Will a bidder get docked for Retracting bids on multiple items of mine?

[clarkchejoan]

I had 2 similar items in the same category and one bidder bid them both up within 30 minutes of listing.  It was him and one other bidder.  No further bids for days and then I get email(s) saying that he wanted me to cancel both bids.  This was after 5 days and the price was more than I expected to get, or close to what I was expecting.  So any potential bidder would had seen such a high price and decided not to bid and move along.

 I did not reply to him for those exact reasons and he has 4000 feedback with no negatives so he must know the rules.  After retracting the bid one one auction 2 days ago he/she cancelled the other one today.  Will they get docked for this or does the fact that I did not reply to him give them free reign to retract their bids with no consequence?  I usually would had done it but like I said they bid on multiple items, ran the price up, and then pulled that stunt.

thanks in advance.

[bubbleman2010]

You've got whats called bid shielding going on either one bidder with two IDs or two buddies working the system together. High bidder pulls the plug so item gets dumped back into 2nd place bidders lap. ebays lapse of sending updated info to other interested parties is so bad they don't get info until 12 hours after a item sells...

[Anonymous]

Nope. Blocking the bidder immediately after the first retraction would have prevented this.

[chrysylys]

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@clarkchejoan wrote:

Will they get docked for this or does the fact that I did not reply to him give them free reign to retract their bids with no consequence? 

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No.  Your lack of reply has no bearing.

[clarkchejoan]

EBay really sucks for sellers now as it seems that buyers/bidders hold all of the cards with hardly any repercussions.

[nobody*s_perfect]

There is no apparent penalty for a member who repeatedly retracts bids for any reason. I'm pretty sure there isn't even a way to report it. 

For now, all you can do is put both bidders on your blocked-bidder list.  You might even consider canceling the bids from your other suspect.  In the future, you should consider canceling any bids that make you uncomfortable: Just as there's no apparent penalty when a bidder retracts a bid, there's also no apparent  penalty for a seller canceling bids, either.

Cancel bid: http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?CancelBidShow

Block bidder: http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?BidderBlockLogin

[clarkchejoan]

I checked and they have 99 bid retractions in the last 12 months

Should I contact EBay?

[clarkchejoan]

Well I blocked him/her. The other bidder has no retractions so who knows if it is the same person.

[Anonymous]

If nothing was done at 50, most likely nothing will be done at 100, though you can certainly bring it to their attention here

[chrysylys]

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@clarkchejoan wrote:
I checked and they have 99 bid retractions in the last 12 months:

Should I contact EBay?

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No.  We've seen them with hundreds in the last 30 days and nothing is ever done about it.

There was one posted a while back with something like 6,000 or so in a year if I recall correctly.

[clarkchejoan]

Can I ask you a question “nobody”? Isn’t there a penalty for cancelling a bid if the item will sell or is that only within the last 12 or 24 hours? Thanks. Because I would love to relist them to start from scratch.

[Anonymous]

..buyer favoritism knows no bounds here...sorry to beat a dead horse.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@clarkchejoan wrote:

Can I ask you a question “nobody”? Isn’t there a penalty for cancelling a bid if the item will sell or is that only within the last 12 or 24 hours? Thanks. Because I would love to relist them to start from scratch.

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No, there is never any penalty for canceling a bid.

If an auction has more than 12 hours left, the seller can choose to end it early and to cancel all the bids so that it ends with no sale.  There is a penalty equal to what the final value fee would have been if the item had been sold to the high bidder.  But that's connected to ending the auction early; not to canceling the bids.    

If the auction has less than 12 hours left, the seller can still cancel any or all of the bids but the only way to end the auction early would be to sell to the current highest bidder.

[clarkchejoan]

Thank you, that’s what I thought.  I was under the impression that a bidder could only retract bids a few times or it would be trouble for them.  Thanks EBay!

[castlemagicmemories]

Since the buyer retracted, it shows on their feedback profile as a buyer.  Their total retractions show on the right hand side, just before the feedback comments start.

So it is best that they retracted; if you had done it for them, it would not show there, and there  are sellers who check that and block accordingly.

All buyers have no negatives.  Ebay did away with negatives for buyers in 2008.

Buyers only get three reasons to cancel and each had a qualifying condition.

Entered wrong amount (must bid correct amount)

Change in the listing (there must be a change in the listing)

Couldn't contact the seller (you had to have tried to contact the seller)

Possibly they used the last one since you did not respond, but if you had cancelled it for them, it would not show on their record.