Can a seller decide to relist an item after you have won their auction because they want to list it again at a higher price?

[petitopotato]

I won an auction and was the only bidder so won the item at the starting bid. After I won the seller sent me a message saying that they mistakenly listed the item too low and that they were going to relist the item at a higher cost - in a 'buy it now' auction.

Is this allowed by eBay?

My understanding is that an auction is a contract. The winning bidder is obligated to pay the amount of their highest bid. They cannot decide afterwards that they no longer wish to pay that much and renege on the auction.

So would the same not be true for the seller? If the seller lists their item too low and then it is won at this low cost, they should not be able to later cancel the auction and relist the item. This is not fair to the winner. When they list their auction, it should be reviewed properly.

A non-paying winner can be reported. Can the same be done for a non-selling seller? It is against eBay's policies.

[cheyenneimissyou]

I won a bid on a ring, seller took my money etc, says he sold it on another site-now I'm having a hard time getting my money back says contact paypal-well I contacted ebay and paypal ----didn't get far with ebay, told me to contact paypal-who never replied back to my message and no money-----FRAUD-I thought ebay and paypal ws supposed to be protecting us from fraud-----Not happy with ebay or paypal-and their site for a complaint is very hard to contact-how many people get scammed here?????????

[petitopotato]

In this auction, the seller only states to ship to the United States BUT even though I live in Canada, I have a US shipping address.

The seller replied that she is not obligated to ship to me since I'm in Canada but I am inquiring if this is okay since I have a US address. This would be plain discrimination. Why should the seller refuse to sell just because I'm in Canada but have a US address?

I disagree with the first part of your answer as I contacted eBay customer service and was told that the seller DOES have an obligation to complete

the auction contract by selling the won item at the winning bid. It is against their policy not to do so and a buyer can report any seller who does this.