posted on October 1, 2002 02:23:50 PM
I had an auction end last night and got an email from the second bidder:
Good Morning,
I have a problem with the results of the auction that ended yesterday at 7:00p.m. I bidded $46.99 and received a message that I was the highes bidder. I then went back in and bidded $50.00 just in case of a last minute bidder.
The problem is that the auction went to another bidder who bidded $50.00 also, but according to the bid history, this person bidded on Sept 28, 2002, while I bidded on Sept 30, 3002.
If this person bidded $50.00 on Sept 28th, I would have never been the high bidder when I bidded the $46.99. It should have said I was already outbidded.
I feel that I won this auction and I would like to purchase this gown/robe and have it mailed with the other item I won yesterday.
I would greatly appreciate it if you would look into this for me and advise me as to how to go about contacting ebay for an explanation.
Thanking you in advance,
(emailer)
Here is the bid history. ID's have been changed.
WINNER 1) $50.00 Sep-28-02 01:50:58 PDT
EMAILER(13) $50.00 Sep-30-02 19:00:18 PDT
EMAILER(13) $46.99 Sep-30-02 19:00:03 PDT
Bidder A(58) $18.50 Sep-30-02 18:59:41 PDT
Bidder A(58) $16.50 Sep-30-02 18:59:23 PDT
Bidder A(58) $14.50 Sep-30-02 18:59:07 PDT
Bidder B (312) $9.00 Sep-25-02 06:27:07 PDT
You will notice the winner only shows up as the winner, so if she had put a proxy in earlier she shold have shown up before, right?
Does this look like she used some type of sniping program?
I emailed her and told her I didn't think ebay would change it, and I feel like I'm stuck in the middle.
posted on October 1, 2002 03:14:01 PM
it states very clearly at the bottom of the bid history page ....
Remember that earlier bids of the same amount take precedence.
posted on October 1, 2002 03:15:30 PM
Was your winner either A or B? It looks like your Winner(1) had bid earlier and that the $50.00 winning bid was the high bid Winner(1)bid. I hope you can understand that. Had Winner(1)bid earlier? That is what you have to find out.
posted on October 1, 2002 03:23:09 PM
winner bid $50 on the 28th. the emailer bid $50 on the 30th. even tho they bid the same amount the winner bid that amount 1st and therefore is the winnder. not hard to understand.
posted on October 1, 2002 03:57:09 PM
OK:
Libra63: bidder a & b are two separate bidders, not the winner or the emailer.
THe thing that is weird is the winners BID DATE.
She only shows up in bid history ONCE, as the winner. So when the emailer bid $46.99, she outbid bidder A, because the WINNERS bid did not show yet.
If the WINNER used a proxy, shouldn't she show up in between all the bids smaller than hers? Like if she bid on the 28th a high bid of $ 50.00, shouldn't the ebay computer do the proxy bidding for her? If so, when the emailer bid $ 46.99, she should have gotten an OUTBID notice, not a notice that she was high bidder. Also shouldn't we see those proxy bids.
So I am trying to figure out how she did that. My thinking is a sniping program or something, but I have never used one or know anyone who has. Any ideas? Anyone famliar with sniping programs?
I hope that makes more sense. So the second person feels like she was cheated. Let me know if this stil isn't clear,LOL!
posted on October 1, 2002 04:13:08 PM
Each bidders bid shows up only ONCE. Your emailer made two bids, they each show up once.
Although there is a proxy bidding system, each and every increment is NOT shown in the bid history. Only each bidder's bid is shown (and in the case of the winner, only one increment above the underbidder).
The winner did NOT use a snipe program, if he did it would be automatically placed (and show a time) just a few seconds before the end of the auction.
Your emailer did NOT get a message that she was the high bidder - because the winner was. And it seems suspicious that she placed another bid only seconds after her first bid (unless, of course, she got an outbid notice and then raised her bid).
Either your emailer is confused, or there was a serious glitch with ebay's program. I tend to believe the former.
Hope this helps.
Vinnie
edited to add:
Tell your emailer that you are sorry but you will have to abide by ebay's WBN. If she has a problem she will have to take it up with ebay.
posted on October 1, 2002 04:15:57 PM
IF you are willing to be the negotiator on this, otherwise you have to go with what EBAY says is the highest bidder.
Ask your complaintant to email you the bidder confirmation notice that says they were the highest bidder.
If they can't produce one, then they weren't the highest bidder in anyone's eyes. IF they can, then contact ebay with the problem.
But I thought since the winenr bidder bid on 9-28, shouldn't her (smaller) bid show up after bidder b on the 25th, but before bidder A on the 30th? And then again as winner? Maybe I don't get it, LOL!
posted on October 1, 2002 04:35:20 PM
is the emailer sure she received a highest bidder email or just a bid placed email? i was not aware that ebay sent out emails stating you are the current high bidder. if they do let me know.
as for what you should do.. go by who ebay says was the highest bidder. by what it says at the bottom of their bidder history page, the winnder is the highest bidder. no matter if the emailer received a high bidder email or not. i also find it odd that the emailer would up their bid right away unless they received notice that they had been outbid when they placed the 1st bid.
i would have the emailer send you a copy of the email saying they were the current high bidder. they may be trying to just wrangle the item from you. not scam you but get it from you by coming up with this story hoping youll feel confused and somehow at fault. ebay says someone else is teh winner you are therefore obligated to send the item to that person when they pay.
posted on October 1, 2002 05:54:28 PM
Whew, this is a tough one. Do you have another item identical to the one sold? Or maybe something similar? Maybe you could do a deal, but it really sounds like she wanted the one she bid on. Good Luck
posted on October 1, 2002 06:13:16 PM
I'm wondering if the 'emailers' statement that "I bidded $46.99 and received a message that I was the highes bidder. I then went back in and bidded $50.00 just in case of a last minute bidder." is actually true. If they DID get a message from eBay after they bid $46.99 that they were the high bidder, then something is wrong, but I dont think they did. I think they are just confused or lying. Just my opinion.
posted on October 1, 2002 06:28:20 PM
According to the dates of the bids, the winner of the auction must have placed their winning bid as the second bid on the auction.
The bidding would have gone like this:
Bidder B (312) $9.00 Sep-25-02 06:27:07 PDT
auction price $9.00 to Bidder B (312)
WINNER (1) $50.00 Sep-28-02 01:50:58 PDT
auction price $9.50 to winner (1)
Bidder A(58) $14.50 Sep-30-02 18:59:07 PDT
auction price $15.50 to winner (1)
Bidder A(58) $16.50 Sep-30-02 18:59:23 PDT
auction price $17.50 to winner (1)
Bidder A(58) $18.50 Sep-30-02 18:59:41 PDT
auction price $19.50 to winner (1)
EMAILER(13) $46.99 Sep-30-02 19:00:03 PDT
auction price $47.99 to winner (1)
EMAILER(13) $50.00 Sep-30-02 19:00:18 PDT
auction price $50.00 to winner (1)
That's the only way it could have worked. Neither Bidder B or the EMAILER were ever winning the auction at anytime...
The time of the bids also seems to indicate that the EMAILER never received an email to say they were the highest bidder. I'd be very surprised to find that someone could place a bid, get an email, then place another bid all within 15 seconds. More likely they placed a bid, were sent to the page that says they were outbid and gives them the option of bidding again...
Curious, what time did the auction end? Maybe the EMAILER was the one trying to snipe the auction and when the bid hit $50.00 just assumed that they had the winning bid or just ran out of time to bid one more time...
[ edited by ptimko on Oct 1, 2002 06:40 PM ]
posted on October 1, 2002 06:38:25 PM
OK, let me re-write this, giving each bdder a "name"..
The emailer I will call Teresa.
The winner I will call Samantha
bidder a will be Jessica
bidder b will be Sandy
4 different people total bid.
Here is the bid history. ID's have been changed.
Samantha 1) $50.00 Sep-28-02 01:50:58 PDT
Teresa(13) $50.00 Sep-30-02 19:00:18 PDT
Teresa(13) $46.99 Sep-30-02 19:00:03 PDT
Jessica(58) $18.50 Sep-30-02 18:59:41 PDT
Jessica(58) $16.50 Sep-30-02 18:59:23 PDT
Jessica(58) $14.50 Sep-30-02 18:59:07 PDT
Sandy (312) $9.00 Sep-25-02 06:27:07 PDT
SO -- the only bid that ever shows up from Samantha is THE winning bid -- showing the date that she bid -- 2 days before the auction ended. Shouldn't there be some proxy bids in between there? Am I not getting it,??? LOL!!!
ptimko -- I think that is what you are saying.... Does it just not show that way at the end? I copied every bid in the bid history, I left nothing out, just their real ID's. (7 bids show on top of auction page where it tells you # of bids)
posted on October 1, 2002 06:42:51 PM
I think you've got the idea... The winning bidder placed the winning bid on the 28th, the proxy just keeps raising the price up until the current winning bid is surpassed. The proxy bid does not record in the bid history since the winning bid hasn't been reached yet...
posted on October 1, 2002 06:47:52 PM
Basically, Samantha placed her bid after Sandy and before Jessica, she only bid once, her bid was $50.00. She didn't bid again because she was always winning the auction with her $50.00 bid...
posted on October 1, 2002 07:10:28 PM
"SO -- the only bid that ever shows up from Samantha is THE winning bid -- showing the date that she bid -- 2 days before the auction ended. Shouldn't there be some proxy bids in between there? Am I not getting it,??? LOL!!!"
You do not get it. Read my first post.
Interim proxy bids do NOT appear in the bid history. When someone bids LOWER than another bid it kicks up the earlier, higher bid in the bid history listing.
Go to a few closed auctions (anyone's) and look at the bid histories. Each bid appears only ONCE in the order of the amount.
And by the way the notice that you get after placing a bid is NOT an email, it appears as soon as you place a bid - it either says you have been OUT BID or it say CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE THE HIGH BIDDER.
posted on October 1, 2002 07:23:25 PM
OK! So I WASN'T getting it, LOL!!
Thanks for clearing it up. I was under the impression that it should have shown Samantha winning each time between there. Now that I have a better understanding I feel better about this. I think "Teresa" may have been confused......plus it does seem a little weird to up your bid a few seconds after "just in case".
THanks all. I'll leave this alone unless she emails me back with anything to "prove" otherwise, (such as a high bid email.)
posted on October 1, 2002 07:25:45 PM
Depending on the notifications selected by the person bidding. They may or may not have received a bid notification email or an "outbid" email. If they don't have any of those, I doubt there is much that can be resolved by eBay. The only possible explanation for the wrong message popping up on the screen is a bad link on the auction page that misdirected them to a "congratulations" page rather than an "outbid" page...
Just a thought, but if the auction ended at around 7:00pm and the bidder was bidding at 19:00 (7:00pm) then it looks like they were trying to snipe the auction and ran out of time...
[ edited by ptimko on Oct 1, 2002 07:28 PM ]
posted on October 2, 2002 11:28:49 PM
Simply put,
Samantha is the winner if the auction.
Teresa never was the top bidder.
No glitch in the system except for Teresa.
