Curious bid history on eBay auction

[horseshowmom]

Curious eBay bid history on auction

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I won an auction over the weekend. I got it for 45 cents less than the maximum I would have wanted to pay, so I was satisfied.

When I saw that I had won, I checked the bid history, because the price had gone up a lot from when I looked at it prior to leaving for church (the auction went off during church, but I had a proxy bid in).

Basically, one bidder had bid the price up (about $25 worth) bidding against my proxy bid. Their last bid was over my maximum bid (which made them the high bidder). They then retracted that bid (with an explanation of wrong amount entered) and did not place another one - leaving me as the high bidder.

Bid retraction policy says that you must submit another corrected bid immediately after doing a bid retraction. This bidder did not do that (all bid times are listed on the bid history).

Anybody else find this to be very suspicious? I reported the bidder to ebay (violation of bid retraction policy) and am waiting to hear back from them. I checked 4 or 5 of the sellers completed auctions but didn't find this on any of the ones I looked at, so it may not be the seller - just a bidder who bid it higher so I had to pay more for it since they didn't get it because they didn't want to pay that much.

Anybody else ever had this happen?

 

[Vickie46]

I would be very upset about that!

 

[horseshowmom]

I would be very upset about that!

I am and have even considered trying to have the auction canceled, because it seems so suspicious.

Also, oddly enough, I haven't heard from the seller yet (and it's been over 48 hours). I paid immediately after I got home from church Sunday morning and asked to be notified when the item would be shipped. I sent a second request to them this morning but still haven't heard anything.

 

[TiggerStac]

I am and have even considered trying to have the auction canceled, because it seems so suspicious.

Also, oddly enough, I haven't heard from the seller yet (and it's been over 48 hours). I paid immediately after I got home from church Sunday morning and asked to be notified when the item would be shipped. I sent a second request to them this morning but still haven't heard anything.

I have found this to be common place lately, you do not hear from the seller after winning an auction. I pay immediately after winning and usually don't hear anything, until the package arrives at my door. If they ship via paypal, you get the notification that the item has been shipped, which is great!! I understand some people sell tons of stuff...but a "hey your item has been shipped" to a high bidder would be nice.

 

[horseshowmom]

I have found this to be common place lately, you do not hear from the seller after winning an auction. I pay immediately after winning and usually don't hear anything, until the package arrives at my door. If they ship via paypal, you get the notification that the item has been shipped, which is great!! I understand some people sell tons of stuff...but a "hey your item has been shipped" to a high bidder would be nice.

Yeah, I really have too, and normally, I don't even think too much about it. I guess I am this time because the auction seems a little "fishy" to me.

 

[jennifer293]

So do you think that maybe the seller was upping the bid (under another name) on the item until they were the actual winner and then retracting it making you the winner for the higher price? If that is the case that would be sooooooo wrong and mean in so many ways!!!!

 

[horseshowmom]

So do you think that maybe the seller was upping the bid (under another name) on the item until they were the actual winner and then retracting it making you the winner for the higher price? If that is the case that would be sooooooo wrong and mean in so many ways!!!!

I honestly don't know.

As I said, I checked 4 or 5 of their closed auctions (checked several more this morning) and didn't find anything in any of those bid histories that was the same as what happened to me. That makes me lean toward thinking it isn't the seller (which is why I haven't actually gone ahead and tried to have the auction cancelled). It could be a possibility though (maybe this item was going to go for less than they wanted).

I lean more towards thinking a disgruntled bidder purposely bid it higher until they got to the top of my proxy bid and then withdrew their "winning" bid to leave me as the winning bidder. I'm guessing they didn't want to pay as much as I was willing to, so they made sure I had to pay as much as possible.

That sounds a little ridiculous (even to me), but the bid history makes it plain that something suspicious was happening. I've done eBay for a long time and NEVER had anything like this come up before. To be honest, I had never even noticed that eBay had a bid retraction policy until this happened.

BTW, this bidder's last two feedbacks were negative (and they have a pretty small number of feedbacks overall).

 

[twinklebug]

There is a way to contact eBay by phone. I'd call them, tell them the situation and what you noticed and see if they have any legal way for you to cancel out of this auction with no back-lash.

Of course, you may get an uncaring CS rep that says "Oh well, you placed a bid that high" Still, I think it's worth a dollar phone call to find out about the $25.

 

[jessica52877]

Seems fishy to me. I know of alot of people who go up little by little to try and figure out someone else's bid, heck I'll even do it, but then to retract is SO wrong! I have had a few bids retracted on my items, they usually use the entered wrong bid amount but then like yours never put in another bid. When I check their history they have a BIN for the same item, usually cheaper.

 

[horseshowmom]

There is a way to contact eBay by phone. I'd call them, tell them the situation and what you noticed and see if they have any legal way for you to cancel out of this auction with no back-lash.

Of course, you may get an uncaring CS rep that says "Oh well, you placed a bid that high" Still, I think it's worth a dollar phone call to find out about the $25.

As a seller myself, I don't want to penalize another seller who may very well have had nothing to do with it, so I'm going to leave the auction as it is. If I had evidence to the contrary, I'd take further action.

Also, I did get it for an amount I was willing to pay.

I did email them concerning what happened. I got the automatic response that I would hear back from them in 24 to 48 hours.

I guess my main concern would be that this person (the bidder) not be able to do this to anybody else. The eBay Bid Retraction Policy addresses this very issue and states that violation of the policy is grounds for suspension due to artificially inflating marketplace prices.

Also, I wanted to know if anybody else had seen this happen. This is the first time I've ever had anything like this occur in an auction.

 

[horseshowmom]

Seems fishy to me. I know of alot of people who go up little by little to try and figure out someone else's bid, heck I'll even do it, but then to retract is SO wrong! I have had a few bids retracted on my items, they usually use the entered wrong bid amount but then like yours never put in another bid. When I check their history they have a BIN for the same item, usually cheaper.

I agree, I've done the same (like you, with the intention of actually buying the item).

What they've done with your auctions (the retractions) is a very clear violation of the bid retraction policy. eBay auctions aren't Wal-Mart, they're auctions! I would never do that to somebody that I had bid with. As I said, I never even knew there was a bid retraction policy until this came up.

I guess we learn something new every day...

 

[twinklebug]

As a seller myself, I don't want to penalize another seller who may very well have had nothing to do with it, so I'm going to leave the auction as it is. If I had evidence to the contrary, I'd take further action.

Also, I did get it for an amount I was willing to pay.

...

Also, I wanted to know if anybody else had seen this happen. This is the first time I've ever had anything like this occur in an auction.

I'm glad you're good with the price - as a seller I'd hate to have the headaches this one might have to go through with having fees refunded.

I have seen this sort of thing happen when the first PS3s were first up on eBay. I wasn't a seller or a buyer, just a curious watcher. There were just too many overbids, retractions and bid cancellations to keep track of. I have to wonder, of those PS3s that "sold", how many sellers got their money. What a mess! No thanks, I stick to my Disney items & Hallmark ornaments

 

[horseshowmom]

I'm glad you're good with the price - as a seller I'd hate to have the headaches this one might have to go through with having fees refunded.

I have seen this sort of thing happen when the first PS3s were first up on eBay. I wasn't a seller or a buyer, just a curious watcher. There were just too many overbids, retractions and bid cancellations to keep track of. I have to wonder, of those PS3s that "sold", how many sellers got their money. What a mess! No thanks, I stick to my Disney items & Hallmark ornaments

As the old saying goes, It's a jungle out there!

 

[Fire14]

I had a bidder do this to me awhlie back to tune of 16 bid retractions from my auctions alone and several from other sellers. I think his total was 26 retractions. I prayed he got suspended for so many retractions but no go.

 

[BonnieA]

I actually had the same thing happen to me some time ago. I emailed ebay and they checked into it. I had already paid for the item and luckily the seller sent it immediately. It took them a few days to investigate. Ebay told me that the sellers account had been suspended.

 

[Bren's Mom]

You should check the location of the seller and the suspicious buyer. I'd really think it was fishy if they're in the same state. I'm curious to hear what ebay says!!

 

[horseshowmom]

You should check the location of the seller and the suspicious buyer. I'd really think it was fishy if they're in the same state. I'm curious to hear what ebay says!!

I just checked, and the seller has the state listed, but the bidder only has "United States", so no answers there.

I'll post if eBay sends me an answer.

 

[horseshowmom]

I had a bidder do this to me awhlie back to tune of 16 bid retractions from my auctions alone and several from other sellers. I think his total was 26 retractions. I prayed he got suspended for so many retractions but no go.

That's outrageous! Due to eBay not taking action, he caused you and others a lot of hassle. That's just not reasonable.

 

[horseshowmom]

I actually had the same thing happen to me some time ago. I emailed ebay and they checked into it. I had already paid for the item and luckily the seller sent it immediately. It took them a few days to investigate. Ebay told me that the sellers account had been suspended.

I actually tried to pay for my item with my credit card, but Paypal forced me to use my Paypal balance first and then pay for the rest of it with the cc (at least, I couldn't figure out any way to do it otherwise, and I went through several pages several times).

I'm hoping the seller ships the item out pretty quickly (I still haven't heard anything from them).

 

[BillyRayJimBob]

Do yourself a favor and get one of the proxy bidding programs commony know as snipe programs. There are a bunch out there. Some you pay for, some are free. You essentially put in your highest bid amount and the program automatically bids a few seconds before the auction ends. That would have eliminated any question as to whether the seller was bidding up his own auction. The one I'm using now is Buyertools Reminder (free). I like it because your bid is made from your computer. Other programs use their server to place the bid. You might check out esnipe, powersnipe, ezsnipe. With lack of shill policing done by ebay, its pretty silly not to use one of these programs if you do any quantity of buying at all.