Charles, I agree 100% that if the auction ended that the seller HAS TO sell the item for the highest bidder. It is a binding contract. No ifs, ands, or buts. The transaction has to be completed.

But is an on-going auction a BINDING contract??? If I had to guess, I wouldn't think so. It has not SOLD yet. The seller can still change his mind and not sell the item.

My mind could easily be converted if I heard valid arguements regarding this subject.

Here is a what if for you or anyone else that cares to answer...

What if Chipper "A" puts up a Cinco 2000 $25 chip on eBay. Chipper "B" sees the auction but doesn't have cash on-hand for that chip but wants it. Chipper "B" does have a spare Sammy $25 chip and proposes a trade with Chipper "A" for it. Chipper "A" does in fact need the Sammy chip and changes his mind about selling the chip for cash on eBay since this trade proposal came in. I don't see the big deal if Chipper "A" takes the auction down. Now if I was interested in bidding on the auction, I would be disappointed. Sure I may call him names under my breath. Some of us may think the seller is a low-life for doing it.

Is your opinion different if no one has bid on the auction yet? What if a sniper was going to snipe it? Some people claim that sniping it un-ethical. Is you opinion different if the item was up for 1 day, 2 days, etc?

The above situation is totally made up but one time I did have a situation that was similar... A couple years ago I listed a set of Aerosmith tickets on eBay. I bought these tickets from Ticketmaster and then later I bought another pair of seats that were much better. Now I didn't need the first pair of tickets and listed them on eBay. A couple days later, my neighbor had come over to my house and I told him I was going to the concert. He told me that he wanted to go and was watching some auctions on eBay. He had MY auction in his watch list and didn't even know it was me. That was too funny. Anyway, we talked about the tickets and he proposed a trade. He was thinking about selling a signed Marcus Allen framed jersey and I was interested in it. We worked out a trade and I took down the auction and did the trade. Maybe I was a low-life for doing that trade. At the time I didn't see a big ethical problem with it. The auction wasn't over yet. No binding contract was completed with anyone yet. I was able to help out a neighbor. And I got something else in return that I wanted instead of cash.