E bay flaw

[watervole]

I just discovered a nasty little quirk on ebay. If you bid for an item with a low value and specify a maximum bid, then if you are outbid (over your maximum) and the higher bidder drops out, then you don't go back to your original bid, but to your maximum.

So I dropped out as well, seeing as this way my only effective method of protest.  (and the same item was available elsewhere on ebay for 30p less postage...).  I'd found the cheaper one later on, but felt honour-bound to stick with my original bid, until my bid was increased even after the competition dropped.

Comments

[dumain.com (from livejournal.com)]

Are you sure it is an e-bay flaw as opposed to a scam?
Crony-of-Seller-A raises bid repeatedly until they are the highest bidder then drops out.
Crony-of-seller-B then bids just under the highest bid to force the price up to the maximum.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

It's a flaw. The bid history was very simple (and no one would run a scam to gain 30p)