posted on March 15, 2004 07:32:38 AM new
Someone bid and won one of my patterns for sale as well as put a bid on another one that hasn't closed yet. When she initially bid, she told me that it was a mistake and wanted me to cancel her bid. I told her she would have to retract her bid. She never retracted her bid. Now that she has won the item, she wrote to me again and stated that she doesn't know how to retract a bid (not true -- she has 4 bid retractions in the past 6 months) and wants to pay me to relist the item. It is clearly stated in big letters in ALL of my listings that the bidders are bidding on a pattern and not the finished product. What would be the best way to handle this? She has 100% positive feedback from 9 members, which doesn't say much.
posted on March 15, 2004 07:52:44 AM new
Hi. She obviously didn't want another bid retraction on her record. I guess she would rather have a NPBA filed against her for non payment. You can't force her to pay, but you can cancel her other bid..and file for your fees.
posted on March 15, 2004 09:10:25 AM new
Thanks for your response, Annekila. I wrote her back and we'll see what kind of a response I get back. She had plenty of time to retract her bid, but didn't want to. I looked at the listing again and it says right in the first sentence of the description "Up for bidding are 3 patterns ..."
posted on March 15, 2004 09:58:13 AM new
I was getting a number of these "Please cancel my bid" emails, and I finally found out why.
It's not necessarily that they don't want a bid retraction on their record. It's the way eBay has the bid retraction screen set up.
And I quote:
--
It is ONLY OK to retract a bid if...,
-You accidentally enter a wrong bid amount (for example, you bid $99.50 instead of $9.95). If this occurs, re-enter the correct bid amount immediately.
-The description of an item you have bid on has changed significantly.
-You cannot reach the seller. This means that you have tried calling the seller and the seller's phone number doesn't work, or you have tried emailing the seller and it comes back undeliverable.
--
Then eBay goes on to say:
--
If you have a valid reason not listed above, you can:
Contact the seller and ask the seller to cancel the bid.
--
Some people are looking at those three options for retraction, deciding that their situation doesn't fit any of the three and then contacting the seller because that's what eBay told them to do.
No mention of the fact that the seller might not be able to cancel the bid before the auction ends.
What a fricken pain.
[ edited by fluffythewondercat on Mar 15, 2004 09:58 AM ]
posted on March 15, 2004 12:16:37 PM new
If there were other bidders maybe you can get a quick response to a second chance offer. Or, just let her off the hook if she pays a relist fee.
While technically she is obligated to pay, if you leave her unhappy you risk an undeserved neg. How much was the winning bid? It doesn't sound like it will cause a financial hardship for you.
