A seller has cancelle my bid and now has relisted same item at a high price. Can they do that?

[nikki2819]

I made a bid for an item and just before the bidding ends - the seller cancels my bid.  I received an email message from eBay saying this has happened  but there is no explanation other than to check the bidding history for the explanation but I don't know where to look.

I've also havein't received anything from seller explaining why and now I see they have relisted the item for a higher starting price.

This doesn't seem like a fair practice. 

[reallynicestamps]

Until the auction ends you are a bidder not a buyer.

The seller is the owner and can do what she wants with the item.

In this case, it appears that the seller either started the bidding too low (something eBay has been promoting for years and which has lost them a lot of interesting sellers who naively followed this bad advice) or learned that her asking price was incorrect. Perhaps a misplaced decimal?

But the seller does not owe you anything.