I bid on an item on Ebay. Seller had a large amount of positive feedback (thousands). Auction was set to end today (Thursday) at noon. There was no “Buy it Now” option.
Tonight I checked my email and there were no messages saying I had won the item or that I was outbid, or anything.
I went on the “My Ebay” section of the site and there is no history that I ever bid on the item. In fact, there is no history that I ever even looked at the item which I did a couple of times over the course of a week before I bid on it. When I did bid on it, mine was the only bid. I also did not receive any notice that the seller withdrew the item or ended the auction.
The item is also not up for auction anymore, either. It’s as if it had never existed and I never even looked nor bid on it. The entire transaction simply disappeared.
Is it something that could have been counterfeit? I’ve had things that I had noticed (suspected they were counterfeit) and was watching disappear like that. I think eBay basically scrubs their existence from the site when they are caught.
Yeah, I’ve thought of this as I’ve had that happen before but Ebay always sent an email explaining that the item was removed from auction. That hasn’t happened this time. This is an odd incident.
And it would be highly unlikely that the item was counterfeit.
I buy tons of stuff off Ebay and never had anything like this happen before.
What would happen if they just removed it from sale? I know you’re not supposed to, and you get penalized from eBay from doing it, but I do believe it is possible.
Is it possible you did get some sort of email, but some change in spam detection ate it?
Wish I knew more facts, but the one time I actually didn’t Buy It Now, I still used my old sniping website. Early on, it seemed to be the only way I could win.
I looked for more info after I posted, and it looks like the above – seller cancelled the listing – is a possibility. You may or may not get an email about it, and if you do, there could be some delay. You could try searching completed items for it. The thread I found on eBay had a bunch of people complaining about this (and also baffled).
Also, on the “My Ebay” page it lists items I have recently looked at. This item isn’t on there even though I had looked at the item days before I bid on it. It’s as if I dreamed the entire thing. Baffling!
Did you search for it in completed items? Because that’s probably where you’ll find it. Whether you get an email upon bidding is a user preference. I don’t get them just for bidding.
And another dumb question - do you share a computer with anyone else? Is it possible that a spouse was logged in when you looked at the item and bid, so the history is in their account and the emails are now sitting in their inbox instead of yours?
Yes. And no, it isn’t in there. I’ve used Ebay a quadrillion times, I kniw where to look.
And no, it wasn’t on another auction site. And the particular computer I was on is used only by me. And I had to sign in to Ebay prior to making the bid.
Sometimes accounts with high positive feedback are hijacked, as they have a high value. I’m sure some are sold also, but anyhoo. If it was hijacked and returned to the seller, the highkjacked activity may have been simply wiped.
Sellers cancel auctions all the time. In many cases the items they are listing on eBay may also be for sale on other platforms, in a consignment store, want ad listing, etc. If they sell the item elsewhere before the auction ends, they cancel the listing. Not against eBay rules.
You can cancel an auction listing early if there are no bids on an item, or if there are 12 or more hours left on a listing that has received bids (though eBay says it will charge a fee in the latter case).
