Does eBay Allow This?

[iliketurtles112]

A seller had an item I was planning to bid on today. There were no other bids. Seller ended the item and re-listed it as a BIN at double the price. Isn't this deceptive and unethical as a seller? Is it against any sort of policy?

[stephenmorgan]

Since there were no bids they did nothing wrong.  If you had placed your bid then they are not supposed to cancel the auction.

[714ricki]

If the listing didn't have any bids, then the buyer can definitely end the listing & create a new listing at a different pricing point. No policy issues or deceptive selling practice at all. 

[12345jamesstamps]

Should have made a bid on it. Nothing unethical. 

Maybe someone offered to buy it now and seller wants the "money" now and not a week later by bidders.

[bashort]

when bidding I usually use a sniping service but there are times when I put in the min bid just to discourage the seller ending the listing early then snipe my real bid

[monroe67 · Accepted solution]

"Isn't this deceptive and unethical as a seller? Is it against any sort of policy?"

No, what you described is not deceptive.  
Unethical?  Kind of a personal decision.  eBay allows it as long as there are no bids.   However, personally, I don't think I or my selling ID would do it, but that's just us.  We commit to whatever auction period we set.
No, it's not against any eBay policy.  

Does the new listing accept offers?  Is there a field for potential buyers to enter their Best Offer amount?
If so, perhaps you could try submitting an offer about halfway between what you would have bid and the current BIN price.  Be aware that the seller could still reject your offer.  

Hope you can get what you want!

[ckimodog]

@iliketurtles112 

No...it's not.  A seller can sell in any fashion that eBay offers to sell.  Most likely the seller is looking to get an actual buyer for the auction.  Many buyers do not like auctions as they do not want to wait 7 days or more to get their item.  As long as it's within the eBay guidelines of selling, it's perfectly fine.  

Happy Holidays. 

[soh.maryl]

Then the seller can definitely end the listing etc.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@bashort wrote: ... I put in the min bid just to discourage the seller ending the listing early then snipe my real bid

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I do that, too.  

Another advantage of this strategy is that the seller cannot change the auction (title, description etc.) after you place that first bid, so if you want to check up on the auction before that snipe bid is placed, you only have to check on whether the seller has added anything to the description, rather than having to comb through all the details to make sure they haven't made a significant change in the listing.

[worldcoinauctions]

As far as raising the price, if I had hoped an auction would get bid up and decided to relist the item as fixed price, you are right, I would increase the price on it too. Sometimes I increase the price on a fixed price listing. Let's say it's been renewing for a while and I decreased the price a bit, still  no sale so the next time it renews perhaps I increase the price. Sometimes that gets people off the fence and they buy the item. 

[buyselljack2016]

What you describe is neither............  deceptive, unethical, nor against eBay policy.

Seller could have come to their senses and realized that just one bid at the opening price could end up being the only bid, and their item would be sold at a loss. They may have thought bids would come in to reach/exceed their initial expectations.  Could have realized that the item was worth much more that the opening amount.

They took the correct/smart path ending the listing to relist to possibly sell the item for an amount that they are comfortable with.

We often see posts where auctions were started low, not reaching expectations, resulting in refusal to ship by a seller. That would be deceptive, unethical, and against eBay policy.

[yellow-snapdragon]

Then they should have realized this BEFORE  listing it the first time. I think from a buyer's POV it is misleading. 

[chapeau-noir]

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@yellow-snapdragon wrote:

Then they should have realized this BEFORE  listing it the first time. I think from a buyer's POV it is misleading. 

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But misleading for what?  The ability to just sit and watch the listing and then snipe in the last minute? That's on the buyer.

[buyselljack2016]

Well yes, would be nice to realize before, but again nothing wrong. Wrong/deceptive/misleading would be to realize it after a bid. I once made a mistake.

[monster-deals]

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@iliketurtles112 wrote:

Isn't this deceptive and unethical as a seller? Is it against any sort of policy?

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No, no

and 

No