Ebay - "It's not a bug, it's a feature"

[watervole]

Those who saw my earlier posting about the effect of bid retractions on ebay   (if you bid £10, maximum bid £20 and someone else bids £25 and then drops out, YOUR BID IS INCREASED TO £20 even if there are no other bids on the item)

I queried ebay about this.  Their first reply was a standard one that didn't even bother to read my email (just bunged back a standard answer on how to bid).  Their second reply was clearly more concerned that I had cancelled my bid in protest at their mechanics rather than any concern that people bidding for valuable items could be duped in this way.

However, it did also list when you are allowed to cancel a bid, so read carefully if you are worried about this particular problem. 

Hello Judith,

Thank you for writing back to us. I understand that you have cancelled 
your bid on item number 150251313515.

I have checked our records and can see that you have cancelled your bid 
on the item as your maximum bid automatically appears when the higher 
bidder cancelled their bid on the item. I would like to inform that as 
the highest bidder retracted their bid amount of £1.50, your maximum bid
amount of £1.30 will automatically appear. 

Furthermore, please note that when you place a bid or use "Buy It Now", 
you enter a binding contract to buy the item at the bid price. Always 
check your bid carefully before confirming it with your password.

We understand that mistakes and other problems can happen, so there are 
some cases where you may cancel a bid:

- You made a clear error in your bid amount. In this case, you must 
place another bid with the correct amount after cancelling your bid. 
- The seller significantly changed the description of the item after you
bid. 
- You can't contact the seller.

Remember that these are exceptional circumstances. Invalid bid 
retractions breach eBay policy.

Be aware that the number of times you've retracted a bid is displayed in
your Feedback Profile, under "Feedback as a buyer". Sellers may not want
you to bid on their items if you have a high number of recent bid 
retractions. 

Time restrictions on retracting bids: 

- Up to 12 hours before the end of the listing: You can cancel all bids 
on the item.
- During the last 12 hours of the listing: You can cancel your most 
recent bid if you placed it within the last hour. If you want to cancel 
a bid you placed more than an hour ago, you need to ask the seller to 
cancel your bid.

For more information on retracting bids, copy this link into a new 
browser window:

 http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/questions/retract-bid.html

I trust that this information is helpful. If you have further questions,
please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Kind regards,

Susanne Greene
eBay Customer Support 
____________________

The whole world can talk for free! Find out more at www.skype.com
____________________



Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Thank you so much for a standard reply that shows you haven't even READ 
my original problem!  Your reply doesn't even MENTION the effect of 
cancelled bids on the bidding system.

The item number was 150251313515

Judith


eBay United Kingdom Customer Support wrote:

> Hello, 
> 
> Thank you for your email. I understand your concern regarding the bid 
> you've placed to a listing.
> 
> Please understand that while we're always happy to help you, we'll 

need 

> further information from you to look into this matter properly. Please

> reply with the listing number of the item in question. 
> 
> Furthermore, I've provided you the information below about how proxy 
> bidding works:
> 
> 1. When you place a bid, you enter the maximum amount you'd be willing

> to pay for the item. Your maximum amount is kept confidential from 

other

> bidders and the seller.
> 2. The eBay system compares your bid to those of the other bidders.
> 3. The system places bids on your behalf, using only as much of your 

bid

> as is necessary to maintain your high bid position (or to meet the 
> reserve price). The system will bid up to your maximum amount. 
> 4. If another bidder has a higher maximum, you'll be outbid. BUT, if 

no 

> other bidder has a higher maximum, you win the item. And you could pay

> significantly less than your maximum price. 
> 
> This means that you don't have to keep coming back to re-bid every 

time 

> another bid is placed.
> 
> An example of proxy bidding in action:
> - A listing starts at £1.00. I come along and submit a bid of £100.00.

> As there are no other bids yet (mine is the first), the bid is on me 

for

> £1.00. 
> 
> - Now you come along and see that the current bid is £1.00 and you 
> decide to bid £5.00. You enter the bid and then you get an immediate 
> outbid notice. Why? Because the proxy system has my £100.00 maximum 

bid 

> to execute while keeping the bid at the lowest possible amount. 
> 
> - Once you see an outbid notice, and the bid goes up to £5.50, with me

> as the high bidder. You rebid £10.00 and the same thing happens. I am 
> still the high bidder at £10.50 and will remain so until you or 

someone 

> else bids more than my initial maximum bid. 
> 
> - Now, say you bid £150.00. The bid then falls to you at £101.00, as 

you

> have passed my maximum bid. I'm now the one who's been outbid. 
> 
> More information:
> Please visit our bidding tutorial at:
> 
>  http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/proxy-bidding.html
> 
> For more information about bid increments please visit the following 
> page:
> 
>  http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/buy/bid-increments.html
> 
> I hope this information answers your question. If you have further 
> questions, don't hesitate to contact us again.
> 	
> Kind regards,
> 
> Mary Dunne
> eBay Customer Support 
> ____________________
> 
> The whole world can talk for free! Find out more at www.skype.com
> ____________________
> 
> Original Message Follows:
> -------------------------
> 
> Additional Information
> Question Text
> I bid 99p for an item with a max bid of £1.30
> Someone else bid £1.50
> The higher bidder dropped out.
> My bid was increased (without any input from me) from 99p to £1.30 - 
> even though there was now nobody bidding more than 99p against me.
> So I cancelled my bid as well.
>  

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