@dan7b7,
"Sellers Lie about items no longer being available in order to cancel bids. This is proven to be a lie because this exact same seller has exact same item listed in “Seller's other items”. A search can be done in “Seller's other items” and it becomes obvious that this lie is planned and intentional".
China based sellers who auction items at very low starting prices often cancel auctions if the price doesn't get high enough. They also leave listings in place if the the drop shipper they use runs out of an item. They violate many other ebay policies, counting on the volume of their sales to keep from being sanctioned.
Out of the last 50 purchases you have made, all from China based sellers, only 2 of those seller's has a feedback percentage of 98.6% or better, the cut off point for most experienced buyers.
"They do not intend to complete the sale -- unless maybe bids get close to their inflated buy now prices. This planned intentional lie is becoming a very common practice among sellers".
There is a way to avoid this in the future. Stop bidding on items being auctioned by China based sellers who start auctions at low prices. Do not bid on or buy from sellers with a percentage of 98.6% or lower. On a search results page scroll down the left hand column and click on the U.S. only filter. If you and others stop bidding on those listings, maybe they'll stop listing them that way.
"This is KILLING eBay as many shoppers are becoming fed up with eBay doing NOTHING about it.
I am now buying so much more on AliExpress than on eBay".
By doing that you are hurting ebay, and other U.S. based suppliers. Worse yet, you are putting your customers in danger by buying auto parts made in China with substandard materials, poor fitment tolerances, missing parts etc., seemingly so you can pad your bill a bit to make more money. The same items being sold on Ali Express are of no better quality.
Using the Report item button does little good. eBay will not pull a seller's item(s) over just one person's report. It take reports by several different buyers all for the same item, before ebay will take action.
My advice:
Check each seller's feedback profile page before bidding on or buying their items, and do not buy from China based or any seller's with less than a 98.6% or lower percentage, at all. Click on the numbers of non positive feedback to read only those comments. It can help weed out the China based sellers who registered in the U.S.give a U.S. location, but get their items from Chinese owned warehouses in the U.S..
Remember that quality costs. Spend a bit more to buy items that are made by reputable U.S. based Mfrs., and state who they are on a listing. Not only will it save time, but also money in the long run.
"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FOOLPROOF, BECAUSE FOOLS ARE SO DARNED INGENIOUS!" (unknown)
