Auction canceled after I won for a low price

Question

I won an auction for an old microphone. The seller canceled the auction after I'd won, but before I'd paid.

I bid low, and was pleasantly surprised to see I'd won it for $77 incl. shipping. On a Sunday night, I would've expected it to sell for $200 or so, and I'm sure the seller thought that too, but the auction ended at 4:00 on a Tuesday. (I was winning another auction of theirs, for a similarly small bid, but they canceled it before the auction was over. I realize that's allowed.)

I don't believe the item is "damaged or out of stock." I fully expect them to relist it with a higher starting bid.

Any recourse?

woodland_gnome · Answer

The seller already got a "defect" when s/he cancelled the transaction (unless s/he lied to eBay to blame you, in which case we'd need details especially what eBay said the reason was in the cancellation notice). That is the primary tool eBay uses to weed out bad sellers, downgrading the selling status of those who get too many relative to their sales volume (as opposed to having to pay employees to actually investigate to see how likely it was that the seller had a legitimate reason to cancel vs. deliberate policy violations).

You may leave appropriate (calm, factual--if the seller said that x was the reason say "seller said x. . ." so people don't think you are just jumping to conclusions) feedback to warn future buyers/bidders. If the usual links have vanished, go to anyone's Feedback Profile (doesn't matter who, click on the feedback score in parentheses behind the username) then scroll down to below the last comment on that page to find a "Leave feedback" link that doesn't vanish (it brings you to a list of items you can leave feedback for).

Theoretically you could sue the seller for breach of the contract of sale (for the difference between the auction price and what you ended up having to pay for a replacement), but that is almost never practical.

disneyshopper · Answer

If the seller selected the reason for the cancellation as "damaged or out of stock" then a defect was recorded on the seller's account. Too many defects and the seller can be restricted or suspended. Many sellers would select a lie to avoid the defect, so your seller must be new.