posted on September 29, 2000 07:57:38 PM
how many retractions can a bidder have before ebay boots them off? (bidder has 11 and only 23 feedbacks)
also if a bidder mails you after winning and says he can not pay but has contacted the underbidder (the retraction bidder) to see if he is interested. wouldnt that seem a little suspicious?
anyone see the game here? i think i do but am not clear. and what can be done?
posted on September 29, 2000 08:04:36 PM
You could forward to safeharbor, whether they will take action is another matter. As I understand it, a bidder is allowed unlimited retractions for the "right reasons", the only recourse a seller has is to cancel their bid and not allow them to bid on any of your other auctions.
Safeharbor may take action on contacting the underbidder, but maybe not, since this is what you would be told was an option available to the seller if the winning bidder failed to follow through.
posted on September 29, 2000 08:09:32 PM
i think the winning bidder and the underbidder know each other or are the same person with defferent screen names. anyone know of a way to find out if they are the same person or know each other.
how do you catch these types of bidders who screw up ebay.
posted on September 29, 2000 08:45:36 PM
Check the bid histories of both of these bidders and see if they have a pattern of bidding on the same auctions and coming in first and second. Then contact the sellers, and see if the high bidder reneged in those cases. If so, you've uncovered a variation on bid shielding, however inept (they're not supposed to contact each other, just work on bidding together), and should report it to Safe Harbor with all the pertinent details (auction #'s, etc.).
posted on September 29, 2000 10:04:43 PM
Retractions: I doubt that there is a simple "number" that triggers a response from eBay - they would be more inclined to look at the trend and/or the timeframe. (Eleven retractions in a year is a world of different from 11 retractions in 3 weeks or so, for example.) Forward the info to SafeHarbor, and let them make a decision.
High bidder contacting underbidder: I bid on an item and lost out to a sniper - the next day, I got an email (cc'd to the seller) that the person didn't realize what she was bidding on and didn't want it. I wanted it, emailed the seller, and bought it for $1 less than the high bid.
However, it is my opinion that the high bidder should not take it upon themselves to communicate with other bidders in an auction - it's up to the seller only to offer the item to an underbidder. The difference in bid amounts may be more than the seller is willing to give up (the seller, if they decided to contact the underbidder, may have offered it for slightly more than the underbidder's bid, for example). IOW, I don't think it's the high bidder's place to do any renogiating.
posted on September 29, 2000 11:46:08 PM
Sorry, but I'm a real jerk. You bid on one of my auctions and you retract it with a poor excuse, I'll turn you into SafeHarbor for violation of eBay's TOS. I have managed to get several users blasted by eBay for running around and retracting bids for fun.
"Who cares if a bunch of drunken kids go hot-rodding every Friday night? Doesn't hurt anyone and it's lots of fun!"
Spurious bid retractions, while not physically dangerous to anybody, should also not be tolerated.
