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eBay Bid Cancellations--Too Easy?

Started by somewhereintexas,

23 posts in this topic

somewhereintexas

somewhereintexas

Posted
Posted

I received an e-mail last night from eBay notifying me of a bid cancellation on one of my auctions. When I checked the bid history, the reason given was that the bidder had entered the wrong amount. The starting bid on the item was $99.99, and the bid was for the same amount. I can understand if the bid was accidentally $999.99 or something like that, but it seems that if a bidder wants to claim that they had entered the wrong amount, they should have to enter the "correct" amount as opposed to simply canceling the bid. The other excuse I see is that the bidder is unable to contact the seller. Shouldn't they have to actually send a message through eBay's messaging system and then have some period of time elapse without a response before the bid could be canceled? Besides, if they had a question for the seller, they should have received a satisfactory response before they bid.

 

Before a bid is confirmed, the bidder is asked "By clicking Confirm bid, you commit to buy this item from the seller if you are the winning bidder.

By clicking Confirm bid, you are committing to buy this item from the seller if you are the winning bidder and have read and agree to the Global Shipping Program terms and conditions. Import charges previously quoted are subject to change if you increase you maximum bid amount."

 

As easy as it is to cancel a bid, it's not really much of a "commitment" to place a bid.

 

In this particular case, it's not really a big deal, because if the bid had not been canceled, I would probably be dealing with a NPB (like I am on one of my other auctions with a winning bidder who insists he's been having PayPal issues for the past two weeks). I know it's idealistic, but if somebody changes their mind, they should just come clean and ask to be let out. And if the seller isn't willing to let them off the hook, they can always just not pay. Unless they make a habit of not paying for auctions they win, I don't see there being much of a penalty for being an occasional NPB (for the record I have never been one).

 

Just ranting a little bit.

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mackenzie999

mackenzie999

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I was pretty pissed off by a winning bidder recently. I had mentioned in my description that in addition to the item up for auction I might include a particular freebie, if I could find it. Guy wins the auction then tells me he won't pay unless he knows for sure the extra item will be included. Even though I did find it, I was soooo tempted to tell him to go f himself, but I just wanted this stuff gone.

 

:mad:

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Stguchi

Stguchi

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A few months ago I had a guy bid on an item and then about 36hrs later cancel his bid claiming he entered the wrong amount.

 

I can understand a few minutes realizing you entered the wrong amount but more than a day later?

 

eBay makes it to easy IMO

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techvoodoo

techvoodoo

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i don't sell much on ebay but i don't see why you guys care if someone cancels a bid. do you really want the headache that will certainly come along with a buyer who has decided he suddenly doesn't want this item anymore?

 

not worth the hassle in my opinion.

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CKB

CKB

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Posted
I received an e-mail last night from eBay notifying me of a bid cancellation on one of my auctions. When I checked the bid history, the reason given was that the bidder had entered the wrong amount. The starting bid on the item was $99.99, and the bid was for the same amount. I can understand if the bid was accidentally $999.99 or something like that, but it seems that if a bidder wants to claim that they had entered the wrong amount, they should have to enter the "correct" amount as opposed to simply canceling the bid. The other excuse I see is that the bidder is unable to contact the seller. Shouldn't they have to actually send a message through eBay's messaging system and then have some period of time elapse without a response before the bid could be canceled? Besides, if they had a question for the seller, they should have received a satisfactory response before they bid.

 

Before a bid is confirmed, the bidder is asked "By clicking Confirm bid, you commit to buy this item from the seller if you are the winning bidder.

By clicking Confirm bid, you are committing to buy this item from the seller if you are the winning bidder and have read and agree to the Global Shipping Program terms and conditions. Import charges previously quoted are subject to change if you increase you maximum bid amount."

 

As easy as it is to cancel a bid, it's not really much of a "commitment" to place a bid.

 

In this particular case, it's not really a big deal, because if the bid had not been canceled, I would probably be dealing with a NPB (like I am on one of my other auctions with a winning bidder who insists he's been having PayPal issues for the past two weeks). I know it's idealistic, but if somebody changes their mind, they should just come clean and ask to be let out. And if the seller isn't willing to let them off the hook, they can always just not pay. Unless they make a habit of not paying for auctions they win, I don't see there being much of a penalty for being an occasional NPB (for the record I have never been one).

 

Just ranting a little bit.

 

Keep in mind that unless there was a higher bid after his, you do not know what this person bid. He could very well have bid $999.99 - the amount is hidden from you until someone beats that bid.

 

I'm not sure it even reveals it on a cancelation - haven't had a bid cancellation in a long time.

 

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Ivan_Only-migration

Ivan_Only-migration

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i don't sell much on ebay but i don't see why you guys care if someone cancels a bid. do you really want the headache that will certainly come along with a buyer who has decided he suddenly doesn't want this item anymore?

 

not worth the hassle in my opinion.

 

I agree with this, why bother, especially since there will probably be another buyer around the corner.

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MR SigS

MR SigS

Posted
Posted
i don't sell much on ebay but i don't see why you guys care if someone cancels a bid. do you really want the headache that will certainly come along with a buyer who has decided he suddenly doesn't want this item anymore?

 

not worth the hassle in my opinion.

 

I agree with this, why bother, especially since there will probably be another buyer around the corner.

 

Sometimes potential buyers stay away from items if the bidding reaches a certain point. Some time goes buy and suddenly the bid is lower because of the cancellation, but the potential buyers have moved on. In the end there could be no sale or a lower-than-it-could-have-been sale.

 

Some sellers here have some seriously high $ books for sale on eBay. Another buyer around the corner isn't such a sure thing for them.

 

IMHO

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etanick

etanick

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well, it goes both ways. I bid on a nice book yesterday that was just listed with almost 7 days to go....and 1 hour later the seller cancelled my bid because somebody offer him a "deal" he couldn't say no to sell outside of Ebay.

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techvoodoo

techvoodoo

Posted
Posted
i don't sell much on ebay but i don't see why you guys care if someone cancels a bid. do you really want the headache that will certainly come along with a buyer who has decided he suddenly doesn't want this item anymore?

 

not worth the hassle in my opinion.

 

I agree with this, why bother, especially since there will probably be another buyer around the corner.

 

Sometimes potential buyers stay away from items if the bidding reaches a certain point. Some time goes buy and suddenly the bid is lower because of the cancellation, but the potential buyers have moved on. In the end there could be no sale or a lower-than-it-could-have-been sale.

 

Some sellers here have some seriously high $ books for sale on eBay. Another buyer around the corner isn't such a sure thing for them.

 

IMHO

 

Sure this is a valid point, but I'd say this, selling high $ books on ebay is a really bad idea. There are so many other potential risks involved it makes the idea of someone cancelling a bid a trivial complaint in my mind.

 

I considered listing my large ASM run on ebay as a large lot/auction and just thinking about all the ways I could get totally screwed over makes my head spin. I can't afford to lose that much money.

 

In my mind ebay for is lower priced books, if I was trying to sell something high dollar I'd go through the boards or better yet a one of the more reputable comic specific sites.

 

That's all just my opinion.

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MR SigS

MR SigS

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In my mind ebay for is lower priced books, if I was trying to sell something high dollar I'd go through the boards or better yet a one of the more reputable comic specific sites.

 

That's all just my opinion.

 

My example could easily be applied to lower priced books too. If I see a $100 book with bidding currently @ $90- I'll move on. The high bidder cancels his bid and it drops down to $55 (or whatever). All interested bidders have moved on and now the seller loses potential money.

 

:shrug: I know I'd be irritated as the seller. "It could be worse" can't work every time.

 

 

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somewhereintexas

somewhereintexas

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well, it goes both ways. I bid on a nice book yesterday that was just listed with almost 7 days to go....and 1 hour later the seller cancelled my bid because somebody offer him a "deal" he couldn't say no to sell outside of Ebay.

 

Not sure if the change has gone into effect yet, but the new rule is that if an auction is ended early on an item that has bids, the seller has to pay a final value fee on whatever the last bid was.

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Lobo1969

Lobo1969

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Posted
well, it goes both ways. I bid on a nice book yesterday that was just listed with almost 7 days to go....and 1 hour later the seller cancelled my bid because somebody offer him a "deal" he couldn't say no to sell outside of Ebay.

 

At least he didn't sell it AFTER you won the auction like a seller recently did to me. He tried to cancel the auction after I won just based on he does 'not ship out of country' so I gave him an USA address and he said nope he already sold the book offline to someone else. His story didn't add up at all so I called eBay and will NEG his .

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