Unable to cancel order as a buyer

[tomsk3000]

I bid on an auction listing. I then realised the item was not an original but a modern reproduction (listed in the wrong category).  As the auction had less than 10 hours to run I was unable to retract my bid.  I therefore contacted the seller and explained the situation.  The seller was happy to remove the bid but was unclear of the process.

Later when I checked my ebay, I noticed that there was a request to complete payemt for the item?  I am unable to cancel this order and the seller does not know what to do.

I do not blame the seller, as I appreciate how complicated ebay can be, especially for fairly new sellers.  I would just like to know how is it possible for a bid on an auction listing to be converted into a 'buy it now' bid without the buyers consent?  Surely the software should have inbuilt protection against this happening?

[m25jet]

If you do not want to go through with the sale contact the seller again and ask him/her to send you a cancellation request.  If the seller sends you a cancellation request via eBay then when you get the request to cancel the sale you will need to accept it.  This will then void the sale and relieve you of any contractural obligations to pay for the item.  However, unlike registered business sellers, private sellers are not obliged to automatically accept return requests.  Therefore, if the seller is a private seller and he/she decides to decline your request to cancel the transaction you may well find that the seller opens an Unpaid Item Dispute against you.  If that happens then you have two options - you either pay for the item or you ignore the seller completely, and when the seller gets the chance to close the case he/she can then close the case against you and get a refund of his/her Final Selling Fees.  However, if this does indeed happen your account will be hit with an Unpaid Item Strike.  If you only get one of these then you shouldn't run into any difficulties, but if you pick up two or more Unpaid Item Strikes within a twelve month period then you will find it very difficult to buy anything on eBay, as the majority of sellers on eBay have their selling preferences set up to automatically block buyers who have been hit with two or more Unpaid Item Strikes during the past twelve months.