Auction item simply disappeared

[moonbirdy]

I was high bidder on an auction that was due to end tomorrow. But I check my status today and the item is simply gone. No messages. No other buyer. Just gone with no information at all. 
anybody else experience this?

[gosimus]

@moonbirdy 

< anybody else experience this? >     

I've heard about it happening before.  Obviously, somebody removed it.  It could have been one of two entities; either eBay removed it for some kind of policy violation; or the seller removed it, but I think if the seller removed it there'd be some trace for you to find, like a notice of your bid being cancelled. 

[tdumonde2014]

Many have, like the KGB, when eBay removes an item all traces of it's existence cease to exist.

[moonbirdy]

Thanks for your reply. Yes, it seems that some sort of message could be sent, at least saying the item was no longer available. But eBay is a vast site, so it's easy to get lost.

[tdumonde2014]

For eBay to send you a message that the item was removed would require them to confirm that the item existed in the first place.

[woodland_gnome]

Do you have the item number? If so paste it into the URL: ebay.com/itm/###########.   If a short form completed listing page comes up look at top left for the reason the listing ended. You can also click on the # of bid display to see if any bids were cancelled before the end. If the item number is not found, eBay removed the listing for some issue with the listing and/or seller (this also applies if you had the listing on your Watch List and it is gone from there).

If you don't have the item number rerun the search where you found the item originally and if it's not in the results for active listings click the box to show "Completed listings" in the left column of the search results.

I recommend you place any listing you are planning to bid on onto your Watch List (or another list you make for that purpose) BEFORE you bid so it is easy to find after you bid: you won't have to look in 3 different possible locations (Bids, Didn't Win, and Purchase History, and if your bid is cancelled it won't be in any of those, AND it can take some time after it disappears from the active Bids section at the end of the auction to show up in the appropriate other section) as it will be in the Watch List regardless of your status in the auction (unless eBay removes the listing).