That Nintendo World Championship cartridge didn’t actually sell for $99,902

It happens every day. You’re making pasta primavera with smoked gouda — when you go to mix in the butter, your finger slips and you accidentally make a $99,902 winning bid on eBay for one of the rarest Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges in existence. I’ve seen it a thousand times.

This is essentially what happened over the weekend with an auction for a Nintendo World Championship cart.

EBay seller Muresan put up his copy of the rare game on eBay, and after 328 bids, the auction came to end, with the top bid coming in at $99,902. Nintendo only made 116 of these cartridges (90 gray and 26 gold) and gave them out to the winners of its World Championship events in 1990. Now, the carts are among the most sought-after collectibles on the market. Muresan expected that he found someone who wanted it bad enough to pay nearly $100,000, but that wasn’t the case.

Something went wrong with the sale, and now the buyer no longer wants to pay.

“The unfortunate reality is the second I approached the winning buyer with payment options, they retracted their bid claiming it was a ‘mistake,'” the seller explained to Destructoid. “I’m now offering the item to other bidders in the auction to see if any of them are honorable individuals. It may take me a while, but that’s about all I can do for now. It would be nice if eBay were more seller-friendly, rather than 100-percent buyer-protection focused.”

The next-highest bid was for $99,802 and it came in about three minutes before the final winning (but defunct) bid.

On eBay’s site, it explains that “a bid on eBay is considered a contract, and you’re obligated to purchase the item.” But the site does provide wiggle room to get out of that contract. Buyers can retract their bid if they accidentally entered the wrong bid, if the item’s description changed significantly after the bid, or if the seller is unreachable.

In this event, it’s possible that the buyer is claiming they accidentally entered the wrong bid, but eBay says the person must then reenter the correct amount right away.

We’ve reached out to Muresan to ask if he’s had any luck with the other bidders.