Posted By:
Tom Lawrie1. The seller didn't break eBay's rules by ending the listing early.
EBay's rules prevent a seller from refusing to sell an item after an auction has ended with a successful bidder, but they don't specifically forbid the practice of ending the listing early. (EBay still gets their insertion fee plus the optional feature fees, which are non-refundable.) In fact, eBay actually provides procedures for ending the auction early.
The following 2 sections (taken verbatim from eBay policies) are most relevant:
A. "Seller Non-Performance: When a seller lists an item on eBay, and a buyer bids for and wins that item, the seller and buyer have entered into a contract. Both members are expected to honor that contract. In accordance with that contract, the seller may not:
Fail to deliver an item for which payment was accepted.
Significantly misrepresent an item by not meeting the terms and item description outlined in the listing.
Refuse to accept payment for an item at the end of a successful sale.
Refuse to accept a buyer’s PayPal payment using a credit card ... "
B. "Ending Your Listing Early: Sometimes something goes wrong and you can't complete your listing as planned. If needed, you can choose to end your listing before the scheduled date. If there are bids on your item, you can cancel them.
Reasons for ending listings early include:
The item is no longer available for sale.
There was an error in the starting price or reserve amount.
There was an error in the listing.
The item was lost or broken.
Note: Your account will still be charged listing fees (such as the Insertion Fee) if you end your listing early. Consider revising your listing first if there are aspects of it you want to change or improve.
Timing Matters
When there are 12 hours or fewer remaining and the item has a winning bid, including a reserve met bid, sellers may not make any changes to the listing, including:
ending the item early. Sellers may cancel bids, but not end the item unless the item is being sold to the high bidder
adding to or changing the item description
converting the item to pre-approved bidder
Canceling bids or making changes to a listing with bids when there are 12 hours or fewer remaining damages the buyer experience and can undermine trust in the marketplace.
To end your listing early, follow these steps:
Type your item number into the End My Listing Early form. (You can get this number on your listing, on your confirmation email, or on your My eBay page.)
If there are bids on your item, choose between:
a. Cancel bids and end listing early
or
b. Sell item to high bidder(s) and end listing early
If your item has no bids, you'll skip this step.
Choose the reason you're ending your listing early.
Now your listing will end and will no longer be displayed on eBay. If there were bidders, they will be emailed that their bid was canceled and the listing ended early.
Note: Sellers are not permitted to cancel bids and end listings early in order to avoid selling an item that did not meet the desired sale price. This is considered to be reserve fee circumvention. Although there are legitimate reasons for ending a listing early, abuse of this option will be investigated." [end of eBay quotes].
2. But even if the seller had somehow violated eBay's rules (which he didn't), that would still be a separate issue between eBay and the seller. It probably doesn't negate the validity of the contract between an off-line buyer and the seller, or the issue of contractual interference of subsequent e-mailers to the seller. Bidders, watchers, and prospective snipers generally have no legal right to complain if the seller ends the auction early. [This all presupposes that there was no actual auction "winner."]
You may not like it - and trust me, I don't like it - but that's pretty much the way it is.
Tom