Ebay Experience And The Aftermath

Made an offer on an ebay lot that was an "or Best Offer" slightly more than the opening bid. I was turned down. The item closed and I could not tell if it had sold, so I inquired about the selling price of the item. Turned out the item did not sell and the listing company offered me the item for the starting bid.

So they turn down a higher offer and then when it got no bids, they offered it to me for the starting bid? Interesting business model!

And it might not come as a big surprise that it was a Carefree auction firm that gets discussed frequently on this forum!

He got an offer and probably assumed that that indicated that there would be a bidding war at the close of the auction. Once the bidding war didn't materialize he was willing to sell at the opening.
I've bought several items for less than my "best offer" after the "best offer" was rejected.

He probably didnt remember your offer. Careful about quality, I've had less than carefree experiences in Carefree.

I had a similar experience in buying Mahler's documents book some years ago. I offered $30, got turned down and later bought it for $25. Crazy.

Sometimes it works out this way. Glad you got a deal.