"there is no auctioneer as such in the online situation"

Then just what is Ebay?

"Thousands of legitimate bid retractions occur daily on eBay"

Does Ebay release this figure or are you just guessing?

"I tend to look at both sides of a situation before reaching a conclusion, can you say the same?"

Perhaps thats part of your problem, you think there are only two sides to a situation.