11-12-2025 12:19 PM
Hi I'm a private seller just downsizing and clearing personal items I have collected over the years.
Why, in the last 6 months does it appear to have become really difficult to make a sale,
I have made a few sales and then within 24 hours I get a message saying the buyer has cancelled their bid.
I thought once you bid on an item unless you had a really good reason the buyer had to go through will the transaction or at least ask seller if they would consider cancelling the bid. Sales on eBay seem to be cancelled without any reason given and no money exchanged.
With all the extra charges including compulsory Buyer protection fee items are not even worth listing especially as the buyer seems to be able to retract their bid at any time all the goodwill and faith in selling has disappeared. Is it now worth continuing with all the time and effort involved?
Regards,
very disillusioned private seller of over 20 years.
11-12-2025 12:45 PM
You are correct a buyer should have a good reason for cancelling their bid ,but this seems to have gone out of the window, and a buyer can cancel their bid seemingly with no penalty aside from a bid retraction score rising.
Probably better to cancel that bid, than they decide after winning an auction , they do not wish to pay, therefore leaving you with a 4 day wait to cancel and relist the item. As an experienced seller of 20 years no point telling you to block these time wasters from returning and ruining any more of your sales.
One thing, the few auctions you have in my humble opinion, have a ' ceiling level' for a price. I would list them then in a Buy it Now format for that price, and add immediate payment required, that way it will stay listed until payment is received.
11-12-2025 4:27 PM