Seller confused or being consciously dishonest?

[venomous_abyss]

I sent an email off to a seller in the US enquiring whether they would be willing to ship an item I am interested in to Australia, and received a response that didn't mention that they are unwilling to do so, but simply that they are sorry the item is now sold. However, I check the item listing and realise it hasn't sold, but has been relisted. I respect the seller's right to refuse to ship to Australia, but why would they lie about it being sold? The seller has limited feedback, so I am unsure of their intentions. The reason I ask is because I was contemplating asking one of my friends from the US to buy on my behalf, but wonder now whether the seller is simply confused because they may have thought they had sold the item through a BIN offer, or whether they are scamming? Not being an ebay seller myself I am unsure of how easy it would be to confuse the situation - opinions please?

[digital*ghost]

How odd, surely they'd expect you to be able to see it hasn't sold. o_O

Since it seems much more likely to be a lie (I only say "more likely" on the remote chance they sold it elsewhere and have no idea how to end a listing), I personally wouldn't want to deal with them even if they were willing to ship to Oz. 

[venomous_abyss]

I think you're right. I'm obviously disappointed because the item is fairly rare, but you've made me realise I would never feel comfortable with the transaction. Thank you