Why is it when you bid on a item, you commit to buy it but and seller can remove it before end

[medley99]

Why is it when you bid on a item, you commit to buying it but at any stage the seller can remove it from sale without any explanation and regardless of the amount of bidders? Mark

[*crikey*mate*]

eBay is sort of tricking you. They do have a policy where your bid is binding, however their policies cannot trump Australian Law.

eBay kinda pursuades us to think that way though to make people take their biods seriously and not just go around putting heaps of bids in with no intention to pay if they win.

Legally though, a buyer can withdraw their bid at any time prior to acceptance (note eBay has a strict policy about this, which whilst they can penalize you on eBay for not playing by their policies, there is nothing they or anyone else can do about it legally)

and same for a seller - he can reject any bid/offer prior to acceptamce and he can withdraw it from sale as well (note eBay has a few policies with restrioctions on this - but see above)

[*crikey*mate*]

adding

If your bid is accepted - or you do commit to a BIN, you have entered into a legally binding contract, which you are obliged to honour and to not do so is a breach of Aust Law.

[debra9275]

I'm not so sure about trickery, but technically an item still belongs to the seller unlil it is sold. They can end listings early for a variety of reasons, but sellers cannot end a listing when there is a bid and only 12 hours to go before an auction ends.

your seller may have made an error in their listing or something like that., Keep it on your watch list in case they re-list it

[lane-ends]

If  there was no commitment to buy then a buyer could, and probably many would, bid on every item of interest and then only pay for the cheapest one. Or non at all if they where simply being mischievous.

In reality you dont get forced to complet. Simply have your options restrictred if you are a repeat offender.

There are manty reasons an item is withrawn from auction, not all of them shady.

[artyandchic]

Some sellers sell on more than one site, so if it sells elsewhere then the item is no londer available.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@artyandchic wrote:

Some sellers sell on more than one site, so if it sells elsewhere then the item is no londer available.

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which, if one were adhering to the eBay Policies is a bit naughty as items listed for sale on eBay are not supposed to be offered for sale elsewhere at the same time.