eBay Bid Retractions
- Thread starter bernie2
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Stupid that ebay allows someone to claim they typed in the wrong amount more than once or twice a year.
I'm watching a couple dozen British pipes, some with 20-30 bids. I don't see any bid retractions on any of those auctions.
Bernie2, what on God's green earth are you looking at to figure that 90% of the $100 plus eBay pipe auctions have multiple bid retractions? I sell about 50 pipes a week and the majority of them sell for $100 or more and I bet I average maybe one bid retraction a week. Over the course of a year that's a dozen or so bid retractions and I'm a pretty high profile eBay seller. I just looked at my own auctions this week. I'm running 40 or so auctions and have just one with a bid retraction. How come my auctions are not matching up with your bid retraction estimates? LOL!
On a serious note, Please post a link to some of these current pipe auctions that have half a dozen or more bid retractions. Maybe it's me who is missing something but I'm pretty sure I'm not.
Awaiting those links with eager anticipation!
Pipestud
I only sell on eBay sporadically and was unaware of this retraction stuff going on. I did have one item with a retraction a couple months ago and was wondering WHY? Now I can see from this thread that some buyers are fishing to see where a high bid may be left by a proxy bidder or something. There's always someone out there trying to beat the system or make it difficult for a seller. Like Steve, whatever my item sells for it what people are willing to pay for it. Honesty rules.
I'm with you doc.
In the meantime, I am still waiting for Bernie2 to provide us with links to some of those auctions he was referring to when he wrote the following yesterday -
In the meantime, I am still waiting for Bernie2 to provide us with links to some of those auctions he was referring to when he wrote the following yesterday -
I still see no bid retractions on any of the pipes I'm watching. I'd also like to see an example. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong area. On my Charatan, the bid retraction showed up on the bid summary list, if I remember correctly.
Howdy chrisfranklin, I think you and a couple of others on this thread mentioned that perhaps some sellers were bidding on their own auctions with second eBay accounts. But, that is not possible. The eBay system is set up to safeguard against such activity. eBay does allow individuals to have up to two registered eBay accounts. However, eBay will block any attempt to bid on an item from one account to the other. The only way a seller can place bids on his own items is to use a shill bidder. That, of course, does happen with unscrupulous sellers.
Pipestud
Pipestud
I also want to make it clear that I am certain that Pipestud's auctions are totally on the up and up.
I lost fair and square. I wanted that pipe. I got outbid.
I lost fair and square. I wanted that pipe. I got outbid.
I am not saying this is the case with the OP's example, but I have seen information received or brought to the seller's attention post-auction start and the seller who communicated this new detail about the object being sold to all current bidders. Many retracted as a result.
Without more detail, who really knows what is happening with this one?
Without more detail, who really knows what is happening with this one?
I could bid on my own pipes using my wife's account.
"Framitz" may have ID'd the problem, perhaps those were automatic bids. (you can click to show/unshow them)
"Framitz" may have ID'd the problem, perhaps those were automatic bids. (you can click to show/unshow them)
I am blaming this thread for a dream I had last night. In the dream I had a bunch of tabs open of ebay listings as is common for me. I had some computer problem and some how a bunch of two to three hundred dollar bids were sent and I had to figure out how to retract them all! Then i woke up.
I have had sellers send me messages after listing and tell me about a correction in case I wanted to retract a bid. I have left me bid in most times because it is something I usually have noticed in the pictures anyway.
I guess the retractions don't bother me much but i'm not spending hundreds of dollars on a pipe. The best way I find a deal is bid and forget, sometimes you luck out.
I have had sellers send me messages after listing and tell me about a correction in case I wanted to retract a bid. I have left me bid in most times because it is something I usually have noticed in the pictures anyway.
I guess the retractions don't bother me much but i'm not spending hundreds of dollars on a pipe. The best way I find a deal is bid and forget, sometimes you luck out.
Sorry for the delayed response. I've been down in Chicago for the last 2 days setting up a wireless network for a large conference. I haven't had time to post.
@pipestud - It's funny that you asked because the example I gave above was actually talking about some of your items. Here's a quick screenshot from my smartphone of a current Dunhill 5122 auction of yours that is ending in a few minutes:
You can see there are 6 retracted bids on that item. The reason you didn't get notified (I'm guessing) is because if someone bids on one of your items and then retracts the bid within a few seconds, the automated eBay notifications don't get sent out. When I checked a few days ago all of your items that had bids over $100 had multiple retractions.
What I think is happening is someone has created a program to search for pipes that meet certain criteria, place a quick max bid, find out the lead bidders top bid, then retract that bid seconds later. By doing so that buyer is able to create a nice list of pipes they are looking for and also have a good idea what the current top bid is to see if it is worth his or her time to bid with their normal eBay accounts. This is most likely being done by buyers that are looking for purchases that they can resell for profit.
The only way I can see those retracted bids is from my smartphone or tablet. You have to pull up the bid info and you also have to wait 5 to 10 seconds before the retracted bid information comes up. I cannot see this information from my normal computer looking through the browser. It is only displayed from the eBay app directly on my phone or tablet.
So as a seller you'll only get notifications on a retracted bid if the bid is retracted 30 seconds (or more) after the bid is made. If you bid and retract quickly enough no notice is sent.
One final note...my smartphone and tablet are both Android products. I do not know if the eBay app on an iPhone or iPad will display the retracted bid info for buyers. I know sellers are able to see retracted bids from all programs (PC, Apple, Android). What I'm describing is only from the buyers perspective and what they have visibility to for all auctions.
I think you nailed it. I also see the retracted bids on my phone, but not my laptop, good job bernie!
Well, that's a horse of a different color...(sorry, been waiting to use that line for a while), but seriously, I wonder what eBay's take on this will be once enough Sellers start using the eBay App and see what has been going on. I'm sure that there will be plenty of voiced concerns.
I just want to be clear here as this is a bit of a technical subject that can be easily misunderstood.
The item I showed from PipeStud's auction with retracted bids had nothing to do with his behavior. It was strictly a response to a question he posed. When I mentioned the most respected eBay seller on these forums in an earlier post, I definitely meant PipeStud. I watch and bid on his auctions all the time and I will continue to do so until my wife bans me from eBay completely. 8)
The retracted bids on his auctions are being done by other people trying to cheat the system to steal auctions as cheaply as possible.
I've got nothing but respect for PipeStud and I will continue bidding and hopefully purchasing pipes from him. If that Dunhill 5122 hadn't pushed past $200 today I would have loved to purchase that from him!
The item I showed from PipeStud's auction with retracted bids had nothing to do with his behavior. It was strictly a response to a question he posed. When I mentioned the most respected eBay seller on these forums in an earlier post, I definitely meant PipeStud. I watch and bid on his auctions all the time and I will continue to do so until my wife bans me from eBay completely. 8)
The retracted bids on his auctions are being done by other people trying to cheat the system to steal auctions as cheaply as possible.
I've got nothing but respect for PipeStud and I will continue bidding and hopefully purchasing pipes from him. If that Dunhill 5122 hadn't pushed past $200 today I would have loved to purchase that from him!
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