As some of you will have seen, I had my bike listed on Ebay and it was due to end this weekend.  While I was out today, someone decided to enter numerous bids on the bike in an attempt to find out the reserve price and, once it was reached, cancelled that bid and all previous bids under the heading of "entered wrong amount".    My dispute with Ebay is I only knew what had gone on because JP just happened to log on and have a look around the exact time this was all going on because it looked like I'd got a winning bid on the bike and there were 5 bids in total taking it beyond the reserve.  When I clicked on the listing it showed no bids, and no bid history due to a delay in the system updating.  When I checked later it just stated one bid had been retracted which could quite easily have just been a mistake by someone and I wouldn't have thought much of it.   Unless this is noticed at the exact time it's taking place Sellers are unaware that someone has gone through lots of bids in order to find out their reserve, possibly with the intention of just sticking a low winning bid in at the last minute rather than treating it like a proper auction and bidding against other interested parties.  What a con!   Having reported the issue they are supposedly taking action against this Ebay member, but I thought I'd make everyone aware of it as I've been selling on Ebay for a number of years and I hadn't come across it in such an obvious way.  Great way for shops to source bikes/cars at a Seller's minimum selling price.   Needless to say I've cancelled the listing and I'm asking for my fees to be refunded.                                                                                                                                                                             

ye Ive seen that one b4.....and thgt of doing it myself many times|!
As you say, a few bids will reveal the reserve at which you will sell...and if thats not what you really want then you disapointed.
However, no one can force you to sell it....'contract' or not. Who would pay to enforce you to sell? So always up to you, there the option of cancelling of a bid too of course...then it wnt make reserve....problem is you have to give a reason and to say its a racial thing is just not done!!  lol

                                                                                                                                                                             

the ONLY way not to be ripped off sooner or later on e-bay;if you have the extreme good luck to be within easy travelling distance of item/car/bike/.....ring vendor on contact no. and arrange to private view.cash talks,a large pile of notes screams!my 600speed four was bought for £550 under advertised price because i lived close enough.apart from that i wouldn't risk unless a shop item.

Your missing the point on this. the bidder made 5 bids then cancelled all of them only showing 1 bid   Boss Moms e-bay showed no bids then after she contacted e-bay it showed only 1 cancelled bid not 5. I am sure if I had logged on 5mins later we would have not known about any of the bids so how many more ways around the system are there. the system is flawed and I would never sell a big item on e-bay                                                                                                                                                                               

JP as an ebay user (buyer and seller), i find the easy and cheaper way to sell big items on ebay is with a classified ad. no final valuation fee and no hassle. Sold 2 bikes this way, got more than i expected for both aswell. PS hows the shoulder and personnel nursing coming along lol :-)

I've sold a few cars on eBay, what I do is have no reserve and start the auction at my minimum price.                                                                                                                                                                              

hi folks I sell on ebay but the charges are a rip off . Isell on gumtree as well this is totally free and goes to different areas no fee,s they pay when pick up too. hope this helps you all with buying and selling ninja jan