Ending listing early when have a bid.

[290453silu]

I listed an item a few days ago taking advantage of the EBay offer of only charging £1 final value fee for a few days.The listing got a bid on it yesterday but still has about 6 days to run. I was chatting to my neighbour last night and mentioned I was selling the item on EBay and he said he would be happy to buy the item from me for what I thought was a reasonable price. Obviously I would prefer to sell to my neighbour but I do not know if I will be fined by EBay if I cancel the listing. I seldom sell things in EBay and have never cancelled a listing before from memory in the many years I have been a member. I hope someone can answer my query. Thank you.

[rusticrye]

Selling to your neighbour outside of Ebay would be an off-Ebay deal, which is a serious breach of the rules. You can certainly end the listing, but you'll be charged a selling fee based on the highest bid at the time of ending so that Ebay at least gets something for spending their money on showing your listing to millions of potential buyers, and finding you a buyer. Basic listing is free for all private sellers, so you can't expect Ebay to allow you to get away without paying them the selling fee they're entitled to. They're a business, after all, not a charity.

Ebay does not like unhappy bidders and buyers, for obvious reasons (they're likely never to return), which is why they have these rules and why sellers are expected to follow them. And bear in mind that when you receive a bid, you are then in a binding contract. You may even find that the bidder you are thinking of disappointing, and whose valuable time you will have wasted, sues you for breach of contract.

So my advice is that you ask your neighbour to bid along with everyone else. And with 6 days to go, and most bids arriving near auction end, you're quite likely to get a higher price than your neighbour is offering.

@290453silu 

[290453silu]

Fair enough thank you rusticrye. However, you would not believe it I am having serious issues with my phone line and internet. The fault is intermittent, hence why I can type this! BT saying it could be at least 4 working days before the fault is fixed and likely the line will die completely any minute now. Just when for the first time ever I have a few items listed on EBay, I seldom sell anything apart from snowdrops for charity. I now don’t know if I should cancel all the listings and wait until I can have the internet back up and working properly. I live way out in the countryside so will no doubt be at the bottom of the to fix list with BT. I am beginning to regret listingbany of the items now!

[plpmr]

what you are proposing is an off eBay sale that could lose you your account.

They must bid with the others.

[290453silu]

Help this sounds somewhat draconian. I have had an account for I think about 11 years and from memory only ever had 1 negative feedback from a maniac😀. Presuming you are correct then perhaps after I have sold the few items I am selling currently have ended I will cancel my account. I really cannot see that by selling to my neighbour I am seen as a villain! Maybe if the listing was just about to end and I had 20 bidders but there is ages to go and the person who has bid has already tried to get me to end the listing early so not too thrilled at the prospect of selling to him in any event. Thank you for your reply. I will have a think about it and decide whether to end the listing early or not and risk the wrath of EBay.

[plpmr]

eBay T&C are that you can only list on eBay and not sell elsewhere as they want their fees.

Ending a listing and to sell 'elsewhere' deprives them of their fees and as far as they are concerned they found you a buyer.

[geosacha007]

The promo of £1 does not apply for listings ended early, so you could end it, cancelling the bids, but you would be charged the full 10% selling fee by ebay for doing so.