There are two big merchants on eBay that I follow. (both brand sellers) One is a sports/apparel and the other is the product I sell.
At one point in the last year or so, they both made huge pricing errors. There was a discussion about the sports apparel seller here. The negatives were flying and in one case, they were being removed as fast as they were being left.
I don't know the law as it relates to pricing mistakes but I do know that mistakes happen. The problem with the average eBay seller is that they don't have the volume to absorb the "cancelled transaction rate" nor do they want the ensuing negative feedback. They also won't have the ear of eBay to remove the negatives.
It is possible that it was done for publicity or to turn the negative publicity into positive. (see, we let the guy have it for the mistaken price)
Maybe they could have used the eBay seller excuse "buyer requested to cancel"
