Why can I bid on my own item?!

[skargonix]

I listed this item a few days back and wanted to check the bids. When I logged in today, I see I can bid on my own item (!)

If I click "Place bid", I do see the pop-up to enter my bid. I thought this was illegal. What the heck is going on?

[a_c_green]

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@janet9988 wrote:

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@house*of*paws wrote:

Hi @skargonix 

Were you signed onto your account when that happened?

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He was, because the current lead bidder's ID is shown in the pane across the top that is only visible to the seller of that listing.

The rest of the screen is a standard listing format, which would include the Bid buttons, but actually submitting a bid would probably be refused.

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Apparently ebay now allows sellers to disclose a buyers full ID here on the boards. .

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No, but obviously The Powers That Be have not yet noticed the bidder's ID visible in the screenshot...

[a_c_green]

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@monroe67 wrote:

"OK so nobody here can see that this is a bug, a poor decision in the user interface?

eBay should not display the "Place bid" button on the seller's view of the item. Period.

Think critically, people."

There have been times when I do revise my own listings once they have gone "active."  
Yes, indeed, I see that "Place Bid" or "Buy It Now" button.  
Maybe my understanding of eBay's processes is different from yours, OP, or other sellers who might post here.  Would you really, sincerely, intentionally try to place a bid on your own auction?  Do you think that's an honest way to run an auction -- raise the price and hope that your good-faith bidders will out bid you?  That's called "shilling" and you should know that that is completely illegal, in both online auctions and in-person auctions.

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Agreed, although I think others have already shown that the website coding will not accept bids from the seller's own account. Realistically, the seller's view of the listing is presented as buyers will see it, with extra information exclusively for the seller in an extra pane across the top, and coding is present to prevent sellers from playing sillybuggers by bidding on their own items themselves.

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@monroe67 wrote:

"Re. the zero-feedback highest bidder, what can I do about that? I would much prefer to sell to the second highest bidder, who has much better feedback."

There is virtually nothing you can do about your bidders while the auction is live. 

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Um, sure there is. While the auction is live, you are free to cancel any bids from anyone for any reason (or no reason at all). Conversely, if the auction ends with a winner (i.e. assuming no un-met Reserve), you are expected to ship after you get paid.

[monica-sells]

I can't even fathom the number of posts if that button wasn't visible to the seller....

I can picture them now....

"...No Wonder MY SALES are so LOW!!!!!!!!!!!'

There is no Buy it Now Button on my pages,,,whats up??????????????

or.....

"...I SEE WHY NO ONE is BIDDING on My AUCTION!!!!!!! Ebay REMOVED the BID NOW BUTTON ON MY LISTING?!?!?!?!

[skargonix]

There's a very simple solution to both having the "Place bid" button on your own listing, and not making it possible to place bids:

GREY OUT / DISABLE THE BUTTON. What is so hard?

And  show a tooltip when you mouse over it that "You can't bid on your own item".

You guys have seen this all over the place, even here in this forum, you can't thumb up your own post, but the button is still there, just disabled:

I'm surprised at folks who are defending eBay so much when there's a simple solution, even more obvious to a web designer than it is to us.

As for cancelling bids, I didn't see any way to do that. Fortunately someone with better feedback won the auction.

[nuclearomen]

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@skargonix wrote:

There's a very simple solution to both having the "Place bid" button on your own listing, and not making it possible to place bids:

GREY OUT / DISABLE THE BUTTON. What is so hard?

And  show a tooltip when you mouse over it that "You can't bid on your own item".

You guys have seen this all over the place, even here in this forum, you can't thumb up your own post, but the button is still there, just disabled:

I'm surprised at folks who are defending eBay so much when there's a simple solution, even more obvious to a web designer than it is to us.

As for cancelling bids, I didn't see any way to do that. Fortunately someone with better feedback won the auction.

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the simple solution is don't try to bid or buy your own items... it's stated in ebay help as well...the thumbsup here maybe greyed out but then who gives themselves a thumbsup anyways? The reason why you can't bid or buy your own items is because longtime ago people were doing that and giving themselves positive feedback so ebay took the ability away years ago. 

[toomuchstuffagain35]

It's showing you what a potential buyer would see when they look at your listing.

Do you think it should show you NO buy it now/watch/make offer buttons either?

Then you'd complain they weren't there for buyers to use.

I don't think ebay is the idiot here.

[buyselljack2016]

bottom line is........................... as you cannot bid on your own item, it does not need to be fixed , because.............. eBay has it fixed.  Much ado about nothing.

Seems the less coding eBay does the better things are 🤔

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as far as cancelling bids goes.......................................   eBay "help & contact" located on most eBay pages is a place that can be used to search for eBay "policies", and assistance.  Typing cancel bid there will guide you if the need should arise again.

[suzysemporium]

I don't have any auctions running right now. I see the buy it now button on my listing. I actually clicked it, and it took me to a big red warning that buyers can not buy their own item. There was no way to proceed to buy the item. I'm going to assume if you clicked that button, you would get the same warning.