Bought, Cancelled, Relisted?

[whisper135]

Can anyone help me figure out the angle here?

1. I bought something (BIN), immediately paid for it, then got contacted by the seller saying they did not have it anymore.

2. Ok no problem, they refunded paypal.

3. But then immediately relisted the item for the same price and shipping (BIN). 

I sent a note to the seller asking why they would immediately relist of they did not have it, I am not sure if I will get a response. The only other thing is that the reason code for the cancellation is that the "buyer requested cancel" (which I did not) but I figure if there was something negative to fight with this I can just contact ebay and they can read the email from the seller to verify the seller was saying they did not have it.

I cannot figure out why someone would go through all the trouble. They have perfect review score and while I am in the US and they are in Japan, they list with worldwide shipping (both listings). 

While I do not think it is a scam, I was refunded, I just cannot figure out why someone would go through the trouble. Maybe they did not want to ship to the US? But why not exclude US from shipping locations? Is there some new benefit for doing this activity I am missing?

[disneyshopper]

What was the time interval between the cancellation and relisting?

Is it possible the seller couldn't find the item, so cancelled, then later found the item and relisted it?

[whisper135]

Less then 20minutes.

the seller replied, it was hard to understand but i think i know what may be going on.

the seller has no inventory, he lists things from japan at a markup. In this case, the item was out of stock on the manufacturer website. I tried to buy it on ebay because i already knew it was limited run and out of stock hence why i was willing to pay a 45% markup. When i bought it, it looks like he went to get it from a local website and saw it was out of stock. Essentially he is listing things he does not have in his possession and will make the attempt to get it once someone buys it.

when asked why he relisted he said he wanted people to see he deals in that product so he rather keep the listing up.

this was a limited hand crafted fountain pen that retailed for $500. The company is never going to do another run. I left neutral feedback warning people that the listing is for something he does not have. This all still seems like a scam.