E-Bay Problem

It happened to me in the last hour of an auction on a coin I REALLY wanted. I was so upset but, like wheezy said, there is really nothing you can do about it.

Is this perhaps the same coin, 160510040837, now listed with a BIN of $47.50? If so, there's no telling why the seller did this. Personally, I have no problem with this.

My philosophy with buying coins and such is that there's always another deal to be had, and it's not worth frustrating oneself about the one that got away. I once bid well over $700 for an ebay item I'd been seeking for many years. I'd never before one for sale. I was beat out by about $10, and for all I know, $1,000 may not have been enough, given the motivation of the other bidder. Somewhat over a year later, another such item appeared on ebay, not quite as nice, but a decent example. I snared it for $225! It was well worth the wait, and my story adds to the aura of that find, I think. There's an old adage that comes to mind here, too, "Patience is its own reward." Hang in there ...

That's not something I'd admit in public.

Ebay's rules about ending auctions are ambiguous enough so that a seller can pretty much do what they wish, whether their motives are honorable or not. Can't really argue it.

Almost a decade ago, I wrote the ground rules for what has become one of the larger computer-related buy/sell forums on the Internet. The first modification I made after publishing them, based on immediate and overwhelming user feedback, was to require sellers to disclose the fact if they were offering the item at more than one venue. Having something sold out from under you was that big an annoyance to a buyer.

As a seller, I think it's silly to deliberately limit your opportunities to sell, as long as the rules permit it. Every objection I could possibly have to the practice we're discussing here - and I address Stunet as well as the original poster, because I don't wish my previous words to be taken as an attack - is eliminated by the inclusion of words to the effect of "I reserve the right to sell this item locally."

With those words spoken, the buyer then knows the ground rules and cannot object.

I think I would rather have an auction cancelled than to find out I was being bid against by a shill. Had that happen already and it did make me mad.