What about this ebay seller?

[Harlan Barnhart]

I just won a bid on an adjustable hollow auger. Since I was the only bidder it went for the opening bid. Immediately I received this from the seller:

"i am sorry but someone has already bought the cutter. I relisted it by mistake. Do not send any money. thank you Robert 414 271 5352"

What do you think? Did I just get shafted because the seller isn't willing to take the opening bid?

[Bill Houghton]

I guess I'd save the auction - even print it out - and watch to see if it shows up again. If it does, a complaint to the eBay folks might yield something useful.

It could easily be legitimate. Mistakes happen, and, in my observation, a lot of eBay sellers do it as a secondary thing in their lives and are not the most organized folks in the world at it.

[Sam Takeuchi]

Yeah, you got shafted. He had days to cancel this listing and I believe eBay views an auction as a contractual agreement between seller and bidder. Just as it is bidders obligation to pay up if he/she made a bid and won for an item (unless transaction was mutually dissolved after the end of auction), it is seller's obligation to honor the auction and ship the item.

People might say move on, it's not worth the trouble making a fuss. Maybe so, but at least you should report to eBay. It is in eBay's interest to keep seller like those in line.

[Ben St. John]

I had a similar thing happen--the guy said he "lost" the saw I won, because he hid it to keep it away from the grandkids, or something like that. Really? You lost a 26-inch handsaw? I dunno, stranger things have happened, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt, though I never really believed it.
It's your call, though I also kind of agree with Sam that maybe it would be worthwhile to make a complaint. It pisses me off when people feel entitled to break a contract just because it didn't turn out the way they wanted it to....

[Dave Wagner]

Whats his feedback rating? How many? If not many, a newbie makes mistakes...but maybe didn't have a reserve on it and didn't want to sell it at that price you won it for.....kinda of breech of contract, but he should have taken it down before the end of the auction....

[James Taglienti]

in this guys defense - I lost a #6 in my early days of ebay selling

but

that doesnt mean he didnt screw ya

[Gary Hodgin]

I had something similar happen a few years ago. I won a top of the line Ashton pipe (I smoke a pipe). These usually run at least $150-$200. I got it for around $100. A day or so after the auction the seller notified me that he got the pipe caught on a buffing wheel, slung it across the shop, and broke it. Maybe he did, but I doubt it. His story would have been more believable if I won at a normal price. I watched for a couple of weeks but never saw it re-listed.

[Richard Kee]

This one is easy to check out. If the seller relisted, this implies that he sold it on eBay and you can go back to completed listings to see if he in fact did sell to someone else earlier. If you can't find the previous sale, then you can contact the seller with the fact that you cannot find where he sold it earlier and threaten to report him/her to eBay if the sale to you is not completed.

Richard

[john davey]

Well, I wold watch to see if it shows back up. Give him a neg feedback and forget about it. Probably not worth more trouble. If that is his phone number I would call him and see what he has to say. maybe at 3:00 in the morning :)

[Jim Koepke]

I am with Richard, the completed listings should show up if it was previously sold.

If it does not, I would inquire with the seller about it again.

I did have the situation one time of bidding on a Stanley #1 Odd Jobs and winning for $25. The seller informed me there was a problem in that she had two people claiming they had won the item. I said that I had already paid and if the other person had not, then that should be good enough. The item did come to me, but doing a search on it showed that it had already been sold. They may not have paid in a timely manner. It was the seller's first listing.

I have often seen someone trying to list a lot of items list the same item more than once.

People do make mistakes, but one of them should not be to have the minimum bid be less than what one is willing to accept for an item.

I have been disappointed a few times that my items stayed at and sold for minimum bid, but they were still shipped as soon as possible after payment was made.

On the other end of things, I am sure some of the odd ball parts that I have sold at a low price have made a few people very happy.

jim