Posted By:
Dave F
Peter-
I don't know that there is an alternative to "taking advantage of unsuspecting sellers". Obviously if seller A agrees to end an item for $500 then they are happy with that amount. Does it matter if the item is worth $4000? I'm not sure it does. Nobody holds a gun to the seller's head to end an auction...either they are presented with "i'll give such and such for this card" or "what would you take to end this?". Whatever that amount is, it'e obviously enough to make the seller happy.
And like Fred said, you can disagree with the practice all you want, but in this day and age auctions not going the full term are a common practice on ebay.