# Damn eBay! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 30, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110 "2007-01-30T15:20:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/21 "2007-01-30T19:42:02Z")
The only downside to retracting a bid as far as I can tell is that it is shown on your stats. Not such a big deal unless you’re withdrawing bids left and right. I accidently bid on something, confusing it with a very similar item, realized my mistake, emailed the seller before the auction closed and that was that. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/22 "2007-01-30T19:57:37Z")
[QUOTE=adam yax] This represents one of the major problems with eBay. It is damn near impossible for a buyer to get out of a deal, but the seller can get out any old time they want. [/QUOTE] I had some dipshit cancel my bid because “I had more than two negative feedbacks”. Umm…I have 100 transactions, and only one had a negative feedback. There weren’t even any neutrals! Fucker. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/23 "2007-01-30T21:25:28Z")
**Bear\_Nenno** , if you contact the sellers of the surplus auctions you may be able to convince them to cancel the bid for you, too - if you can’t get the retract bid button that others are mentioning to work, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/24 "2007-01-30T22:33:55Z")
One more voice here urging you to contact four of the sellers and explain the problem to them. Pick the ones who are “Power Sellers”, or who have the most Feedbacks, or who have an eBay store, or who were selling multiple units of this or similar merchandise. Those are the folks who are in the business of selling things on eBay, and they really don’t care whether you buy their stuff today or somebody else buys it tomorrow; they’ll just put it back on the shelf, so to speak, and re-list it. The seller you wanna avoid–the one you wanna stick with–is the seller who found one (1) in his basement and is trying to make a few bucks off it. **That’s** the guy who’s going to be extremely pissed off to lose a sale, and who’ll get really snarky about it. You can tell this guy because he doesn’t have anything else for sale, or maybe only a few other random items. Also, he will usually only have a few Feedbacks under his belt, as opposed to the 300 to 10,000+ feedbacks that some of the Power Sellers have. But the other folks I described, they’re businesspeople, they can deal, and this sort of thing happens oftener than you’d think. Send them an e-mail. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/25 "2007-01-31T15:53:47Z")
Make up new phoney accounts and outbid yourself on the items you don’t want? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/26 "2007-01-31T20:21:43Z")
**Pushkin** , given that the OP said that his integrity was worth more than several hundred dollars upthread, I don’t think he’ll be eager to try this tactic. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/27 "2007-01-31T20:29:36Z")
[QUOTE=Lush Puppy] Link to bid retraction form is on the page. Read carefully… there are consequences. [/QUOTE] I have my doubts about how seriously eBay enforces that. I’ve just today had a guy bid on an LP I’m selling and cancel it a few minutes later. His reason was “entered wrong amount” (that being one of the three reasons you can select when retracting a bid), but he did not immediately rebid, as is required by the eBay rules. This is a guy who has been on eBay since 1999–although most of his feedback is from the past year or so–so I’ll bet he’s pulled this before. A while back I got a bid cancellation with the “could not contact seller” selected; the guy obviously never tried to contact me. He just selected _something_, and that’s enough to get the bid cancelled. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/28 "2007-01-31T20:33:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Anyone want one of my three copies of Neverwinter Nights Gold? Is that an RPG? What platform? To the OP: You can always sell the extras on e-bay… _D & R_ Seriously, though, that really, really sucks. I would try to explain the situation to the buyers and see if they were feeling generous. If I were selling something and you explained the situation, I’d be understanding and let you off the hook. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/29 "2007-01-31T22:00:27Z")
UPDATE: Well I didn’t want to do the Retract thing, cause I just didn’t want to dick out on an obligation. Plus, there are only three legitimate reasons to file a retraction, and non of them are “I’m an idiot”. So I couldn’t really do that without bullshitting. And the reasons seem to really make the seller look bad. Like, “Could not contact seller”, “Seller changed description”, and something else that also made it seem like the seller was doing something wrong. So I was concerned that it would flag them or put a label on them or something. I didn’t want them to take the hit for me messing up. Anyway, so I sent a message to the two sellers who were left. (I was outbid on the others and one of them I won.) One of them messaged me back with “Just retract it” So… I just retracted it and said “Could not contact seller”. I guess it’s not such a bad thing for the seller at all. He didn’t seem to care. I gave the other guy a day to respond. But I never heard from him. His auction doesn’t end for over a week, so I guess he might not be back for a few days. I figured that qualifies as “could not contact” too. Plus, the other seller didn’t seem to care. So I just retracted that one too. No negative feedback anywhere. Maybe the eBay database has me labelled as “FLAKY BIDDER” somewhere? Whatever. PayPal offered me like $1000 in credit, so they must not hate me. 24% APR?? Fuck PayPal! Thanks, but no thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/30 "2007-01-31T22:37:32Z")
[QUOTE=Bear\_Nenno] No negative feedback anywhere. [/QUOTE] Feedback can only be left for someone you won an auction with (buyer or seller). If you withdraw before the end of the auction, they cannot leave feedback. > [@](#): > > Maybe the eBay database has me labelled as “FLAKY BIDDER” somewhere? Yes. If you click on your feedback number next to your name, it will take you to your own feedback page. Below the “Recent Ratings” box, there is an indication of how many bid retractions you have made in the last six months. Some sellers will notice that, most won’t. In any case, they drop off after six months. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/31 "2007-01-31T22:42:30Z")
[QUOTE=Bear\_Nenno] I gave the other guy a day to respond. But I never heard from him. His auction doesn’t end for over a week, so I guess he might not be back for a few days. I figured that qualifies as “could not contact” too. Plus, the other seller didn’t seem to care. So I just retracted that one too. [/QUOTE] There’s a good chance, with a week left, that you will be outbid. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/32 "2007-02-01T05:46:23Z")
I ebayed while drunk and now own a Russian motorcycle with side-car. I’m either quitting drinking or ebaying. (ebaying would be cheaper) ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/33 "2007-02-01T09:03:16Z")
[QUOTE=Bear\_Nenno] Anyway, so I sent a message to the two sellers who were left. (I was outbid on the others and one of them I won.) One of them messaged me back with “Just retract it” So… I just retracted it and said “Could not contact seller”. I guess it’s not such a bad thing for the seller at all. He didn’t seem to care [/QUOTE] There seem to be a great many sellers who sell a slew of stuff on EBay that doesn’t seem to shift with any speed, perhaps he’s just selling so much he can take a few knocks? ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/34 "2007-02-01T19:46:02Z")
[QUOTE=Gatopescado] I ebayed while drunk and now own a Russian motorcycle with side-car. I’m either quitting drinking or ebaying. (ebaying would be cheaper) [/QUOTE] Oooooh, how much? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/35 "2007-02-03T03:21:09Z")
[QUOTE=Bear\_Nenno] Oooooh, how much? [/QUOTE] Far less then they sell for, far more than its worth. Did I get a deal? I still haven’t figured that part out. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110/36 "2007-02-03T03:39:38Z")
[QUOTE=Gatopescado] Far less then they sell for, far more than its worth. Did I get a deal? I still haven’t figured that part out. [/QUOTE] I think that might depend on whether you paid for shipping or had to go get it or what. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-ebay/390110.md?page=1)