eBay trick/flaw?

[Sherman Bay]

I may have uncovered a trick or a flaw, depending on how you view it, on eBay.

I had a bid for an item that opened at $1, and I put a max bid of $50 (all numbers in this thread are fake, since the bidding is still open and who knows who reads this forum). The current bid then became $2, with me as the highest bidder.

Then I got an email that said I was outbid and the current bid is $51.

Checking the bidding page, it still says I am the highest bidder at $2, but is encouraging me to raise my max bid to $52 or more.

I refreshed all pages, checked the validity of the email, and everything seems to be the OK.

Then I noticed one bidder had made a bid of $51, then retracted it 4 minutes later and put in a bid of $5.10. Looks like he put the decimal point in the wrong place. Accidental?

Or was it intentional? I think it exposed my max bid for four minutes to either the seller or the other bidder(s). Now they know what my max bid is, don't they (potentially)?

Has anyone else had this happen? Any comments?

 

[Whip]

but how would he have been lucky enough to guess you set your high bid at $50? Personally if the item is started at an extremely low bid, I would consider your 50 times bid limit excessive to the point of being ridiculous trying to guess it.

 

[NotJesus]

It could be an accident but, yes, I think your max bid was exposed for a few minutes. If someone used a retracted bid as a ploy to find out a max bid, I don't think there's any recourse, unless they do it on a regular basis. eBay sez "Abuse of bid retractions can result in the suspension of your account," but there's no way to prove $51.00 wasn't meant to be $5.10.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I may have uncovered a trick or a flaw, depending on how you view it, on eBay.

I had a bid for an item that opened at $1, and I put a max bid of $50 (all numbers in this thread are fake, since the bidding is still open and who knows who reads this forum). The current bid then became $2, with me as the highest bidder.

Then I got an email that said I was outbid and the current bid is $51.

Checking the bidding page, it still says I am the highest bidder at $2, but is encouraging me to raise my max bid to $52 or more.

I refreshed all pages, checked the validity of the email, and everything seems to be the OK.

Then I noticed one bidder had made a bid of $51, then retracted it 4 minutes later and put in a bid of $5.10. Looks like he put the decimal point in the wrong place. Accidental?

Or was it intentional? I think it exposed my max bid for four minutes to either the seller or the other bidder(s). Now they know what my max bid is, don't they (potentially)?

Has anyone else had this happen? Any comments?

I would think EBay's software would return you to highest bidder status. Try refreshing the page again. It's common for there to be a delay in their system. It should eventually show you as the high bidder at $5.10.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

It could be an accident but, yes, I think your max bid was exposed for a few minutes. If someone used a retracted bid as a ploy to find out a max bid, I don't think there's any recourse, unless they do it on a regular basis. eBay sez "Abuse of bid retractions can result in the suspension of your account," but there's no way to prove $51.00 wasn't meant to be $5.10.

Good point. That does sound very plausible.

 

[Dr. Keith]

but how would he have been lucky enough to guess you set your high bid at $50? Personally if the item is started at an extremely low bid, I would consider your 50 times bid limit excessive to the point of being ridiculous trying to guess it.

I assume the value of the thing is around $50 and all buyers know this so the late buyer is just checking to see if the earlier buyer has already put in a bid to get it up there.

A bid of 5.10 seems more absurd to me. Unless it is for climbing equipment and the buyer has a fondness for for very sticky rubber.

It could be an accident but, yes, I think your max bid was exposed for a few minutes. If someone used a retracted bid as a ploy to find out a max bid, I don't think there's any recourse, unless they do it on a regular basis. eBay sez "Abuse of bid retractions can result in the suspension of your account," but there's no way to prove $51.00 wasn't meant to be $5.10.

Abuse is tough to prove on a site that is so large and doesn't really police socks very well.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

but how would he have been lucky enough to guess you set your high bid at $50? Personally if the item is started at an extremely low bid, I would consider your 50 times bid limit excessive to the point of being ridiculous trying to guess it.

A coincidence is possible, especially if the bidder was choosing an especially high bid thinking he was sure to be over the maximum bid.

But if it scared him off, then little harm done. I worry more that a seller is going to get a friend to bid an item up to the maximum. If eventually that item gets bid up to $49, I'd be more concerned than if someone wanted to see the max bid and then gave up bidding for it based on what they found.

 

[_Q_]

but how would he have been lucky enough to guess you set your high bid at $50?

It's not necessarily luck, but instead, how the eBay proxy bidding system works.

If an item opens at $1, and Bidder A sets a maximum bid of $50, then the bid will show as $1.

If Bidder B then sets a maximum bid of $10, eBay would "proxy bid" on behalf of Bidder A to meet that bid, plus the minimum "bid increment". The "bid increment" varies with the value of the bid; at $10, I think it's $0.50. So, Bidder A would still be the current high bidder, but his bid would show as $10.50.

I think that the bid increment for $50 is $1.00. If Bidder B were to set a maximum bid of $500, then eBay would proxy bid on his behalf to meet Seller A's maximum bid, plus the $1.00 bid increment. Bidder B would be the new high bidder, with a high bid of $51 showing.

No guessing required!

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I assume the value of the thing is around $50 and all buyers know this so the late buyer is just checking to see if the earlier buyer has already put in a bid to get it up there.

A bid of 5.10 seems more absurd to me. Unless it is for climbing equipment and the buyer has a fondness for for very sticky rubber.

Abuse is tough to prove on a site that is so large and doesn't really police socks very well.

It's not uncommon to add an odd assortment of change to the end of the dollars. It keeps you above someone who bids close to your bid.

The thing here is, if your max bid is $50 and the bidding is at $2, and someone bids $51, this:

Checking the bidding page, it still says I am the highest bidder at $2, but is encouraging me to raise my max bid to $52 or more.

Sounds more like Ebay's delayed software than anything else. The encouragement to raise the bid to $52 was in motion before the bid was withdrawn, The bid is withdrawn and the current bid goes back to $2. A new bid is entered, $5.10. Eventually the high bid will show Sherman Bay at $5.10 with the other bidder showing up on the bid list but Sherman still on top.

I've seen a screen take a very long time to update on Ebay.

 

[Pulvinar]

...Has anyone else had this happen? Any comments?

So far it looks normal, and relatively harmless. If someone now bids just under your bid ($49), you'll have a better case for "foul play". I put that in quotes because it would really mean you're just not getting a better deal than you expected.

 

[Sherman Bay]

I would think EBay's software would return you to highest bidder status. Try refreshing the page again. It's common for there to be a delay in their system. It should eventually show you as the high bidder at $5.10.

It did. Isn't that what I said?

but how would he have been lucky enough to guess you set your high bid at $50? Personally if the item is started at an extremely low bid, I would consider your 50 times bid limit excessive to the point of being ridiculous trying to guess it.

Not at all. Many items start bidding at a ridiculously low figure only to sell at a ridiculously high one. Maybe it's something I really want, and the initial bidding is lower than the item is worth, but why should I care if I can buy it for less than hoped?

I think the problem here is the combination of "you should increase your max bid" with the eBay statement "you are the highest bidder," with the current bid much less than your current max. That particular sequence of events isn't handled well by the eBay software; possibly not even anticipated.

 

[Sherman Bay]

I won the auction, with a bid much lower than my max. The bidder who entered the too-high bid, then retracted it, did not return to the auction. The second bidder did not make a bid in the last 12 hours, so I won with the original bid, using eBay's automatic bidding. There was no action in the last few minutes (or even hours) for this item. My guess is this item was not a hot one for most.