I canceled my bids, can eBay penalize me for it?

[Kitsune Sniper]

Long story short, I found an item on eBay I wanted. I bid on it. But I didn't realize I didn't have enough money to pay for the item (bills come first) so I sent a polite message to the seller asking that he please cancel my bids because I wouldn't be able to pay him immediately.

He refused. So I canceled the bid myself (there's a day left in the auction.)

eBay's help pages say that you should only manually cancel bids if you entered a wrong amount, if you can't contact the buyer, or if the description has changed. I actually did enter the wrong amount (I bid $30; I didn't think I could cover that amount after I pay my bills) but decided not to bid again...

So can eBay do something to me for canceling the bids? I'm being paranoid, I know, but you never know with eBay... I've never done this before, can you tell? :P

[megamaniaman]

Long story short, I found an item on eBay I wanted. I bid on it. But I didn't realize I didn't have enough money to pay for the item (bills come first) so I sent a polite message to the seller asking that he please cancel my bids because I wouldn't be able to pay him immediately.

He refused. So I canceled the bid myself (there's a day left in the auction.)

eBay's help pages say that you should only manually cancel bids if you entered a wrong amount, if you can't contact the buyer, or if the description has changed. I actually did enter the wrong amount (I bid $30; I didn't think I could cover that amount after I pay my bills) but decided not to bid again...

So can eBay do something to me for canceling the bids? I'm being paranoid, I know, but you never know with eBay... I've never done this before, can you tell? :P


Don't worry, all they can do is castrate you.;)

[b1aCkDeA7h]

Next time, just cancel your bid and don't contact the seller.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Next time, just cancel your bid and don't contact the seller.

See, I figured the right thing to do, as a long time seller, was to contact the guy and ask him politely for help. But apparently being on eBay since 1999 makes you a dick. :P

[-hellvin-]

Heh, what a douche....why would it make sense to try to force someone to pay who is unable to instead of letting someone else win who will pay right away? Lol...

[Kitsune Sniper]

He couldn't force me to pay anyway. Or leave me a neg. But I didn't want to make him waste his time... I was just trying to be nice. T_T

[Cornelius]

I don't know of any penalty for canceling a bid, though I've never done it. I mean, you could have just left the bid and possibly taken a non-paying bidder mark on your record, which doesn't have any consequence anyway. I see your point, though, ebay being ebay, who knows what could happen. Logically, the worst they should do is give that same NPB mark, but I doubt even that will happen.

[ryborg]

My friend's wife is a scatterbrain who is constantly bidding and retracting. Nothing's ever happened to her account so you'll be fine.

[darkslime]

I don't know of any penalty for canceling a bid, though I've never done it. I mean, you could have just left the bid and possibly taken a non-paying bidder mark on your record, which doesn't have any consequence anyway. I see your point, though, ebay being ebay, who knows what could happen. Logically, the worst they should do is give that same NPB mark, but I doubt even that will happen.Non paying bidder does do something. I block people with npb from buying my stuff because i dont' want to deal with them.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Non paying bidder does do something. I block people with npb from buying my stuff because i dont' want to deal with them.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that. :p I do that too.

[Cornelius]

Non paying bidder does do something. I block people with npb from buying my stuff because i dont' want to deal with them.


Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that. :p I do that too.
Right, me too, but how many NPBs do they have to have before they are blocked? 2 per year is the strictest you can set it at, unfortunately. So as long as Kit isn't going around not paying for stuff, he shouldn't have anything to worry about. And remember, I think it is highly unlikely he'll get one of those, that's just the harshest I could imagine the penalty to be.

[rpepper9]

I don't really see the seller as being a dick. I always leave it up to the bidder to cancel a bid. I have had people asking me to cancel their bids and I (nicely) tell them that it is easier for them to go in and cancel the bid from their end.

Most of the time they bidder did not know that they can cancel a bid through eBay and end up finding were to cancel on their own.

[Kitsune Sniper]

It's the way he replied to me that made me think he was a dick.

I've been selling on eBay for several years and I've never told anyone off like that because he wanted to cancel a bid...

[MeTmKnice]

Well, I know in your profile it shows how many times you have cancelled a bid, so a few or less is not going to harm you.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Are you sure? I'm not seeing any mention of retracted bids on my profile. (Click on my eBay auction sig, it should show there.)

[ryborg]

Well, I know in your profile it shows how many times you have cancelled a bid, so a few or less is not going to harm you.

No, ebay removed this "feature" almost two years ago, when they completely re-did the feedback page.