because, if the item sold to the person just running the bids up, the seller could just offer it to the next lowest bidder. The issue, for me, is that say the bid-runner-upper put in six or seven bids that took the second bidder's price from $400 to say $600, and the seller offers to sell it to the second bidder for $600 because the bid-runner-upper backed out? Still fair? Not hardly, in my opinion.

Kind of a funny related story: Many years ago at a club auction, I was sitting with a friend that has a great collection of high end chips. Nice chip came up & he started bidding on it & eventually ended winning it. A few minutes later, he swore, then smiled & chuckled upon the realization that he had just bought his own chip.

Steve B