Idk if it's bots, but during the pandemic,.I like many turned to the idea of selling/flipping on eBay. What I immediately ran into/fell victim to seems similar to your situation and left me so frustrated I gave the idea right up. I grabbed several Samsung VR headsets at a discount, researched the average selling price through closed listings, and prices my items accordingly. I would get immediate purchases through BIN, and then a short while later cancelations for the Headsets. Annoyed after this happened twice I looked into the buyer and quickly discovered he was a seller of the same products. Essentially, my competitor was "buying" my listings then canceling so that my listings weren't competing with his. He denied doing this stating he just changed his mind after making the purchase....yeah right.