Seller Cancels An Ebay Sale - Huh?

Before closing it, I would have asked why.....

But then again, the seller should have told you. That's just weird....

I'd say don't get your hopes up that you will ever see that coin.

People list stuff on ebay in hopes for the bids to go higher and higher. Sometimes they do not. In this case, a seller can go into their account and remove or cancel bids without reason. I think they can do this anytime, all the way up to the auction ending. I have see this on the ebay site long ago, but I have never tried it.

People on ebay do take offers on the side, or try to see the item in their shop or alternate site. If this happens, they can end the item right away and either give a reason or not. If they end the item, it will cancel all bids on the item and end the auction.

In this case, it looks like you won, and he either didn't have the coin anymore, or Yup, like the other poster says, tries to wiggle out of a sale and does not want to sell it at a low price. Other times the listing was inaccurate, they may have listed "the coin in the pic will be the one you will receive" on multiple listings...If that exact coin sells, the person is all up in arms about what to do.

Its a dilemma you will have to deal with, but there are 2 avenues.
Don't leave him feedback, and hope they relist the item
if they don't relist in like 30+ days you can leave what you consider appropriate feedback.

If your not planning on buying from this seller again, leave him less than positive feedback. If it is a store owner, they may be able to scrub the less than positive feedback from the list through ebay. You can also rate the experience as well.

I just had a seller cancel a sale today. I did a buy it now on a $50 coin. He messages me that it will ship after Columbus Day, which is fine of course. Lo and behold, today I get a call on my cell phone (didn't realize that was available through ebay) and proceed to hear a 10 minute sob story about how the coin is "lost" or stolen. There were several other wonderful embellishments. I flat out asked the seller if he wasn't having "seller's remorse". It was a $50 coin worth about $150.

So how would you all handle? I think it deserves negative feedback. Not to mention I better not see that coin on ebay for a very long time, but I am sure it will miraculously be found at a later date.

Be nice if ebay implemented a system whereas you start an auction as a seller, there is no turning back.
"You are about to list your item for sale. Are you sure you want to proceed?"

It would stop this stuff instantly.

While ebay cant force anyone to actually sell anything, he didnt get away scott free. If the buyer doesn't agree to the cancellation or a seller ends an item with bids now they still get charged the ebay fees whether they sell it or not.

There are legitimate reasons why that could happen but like mentioned its very odd they just did it without saying why or contacting you.

By any chance did you win a coin way below book value?

I just cancelled a sale(sent the buyer the option to cancel)...why?
AFTER the sale, this guy sent me a message
"Hello,

I won the bidding on this item, and since I am buying the item sight unseen, I would like to have you verify that it does not have any issues that would have a negative effect on its value like blemishes, spots, unusual toning or breaks in the finish, or a damaged case including cracks, chips, more than minimal scratching or scuffing, a loose or waved label, or any other unusual problem that affects the item's value.

I am very selective about the coins I want, and by reviewing the details disclosed by the seller in the listing's item condition, I attempt to avoid going through the time consuming, and costly, process of bidding on, and receiving, items that have to be returned. I did not see any issues mentioned in your listing's item condition, but unfortunately, I still receive too many orders where the seller neglects to disclose the item's condition accurately.

Thanks for your consideration and I will await your reply."
=============
My red flags were Up fast....in a nutshell, the "sight unseen" part irked me,(nice pics, with supersize option added, for closeup viewing) and, the fact he asked all of this AFTER the sale, and not before(when I responded back, and stated these things are best done BEFORE closing, the answer was "there's not enough time to do this"..
Having been burned in the past by "Buy on Approval" type buyers, who take advantage of knowing darn well sellers cannot leave negative feedback, and/or, can win virtually ANY open case by crying fowl, I decided to check his feedback..100%...BUT..deeply hidden was 1 feedback...."NEGATIVE FEEDBACK,WATCH THIS BUYER, HE'S A SCAMMER, WAS OFFERED REFUND,BEWARE".....The ONLY way to see nasty things from buyers is to check for Feedback Removed items, or, these damaging feedbacks left by sellers who were burned....anyway, I wrote the buyer, and, asked for his side of the story on this transaction(he DIDN'T know I had contacted this seller, who told me EXACTLY what I thought he would..a bad scene, and, watch out!)...my buyer responded with he didn't have time to get into this....so, I decided possibly getting 2 negatives is better than dealing with a creep...
But, for those that as buyers go through this, on a NICE coin, rare coin, cheap win, worth 10x what you got it for, yes, odds are, you'll never see the coin..all you can do is leave appropriate feedback.
In 14 years on ebay, this is the only one of these I have had to do, and, I'm stickin to my guns...no names have been named, to protect the innocent(didn't they used to say that on Dragnet?)

..buyer
..seller!