[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Snowman

I'm curious about how people view a similar topic, but from a different perspective. There were a lot of Kobe Bryant cards that were instantly snatched up from ebay a mere seconds after the news broke about his death. Especially auto cards. Due to the limitations of eBay's selling platform, the sellers couldn't even hand logged in to change the price in time even if they wanted to. If these cards were sitting in display cases at a card shop, there's zero chance that the owner of the shop would have honored those sticker prices after the news broke. But what about on ebay? Should the seller who listed a Kobe auto card for $5k be obligated to proceed with the sale after it instantly quadrupled in value after his death? I say no.

Note, this is quite different than canceling a sale after a player wins the super bowl, MVP, or something similar where everyone knows the big game or vote is coming up.

And no, the odds of death are not "baked in" to the market at any given moment for a player of Kobe's age, unlike with Willie Mays where everyone knows he is in his 90s and is the oldest living HOFer.

To me it would be fair to let the seller off the hook due to the changed and unpredictable circumstance.