Sellers cancelling bid for not receiving enough

[thelastvictorian15]

I mostly buy antiques and clocks on ebay. Time and time again, I run into people who will list a lovely item, starting bid $9.99 with shipping and no reserve. One, maybe two people bid. Apparently unhappy with how their auction is going, they cancel the bids and the item ends early unsold. 

I also sell on ebay and was under the impression that once listed and bids begin coming in, you were required by ebay to sell the item. Listed and accepting bids was the old offer and acceptance of a contract situation. 

Perhaps I need to review ebay policy again. I'm tired of bidding on items and them disappearing at the sellers whim. That doesn't seem to complete with ebay's policy. If the seller has concerns about getting the right price, they should place a reserve or other mechanic instead of gaming the system by listing more cheaply and removing the listing for often bogus reasons. 

Hell, it happens on valuable bids as well and suddenly the bid is cancelled and the item shows as sold for twice the bid value. 

[7606dennis]

There are several reasons why a seller may wish to cancel a bid rather than it being simply because of the amount of the bid level obtained.  Up until the bidding closes, sellers can cancel any and all bids at their discretion.  While eBay has put in place rules requiring selling to the current high bidder if the seller ends an auction early, a seller can cancel all bids and let the auction end at its regular scheduled time without penalty.

Frankly, there is no way of knowing if the seller seller withdrew the item from sales consideration for low bidding activity without actual confirmation of that via the seller admitting it.  Otherwise it is mere speculation. 

By the way, a record of bid retractions could be a reason why one would cancel a bidder's bids and block them rather than merely low bidding levels being received.

[gmintx]

This happened to me once.  The main thing I look for on ebay are radios and amps that use tubes.  I put in a very low bid due to it had been listed for a week with no bids. The amp being sole had a value between $900-$1200. For some reason no one else bid on it. The seller removed the item about 5 minutes before it was scheduled to end.

Was a bit disappointed but understand them removing the amp.

[7606dennis]

That is, of course, the seller's prerogative.  The seller can, up to the closing of the action, cancel all bids without having to sell to the current high bidder provided they don't end the listing before its scheduled time under eBay rules.  They, of course, run the risk of another last minute bid being placed and them not having time to cancel it.  It is likely that the seller also blocked you from bidding to avoid that possibility in your case.

Whether or not the seller blocked you or the precise reason for cancelling the bids is unknown.  However, the seller has not violated any eBay rules or state auction laws, at least in the states in which I am licensed, as far as I can tell.

Basically, you simply need to find a different seller.  

[woodland_gnome]

It is specifically against the rules for a seller to cancel all bids and end the auction early without a winner IF it is because s/he deliberately set the Starting Price lower than s/he was willing to sell for, and it hasn't reached that high.  But there are legitimate reasons why a seller would have to do so, and a few years ago eBay got tired of having to divine the subjective intent of a seller who took that action, so it adopted some procedures that make it less attractive to do so with that intention:  it may only be done before the countdown reaches 12 hours  AND it charges a fee (generally 10% of the highest cancelled bid) when s/he does so (with the first such fee per calendar year waived to allow for the very occasional legitimate reason for doing so).

[simba6]

That is a problem. A seller can cancel and end an auction if it has 12 or more hours to go. They are charged the selling fee if they do that. Once inside the final 12 hours, they can only cancel bids, not end the listing.  Then if a last second bid comes in, it will sell at a very low price.  They can refuse to sell but, that gets them an NPS defect. Much more than one of those gets a seller banned from selling for life.

[richardbuyer13]

Regardless of the trite excuses made made here eBay allows dishonest sellers the means to violate their expected contractual obligation to sell to the highest bidder/winner of the auction. It makes them an accessory but being the only authority involved free to get away with it. In addition buyers who try to confront these sellers for several types of falsehoods are allowed by eBay to block said buyer from feedback, further seller contact or future purchases in an attempt to notify others of the unlawful practices of corrupt sellers!

[kathiec]

No one here is making "trite excuses". They're merely pointing out that there are reasons and viewpoints beyond your preconceived belief that these are all corrupt sellers. And as has been pointed out, depending on how the seller ends the listing there may be monetary consequences. 

You can't leave feedback because you haven't completed a transaction with the seller. Can you imagine the anarchy if eBay allowed anyone to leave feedback for any other member, whether they'd been in a transaction or not? They actually did that for a short time back in the late 90s. It wasn't pretty.

And no, ending a listing early isn't unlawful. I get that you're angry that you're not getting the item for a bargain price. But sometimes you've just got to let things go and move on.

[downunder-61]

Oh c'mon, this is a 2 year old thread.

[kh-laura]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.