Michael James said

There is nothing wrong with making someone an offer. BUT, when that offer is done in an attempt to stop the normal auction from taking place and therefore give the seller much less than he KNEW he would receive if the auction played out, that's unethical. And I'm not speaking of book value, I'm speaking of ebay auction value. IMO

If you don’t think that this doesn’t happen 100’s or 1000’s of times every day on eBay, you would be fooling yourself.

I’ve done it before and I’m sure I’m not the only one on this board who has tried to end an auction early. The only difference between “Bill” and everyone else is “Bill” signed is name and the seller posted his question. If “Bill” would have been successful like I’m sure has in the past, no one would be the wiser. Plain and simple, "Bill" got caught for all of us to see.

Once again, what is the “eBay value” you are talking about? If the auction would have ended at $100, then I guess the “eBay value” would have been $100. Go track a single chip over the course of 1 year (for example look at the $5.00 Dunes Marquee Sign Chip) and see the price range you would see for the particular chip. I’m sure you would see sellers trying the sell the chip from $100 - $300+ for that chip. So which is the “eBay Value” of the chip? My guess is "none of the above" it no one buys the chip.

Michael if you think this is wrong (immoral or unethical), then that is your decision and good for you. I guess maybe "Bill" doesn't feel this way and he did what he/she thought was right (good for them). Maybe "Bill" is a dealer and has a store, and "Bill" was trying to earn a living buying something cheap and making a buck to feed his family or pay the bills. Or maybe "Bill" is a scum bucket and gets great enjoyment in fleecing unsuspected individuals. I personally don't know Bill, but I'm not the one who asked the question if "Bill" was being immoral or unethical.