Canceled bid not showing in bidding history.

[lmarsden256]

I was bidding on an item when I received a notification that I was no longer the highest bidder.

Seconds later I received another notification stating that a bid had been cancelled and that I was, once again, the highest bidder.

The notification said I could see reasons for this cancelled bid in the "Bid History".

It is not showing there. I am suspicious that this might be shill bidding to figure out my highest bid. How can I view the reason for the canceled bid if it isn't appearing in bid history?

[hartungcards]

What difference does it make?  I doubt that if the reason was showing in the Bid History, it would be "this bid was cancelled because it was a shill bid to figure out your highest bid."

[a_c_green]

---

@lmarsden256 wrote:

I was bidding on an item when I received a notification that I was no longer the highest bidder.

Seconds later I received another notification stating that a bid had been cancelled and that I was, once again, the highest bidder.

The notification said I could see reasons for this cancelled bid in the "Bid History".

It is not showing there. I am suspicious that this might be shill bidding to figure out my highest bid. How can I view the reason for the canceled bid if it isn't appearing in bid history?

---

Okay, first of all, bidders retract; sellers cancel. Thus, if that wording is accurate (which, in the case of eBay, is not always the case), then the seller cancelled the bid for some reason: either the buyer requested it, or the seller didn't want that bidder in his auction for whatever reason.

A bid that is retracted is one that's withdrawn by the bidder himself, not the seller, and the number of retractions over the past year is shown on his feedback page. Although you cannot see the bidder ID yourself, you can click on the disguised ID in the Bid History page for that item, and his statistics will be shown.

To my knowledge, other bidders cannot see the reason for the bid being cancelled or retracted, only that it occurred. The reason is shown to the seller, for what that's worth.

Yes, it's likely that someone plugged in a high bid to see what the current leader (you) had as your hidden maximum bid, and then backed out because they didn't want to pay that much to win. Your high bid would only have been visible to others for the short time that the higher bid was in play.

[angelview353]

As a seller, this happens all the time, people place bids or win and immediately cancel their bid.  eBay allows this with what seems like no consequences for the fake bidder.  So when that does happen you were winning then someone else outbid you then they cancel and now you are the higher bidder again.  Sellers can see the bid history but as a buyer I have never been able to see who else is bidding.  contact the seller and ask them what happened, see if their response sounds logical.  You can always ask for the difference in a refund if that bidding sequence made you pay more money. 

[lmarsden256 · Accepted solution]

It makes a difference because there very well may be a genuine reason for this particular cancellation and, at very least, I would like to have a record that there was a cancelled bid and who attempted to make the bid to see if there is a suspicious pattern.

[lmarsden256]

Ahh, thank you for the clarification. It was a retraction, not a cancellation- my bad!

[hartungcards]

I still don't understand why you want or need to know these things.  In any event, there's not a chance you're ever going to find out who else is bidding against you, unless you correlate their mystery feedback number with somebody else you know on here.

[glasser]

Sometimes people make mistakes when they bid like bidding $650 when they meant $65. I sell a lot at auctions and have seen this every so often. Sellers can see the reason for retraction and the amount of the high bid. So, the seller would see made a mistake and the bid amount of $650

[fern*wood]

There is only a pre-printed couple of generic reasons to pick from and the ID would be disguised.