I would like to add a few clarifications to my previous post. Firstly, when the bid was cancelled, my first action was to send the ebayer a note asking what had happened. He did not respond to my note in a timely manner, nor has he yet responded. I have also had a retracted bid on my set of Mavic skewers (ebay auction 7131377158). In that case, the person retracting the bid did not harm other ebay members. I was in fact the sole aggrieved party. The 'Buy it Now' option on ebay only stays available as long as no valid bids have been placed. This means that as soon as one bid is placed that meets the reserve, the 'Buy it Now' option disappears. In the case of the Cinelli bars on the other hand, I had already received two questions from ebay members asking if I had a 'Buy it Now' price for the bars. I explained to both that my $600 'Buy it Now' price had been cancelled out by the bid of the then bidder. One of the two asked if I would take the $600 to end the auction early. I explained that ebay rules prevented me from accepting his offer and it was my obligation to let the auction run until the end. Unfortunately, I did not keep either the original emails and or my responses and these ebayers were not people known to me. I hope that one or the other of them is among the 57 people who have bookmarked the auction, but so far this does not seem to be the case. It is therefore obvious that the fellow who retracted the bid harmed not only me, but apparently at least two other ebayers.
As far as retracting bids go, contrary to what Kim says, you are not permitted to retract a bid because you found a better price elsewhere. The sole legitimate and legal reasons for retraction are, as stated by Ralph are:
You made a typographical error and entered the wrong bid amount. For instance, you bid $99.50 instead of $9.95. If this occurs, re-enter the correct bid amount immediately after you retract your bid. If you do not place another bid, the retraction will be in violation of eBay's policy and could result in your suspension. Please review the retraction guidelines if you need to retract your bid.
The description of an item you have bid on has changed significantly.
You can't reach the seller. This means that you tried calling the seller but his or her phone number doesn't work, or you have tried emailing a message to the seller and it comes back undeliverable.
Someone has bid on an item using your User ID and password.
For Kim's edification, in Germany, only the first two scenarios listed above are valid for a bid retraction:
Ein Gebot darf z.B. ausnahmsweise dann zurückgenommen werden, wenn
Sie versehentlich einen falschen Gebotsbetrag eingegeben haben, z.B. EUR 1000 statt EUR 10,00. (In diesem Fall geben Sie bitte unverzüglich nach der Rücknahme ein neues Gebot mit dem korrekten Gebotsbetrag ab.)
sich die Beschreibung eines Artikels nach Ihrer Gebotsabgabe wesentlich verändert hat.
As far as Ken's comment stating that my comment is a bit over the top, upon reflection, I regret calling the fellow 'ebay scum' and feel an apology to the list is in order for that. SORRY, for the characterization of the fellow as ebay scum, it was uncalled for! For the rest of the post, given the complete circumstances, I do however feel that it was appropriate. Ebay as a place to buy and sell vintage bike parts can only function if all play by the same set of rules.
Lastly, regarding Chris' question if a stem badge should go with such a stem, the answer is that the overwhelming majority of steel Cinelli stems did not come with a stembadge. Any stem that does not have two screw holes never had a stembadge. Handlebars, like wheels, are items that cannot appropriately be depicted in the small size of the gallery photos. The limitations of the gallery photo size are well known and this is why Ebay has announced that they will increase the size shortly. Until such time, I feel that one does not have any other way to draw attention to such items other than to otherwise highlight the brand or item. This is why I paid the extra price of the super-sizeable photos.
As an interesting aside, this event made me check out my blocked bidder list and I was surprised to see that over half of the ebayers on my list have actually been suspended. It just goes to show that while Ebay may be very slow to react, they do generally weed out the bad apples.
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Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ