This happened today. Maybe it's a common problem, but it's the first time I've experienced it and I'm a Blue Star eBayer, so please bear with me.

I saw an item I wanted, and the bids made me suspect I could get it at a good price. There was less than a day left to go in the auction. I set up my snipe with AS and went on my merry way.

And then - some time in the last 8 hours before the auction ended, the seller posted messages on the eBay page (as answers to customer questions) saying: THIS ITEM IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. BIDS WILL NOT BE HONORED. Then she cancelled all outstanding bids.

She didn't actually end the listing early. You can't do that when there are less than 12 hours to go and there are bids on your item. My snipe was set for a few seconds before ending, and technically I won the auction. From the bidding history, it looks like I would have won even without the cancelled bids.

Veterans, please advise: should I make a complaint to eBay? Should I leave negative feedback? Or is it better just to walk away? I haven't lost anything, since I hadn't paid for the item yet, but I do hate to see people getting away with this stuff. One of her other answers on the listing makes me suspect that she'd set up a deal to sell the thing off eBay.

Hi Gordo
JMO. It does happen.
I would just walk away, send them a complaining but polite email, and avoid this seller.

You have lost nothing, and there is already enough bother on this planet without creating more of the stuff.

I forwarded her email message to eBay, and left a neutral feedback explaining exactly what she did. Based on her email, she may have believed that it was OK just to cancel the bids, and I'd rather give people the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully that will be enough to get my snipe refunded.

On the whole, your advice is excellent.

Timing Matters
When there are 12 hours or fewer remaining and the item has a winning bid, including a reserve met bid, sellers may not make any changes to the listing, including:
ending the item early. Sellers may cancel bids, but not end the item unless the item is being sold to the high bidder
adding to or changing the item description
converting the item to pre-approved bidder
Canceling bids or making changes to a listing with bids when there are 12 hours or fewer remaining damages the buyer experience and can undermine trust in the marketplace.

quote:

Hopefully that will be enough to get my snipe refunded.

Gordo,
You may already know this, but you'll need to file a support request: http://support.auctionsniper.com/

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Originally posted by Rick:
Gordo,
You may already know this, but you'll need to file a support request: http://support.auctionsniper.com/

Thanks, Rick. That was the first thing I did, after sending email to the seller, since that was the only real way in which I lost anything from this experience.

I got a message back from Arjun, who told me that leaving a negative feedback or "sometimes" a neutral would be sufficient.

quote:

Originally posted by Mrs.M.:
Canceling bids or making changes to a listing with bids when there are 12 hours or fewer remaining damages the buyer experience and can undermine trust in the marketplace.

I'll say it does! What's the point of an auction then, if we can all just yank our stuff off the site whenever the bids aren't high enough?

I'm afraid that quote from eBay may still be a bit too ambiguous. Since sellers can still cancel bids with less than 12 hours to go, some may interpret that as meaning they can do this whenever they want to end a listing.

It should say, "No ending listings with 12 hours to go. No cancelling bids with less than 12 hours to go, just to end the listing. NO NO NO. TIME OUT."

Yep, but it doesn't! You will find that eBay's rules are full of loop holes, both for the seller and for eBay against the seller.

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You have lost nothing, and there is already enough bother on this planet without creating more of the stuff.

That's a pretty radical concept.

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Originally posted by Mrs.M.:
You will find that eBay's rules are full of loop holes, both for the seller and for eBay against the seller.

"Full of"? Examples?

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Originally posted by Rick:

quote:

You have lost nothing, and there is already enough bother on this planet without creating more of the stuff.

That's a pretty radical concept.

Maybe, Rick, maybe. It is really only my opinion, but I think that in the time this species has been on the planet, all the bother should heve been sorted out centuries, nay, millennia, ago.
In actual fact, it is increasing. Manners are becoming extinct, the nanny state has brainwashed some of us into thinking that no-one is responsible for their own actions or exercising common sense.
We still and design things whose sole purpose is to kill or maim people.
</rant>

Mike, rant on if you like! I tend to agee with you ..most of the time.

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Originally posted by Mrs.M.:
Mike, rant on if you like! I tend to agee with you ..most of the time.

I always get a bit worried, Shirl, when too many people agree with my somewhat controversial views!

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It is really only my opinion

It’s a good opinion.

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but I think that in the time this species has been on the planet, all the bother should heve been sorted out centuries, nay, millennia, ago.

Maybe someday. At least we’ve stopped burning witches – well, most countries.

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Manners are becoming extinct, the nanny state has brainwashed some of us into thinking that no-one is responsible for their own actions or exercising common sense.

I agree with the nanny state statement, but not sure about the manners statement. What with political correctness, is seems people are overly concerned about being polite. Well, until they get behind the steering wheel with that horn invention staring them in the face.

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We still and design things whose sole purpose is to kill or maim people.

Napalm has to be one of the weirdest inventions. In the 20th century, we did away with 100 million fellow humans thru war. Perhaps we’ll do better (meaning lesser kills) in the 21st.

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Originally posted by Mike from West Yorkshire:
I always get a bit worried, Shirl, when too many people agree with my somewhat controversial views!

I definitely agree with that!

quote:

Originally posted by Rick:
I agree with the nanny state statement, but not sure about the manners statement. What with political correctness, is seems people are overly concerned about being polite. Well, until they get behind the steering wheel with that horn invention staring them in the face.

I think that PC and good manners are totally different things.

PC, to me, is things like (recent hits):

• Saying that having our National English flag may cause racial unrest. (Did anyone complain? No)
  
• Not allowing the word 'failed' to be used in school exam results - 'deferred results' or some such nonsense was the preferred term.
  None of these things are anything to do with manners. In fact, the PC halfwits could be conceived as ill-mannered and impolite to insult our flag.
  

PC is allied to the euphemism culture as well.
Our TV programme listings say things like 'contains strong language'. What the heck is strong language?
Why not 'contains swearing'?

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quote:

We still and design things whose sole purpose is to kill or maim people.

Napalm has to be one of the weirdest inventions. In the 20th century, we did away with 100 million fellow humans thru war. Perhaps we’ll do better (meaning lesser kills) in the 21st.

No wars would be good. We have all probably had playground fights when we were at school - it is purely a matter of scale between these and full-scale wars - should we not have matured sufficiently to stop losing the argument, which is the generic reason for violence?

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Saying that having our National English flag may cause racial unrest.

I didn’t hear about that one. What was the problem?

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Our TV programme listings say things like 'contains strong language'.

The ratings are comical to read. I can’t remember watching a movie that didn’t have some kind of ratings warning, and they are all euphemistic. I’ve tried to pause on the ratings (and some of the other warnings), but those sections usually don’t allow it. Seems kind of strange that they are important enough not to allow skipping, but not important enough to pause.

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No wars would be good.

Cold turkey? You are radical (that’s a compliment).

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We have all probably had playground fights when we were at school

Not necessarily – I was in two, lost both, and I’m now a devout coward. Hell, I’m even afraid to honk my horn.

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should we not have matured sufficiently to stop losing the argument

You’ll get no argument from me.

Mike, swearing is more to the point, but then strong language is only inserted to boost the viewing anyway.

I think kids here still fail in school!

Can't say that I ever fought on the playground or anywhere for that matter, nor did my children. (3 are male) If you guys would only vote all females in office, wars would come to a screaching halt!

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If you guys would only vote all females in office, wars would come to a screaching halt!

Have you never heard of PMS and pre/post menopause. Pregnancy would be an issue. Anyway, women determine how long a war will last.

“Guys”? Women can vote.

Trivia: England had women’s suffrage (strange word) before the U.S.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike from West Yorkshire:
the nanny state has brainwashed some of us into thinking that no-one is responsible for their own actions or exercising common sense.

[digressing] Is there nothing that you support that is provided by the nanny state?