Can sellers cancel a transaction only to relist the same item at a higher starting bid?

[smokingdrusome]

Recently, I was less than 24 hours away from winning two amazing magazines through the auction process at $9.99 each, then the seller cancelled my bids and the magazines disappeared. Then today I log on and the same magazines are relisted with a starting bid of $19.99, is this in any way right or fair to the buyer?

[nubian_treasures]

By cancelling your bid and ending the auction, the seller was charged a fee for ended the auction early. In the past, there were no fees associated with end an auction early. But apparently there were too many sellers doing what your seller did so ebay started charging sellers for cancelling bids and ending the auction early.

I know it annoying that the seller cancelled your bids but it is better to cancel your bids than to be the winner and then be told the seller refuses to sell because the price wasn't high enough.

[reallynicestamps]

The silly seller could not see your maximum bid, only the high bid that was showing.

He paid eBay for the listing and for cancelling the listing.

He lost any bidders who were watching the auction with the idea of bidding late.

He lost any bidders with electronic Snipes set to execute in the last few seconds.

There are good reasons to cancel an auction (there is a US seller called 'the dog ate my tablecloth" ) but low bids are not usually one of them.