Thoughts on this are.

(1) eBay has policies which are aimed at buyers and sellers, and labelled accordingly. If they are not read, it can lead to problems.

(2) Whenever I have answered a similar question to the one here, in the Answer Centre, I have said the seller is obliged to follow through, set a starting price they would be happy with if only one bidder, taking into account all their fees and a reasonable profit.

(3) for some reason, I felt some sympathy for this specific case as presented. Did I think, hey, yeah, a seller gets to reneg if they feel cheated (on a starting price they set themselves)? Nope. I offered a little advice for next time to encourage more interest, and suggested they request, from the buyer, an ok to cancel. Leaving it up to the buyer to either go yay! I scored a real bargain! or to show a little sympathy, too.

(4) as for anything else...would I reneg on a sale. No. Would I not pay, well, once I didn't. That was with a seller who refused to take Paypal (although accepted on the listing), refused to set it up and told me eBay had said I should pay by bank deposit...after politely saying no, I'll help you set up Paypal...I didn't hear from them again.

There are two sides to a deal. Sometimes a major mistake can be helped through. If the buyer(s) here want their rings, they are fully entitled to get them...but, no harm in asking the first buyer to please be understanding.

Two eBayers getting huffy? Sure, depending on who they are and how much social media clout they have, could make any non-receipt a big deal.

I'll stress yet again though, requesting a buyer be a little kind isn't not following through unless the buyer, agrees to it.