E-Bay: What a crock

[fabsroman]

I just started bidding on stuff on e-bay, and I can tell you that it is no fun. The first item I was interested in was a bike frame that was going for $1,800. I was just about to sit down the 12 hours before the end of the auction to bid up to $2,100 on it, and possibly more, after having been back and forth with the seller with questions, and the seller ended the auction early.

Two days ago, I decided to bid on a set of bike wheels that were currently at $350, with the reserve not met and a Buy It Now price of $750. Like an idiot, I put a max bid amount of $500 in and the reserve was $499. So, the item went from $350 to $500 in the blink of an eye. Decided to up my bid amount to $550 so that I would seem strong to any other bidder, and some other guy bid $550 today, which still left me as the high bidder by the skin on my teeth. So, I increased my maximum bid to $600, which made the current bid $560 very early this morning. The auction was supposed to end on Sunday, but the seller cancelled the auction and relisted the wheels with a new reserve and a new Buy It Now price of $675.

I am so pissed off right now that it isn't even funny, especially since this behaviour is against E-bay rules. I have also seen a lot of other behaviour that is against e-bay rules (e.g., e-mail me directly for the Buy It Now price which is not listed on the e-bay auction ad). This stuff isn't anything like a real auction. The guy selling the wheels should have been obligated to sell them to the highest bidder once his reserve price was met.

Can you tell how mad I am?