As an Ebay seller-I had to do something I found distasteful

[Horse with no Name]

but Ebay has set up the system so that the buyer has all of the advantages and the sellers have few options.
Last night I had a pair of jeans listed.
I had previously sold an identical pair a few days ago and the bids tripled in the last 15 minutes of the bidding.
About 2 hours before the auction ended, I wanted to see what was all ending and if the bidding was heavy, etc.
So anyway...I find out that ebay was having technical problems and all items that were ending at this particular time were inaccessible and they didn't know when it would come up again.
So basically, in the last two hours of my auction, there weren't going to be any bids.
I had one bidder who opened the bid. I have no idea how much her maximum bid was. These jeans had 15 watchers on them, so I had a good reason to believe they were going to increase.
Anyway, Ebay's advice was to cancel the bid that was placed and end the auction.
So that is what I did.
I emailed the bidder and apologized and told her I was going to relist them, but basically said I was following the advice of Ebay.
I personally don't think I should have given these jeans away as most bidding is done in the last hour or so, but I got a nasty reply from the bidder about she was a legit bidder, etc.
While I do understand where she is coming from, I didn't feel it was fair that I had to accept an obviously low bid on these jeans without any competition.
I relisted the jeans on a one-day auction so that if she wanted to bid on them again, she could and not have to wait a lengthy time.
By the way...they are now quadruple what her bid was with several hours to go.
What would you have done and what do you think the fair thing to do was?
I'm curious.

[lakemonster11]

1. I think what you did was fine.

I'm sure she's irritated, but you deserve to actually have people bid on the jeans. It's not fair to you or to other interested parties if they can't bid in the last two hours (which, like you said, is when most people bid). Besides, you did what you did on Ebay's advice. I wouldn't feel too bad about it.

[uppityperson]

2. What you did was fair.

You listed them under the assumption that people could bid on them for a certain amount of time. If eBay could not live up to their end of the agreement, you had the right to relist. This was fair, and listing them for only 1 day was a good compromise on your part. We who buy are always looking for good deals, but not to check a seller. You were fair.

[LostinVA]

3. I buy/sell alot on ebay, and would have done the same thing

The HUGE majority of bidding usually comes within the last 30-60 minutes, and you shouldn't suffer because ebay screwed up. No worries. With 15 watchers, the odds are she wouldn't have won the jeans anyway -- early bidders, imo, rarely win the auction.

[radwriter0555]

4. You did the exact right thing. This is just business and it's just a pair

of jeans... if she got all worked up over it, then she has other issues to deal with.

You're FINE.

[Atlas Mugged]

5. I'm only a purchaser

But my positive feedback is 100%, feedback score is 267, and all positive feedback is 476, so I feel qualified to comment on this.

You were absolutely fair, no questions about it. If this person has anyone to upset with, it's eBay.

[Atlas Mugged]

6. You can tell how many watchers you have???

Wow, I didn't know that. I watch a lot of varied items and I've always wondered if the watcher was watched! Do you know who's watching or just the number of watchers?

[Horse with no Name]

7. Yeah it is a fairly new feature in the last couple of years

It only gives you the number, not the names.
Just an idea if your item has interest in it or not. Not sure how scientific it is.