How to end an ebay auction without selling the item

There are some basic guidelines laid down by ebay if you want to cancel an auction without selling the item. Sometimes there is a need an a seller would want to cancel the auction and not sell. Some of the reasons could be that the item is missing a part or has been stolen or the item is not working anymore. You need to be very careful as ending an auction early will leave your buyers disappointed and ebay being such a community based on feedback you don't really want to get bad feedback. 


Here are the basic requirements that would determine how to end your listing early.


1. If there are 12 hours or more remaining before you end your listing you can do so without any restrictions.
2. If there are less than 12 hours remaining before you end your listing. You would need to check if there are any bids on your item and if there is a reserve price on your item. If there are no bids including no cancelled bids then you can end you ebay item listing and cancel the auction. If there are any cancelled bids you cannot end it early. If there are one or more bids then you need to sell the item to the highest bidder and cancel the listing. If there are one or more bidders but the reserve price wasn't met then you cannot cancel the listing early. 


How to end a listing

1. 
   Type the item number into the End My Listing Early form. The item number is shown on your listing, confirmation email, and My eBay page.
   


2. 
   

   If there are bids on your item, choose how you want to end your listing.

   
   

   
   
   • If there are 12 hours or more before the end of the listing, choose “Cancel bids and end listing early” or “Sell item to high bidder.”
   
   
   • If there are 12 hours or less before the end of the listing, your only option is to “Sell item to high bidder.”
   
   

   
   


3. Select the reason you're ending your listing early.


4. 
   

   Your listing will end and will no longer be active on eBay. If you're canceling an auction-style listing with bids, bidders who didn’t win will receive an email explaining that their bid was canceled and that the listing ended early.

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   If you can’t end the listing

   
   

   If you don’t meet the requirements for ending your auction-style listing early, your best option is to communicate with the bidders.

   
   

   • 
     Before the listing ends: Contact the bidders, explain the situation, and encourage them to retract their bids. Alternatively, you can cancel their bids.
     

   
   

   • 
     If the listing ends and there is a winning bidder: Contact the bidder and explain the situation. If you and the bidder agree to not complete the sale, you can file an unpaid item and indicate that you and the buyer have agreed not to complete the transaction. The bidder will be notified and can confirm the agreement.
     

   
   

   The fine print

   
   

   
   
   • You'll still be charged listing fees (such as the insertion fee) if you end your listing early. If you want to change or improve your listing, consider revising your listing instead.
   
   
   • 
     Sellers are not permitted to cancel bids and end listings early in order to avoid selling an item that did not meet the desired sale price. This is considered to be a reserve price violation. Although there are legitimate reasons for ending a listing early, abuse of this option will be investigated.
     
   
   
   • eBay Motors allows sellers to end their listing early and cancel all bids by sending a Transaction Confirmation Request to the buyer.
   
   

   
   

[Source: ebay ]

An original post by

Sociolatte