Buyers cancelling bids

[jjrush_31]

In the past week I have had two potential buyers cancel bids with the excuse  (sorry - reason) they have entered the wrong amount. eBay bidding rules state quite specifically this is only allowed if the bidder wishes to correct the amount, but neither bidder has entered a "corrected" bid. As far as I'm concerned this goes under the heading of bid manipulation - to see what maximum another bidder may have entered - but, other than a paragraph in the retracting a bid section, eBay appear to do nothing about it.

Until last year I had never had a retracted bid, but the practice seems to be growing. 

Any similar experiences from other seller?

[plpmr]

block any buyer who retracts.

[jckl1957]

I think Ebay is to blame for this.

If a bidder has a change of heart about an item (it does happen) they have 3 options to cancel a bid:

Entered wrong amount

Seller changed the description (not actually possible as sellers can't change the description of an item with a bid on)

Unable to contact seller.

So, bidders choose 'entered wrong amount' as the least bad choice.

To be honest, i would rather have a cancelled bid than an unpaid sale - you have to wait 4 complete days before you can cancel using 'buyer did not pay' - or, item is sold, paid for and sent and then the buyer opens a return for an invented reason because they didn't really want it.

As advised, block them and move on.  You can always check your bidders and see if they have a lot of bid retractions by looking at their feedback received as a buyer.  Most people have 0 bid retractions but some people seem to make a hobby of it.

[john1297576]

There are only specific reasons why a bid can be retracted, so as you say buyer should stick to the rules.

However knowing that they will break the rules on this, don’t you think you may have been saved an expensive experience later if they had won and paid. As said just block them, you do not want this sort of buyer.