After creating a listing, I apparently had not filled in the start date (at least according to the version of the page that I looked at three days ago). Wishing to give my item to a friend rather than selling it, I assumed that, not having shown a start date (and being informed by the eBay system that my item had not yet been listed) I gave my item away. However, I checked this morning and found that, not only had my item been listed, but it was three hours away from ending and there was a bid, and that I'd have to plead with the bidder to let me off the hook rather than just cancelling the listing and notifying the bidder.
This problem occured because eBay's page for my listing erroneously showed that I'd not yet set a start date. I can't find a way to communicate this to eBay - they have what may be the world's worst system for "helping" us sellers understand what's happening and work with them to fix it. I suspect this will cause my 100% rating to drop, which is really irritating. Also, not being able to cancel during the last 12 hours of the listing is also a pain.
I suspect this is a software problem with eBay's system, in that there are too many ways to get to one's listings and drafts, and there must be confusion in how they find the information to show. Their going to a "new" seller system may not have done us sellers much of a favor, IMLTHO.
