I've just done something really stupid and over-bid on something on eBay to the extent that it's not worth the money (£80). There are other better ones going for £50.00. You know when someone outbids you several times and you get annoyed so you put in a huge " off" bid? Well two of us did the same and ended up with the bidding going much too high. I'm not going to buy it but what will eBay likely do? Will I get suspended or something? I know I will get negative feedback from the seller but that doesn't bother me really. It seems to me it breaks distance selling regulations, which have a 14-day cooling off period, if I am not able to change my mind? I knew I shouldn't have bloody bid on it but eBay keeps nagging you with stuff you might be interested in. Every time you log in there's streams of adverts for things like other things you have bought. They even email you with suggestions. Anyway, I am not paying £80 for a teddy bear!!

You can retract your bid:

http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?RetractBidShow

There's probably a way to adjust this in your Account or Profile settings. Look in MyEbay tab...

I use eBay but have always set a max budget / bid and tried to keep a lid on any bidding frenzy. Most often similar or sometimes better items are found soon after. Have become more picky of late and found it best to check how a few similar items sell and then set your budget.

Ebay won't do anything. The seller will raise a non payment claim and close it to get their fees back.

I sell far more than I buy and once in a while people don't pay. I just relist and move on.

When I do bid, I tend to bung a max bid and leave well alone.

Distance Selling Regs (or whatever the replacement is called) only cover you if the other party is a business seller.

Cheers everybody. The seller just let the bidder that came second have the item. So there was no unpaid item case. I thought eBay would don a black cap and mete a terrible revenge.

Annie - justsnipe.com is what you need. Free to use and stops you getting carried away. Just insert the ebay item number, set the maximum amount you would want to pay and then you can forget about having to wait until the end of the auction. In particular it stops you getting carried away . Plus it stops items "getting bid up" as it doesn't place the automatic bid until the closing seconds.
The free version's not infallible (and some subscriptions services place bids even later), but I've won loads with it. Not so good for sellers though.

You should pay what you owe, and mark it to experience. Yes you got carried away, yes its not worth it but this is your mistake not the sellers.
I cant tell you how much it annoys, none paying bidders.

Another point of view would be ... before you press the button and enter the amount,, engage the brain next time Annie :))))))

Hey Annie you don't fancy buying a coop that's only slightly broke do you

Ha ha ha ha! Patch - brain was engaged but in dim mode.

Sam - I am an ebay buyer/seller with over 2,700 transactions and I have never not paid before. The seller in this case only lost out on 20p because the second place bidder bought it.

Came2Dance - how broke is it? Not as broke as me a week before payday!