posted on May 3, 2001 12:29:22 PM new
I don't know whether to be furious or depressed. No, I take it back--I'm furious.
I had a nice old Honda Civic listed on Ebay Motors, and early this a.m. the high bidder retracted his bid--okay, I've had a few retractions, and while I'm never happy about it, I know it happens. But this $#*(& went an extra step and totally destroyed my auction with an outright LIE. This bidder claimed about my really nice car that he/she "had a friend look at it, and it's not as nice as the profile."
GRRR!! NOBODY LOOKED AT THIS CAR. It's a flat-out lie. This was my personal car, and if anything, it's way nicer than I stated in the listing.
I couldn't find any way to post a reply to this mean-spirited retraction. I cancelled the remaining bids and pulled the auction--I had no doubt that this big ugly lie would negatively impact my last-day bids. I'm also paranoid enough to wonder if it was a bid-shielding scam, since there were only a couple of hours left in the auction.
So I'm out the $25 listing fee and somebody out there who needs a really good used car is denied the chance to bid on one. I wish eBay had a better bid retraction policy--or at least some way that sellers could respond to bidders who are operating with a hidden agenda.
posted on May 3, 2001 12:36:30 PM new
It probably wouldn't help any to report it to safeharbor, (but then again, it can't HURT, either). How many retractions does this bidder have on his feedback profile? If he has a lot I would report it to safeharbor. I've had a few people get warnings and/or NARU'd for too many retractions.
And since you ended your auction early, you can write to ebay and request your listing fees refunded. They will credit you the $25 since you ended the auction early with no bids.
Good luck!
PS - I think bid retractions should not be allowed
Edited to add: Here is the link where you can request credit:
posted on May 5, 2001 03:36:53 PM new
Thank you, EG!!! I just received the notice from eBay that they will indeed refund my $25 listing fee. Whew!
I don't think I'll relist on eBay motors, though. My experience there has been lousy--this was a relist to begin with. The first time around, I had a gazillion bids, but every single bidder was newbie with sunglasses, or maybe a 0 feedback without shades. The high bidder flaked out, and by the time he did, the back-up bidders had either stopped looking or found another vehicle. This time around, nothing but 0 feedback bidders again. Now, I deal regularly with 0 feedback bidders, but I've never had so *many* bid on a single item.
