...when the seller contacts other bidders in the auction informing them that the top bidder's cost will be reduced to the accepted proposal offer...especially in Dutch Auctions. It's usually only a matter of a dollar or two most of the time and everyone is happy. I've done this many times with Dutch Auction items or when there was a "runaway" on items that were quite common where I would end the auction early and offer the chips to all buyers at fair market. Just last month I listed a Millennium (false-2000) <g> chip where four bidders topped $35 for the chip; I reduced it to $10 and all four took the chip.

JB