Seller cancels auction with 2 seconds left

CarsonCityGold

The bid was over $1400 with approximately 4 minutes left. I got busy and the next time I checked it the seller had cancelled the auction. Just doesn't seem right. Sorry, I don't know how to make a link. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11973&item=3002784338&rd=1

paigowjohnny

link

IrishMike

Unfortunately ebay allows them to do it. Your only recourse is not to bid on any of his or her auctions in the future.

GTOster

Don't fell bad happened to me today with 20 sec left not a high price item but never the less it stinks I wonder if it's the same guy
as he has alot of them running right now

Paul

Loki

He seems to have developed a habit of doing this. Look at his completed auctions.

MacCoin

that sucks. I think sellers should have the same time limit to cancel as a buy do to retract a bid. 10 hours sorry seller its the way I feel. It just isn't fair. you have reserves you start the auction at any price you want. its like ebay is all for the seller and to hell with the guy thats really come up with the money(the buyer).

CarsonCityGold

The guys cancelled 16 auctions in the last 2 days. Lets see if he cancels those Redfields!

jeffnpcb

He probably got tired of all the cheap buzzards circling this coin, trying to get something for nothing! It is PCGS so the price is already over-inflated! I guess he is just telling all the cheap buzzards to fly, he's still breathing!!!

clackamas

What an idiot. One guy swimming against the waterfall trying to rid the world of snipers. I always put in my auction "Its not the LAST person to bid, its the person with the HIGHEST BID but I am not going to cost myself money just to prove a point.

djm

Technically, it is a voilation of eBay Policies to do that. I don't know why eBay doesn't do something about it. Ebay loses a lot of listing fees to this type of stuff. Instead of the $5.40 listing fee he is only paying .30.

Has anybody ever reported it to eBay and gotten a respone?

LanLord

Is that an inverse snipe?

Petescorner

Has anybody ever reported it to eBay and gotten a respone?


I reported this practice to eBay a while back and posted their response here. In a nutshell, they said it's not against their rules.

Russ

What is the normal market value for this coin?

Russ, NCNE

greghansen

Wonder how the seller would feel about the high bidder cancelling his bid in the last couple minutes of an auction? I likewise think this is a damn poor practice to allow. It damages the credibility of EBAY as an auction venue. EBAY should not permit it as a 'routine business practice'. There should be some legitimate reason why the seller can't proceed with the auction other than, 'I changed my mind about selling it at that price'. Even major auction houses require sellers to give them their reserve price before the auction goes live. EBAY is allowing these sellers to mislead bidders about the nature of their auctions and to change the terms of the auction from 'no reserve' to 'hidden reserve' with the stroke of a computer key. Crappy, crappy business practice and I suspect it will eventually be abused by enough sellers so that they will make it against their policy. Until then, I avoid those sellers who I am convinced cancel no reserve auctions towards the very end as a business practice if it hasn't met their 'hidden reserve'.

gmarguli

One day he will get his. If he waits that long, it's very possible that he will end up cancelling several of the latest (higher) bid and the auction will end before he can cancel the earlier (lower) bid. He'll end up selling a coin like this for $50.

DCAMFranklin

<< <i>Wonder how the seller would feel about the high bidder cancelling his bid in the last couple minutes of an auction? I likewise think this is a damn poor practice to allow. It damages the credibility of EBAY as an auction venue. EBAY should not permit it as a 'routine business practice'. There should be some legitimate reason why the seller can't proceed with the auction other than, 'I changed my mind about selling it at that price'. Even major auction houses require sellers to give them their reserve price before the auction goes live. EBAY is allowing these sellers to mislead bidders about the nature of their auctions and to change the terms of the auction from 'no reserve' to 'hidden reserve' with the stroke of a computer key. Crappy, crappy business practice and I suspect it will eventually be abused by enough sellers so that they will make it against their policy. Until then, I avoid those sellers who I am convinced cancel no reserve auctions towards the very end as a business practice if it hasn't met their 'hidden reserve'. >>




Greg- I totally agree. With that kind of recent history, I certainly will refuse to bid on any of Slater's future auctions. I think it is a pretty chickencrap way of doing business!

fairtraderzz

eBay is cracking down on this practice (insider info) They let the big boys get away with it only because they know where the big bucks are coming from. The little sellers will have to worry about this practice in the future...
eBay does not care about the seller or buyer, all eBay cares about is the ol mighty buck!

Gary

fairtraderz eBay auctions

banknote1

I am not for cancelling auctions, but it is his coin! He can change his mind, up until the end of the auction. The sale isn't binding until the sale ends! What's the difference than going to an B&M or Lyn Knight auction and your favorite lot gets pulled just before it comes up on the floor???

RGL

It is a dismal and sorry practice that has happened to all of us, I am afraid. Cheapskates ... youse takes yours chances or spend a few piddlin cents on a reserve if you are so worried about it! I've sold coins on eBay at prices that disappointed me and that's the operative word: sold -- I did not cancel an auction just because the highest bid was falling below expectations.

greghansen

I am not for cancelling auctions, but it is his coin! He can change his mind, up until the end of the auction. The sale isn't binding until the sale ends! What's the difference than going to an B&M or Lyn Knight auction and your favorite lot gets pulled just before it comes up on the floor???

There is a significant difference IMO. In the EBAY scenario, the bidding has already started!. Using your example, it would be like the seller trying to pull the lot after the floor bids and just before the auctioneer drops the hammer. Like I say, most reputable auction venues will not permit this. The seller would have to buy back his lot and abide by the auctioneers buy back rules. The seller can set a reserve prior to the auction that the bidders will not know of, but it is a SET reserve in advance of the auction and not subject to the vagaries (sp?) of the seller as the auction proceeds.

It's just a crappy auction policy to permit a seller to unilateraly withdraw a lot after a bid in excess of his stated reserve has been placed, and EBAY will eventually recognize this and get the rules right, but in the interim, it sucks.

Dave99B

This seller is a LOSER ....

BSqr

not the first time for that seller

there are a number of others that I know of first hand who routinely do the same

Whitewashqtr

He probably got tired of all the cheap buzzards circling this coin, trying to get something for nothing! It is PCGS so the price is already over-inflated!

That is why people set reserve prices!!

gmarguli

Like I say, most reputable auction venues will not permit this.

What does "reputable" have to do with eBay? If eBay were a real auction house, they would be considered one of the most disreputable organizations. Hell, they'd likely get shut down by the government. My guess is that it won't be too much longer before some Attorney General wants to make a statement and goes after them hard for their double standards.


The seller would have to buy back his lot and abide by the auctioneers buy back rules.

eBay should allow this, but at full commission. eBay gets its overpriced cut, the seller doesn't have to sell for less than he thinks it's worth, and the potential buyers think they were outbid.


The seller can set a reserve prior to the auction that the bidders will not know of, but it is a SET reserve in advance of the auction and not subject to the vagaries (sp?) of the seller as the auction proceeds.

It'd be nice if eBay allowed "reserve sniping", i.e. allow the seller to set a reserve and a split second after the auctions ends, if the final bid isn't higher than the reserve, the lot doesn't sell. No need to have a public reserve which drives away bidders.

NumisEd

Take a look at this other current thread on the forum:

A Good Seller On Ebay

It's funny how you have some bad apples and some good apples in just about every venue of this place we call earth. Why do some sellers have reserves and others don't? Why do some sellers cancel auctions, while others don't? Why do some dealers speak the truth and tell it like it is, while others blow smoke up your a$$?

Regarding this post, I would just say to ignore a scumbag that cancels auctions and patronize the very, very few honest dealers out there. The funny thing is that the bozo in this thread that keeps cancelling auctions is probably proud to say that he doesn't have reserve auctions. If you are cancelling auctions, then you do have a reserve. If everyone were honest like the company in the thread linked above, then ebay (and this hobby) would be more fun.

Ed

relayer

He's automated the end your auction early process. All bids were canceled at the same time, the the auction ended.

He probably sets his private reserve and if it's not met , his auto bot kicks in.

LucyBop

I had some seller do the same to me and he cheated me out of a Great Wonder Woman comic!

sinin1

A great Wonder Woman comic? hmmmmmmmmm Was that the one where the Wonder Woman saved a hoard of Franklin half dollars from the dark forces of evil?

1956Quarter

There are two solutions to this. 1.) Black list the seller and refuse to do business with them. Let them know you'll be refusing to bid on auctions where sellers cancel auctions. After they get about 30 or 40 e-mails like that, they'll start to think. 2.) Get a group together to bid like mad and an hour before close, cancel all your bids. We did that with a seller of another collectable I collect with a seller who constantly started auctions at 99 cents with no reserve, and if the current bids did not reach about book value a short while before auction close, he'd start cancelling bids, and closing the auction. We ran an item up to rediculous amounts, then just before the 30 minute cut off for cancelling bids, we all retracted. He's stopped using e-bay.....

Twowood

What a cheap, bush league stunt. And to advertise it as "No Reserve"!!!
This guy moves right to the head of my "Dealers to Avoid" list. Twowood

MacCoin

<< <i>I am not for cancelling auctions, but it is his coin! He can change his mind, up until the end of the auction. The sale isn't binding until the sale ends! What's the difference than going to an B&M or Lyn Knight auction and your favorite lot gets pulled just before it comes up on the floor??? >>



if that is so why shouldn't I be able to retract a bid with 6 seconds to go how come it only works one way?

<< <i>sale isn't binding until the sale ends >>

northcoin

If that is bad, I've won at least one auction where the seller claimed he'd misplaced or lost the item?!

baccaruda

the seller's only hurting himself. i've watched bids on my auctions sit at 50% of value with only a few minutes to go. i never even flinch. if you start the bidding low with no reserve there'll always be multiple snipers there at the end. 1¢ starts and no reserve will draw more snipers than flies to a BBQ.

gmarguli

If that is bad, I've won at least one auction where the seller claimed he'd misplaced or lost the item?!

That's not impossible. I had to cancel an auction about half way thru because I couldn't find the coin. I finally found it a few months later.

tompkins

This guy is plain and simply avoiding eBay reserve price fees. He keeps doing this when the bid doesn't get high enough. And he's not alone---other sellers do the same thing. I am kind of surprised eBay takes the position that this is within their rules----their rules specifically prohibit fee avoidance, and they could certainly interpret last second (or last minute or even last hour, for that matter) auction cancellation as a form of fee avoidance.

Pete

MacCoin

every ones doing it