Ebay policy regarding the pre-mature ending of an auction is a gray area that ebay only started to address in the user agreement within the past year or so. There could be any number of ethical/unethical reasons why auctions end early. Current ebay policy is that a auction can be ended by the seller anytime BEFORE the auction close. However, the seller must pay ebay the full listing fee owed to ebay for advertising their auction. If the auction ends on time and within Ebay user agreement guidelines, the seller and buyer are both obligated to complete the transaction.
Reasons for ending an ebay auction can vary from an item being pre-sold to another buyer, seller is unethically "testing the market" and possibly not included to complete the transaction, seller discovers item is not as advertised and withdraws it, the item did not meet the sellers price expectations before the auction ends, and sometimes, even ebay forced the withdrawal of the item from auction or any number of causes. The bottom line is that the final decision is up to the seller and/or ebay and no reason has to be provided to any bidders.
Ebay policy in this regard is a gray area of civil law because as far as I am aware, state laws generally govern online auctions. State laws seem to vary regarding the terms and conditions of auctions and which state government entity regulates the practice, but Ebay has declared in the user agreement that all transactions are deemed to take place in California. Therefore, the laws and courts of California have jurisdiction on any Ebay auctions and seller/buyer legal disputes. Perhaps other CR Members can correct me, but I thought that an ebay auction cannot be prematurely ended with less that 12 hours to go. I do know that bids cannot be withdrawn with less than 12 hours remaining in the auction.
Regards, Steve Neago "Pondering the possibilities and reasons in Cincinnati, OH"
> Twice now on Ebay in the past month I've bid on bikes only to have the
> auctions end without going to their "normal" conclusion. In other words
the
> sellers have ended the auctions prematurely. The first was on the Yvars
> frameset that someone posted on this list and the second was on a rather
> interesting Japanese frameset (chromed lugs, decent red paint, interesting
> dog's head for a head badge). Both bikes either had no reserve or were
set
> very low (only kind I can afford right now) and obscure enough (so I
> thought) that I figured I had a good chance at getting them. What's up
> with these sellers pulling their items before the auctions are over ???
>
> John Price
> Denver CO