ebay bid retractor blacklist

victorludorum

I've been an ebay user for many years now and have always considered myself (maybe stupidly) as a fair player. I mainly buy, but sometimes sell. I've bought stuff both cheap and expenive, sold stuff cheap and expensive etc etc; I don't snipe, but don't really have a problem with this practice for those that have the time and energy. For the first time today I had a bid retracted on me. This was clearly a price sniffing ramp, and on checking the guy's feedback he seems to be a serial offender. I'm ok with people making mistakes (entering wrong amount), but this guy has done it 4 times in the last year, so I would say he's adept at using the tactic. My only response has been to block him. Some may say I'm cutting my nose off to spite my face, but I'm ok with that. This guy's clearly a guitar related buyer, so i was wondering if there was any appetite on here to maintain a blacklist of dodgy buyers/sellers that we can all block in order to discourage such dastardly deeds?...

usedtobe

I've placed bids on items, only for the item to be pulled, presumably they've done a deal off eBay.. Are we blacklisting them, as well?

timhulio

I'd not come across this practice to any great degree when selling guitar/pedal related gear on eBay, but when I sold some camera stuff recently it was ridiculous. I had fake accounts bidding the items up to way more than they were worth, then cancelling all their bids a day or two later. I ended-up blocking eight bidders, and removing bids from those with no feedback and fake-sounding usernames just to be on the safe side. Had to watch the auctions very closely on the last day, just to make sure nothing weird happened.

Bearpaws

Thanks for this thread OP.  It's something else I'll have to watch out for.

Sassafras

I didn't even realise you could retract bids until just a couple of days ago.
Ebay should tighten up on that. I don't think Christie's or Sotheby's would stand for that.

dindude

timhulio said:

I'd not come across this practice to any great degree when selling guitar/pedal related gear on eBay, but when I sold some camera stuff recently it was ridiculous. I had fake accounts bidding the items up to way more than they were worth, then cancelling all their bids a day or two later. I ended-up blocking eight bidders, and removing bids from those with no feedback and fake-sounding usernames just to be on the safe side. Had to watch the auctions very closely on the last day, just to make sure nothing weird happened.

I'm being thick here, what are they gaining by ramping the price up but not buying?

fandango

Price sniffing - yeah I wondered if that was an issue. Now you've put a name to it, I can see the potential for abuse.

For buyers, I'm thinking it's the biggest reason NOT to bid early. What if the price sniffer is the seller with a second username? Price sniffing can, it seems, unfairly commit the bidder to his highest bid, especially if done in a way that takes their bidding to just under your max.

I treat purchases off Ebay like I do Amazon - straight purchase price, and no silly bidding wars.

timhulio

I think possibly they're finding out what others have bid so they can snipe at the last minute. I wouldn't be surprised if the fake accounts/bids were automated. There seemed no rhyme nor reason to some of the bidding though. Perhaps the user from Spain with a username comprising just digits and no feedback bidding far more than the item was worth would have come through in the end, but I didn't like the odds.

Moe_Zambeek

They bid it high, early, to put off other bidders, who give up, then they cancel most of their bids thus reducing the selling price at the end of the auction. 

mellowsun

Bid retraction largely comes in to play to try to force a 'second chance offer'. This can work to the advantage of a corrupt seller or a corrupt buyer working in league with another bidder.

a corrupt seller will have a stalking bidder bid against you to flush out your maximum bid. The stalker will win the auction but then retract, allowing the seller to make a second chance offer to you at your maximum bid - ensuring that you pay the highest price for the item.

a corrupt buyer will work in a similar way but this time will use the process to try to get the item (via one or more partner bidders) for the lowest price from an unsuspecting seller, as @Moe_Zambeek explained

victorludorum

I think it's something ebay have enabled as it helps buyers, and that's what ebay's all about now.

olafgarten

I had the same thing when I was selling my old Graphics Card, they weren't even subtle, there was 1 legitimate bidder and 4 bidders with the names:
i_will_snip_u121
i_will_snip_u212
i_will_snip_u112
and finally,
i_will_snip_u211

Sassafras

olafgarten said:

I had the same thing when I was selling my old Graphics Card, they weren't even subtle, there was 1 legitimate bidder and 4 bidders with the names:
i_will_snip_u121
i_will_snip_u212
i_will_snip_u112
and finally,
i_will_snip_u211

No they're legitimate.
They're all Rabbis.

robgilmo

I really can't see the problem, people retract bids, it happens. It's Ebay, that's just EBay, when EBay decided to keep bidders ID,s private, that's when EBay turned to the dark side, you have to remember its in EBays best interests for thing to sell for as high a price as possibly and they are very good at achieving that.

robgilmo

Ducking predictive text....