Now I'm REALLY miffed!!

[Jester]

I know, after nine years of dealing with ebay, you are going to run into things that make you think  , but this one just topped that!  I found these two last night, & knowing they would catch some attention at some point, I placed a SERIOUS bid early(within 30 minutes of auction start), hoping this seller would be honorable & at least contact me to see my intentions before caving into the first easy offer.  I get an email at 6:45 this evening, barely 24 hours into the auction, to inform me that my bid has been cancelled!  I don't care what he has or what it's listed for, his name is MUD with me, and I'll NEVER bid on one of his auctions again!!http://tinyurl.com/n8vhsk ( dead link 04-08-22 )

[bwanna]

so what, this guy got a higher offer "under the table". i don't think that is fair. once an item is listed the seller should not be able to remove it.

[McHeath]

As I endlessly rant to perfect strangers sitting on bus stop benches, "E-Bay is not a real auction, it breaks all the rules of real auctions, it's like a "reality" TV show like Survivor!"

But alas it's the only game in town.  I saw these phone yesterday and thought they were a pretty interesting deal, but sadly you fell victim to the great E-Bay scam as we all do every so often.  

[Dennis Markham]

Stephen, they were on my radar too.  I'm still not sure of the color on the one.  I think it may be a yellowed Light Gray, but it appears to have a neutral gray handset cord.  It COULD have been dark Gray. 

I was high bidder on a beige Mushroom phone the other day too.  It was ended just the same way.  It was early in the auction.  I didn't expect to be highest bidder but there's always hope that it will fly under the radar.  I e-mailed the seller afterward and told him/her that I hope they got $200-300 for it.....I never got a response.

http://tinyurl.com/pl6gsf ( dead link 04-08-22 )

These 554's that ended today would have been fun to see.  Both appeared to be soft plastic with the wide hooks and 7 series dials.

[Jester]

I saw that beige U the other day, too, Dennis.  I remember a seller used to state some scripted reason an auction was ended in the past.  They don't even do that these days.

[McHeath]

Think of the outrage if real auctions did this E-bay trick:

"That's 2550 for the early Monet charcoal of a girl with flowers, do I hear 2600?  Oh wait, what's this, oh we just got an under the table offer and are canceling the auction, sorry folks."

[bwanna]

mcheath, you're right that scam wouldn't go over at a live auction.

i was at an auction where the auctioneer was "in cahoots" with a buyer. he seemed to be very near sighted,  the only person he could see bidding was "his" buyer. consequently that person won certain items at a very low price. he even called her "mom."

another scam i have heard of is a phony bidder in the crowd, running up the bids.