The first time I ever sold anything on ebay, I went 5 of seven days with only 1 bidder. I don't think they had the feature where you could see if anyone was watching at that time. On the 5th day, the sole bidder contacted me and asked me to end the auction for an offer I couldn't believe (much higher than I was expecting). It was within the rules at that time to end the auction if there was only one bidder and that bidder requested you to end the auction. I did. The next day, two people wrote me asking why I ended the auction. Two days later, a discussion like this one cropped up on the chip board. I read all of the opposing opinions (it was a much larger thread than this one, with all sorts of thoughtful opinions and arguments bandied about) and decided that what I did was wrong. It was unfair to the other potential bidders. At the time, sniping was less prevalent, although becoming so, and I didn't realize that people were waiting in the wings until the last moments. I learned my lesson on the next two auctions that week when the prices quadrupled or more in the last 2 minutes of each auction. I have never ended an auction early again.

Michael Siskin