Bidding

[jami-nesc]

Hey all, I was bidding on a few items that I was winning for under the value of the product!! The seller had the correct item discription etc everything they needed to have to auction off the items!! The seller has now cancelled all my bids and taken down the products my thoughts being because he didn’t get the amount he was after for them!! My question is, is that allowed or not? As I can’t contact eBay and the bot is useless

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

sellers are free to withdraw their items at any time prior to auction conclusion.

The method, when bids have been made, is to cancel all bids from all bidders and then end the listing.

If they feel the auction wasn't going to meet their expecting, they should relist as Buy-It-Now  but there is nothing making them relist.

Do a search for the items you are looking for AND save that search.  You can then be notified when items you are after are listed.

I know this sounds like a "nothing you can do, move along" response, but it is the reality of bidding on eBay.  There are many sellers who learn along the way, and are averse to letting items go for cheaper than there worth.

[chameleon54]

The seller may have needed to go to hospital and removed the listings. Worse still they or a family member may have died. - Sounds dramatic, but I have had to remove listings and send messages to buyers for a relative after a young family member passed away in a tragic accident.

The last thing they needed at that time was a narky ebayer contacting them to complain that they didnt get the chance to buy their items at a bargain price.

[countessalmirena]

As you say, it sounds rather dramatic — but these awful situations occur.

[lezned-toycollector]

For all you know, the seller decided they wanted to keep the items... or they walked on them and damaged them... or they gave/sold them to a mate... or their dog chewed them... or they spontaneously combusted... or their cat peed on them... or they were stolen... or any one of a million other reasons.

No seller can be forced to sell anything - especially before it's even sold.

The seller actually did you a huge favour by cancelling your bids. Now you're free to source the items elsewhere right away, rather than waiting for a request to be completed before doing so.

[padi*0409]

Yes it's allowed, the seller can cancel even if you've paid - though they run a risk of getting a neg if they do that.

[*casey*]

" I was winning for under the value of the product! "

Was it a new seller who started the auction too low ?

eBay will tell you the following but in reality, the seller will  use one of these reasons even if it was because the bids weren't high enough.

To try to prevent potential buyers from being disappointed, we discourage the cancelling of bids unless absolutely necessary. However, you can cancel a bid when:

• A buyer requests you cancel their bid and you agree
• You have to end the listing early because the item is no longer available for sale
• You made an error in the listing
• You're concerned the bid may be from a fraudulent buyer

[sandypebbles]

Why do you need to contact eBay about this?

They are not going to make the seller sell to you

Just because you *think* the reason is the seller did not get the price they wanted does not make it true

And which would be odd, since you say the seller took the items down

Had it be not getting enough, as you assume, then the seller would have resisted them again at a higher price

And either way, yes, eBay allow it

But since you know all about how eBay works, maybe contact the seller and explain it to them