A bald-faced lie, of course. He claims he has no idea what the value would be, but puts it at $425. The value is $67, at least according to the previous auction. It's quite obvious he expected it to go for much more, and when it didn't, he reneged.

Here's part of the response:

I did not "stiff" the previous acution winner. If you happen to be refering to harami2000 he contacted me last night claiming he was the actual winner of the auction when he was not. His bid was not high enough to win the item. The actual winner did not want the item so I cancelled the transaction and relisted the item with a new acution format.


What that translates to is:
"harami2000 had the second highest bid, but since $67 wasn't nearly high enough, I didn't offer him a Second-Chance option. Why would I, when I wasn't even willing to sell it to the high bidder? So, I relisted it with a stupid price."

More to follow.

The only real complaint anyone has against this guy is the guy who won the auction, surely? If the winner has no problem with not completing the sale, then everything seems to be legit' and above board. The assumption is being made that someone got stiffed here. Is there any evidence of this?

As always, Mars hit it on the head.

Latest reply:
$67 was the ending auction price and harami2000 was not the winner. He received (for whatever reason) a 2nd chance offer on the book. I believe he is just upset that I didn't act on the second chance offer when it was still available. It's a free country to do so or not. What ever my reasons for relisting the item as a different format and for a different price are my own. It's what I should've done in the first place, but that's neither here nor there. The fact remains, this is the present auction format and this is the present price. The old auction is closed and so is any lingering issues, be they genuine or the work of sour grapes. Harami2000 was not the previous winner nor does he have any ground to file any inquiry into the present matter. And, of note this is not a MERP book, nor can it be held in the same arena in determining value at or around $66-$67 range as such. My fault for thinking that there was genuine interest in a one-of-a-kind rare book. It's value is practically indeterminant as it's pretty much based on how much someone else in the world knows or feels it's rare/valuable.

Translation:
"I shilled my own auction, and it went to $67. That really isn't enough for me, so I reneged and relisted it."

Round 3.....

I contacted the seller when he first listed the auction. He listed it at $100 starting price and $500 BIN. I told him that even if this book is rare, it does not worth more than $50-60 and the last copies sold for $25 (in poor shape). He answered that he will think about this and finally relist it at $50 starting price. I asked to add a $70-80 BIN before he relist it but he claimed that this book is very rare and unvaluable... and he wanted the market estimates the value...

And as Mars said, I am pretty sure he shilled his auction.

@lokiwookie: Thanks for the background. Surprised they're not blaming you because you talked them down from a $100 start.

Whale Tagger wrote:He received (for whatever reason) a 2nd chance offer on the book. I believe he is just upset that I didn't act on the second chance offer when it was still available.

Surely that can't be verbatim, Frank?
First I got a 2nd chance offer (not true and I'd love to know what "for whatever reason" means - Pisces ascendant and Sagittarius midheaven?) and then they didn't act on that...

Whale Tagger wrote:Be warned, sarami

Thanks for the heads up.

Ah. So the guy was his own highest bidder? I missed that. So presumably complaints have been made to eBay?

Mars wrote:The auction has been up for all of a couple minutes and already a question from a certain competing seller:

   

And I thought I had a lot of free time...