qcpmsame 

Seeing that you have stretched the ten minutes out by posting here, what satisfaction did you get from anything beyond the first warning about the seller? I agree that he was playing the system, he was getting burned and cut his losses. If you get some type of satisfaction from carrying a grudge to extremes, I suppose this method will give you a warm-fuzzy.

I agree with the replies to move on, other than a potential ulcer from stress you aren't going to get much from going any further. ebay has become too crowded with people convinced they have a RARE, EXCLUSIVE, ETC. item that they will make a killing from, usually its pure crap, or something close in its olfactory stimulation. You seem pretty knowledgeable about cycling and what makes a good Rando ride, channel your energies into productive riding activities. JMWO.

Bill

TimmyT 

Alternatively, start his subscription to the New York Review of Books. Perhaps there is a teenage boy band who needs a new follower, too?

Kobe 

LOL, I am sure Columbia House would love to have him as a new "member".

This happened to me once. The seller listed a mountain bike for local pick up only. He was a new seller and started it at $5, after my one bid won it e refused to give me his address. I was bothered by it for about 10 minutes too, but in the end it was not worth the hassle of any further actions.

Ed.

I think the 'seller' knows Goneril, of whom I will speak no more.

gugie 

Yeah, but then there's the whining and moaning about the guy whining and moaning :-)

Since I don't go to an old school barbershop anymore, I use these sites to complain.

I want a bike with Gran Torino decals.

Ex Pres 

Just be glad he didn't post w/tracking a box filled with enough newspaper to be the right weight, "prove" delivery, and keep your money.

gugie 

Yes, but eBay and PayPal have ways to handle that, and I can always use my credit card anti-fraud.

Camilo

I agree with this.

leftthread

eBay and CL: the modern Wild West.

gville73

Gugie,

I'm no expert on eBay rules, but it seems to me that if you won and paid immediately a transaction was completed. I had a similar experience with a more fortuitous end. A party three states away offered an old but nice-looking Motobecane tandem for $175 (no reserve) after the bike had earlier failed to draw bids at $300. He also published the shipping rate at $54. That seemed a bit low to me, but I thought maybe he was using the cheap shipping price as an incentive. I bid slightly north of the opening price and turned out to be the only bidder. Like you, I paid immediately. The next day I got an email that said he would have to cancel the sale or I'd need to send him $75 dollars more as he had discovered it would cost $150 to ship the bike. I shamed him by reminding him that I had bid in good faith and paid in good faith and that the $229 he was holding was more than enough to cover shipping. Then I offered to split the difference and send him $50 if he would tell me how to do it. His response: "No, you are right. I'll ship the bike." I did have to drive 50 miles to the nearest FedEx freight depot to pick it up. It was arrived in good shape, copiously wrapped and strapped to a pallet. I ended up giving the guy positive feedback for his "heroic" efforts in shipping the bike, and, for the moment at least, he preserved his 100% rating. I guess some people will do the right thing and some people won't. If you knew where the seller lived, you could leave a flaming sack of pig droppings on his step, ring the doorbell and run. I'm sorry for your disappointment. I agree with the other respondents - utter a few curse words (out of the earshot of children), imagine a delicious revenge, and move on. Better luck next time. I think the vast majority of eBay sellers are honest.

SirMike1983 

It happens. That doesn't make it fun to get the shaft, but I figure the old bike hobby is good for a bad transaction once every couple years, at least at the rate I buy things (which isn't very fast). I've bought stuff off bicycle hobby fora that didn't ever ship, that wasn't what the seller claimed it was, or that had material faults or issues purposely omitted from the pictures and descriptions. Even doing your best diligence, it still happens on occasion. It happens on Ebay plenty, but on hobby fora it happens too. Leave a negative and chalk it up as the occasional "bad deal" and move on to your next bike project. At least you still have your money.

miamijim

I had one today... Some clown left positive feedback but wrote "slow shipping" in the comments. He bought and paid on the 4th, I shipped on the 4th and it was delivered on the 6th.

When is 2 days door to door slow? I blocked him, good riddance.

CliffordK

So if the sale had gone above the reserve price, would the seller have honored the sale?

There are, of course, valid listing errors that happen. Perhaps a potential bidder points out a significant flaw that the seller hadn't' realized.

I've had very few E-Bay sales that have cancelled. There was an auction that had the cassette listed with the wrong number of teeth. I should have noticed from the photo, but missed it. The seller realized a couple hours before the close of the auction, and unfortunately E-Bay wouldn't allow bid retractions that close to the end of the auction.

If there was in fact a flaw in the product, count your blessings that it wasn't shipped to you. There was someone a few weeks ago that posted that he had gotten a deal of a lifetime on a Microshift gruppo from Amazon. Then when it arrived, it only was a single shifter, and Amazon refused to ship the missing parts.

I've had a few Amazon purchases that were mysteriously cancelled.

Hopefully the companies (E-Bay & Amazon) track sellers that do this, and take actions to limit the occurrences.

I hate "Reserve Auctions" as they aren't worth my time bidding against the seller. But, some sellers use auction cancellations (before or after the end of the auction) as a pseudo reserve.

unterhausen

that looks like it was a really cool bike. Did the seller part it out? Because on a bike like that, it's a crime to part it out

kunsunoke 

Gotta let it go.

There will be others on eBay willing to part with what you're willing to buy, at whatever price you're willing to pay.

If this particular seller is playing the "oh, cousin Joe told me it's worth a lot, duh" game, he'll end up worse for it in the end - and the ad will be prominently posted in the Wacky World thread we have here.

lostarchitect 

...King Lear's daughter?

Ed.

She, indeed, is the namesake for this more modern incarnation...

BiciMan

Been there... Online bike-shopping requires a lot of patience. Thanks for the heads up, and another reminder that ebay attracts and allows for all sorts of sellers -and players. This one may have simply changed his/her mind about selling. Caveat emptor, for sure. Good luck finding what you want -again.

MiloFrance 

How about this? Not 650b but...

72Paramount

eBay sucks...and your threat to the seller didn't help. You should have took a kinder approach, and figured out a buy it now situation that would have been fair for both parties. People don't sell on ebay to lose their asses, I'm sure you understand.... I wouldn't leave bad feedback.... I would move on.

miamijim

Clifford, I'm with you on this. I don't think the seller was expecting it to sell significantly higher than the reserve. But at the end of the day it's well within EBay's policy's to back out.

And yes, Ebay tracks sellers who back out completing sales, they'll allow a minimal number over a period of time.

There's a type of auction, perhaps a combination of 'Buy Now' with a reserve/min opening bid that's quirky. With this format as soon as the reserve is meet your 'buy now' is no longer active. For example, if I set a 'Buy Now' of $400 with and opening bid of $200, once someone bids $200 the $400 'Buy Now' option disappears. WTF kind of goofy format is that?

I've broken parts while cleaning/getting them ready for shipment and I've sold parts I didn't have anymore. Things happen.

PaintItCeleste

Good one!

To OP, definitely don't let it get the best of you. Worse will happen on eBay. I have found myself in your shoes and wanting "justice". I agree with your hunch that this was shady and not purely a mistake. However, there is nothing to be done about it. If you can leave negative feedback, consider it. Then again, you don't truly know the whole story. Best not to start anything, which might result in a negative way on your end. For that reason, in my opinion, I would advise just moving on. Sucks, I know. But there are so many more bikes out there, don't sweat it!

wrk101

I had one even funnier. Person bought the item, and an hour later, left POSITIVE FEEDBACK, and I hadn't even printed a shipping label.

Then an hour later, I get a Paypal claim "Item Not Shipped". WTF?

Sir_Name 

Good approach toward best possible outcome given how the auction was closed.

Other than that, don't give any more of your time to the problem. You only have so much. To a future solution, maybe. You could still try to strike a deal with the seller, though I'm guessing that ship has sailed.