by David R. Chase

Created on: November 26, 2007   Last Updated: March 05, 2010

Once you've listed an item for sale on eBay, you have the option of removing it before the end of the auction. It's not always a good idea, though - make sure you've got a valid reason, or you may risk losing your eBay account forever!

eBay provides sellers with a form specifically designed to cancel a listing. It's appropriately named the "End My Listing Early Form," and a link can be found either on your seller's page or by typing "cancel listing" into the help topic search box. You'll need your item number (the number it was assigned when you first listed it), and you'll also need to select a reason - you can provide details in a separate box.

Before you decide to cancel your listing, make sure your reason fits into one of the following categories:

If you're selling a vintage teapot that Aunt Millie left you, but your little one threw a baseball in the house which caused the demise of the teapot, it's okay to cancel your listing. Make sure that your story holds water, though - eBay bidders may not be all that forgiving if you've simply changed your mind.

You couldn't wait to get rid of that bulky encyclopedia collection while it was cluttering up your garage, and your spouse knew it - so they went ahead and pitched it in the trash. Unfortunately, you forgot to mention that you had it listed on eBay; is that an acceptable reason? Yes - according to eBay, if the item is no longer available for sale, the only thing you can do is remove the listing.

When you listed the antique Barbie doll, you knew she was worth quite a bit. However, in your eagerness to get her on eBay, you left out a zero (or two) on the price - now you've got forty bids, and the highest is well under the price you intended to sell her for.

Here's where the grey area begins: if you made an honest pricing error, eBay will allow you to remove the listing; however, if the item just isn't getting the bids you anticipated and you want to pull the listing because you think you should get more money, that's considered abuse. eBay calls that "reserve fee circumvention," which means that you've unfairly removed the listing and you'll be investigated. If they find more than one instance, you may be considered an abuser of the system.

In short, you may remove your listing if the item was lost or broken, it's no longer available for sale, or if you've made a significant error in the listing. Sometimes it's wiser to modify your listing, which you can do if there is more than twelve hours left on your auction; you can change the details, the description, and most other areas of the listing.

When you do decide that cancelling is the only way to go, it's a good idea to use some "eBay etiquette." Since cancelling a listing can cause serious civil unrest in the eBay community, make sure that you contact your bidders to let them know that you're sorry and give them a genuine reason for the removal of the listing.

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