posted on May 3, 2001 12:29:22 PM
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
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
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.
