ive noticed that i get an 'out of stock' message and a refund whenever i win an auction below cost.

[captsilvuhkokk]

ive won several auctions and whenever i score a nice one, the seller sends a refund, and a note saying. 'hes out of stock' i think we all know whats going on here, but there doesnt seem to be any recourse. 

[mudshark61369 · Accepted solution]

@captsilvuhkokk,

There are generally two types of sellers who cancel transactions if an auction does not get enough bids, chinese ones and new sellers. 

A new or inexperienced seller can have a fair number of feedback and a 100% rating, but they can be all or mostly for buying not selling. Often those sellers take ebay's poor advice to start auctions at a low price "to encourage bidding", which often doesn't work for new sellers.  Because of that you need to check each seller's feedback profile page before buying from them.

   Some sellers are having problems with ebay's new Managed Payment system. New, inexperienced or returning ones, often do not know there will be a hold on receiving their payments until they build a reputation for completing transactions. Others are confused by Pending notices, and delayed payments to their accounts.  I just had a conversation with a seller who hasn't shipped an item after 5 days, because even though they have been using managed payments for a few months, the payment I made has not yet been deposited to their account.

When sellers cancel transactions claiming out of stock, they get defects on their accounts. They can end up paying ebay's final value fees for the transaction, lose listing discounts, be limited on how many items they can list and/or get kicked off the site.