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Shady Use of Bid Retraction on Ebay

post #1 of 18
11/12/09 at 3:21pm
Thread Starter 
i saw two HF2s on ebay yesterday. both had prices of $700+. then today both were much less, which was odd. i checked the bid history for each and saw this.

o***n( 857) Retracted: US $737.99
Explanation: Entered wrong amount Bid: Nov-12-09 02:39:42 PST
Retracted: Nov-12-09 02:42:25 PST

o***n( 857) Retracted: US $832.99
Explanation: Entered wrong amount Bid: Nov-12-09 02:32:05 PST
Retracted: Nov-12-09 02:34:49 PST

there is a third HF2 which has only 1 bid. here is that bidder.

o***n( 857) US $400.00 Nov-12-09 02:12:21 PST

it is obvious that this person is using the bid retraction for the sole purpose of finding out other bidder's maximum bids. i suspect he wants to know how much people are willing to pay so he can list his own HF2 for the highest possible BIN amount. ... very, very shady.
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post #2 of 18
11/12/09 at 3:25pm
Thats annoying. I don't know if one exists right now, but there should definitely be a limit to how many times you can remove a bid.
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post #3 of 18
11/12/09 at 4:19pm
Notify ebay of what you found. Maybe they will be interested.
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post #4 of 18
11/12/09 at 4:29pm
Yeah, that's totally against the TOS for ebay. It's your duty to report it.
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post #5 of 18
11/12/09 at 5:03pm
I encountered some shady bid retraction use too. I was bidding on an expensive zoom lens, and got into a bidding war with someone at the last minute. I went higher than I wanted to pay cause I needed the lens for an upcoming shoot, but the other guy wound up winning the item. Then he retracted his highest bid after the auction ended, and I was left as the "winner" Really seemed like the buyer was just driving up the price, and then retracted to leave me with my highest possible bid.

I almost didn't buy the item, but after talking to the seller on the phone decided to. Still feel bitter about it. I think they need to put restrictions on that, cause it was not a fair auction for me in the slightest.
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post #6 of 18
11/12/09 at 5:06pm
I didn't even think you could retract a bid once you made it, is this a new policy? I thought that is why they always warn you twice that you are about to bid.
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post #7 of 18
11/12/09 at 5:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pangaea View Post
I didn't even think you could retract a bid once you made it, is this a new policy? I thought that is why they always warn you twice that you are about to bid.
You can as long as your bid is not within the last 24 hours of the auction.
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post #8 of 18
11/12/09 at 6:48pm
Are you sure the maximum bids weren't shill bids?

If I want to wring the most out of an item, I put it up at $1 with no reserve. I've always gotten more money that way than with BIN or a reserve.

My guess is that they were feeling out the maximum bids so they could shill them without going over.
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post #9 of 18
11/12/09 at 8:39pm
I saw that too when I was bidding on an Entech 203.2 a while ago. Didn't think anything of it at the time. Pretty damn sneaky...
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post #10 of 18
11/13/09 at 12:49pm
Shady indeed!
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post #11 of 18
11/13/09 at 1:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lil' Knight View Post
You can as long as your bid is not within the last 24 hours of the auction.
Only in 3 conditions,
  • Typed wrong amount
  • Seller changed description
  • Can't contact seller

If one of those isn't true, you can't retract.
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post #12 of 18
11/13/09 at 2:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by scompton View Post
Only in 3 conditions,
  • Typed wrong amount
  • Seller changed description
  • Can't contact seller

If one of those isn't true, you can't retract.
LOL, do you think that shady bidder will be that honest to choose the wrong amount or other options?

You can retract for whatever reason. eBay never does any harm to buyer. I've experienced many cases in which I, the seller, had no chance to do anything against buyers. Did you realize that sellers are not allowed to leave negative feedback for buyers now?
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post #13 of 18
11/13/09 at 3:03pm
yeah ebay's gone retarded...

sellers can only leave positive feedback, placing negative comments in a positive feedback will get that feedback deleted and an email from ebay telling you if you do it again your account will be suspended, but buyers can still leave negative feedback for a seller

the only thing a seller has is reporting a non-paying buyer
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post #14 of 18
11/13/09 at 3:05pm
I would definitely report that individual. With 800+ feedback they clearly know the rules and know they are abusing the system by doing that.
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post #15 of 18
11/13/09 at 4:05pm
Thread Starter 
also, it hurts the real high bidder as the seller now knows his max bid and can have someone bid up the price.

just another reason why the only way to use ebay as a buyer is to place your max bid at the end of the auction.
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