There are many stories on the forums that tell you the same old-geezer
Although eBay will say somewhere within it's T%C's that you are entering a legally binding contract there is no way they can, or do enforce it. If the buyer doesn't pay or the seller doesn't sell, they get a black mark on their a/c. More than one can add restrictions, including a temporary NARu.
Those little starts also cause the same effect
However, bidding £55 instead of 55p would seriously annoy me. You have to confirm at least once you want to bid the amount you have, so one would question whether it is a genuine mistake or buyer remorse?
Can't see anything here about only having an hour to retract a bid tho
http://pages.ebay.co....tract-bid.html#timing