I don't know about the circumstances of the auction you are talking about, but I broke no rules. I can end the auction any time I want and sell to the highest bidder. eBay get's (and got) their fees. I can also cancel the highest bid if the guy sounds like a nutjob, or has bad feedback, or, as in my case, I just feel like it, and sell to the highest bidder.
I've also withdrawn auctions when someone asks me a question about condition and when I go and look, the item isn't what I remember it being. I find it hard to comprehend how a seller could be 'forced' to end an item early and get 'shafted.' The market is the market - it sets the price to some extent. If you item doesn't get bids, then it must not be worth anything. THat happens to me all the time, too. Some of the movies I try and sell are just plain crap and, as it turns out, I am the only sucker dumb enough to want to buy it.
Mark
-- mark assaf burlingame ca 94010 http://www.sciencemonster.net ebay:sciencemonster
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:25:00 +0200 From: "kim klakow" <Akimbo71@gmx.net> To: mark assaf <mark@sciencemonster.net>, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Re: Singer tandem disappears from ebay
Yes, many people do that. But a lot of times it is to shaft an unknowing seller; probably what happened to the owner of the Cinelli tandem Steven outed the other day. The other part is, eBay does not permit this. Easy rule. Having had this happen to me several times on choice items, you could incurr my wrath, for how am I to know that YOU didn't snatch them away from me? This survival-of-the-fittest thing is poo-poo'd on in this list, unless I am wrong and the general tenor has changed since this was an item (it has been several times before).
best,
kim