Speaking of deadbeat bidders and sellers, I'm shocked at how stacked the rules are toward sellers on eBay. Until last night, I didn't realize that a seller could simply cancel all the bids and end the auction early if he wasn't happy with the high bid price. Last night, I was the high bidder on an auction at what I felt was a relatively good price. With 19 seconds before the end of the auction, the seller canceled all the bids and ended the auction. The seller then put the item up for bid again a little later. I figured that it was against the rules to just end an auction because you don't like the high bid price, but according to eBay that's perfectly okay (though the rules I read said that a seller can end a auction for technical reasons or if the seller doesn't want to sell the item anymore. But I would think that putting the item up for bid again would mean that the person did want to sell the item). Bidders are not afforded the same right to simply back out of their bid at the last minute simply because they don't want to buy the item. The bid itself is considered binding and can only be retracted in certain circumstances (not wanting to buy anymore is not a listed circumstance). So, according to the rules of eBay, bids are binding, but offers of sale are not (putting the item up for bid doesn't obligate the person to sell the item). I can understand allowing sellers to end auctions early for some limited reasons (much like people are allowed to retract their bids under certain circumstances), but allowing sellers carte blanche to cancel bids and end auctions at the last minute is too much. Of course, I kind of wish I had known about this before. There have been times I was selling and wasn't entirely happy with the high bid. I wish I had known I could've just canceled everybody's bid and ended the auction in the last second without breaking the rules.
