Good Morning. Hey, you guys are incredible! Like in Sixth Sense, you all seem to "see what you want to see", and ignore reality.

Bob Orme - The seller was not wrong when he wrote to Pete, he was acting within the rules of eBay. Do you really think eBay would want their small "commission" on $100 from this guy, if it means the seller loses $300.00 by undervaluing the chip? eBay provides the "cancel bids" and "end my auction early" options for EXACTLY this kind of situation, and even refers to situations where a seller gets a better offer elsewhere!

I'm not sure what you think the "purpose of an auction" is, but I assure you it's not to screw sellers who list items without encyclopedic knowledge of value. Also, notice that nowhere in the "end my auction early" rules does it mention reserves. Reserves are irrelevent if a seller no longer wishes to sell, for whatever reason.

Andy - You say " He was flat out WRONG to cancel the auction & eBay is wrong for letting him do it." Andy, eBay does not merely "let" sellers do this, they encourage sellers to do it. eBay does not want sellers to be victimized by their inexperience, in spite of bystanders like yourself who appear to be actively rooting for some innocent, non--chipper to lose possibly hundreds of dollars to a fellow chipper, by honoring rules that do not exist. That's wrong.

Pete S. - Nice try, but incorrect. You quote the User agreement "you are obligated to complete the transaction with the highest bidder upon the auction's completion". UPON THE AUCTION'S COMPLETION! Not "during the auction", but "upon completion". I've already shown you the pertinent parts of the User Agreement that instruct a seller exactly how to cancel all bids and "complete" an auction early, and shown you that getting a better price elsewhere is a valid reason for doing so. See what you want to see?

Andy (again) - I assume the high bidder when the auction ended IS the guy that made the $400 offer? Since the seller ended the auction early, without cancelling the bids, he IS obligated to sell the chip to the high bidder at the time he ended the auction. I would argue just as vehemently that he is obligated to sell to the high bidder, as I argue that he had every right to cancel the bids and end the auction early. Rules are rules.

Jim - You say "I feel that the start of an auction is a binding contract to sell the item to the highest bidder unless a reserve is listed." Wrong! You're just making this up, no such contract exists! Read the rules.

"This auction has no reserve and therefore the seller is obligated to sell to the highest bidder. That is the chance one takes when listing an auction item." Wrong! You're making up your own rules again.

"I will send a letter to E-Bay if this seller is allowed to pull the item." Please do so, and then post the response you get here (it make take a while). Maybe eBay itself can convince you that merely listing an auction and accepting bids is not a binding contract to sell.

" E-Bay states this by saying that changes can be made to the auction only if no bids have been posted." Come on, that's silly. The reason you cannot change a description after an auction starts is so you can't change "good condition" to "bad condition" and things like that.

Let's be honest. Seller's can cancel bids if they discover new information that effects the value of an item. and SO CAN BIDDERS! If one of you club members came here and said they had put a big proxy bid on an item, and then discovered additional information that made the value of the object questionable, BEFORE THE AUCTION ENDED, would you all be telling him, "tough luck", and that he is under contract to complete the purchase? Be honest, of course not. I for one would be referring him to the eBay rules for bid retractions, which allow for a bidder to withdraw a bid just as they allow a seller to cancel bids and end and auction early.

In summary: What I see here is a bunch of guys who have not read or understood the rules for online auctions, insist on making up their own rules on a case by case basis. You appear to want this seller to take a big loss because he dared to list a casino chip on eBay without being an expert.