Confused

ayngelsaf29

Was bidding on an item today, which was 'just' cheaper than the buy it now options, a minute later there was another bid, so I went and bought buy it now from someone else instead. The auction closed a few minutes later, and the one bid that was higher than mine retracted. So now I am the highest bidder, and have to pay for something i have now bought elsewhere.
It just seems dodgy that it went up and was then retracted within a few minutes of the end of the auction. Is this the seller doing something to try and up the price? And is there any way that I can leave the auction?
xx

carrie483

I didn't think you could cancel or retract a bid when the auction has less than 12 hours left?

Just seen on the help pages that it is possible. =/

You could check http://www.goofbay.com/ and check if the other bidder has bidded on many of the sellers listings.

Crowqueen

You are always responsible for any bids until the item finishes. I think there are warnings to this effect at various places, because although it's a rare occurrence it does happen for legitimate reasons (I withdrew a bid once with the permission of the seller while I was relatively new to the whole thing). This is the risk you take with auctions - you shouldn't go buying anything else just in case, even if it's a matter of a few minutes.

It's perfectly OK to reject an SCO, but not really fair to do this as the seller may well be legitimate. The shilling thing is bandied around so much, but you are now liable for this item, so you need to either pay or negotiate a cancellation with the seller.

kprigg

I would contact the seller & explain your situation. Any decent seller will be able to see your predicament & should hopefully mutually cancel the sale. It may be completely innocent & the seller was unaware of what was going on.

If they wont cancel the sale then they will be able to apply for an unpaid item strike, which will only be a problem for you if you have 2 or more strikes as sellers tend to have their preferences set up to block serial offenders.

pinkshoes

As kprigg said, just explain politely to the seller that since you were outbid on his auction, then you bought the item elsewhere, and wasn't aware that the winning bid could be retracted in the last 12 hours of the auction. Ask them to send a mutual cancellation.

If they refuse, then you'll have to pay for the item and buy it (unless you want a strike), but given the seller would have had to agree to the bid retraction, it would be pretty mean of them not to agree a mutual, so in this case I would contemplate leaving them a neg once I'd received the item.

Crowqueen

Sellers don't have to agree to bid retraction. They can report one they think is invalid, but that's about it.

I'd also ask why the seller would be mean not to cancel the transaction either. You bid, you win, you pay. It's not a given that bids cannot be retracted in the last 12 hours - one has, and possibly for entirely legitimate reasons (for example, seller didn't want to sell to the high bidder because of feedback reasons, location, or they were an obvious scammer, or whatever).

If you asked nicely and didn't just ignore the problem hoping it would go away, I'd probably send a mutual cancellation, but I wouldn't blame the seller if they didn't agree to this.

And why compound the situation with a neg?! It's not the seller's fault the buyer didn't observe the proper responsibilities they have?!!!!!!

Sorry. I know I'm very buyer friendly, but as a seller I'd be really cross if this happened through no fault of my own, or if I was trying to protect myself e.g. from a Nigerian.

soolin

pinkshoes wrote: »

As kprigg said, just explain politely to the seller that since you were outbid on his auction, then you bought the item elsewhere, and wasn't aware that the winning bid could be retracted in the last 12 hours of the auction. Ask them to send a mutual cancellation.

If they refuse, then you'll have to pay for the item and buy it (unless you want a strike), but given the seller would have had to agree to the bid retraction, it would be pretty mean of them not to agree a mutual, so in this case I would contemplate leaving them a neg once I'd received the item.

If I received a neg from a non payer I would be straight on the phone to ebay reporting a malicious bidder.

Anyway if seller does a full NPB and buyer does not pay then buyer can't leave feedback anyway,

I'm sorry but you have just convinced me why my policy of using a full NPB on all non payers is the right thing to do.

GregtheHammer

pinkshoes wrote: »

I would contemplate leaving them a neg once I'd received the item.

Sorry I do not agree with this. Its not the sellers fault that the op chose to buy elsewhere. If you make a bid then you expect to maybe have to pay, if you choose not to, then expect a NPB strike.

Meadows

ayngelsaf29 wrote: »

Was bidding on an item today, which was 'just' cheaper than the buy it now options, a minute later there was another bid, so I went and bought buy it now from someone else instead. The auction closed a few minutes later, and the one bid that was higher than mine retracted. So now I am the highest bidder, and have to pay for something i have now bought elsewhere. It just seems dodgy that it went up and was then retracted within a few minutes of the end of the auction. Is this the seller doing something to try and up the price? And is there any way that I can leave the auction? xx

Once you place a bid and then become outbid you take a chance buying the same item from another seller until the auction has ended. Your bids are meant to be binding and other bidders can and may back out of the sale or retract a bid for various reasons.

Hopefully you can come to some agreement with the seller and if nothing else offer to pay the fees they have incurred on the listing and sale of the item.

MadelinesMum

Hi OP thanks for highlighting this. On a few occasions I have been outbid, then started bidding on another item. It will definately reduce my time spent on ebay.

Crowqueen

MadelinesMum wrote: »

Hi OP thanks for highlighting this. On a few occasions I have been outbid, then started bidding on another item. It will definately reduce my time spent on ebay.

To be honest, it's hardly eBay's fault. Buyers should take as much responsibility for their own purchases as possible and know how the system is set up. It only makes you more careful how you buy. If you don't trust yourself, by all means, please stay away from my auctions.