall you can click onto the number of bids link in the auction and it will take you to a page showing you all the bids placed on the item. It will also show if a buyer retracted (cancelled) any bids as well. You can look there to confirm if the email you received is a fake or not.

And to answer your question, basically yes. Ebay doesn't say it straight out, but with their easy loopholes, a buyer can retract (cancel) their bid for any reason. They can just simply lie about the reason... like entered wrong amount. There used to be a rule that ebay didn't allow a buyer to retract (cancel) when the auction is less than 12 hrs left. Not sure if that rule is still there or not.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Sadly, yes they can just do that.  They are s'posed to give a reason, but I last time I checked (years ago, as I don't do auctions), there were only 2 choices in the dropdown, so their 'reason' doesn't really mean anything. 

However, I have also seen phising schemes with cancelation in their title.  Those have always been easy to find b/c the person had never bid on my auction or I didn't have any auctions up.   Bottom lime, beware if it's not in your Ebay Messages.   Do not write the person.  

There's really nothing to do anyway, if it's legit, they're allowed to do it & there's nothing you need to do.  If it's not legit, there's nothing you need to do 🙂 

[luckythewinner]

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@kauvil-us wrote:

Just received an email into my personal inbox from eBay telling me that a bidder had cancelled his/her bid. I went into the messages box of my eBay but found no message telling me about the cancellation. The item in question shows no bids on it. Can a bidder cancel a bid anytime he/she wants? In most auctions, you either cannot cancel your bid or you get a penalty. But what about eBay? But I guess eBay is not a normal auction. Weird!

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If you go to the "Help & Contact" link at the top of any eBay page and search for "cancel bid", you will learn that buyers can indeed retract bids on eBay in some instances. 

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/retracting-bid?id=4013

But buyers cannot cancel bids "any time" they want. There are restrictions on what bids can be retracted and when they can be retracted.

As an aside, you are correct ... eBay is not a "normal" auction. The auctions run much longer; buyers cannot inspect the items in person; there is no buyer's premium; buyers can return items; etc. etc. etc. 

[labs118]

Cancel or Retract?
If you go to the item & click the bid number next to the item does it show a Retracted bid?
Buyers are allowed to retract & select a reason from a small drop down 

[gwzcomps]

I am guessing there is a threshold, but based on a recent thread the threshold may not exist?

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/I-think-145-Bid-Retractions-in-the-last-12-months-is-too-many/...

[wesk_36]

You can cancel their bid, a buyer can retract their bid so they may have used the excuse of entering the wrong amount and never re-entered another amount.

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/retracting-bid?id=4013

That's one explanation but just speculating.

Whatever you do, don't click links or log in from emails, imo.

[inhawaii]

Looks like you got your questions answered.

One of the many reasons i don't run auctions.  All my listings are fixed price. 

Good luck!

[bigdeals.etc]

Even IF that 12 hr bid retraction restriction is still implemented, the buyer can always just win it, pay, get your item, then file a SNAD return to ultimately get all their money back. There's even reports of ebay CS agents suggesting buyers do this if they can't back out of the sale before paying.

So yea... there's that too.

[kauvil-us]

Just went into the item's bid history. It shows that the bidder is "not a registered user" with 0 feedback. Explanation for the bid retraction: "Administrative Cancellation". What the heck does all that mean? I have the bidder's user name, but I won't disclose it here; it may get me in trouble. I will block it tho.

[yankeeseats]

thank the ebay gods, you've just dodged a bullet.

[bigdeals.etc]

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@kauvil-us wrote:

Just went into the item's bid history. It shows that the bidder is "not a registered user" with 0 feedback. Explanation for the bid retraction: "Administrative Cancellation". What the heck does all that mean? I have the bidder's user name, but I won't disclose it here; it may get me in trouble. I will block it tho.

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My guess is that it was a brand new account a buyer opened with a stolen email, bank account, paypal account, or CC that ebay caught.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Retractions are only allowed in the last 12 hours if the bid was placed less than an hour before.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Administrative cancellations are made by eBay.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@kauvil-us wrote:

Just went into the item's bid history. It shows that the bidder is "not a registered user" with 0 feedback. Explanation for the bid retraction: "Administrative Cancellation". What the heck does all that mean? ...

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In eBay jargon: Bidders retract. Sellers and eBay cancel.  Your bidder did not retract their bid.  eBay suspended them ("Not a registered user) so all of their active bids were immediately canceled by eBay.