Posted By:
JK"He is only a greedy person who has no regard for an honest auction"
An "honest auction" - now that is one funny statement what with all the shill bidding and other dishonest acts that sellers commonly engage in on ebay.
Paul was not greedy. He tried to obtain a card that he felt would be central to his collection. I hold nothing against him for trying - my guess is, if asked and if honest, 90% of the board members would admit to asking a seller to end an auction early. If I had lost out on the card, sure, I would have been pissed. And then I would have gotten over my disappointment like an adult and congratulated Paul for getting the card - as opposed to berating the seller for screwing me out of a card (that I might not have won anyway) simply to try and mess up Paul's deal.
Leon - Karma? In other words, you think Paul got what was coming to him? Im just curious if you have ever asked a seller to end an auction early. If not, then I commend you. If so, then I really think that statement is a bit hypocritical - or did Karma also come back and bite you on those occasions as well?
As far as ending an auction early - your agreement with ebay does not prevent you from ending an auction early "because the item is no longer available for sale." Ebay has to allow this because the item belongs to the seller and, in the end, it is his to do with as he pleases. So, if you end an auction "because its no longer available for sale" does that mean you cant ever sell it again or if you do that it must be via ebay? Of course not. There is virtually no difference between a seller who ends an auction to sell it off line, and one who ends an auction because its no longer for sale and then wakes up the next day and decides he is going to sell after all. The only reason ebay doesnt like it is because they lose out on fees - and, of course, ebay has every right to be upset about that and, if it wishes, take away your bidding or selling privileges. It doesnt, however, have any right to prevent the offline sale.
Further, if ebay wants me to be concerned about its ability to generate profits and refrain from such practices, then it ought to be concerned about my ability to detect whether an auction Im bidding on is being shilled by eliminating the anonymous bidding on anything over 200.