How thin is the margin between winning and losing?

I heard this story yesterday about a house for sale in Carmel Valley.

It had 14 offers.

The sellers selected what they thought was the best offer, and headed off to escrow. But the buyer and their agent had made offers on other properties, and chose a different home instead.

A month later, the subject property is still for sale.

It was unethical what that buyer-agent did, but you gotta keep the losers hanging around, just in case.