I don't sell (yet), so mostly I see myself as a "victim" here - scarce things I *really* want and would pay well for at the auction end, vanishing early for a lot less than I'd have paid.
So the one time I did do it, it was something scarce and I gave the seller a price it probably would not have reached - it was what my maximum bid would have been.
But I'm a collector - I'm not someone who wants to underpay for something in order to sell it on at a profit. Clearly your BIN people weren't that interested m, odd.
As to watchers...
I rarely ever put a bid on early, unless it is to pre-empt the auction being pulled - but the trouble with that is that it draws attention to the auction from my competition - especially if it's something with a high start price.
I'm a last minute sniper with my top, serious bid. I don't go for things I don't really, really want to own.
And I do watch a lot of stuff I'm not interested in buying - I want to see if it sells and for how much. It's part of learning about the current market.
I still blame the sellers though. There will always be those offering their "bait".
It is up to the sellers to reject them and let the auction run fairly to the end for everybody -
But as you can see, it simply doesn't work - I've done it in order to get something I really wanted - and you're saying you'd be inclined to accept - all this with both of us disapproving of it.
I didn't say the sellers encourage it, m, but I do say they're the ones with the power to stop it.
At least in the auction under discussion, the price was fine.
You've not been diddled Murfin. And you did not go "dodgy" with selling off-site, you did a BIN - in which somebody else could have pipped your buyer. And, as you so correctly said - if somebody had stuck a bid on, you couldn't have done it.
I suppose there are really two issues here - putting an agreed BIN on, which can be annoying for those who miss out, but is all above board, or selling off-site which is really dodgy.