While not a TF-related auction, I figured someone here might know what the hell happened with an auction I just won. The subject line from eBay in an e-mail I received about 24 hours after winning an auction: "SHMO NOTICE: eBay Auction xxxxxxxxxxx* Cancelled - Results Null and Void". The best I've been able to find by Googling it is that it's related to shill bidding - which is completely impossible on the auction in question, because it was a fixed price auction and I paid immediately after clicking Buy-It-Now. The payment went through on Paypal, but now the auction has no record on my eBay page, due to it being canceled. I e-mailed eBay to find out what happened (no reply yet) and I e-mailed the seller as well (good feedback, looks reputable). Anybody have this happen to them? *contained actual auction ID
I had something similar happen to an item that I was bidding on and winning for $18.50 that had a day left. I got an SHMO cancellation notice from them and when I emailed them about it they said they couldn't explain any of the details to me, but that I was free to work something out with the seller (which, mind you, is against their policies... so they were basically giving me permission to go against their policy). I looked up the information too and found that shill bidding was also the closest thing that it came up with, but that would be ridiculous, because me and one other person were the only ones who'd bid on the auction and the other guy's bid wasn't anywhere near what I had for my max bid. This all happened last week actually. Don't expect to get much of an answer from customer support... they'll tell you that they can't inform you of what happened to protect the seller's privacy.
Hmm. Weird. Who knows why eBay does what they do? Considering I already paid for the item, hopefully the shipping will still go off without a hitch and the only loss will be the feedback for myself and the seller.
Well, you said the guy had great feedback so I don't see why not. Do you have his contact information? I'd get intouch with him through email or something just to make sure everything goes smooth.
Actually, I heard back from him just a few minutes ago and he was just as confused as I was, but said he'd have no problem honoring the sale, since it was already paid for and everything.
What a relief! At the top of this page the first thing I was thinking was "SCAM!" But that's great if the guy's gonna honor the sale.
