Ebay selling ethics - advice please

[jenchile]

I am relatively new to ebay.  A few days ago I noticed an auction item of interest with a "buy it now" option with free shipping in USA & Canada.  I clicked on "buy it now" and my Pay Pal transaction could not be completed on the spot as there was no shipping cost to Australia.  I sent a message and the seller agreed to provide me with a shipping cost to Australia.  I replied with a shipping address in Canada (should be free) and an Australian address and agreed to pay shipping.  When I went back to the item a couple of hours later I found that it had been withdrawn and the seller does not answer my emails. My question is this considered appropriate, ethical and acceptable practice in the world of ebay.  It certainly leaves me with a very poor experience.  I would appreciate some advice on what if anything I should do about this unfortunate experience. Many thanks

[femmefan1946]

First, the seller may not have been the one to withdraw the listing. If he were still selling, albeit not to you, the listing would still be there. It is possible that the listing was pulled by eBay for some reason.

 I sent a message and the seller agreed to provide me with a shipping cost to Australia.  I replied with a shipping address in Canada (should be free) and an Australian address and agreed to pay shipping.

Or you may have confused the guy.

Did you want the item sent to Australia? If so ask that question and give an Australian address. Then wait for the answer.

Did you want the item sent to Canada? If so you just had to buy and the seller would (probably) have shipped free to Canada.

Instead you seem to have given both. Maybe he panicked.

Or while you were dickering, he may have had a completed sale to someone else. Were there more than one items available?

[femmefan1946]

BTW, it is not a good idea to agree to buy (using the BIN option) before having a solid quote on shipping.

Free to Canada was fine.

But agreeing to buy and THEN asking for his shipping cost to Australia leaves you at his mercy. He could decide to send it SuperZowieGoldPlatedExpressOvernight  and you would be deemed to have agreed.

$10 item with $450 shipping? EBay would back the seller.

Seriously.

You may have lucked out on this one.