1871 PEI 1 Cent Cancelled After Seller Realized Value

First, I agree that the suggestion to cheat the seller is really, really something I couldn't morally do, no matter how I felt about the seller's ethics. My problem was that the seller had legal bids on the item, and according to the ebay rules that I understand (and what an ebay rep. told me when I phoned) is that an auction with active bids can only be ended if there was a mistake in the description. That was the reason the seller selected from the list of valid reasons when he ended it, but in his email to me telling me he was ending it was that he wanted to find out the coin's value. He was afraid it would sell for less than he might get for an NGC graded coin, and actually, with a few days to go on the auction, and the number of people that do watch for these coins, I think I can realistically say that it would have sold for a heck of a lot more than the $16 it was sitting at when he pulled it. ebay did say that if and when he re-lists it, that he can't list it for more than the $16 it was at when he ended the auction. How I understand ebay is that it is supposed to work like a live auction, and I've never seen a live auctioneer stop an in-progress auction because he suddenly realized that the item might be more valuable than he thought. That seems to be something that the seller should have investigated before he listed it. I see a lot of sellers say "I'm not a grader, so look carefully at the photos, because what you buy is what you see". It's not that much of a stretch to say that sellers live under the same rules.

My opinion is that if you list the coin in the auction, and as soon as you have one bid on the item you should not be allowed to end the listing. Especially for the reason this seller gave "so he can have it graded"? If that's allowed to happen then it isn't a auction anymore. This just opens doors for "games" to be played by sellers. If the bids are not high enough on the item the seller can just pull the item as he is not happy with the price? The seller just gets the best of both worlds if this is allowed. IMO you have every right to not like the way this auction was conducted. Either it's a auction or it's not.

Oh, one more thing regarding any attacks or comments on my ethics. There were still 4 days to go on the auction. I realize, and realized at the time that there would be a lot more bidding on the coin. I was prepared to go at least $200 and maybe a bit more, so I wasn't trying to be unethical about stealing something. I've watched a lot of PEI penny auctions on ebay, and there is no way this one was going to go dirt cheap, and I never expected it to sell for anywhere near my $16. That just happened to be my bid when he pulled it. In fact, I had a considerably higher max bid in at the time.

I agree that it is poor seller's practice to do what happened here. I also agree with @wireman that there should be more oversight by ebay over ending auctions early but that's simply not the way ebay works; no margin in it for them and therefore I hold out no hope of that changing. However I'm not sure I would go as far as to call it black & white unethical. I would be upset as well if it was me and I would take note of the seller as being one who is, while not what I would consider completely untrustworthy, let's just say one who will not necessarily always put the customer first. I also don't necessarily think that the seller made the best choice for himself here; the key action in an ebay auction is usually in the last 5 seconds...

Look at the seller's feedback history- He does not primarily deal in coins by all appearances. My guess would be someone clued him in to the potential value of the coin, be it another eBayer, a friend or family member or someone more knowledgeable whom the seller knew. If he feels that he could potentially hurt his bottom line severely by not getting the coin graded, (and there were 4+ days remaining in the auction, it's not like he pulled it in the last 5 hours!), as a businessman he should not only not be bothered by that ethically, he should be entitled to without complaint. Come on, give this seller a break- We have all seen the real shenanigans that go on ebay through this forum- Fake coins galore, fraudulent sellers and transactions, "unsearched" rolls. Jumping on this seller for a such a tiny "ethical" infraction is absurd, analogous to a police officer writing a jaywalking ticket while someone is being mugged in the background.

I could not agree with Denco and Bobby more...

It's probably a bit of a moot point anyway. I was willing to go into the hundreds for this, and I was sure that coins watched as much as these pennies would skyrocket as the auction neared the end. Antique dealers like this one have to constantly research what they are selling because estates are full of "what the heck is that" kind of stuff, and he actually described it pretty well with really good photos. This coin was going to sell itself with his listing. I looked at his feedback and it was very good with a lot of buyers, so I don't believe his practice is to cheat people. I'm probably a bit more upset that this penny showed up in a grade I've been looking for for a long time, and I would have had no problem staying with the auction until the end and bidding a fair price for it. To me, there's just a bad aftertaste from the way this auction was conducted.

I feel this not to something for anyone to get worked up about, nevermind criticize the seller with such vigor...

I have frequently failed miserably in my research on numismatic items even with a pretty decent knowledge and some great tools (like this forum) at my fingertips...

Now imagine you have little to no knowledge in an area and you are informed that you may have an item that is worth a few hundred dollars if you simply send it away to get it authenticated/graded...

Pacificoin's analogy is perfect, and if I was in the shoes of the OP, I would take this situation that did not turn out the way I wanted it to and make it into a situation where I could perhaps make the best of it, such as offering the seller to buy outright what I was willing to pay for it raw and assuming the risk (or not) of grading myself...

Yep, great idea, let us know what he says.