Canceled Bid - Item no longer available - But seller relisted

[just_br0wsing]

The subject states it all:

Canceled Bid - Item no longer available - But seller relisted.

This happens to me every now and then when no one else bids on an item except for me.  For example, item 304334920196. I won it, but the bid was canceled and the seller relisted it.

I have complained in the past to eBay, but nothing is ever done.

Is it okay to cancel bids if I do not like the outcome of an auction?

[woodland_gnome]

It is specifically against the rules for a seller to cancel all bids and end the auction early without a winner IF it is because s/he deliberately set the Starting Price lower than s/he was willing to sell for, and it hasn't reached that high.  That is considered fee avoidance because eBay charges a fee to set a Reserve Price so you can set a Starting Price lower than you are willing to sell for.

But there are legitimate reasons why a seller would have to do so, and a few years ago eBay got tired of having to divine the subjective intent of a seller who took that action, so it adopted some procedures that make it less attractive to do so with that intention:  it may only be done before the countdown reaches 12 hours  AND it charges a fee (the FVF% for that seller in that category time the highest cancelled bid) when s/he does so (with the first such fee per calendar year waived to allow for the very occasional legitimate reason for doing so).