WTF Can't Retract Auction Bid!

[sambeckett]

I accidentally BID too much!! And I can't cancel my bid....

Steam are you really going to steam ***all**** MY GEMS... WTF.

I want my gems back!! cancel my bid before this stupid game auction ends.

[Kesac]

If you are the top bidder, then you cannot retract your bid, but Steam will only take up to the amount needed to beat the second place bidder.

If you are not the top bidder, then you can cancel your bid.

[sambeckett]

It was an accidental bid... I don't want this stupid 99 cent game for 10k gems....

[Kesac]

The only advice I can give you is hope someone outbids you (and quickly cancel if they do)...

[sambeckett]

yes, I am watching and hoping...

this whole thing is pretty lame IMO...

instead of an auction they should just make games a fixed gem amount...

[sambeckett]

well I lost 2/3 of my gems.. and I never would of bid so high on that game.. rather disappointing.

[Ranko]

Originally posted by sambeckett:

yes, I am watching and hoping...

this whole thing is pretty lame IMO...

instead of an auction they should just make games a fixed gem amount...

Then all the games would have been gone in moments to people with far more gems than you.

[NightRider]

The issue is having to cancel the bid in case you change your mind or you need the gems for another game. Cancelling the bid should be possible and 2nd place should become top bidder, and so on.

This basically looks like a sneaky underlying Valve tactic to take away as many gems as possible from people and not as many as these games are actually worth to people.

For example, I may retract my bid just for thinking that particular game is not worth that many gems anymore and that I'm better off selling the gems on the market and using the money for something else.

[Gana]

No, it is to stop people from trolling, tricking people under the number one bid into raising their bids for no reason...just to have the winning bid canceled. If you can't afford the bid, then don't make it. That's the way it works in any auction.

[NightRider]

Originally posted by ganmerlad:

No, it is to stop people from trolling, tricking people under the number one bid into raising their bids for no reason...just to have the winning bid canceled. If you can't afford the bid, then don't make it. That's the way it works in any auction.

Trolling is not possible because you can bid 100,000 gems but only enough to be #1 will be taken away from your inventory. So your theory fails and my point still stands.

But speaking of "any auction", the price inflation trick is possible so people may be tricked into bidding more to become #1 only to have the #2 cancel the bid and leave the #1 "stranded" without the ability to change his mind.

[Heeby-Jeeby]

Originally posted by MackP:

The issue is having to cancel the bid in case you change your mind or you need the gems for another game. Cancelling the bid should be possible and 2nd place should become top bidder, and so on.

This basically looks like a sneaky underlying Valve tactic to take away as many gems as possible from people and not as many as these games are actually worth to people.

For example, I may retract my bid just for thinking that particular game is not worth that many gems anymore and that I'm better off selling the gems on the market and using the money for something else.

This is also how auctions outside of Steam work as well.

If you're at an art or car auction, for example, and you are the top bidder for an item, you can't retract your bid even if the guy hasn't said "SOLD" yet. Once you're the top bidder, it's binding. There is no "I change my mind. Sorry for the inconvenience. Give it to the second bidder."

And yes, there are a lot of people who will purposely drive up the prices and then drop out of the race just for fun. (As long as they are not the top bidder, of course.) That's the way auctions work. Some people like watching others pay more than they should. "Trolling" auctions, I guess, would be the term you guys are all using.

[NightRider]

Originally posted by Heeby-Jeeby:

This is also how auctions outside of Steam work as well.

If you're at an art or car auction, for example, and you are the top bidder for an item, you can't retract your bid even if the guy hasn't said "SOLD" yet. Once you're the top bidder, it's binding. There is no "I change my mind. Sorry for the inconvenience. Give it to the second bidder."

And yes, there are a lot of people who will purposely drive up the prices and then drop out of the race just for fun. (As long as they are not the top bidder, of course.) That's the way auctions work. Some people like watching others pay more than they should. "Trolling" auctions, I guess, would be the term you guys are all using.

Well I know it's in Valve's best interest to milk the users for as many gems as possible, but I simply thought there would be some kind of bidder protection simply because this is not a typical auction where you're present and see other people and know instantly when they bid more than you.
For example, you bid for a game with 15,000 gems only to have someone bid with 15,100 less than a minute away from the auction ending. You literally have to refresh the page all the time only see if you're still #1. And such nonsense.
Valve obviously have no experience with this stuff and should've done more research to make this work properly and with safeguards in place to protect bidders, not just with restrictions.

[ReBoot]

You can't dance your bid if you're the top bidder. This is to prevent classical bid scams. This is bidder protection. If you don't want to be the top bidder, don't bid high.