ccDan - 2:17 pm on Jun 20, 2007 (gmt 0)

A cancelled winning bid should leave the second-highest bidder just above the bid of the third-higest bidder - as if that winning bidder had never been there.

That might be seller-friendly, but not necessarily buyer-friendly.

For example, you bid on a computer. Someone else outbids you and wins the auction.

So, you bid on another computer and win.

Some time later, you find out the winning bid of the first auction was cancelled, so now you're the winner.

Right now, if you lose an auction, you're off the hook. You can go and bid on a similar or same item from another seller.

If that situation changes, you'll pretty much have to wait until the other auction is finalized before you can feel secure in bidding on another auction for the same item.

The end result is that there is that you pretty much end up in limbo on every auction you lose, which would pretty much discourage people from bidding.

That's something that could drive buyers away from Ebay, as well as invite more abuse by unscrupulous sellers.