Quote Originally Posted by HideHunter View Post
Jim... Oh ebay guru.. Had something happen I don't quite understand.. I bid on a knife - was outbid by a buck - and it sold.. The same item, couple days later, is relisted.. same knife, same seller, same pictures - and say's "relisted". I tried to look up in ebay's questions - couldn't really find the exact situation.. In a "live" auction I'd bet I was bidding against a shill.. Does this happen on ebay? other explanations? thnx..g
There could be a few reasons Hidey-Ho.

One, the buyer could have backed out for some reason and asked the seller to cancel the sale. He "thought" it was a model AB120 but realized after purchase it was actually a model A8L2O ... whatever.

Quite a while back, I sold a dang KITCHEN knife to a dude in England and the sale was cancelled by the Ebay Gods. Come to find out, (ANY) knife sales are forbidden in Great Britain or Ireland. I had to cancel and relist. (All my knife listings now have G.B. and Ireland blocked).

I also sold a cell phone once to a guy in California and he was buying it for his son who was leaving on a trip overseas the following evening. He was willing to pay for overnight delivery but there was NO way I could get the phone to him in time because with the time difference between west coast and east coast, the Post Office was already closed here. I let the bozo off the hook and re-listed the phone.

It's hard to say, but it does happen. If anyone makes a habit of cancelling sales, eBay is on their ass like stink on shit, so it doesn't happen often. The reason, some will run an auction and if the item didn't bring what they were hoping for, "seller's remorse" will kick in and they'll find a way to wiggle out of the deal. That doesn't fly with eBay and you'll get your butt busted if it happens again. (the seller can also set an auction up to not sell if a minimum bid is not reached)

I don't have an answer for you, but the above are possibilities. Ebay also has what they call a "second chance offer". Say, I sell an item and the high bidder backs out for some reason, I have the option of offering it to the next highest bidder. If he doesn't want it, I can work my way on down the line as far as I want ... or relist.

Remember again, you may not have been outbid by a dollar ... he could have bid $1 more than you, or $100 more than you, but if nobody outbid him, he gets the item for $1 over the last bid before his. Refer back to that old post where that was explained previously.

Edit: Here ya' go Hide ... I looked up that old post and here's the excerpt concerning another auction where you were outbid by a dollar.

If it makes you feel any better, you "probably" didn't lose that auction by a dollar. Here's how it works. Say there's a $1 bid minimum and the item is listed with a starting bid of $20. Let's also say, you'd be willing to pay as much as $40 max. You can make a bid for $40, but if you're the only bidder at close of auction, you'll get it for $20 if there were no other bidders. Now let's say, you have your $40 bid entered (still showing $20 on the auction) and I come along and bid $21, I'll automatically be outbid by you because the site will up your bid to $22 .... outbidding me. I get pissed, throw up a $25 bid and you will automatically outbid me again at $26. It will go this way until your max bid is reached, so if somebody bids against you for $45, they will outbid you by $1 ... at $41 even though they actually bid $45. If some fool comes along and bids higher than $45 (say $50), HE will now show a $46 bid.