Is Cancellation Permitted?
Yes, of course it is permitted, otherwise we would not do it. Under English law, no contract exists in an auction until the fall of the hammer. The fact that ebay provides a form for the specific purpose of ending an auction early tends to indicate that they allow cancellation. If ebay attempted to curtail a seller's rights to cancel, they would probably be imposing an unfair contract term. Not only that, but their sales volume would probably decline as a result.

Cancellation Costs
If we cancel an auction before the end, we still have to pay the listing fees, but not the commission, so for an auction with a sub £1 starting price, this costs us 30 pence. While this won't break the bank, compared with the £5 we hope to make when a sale is successful, we can't afford to, and wouldn't want to, cancel too many sales.
If we start an auction at a realist figure, around the £235 to £245 mark, and the item fails to sell, we have to pay the £2 listing fee, and we hope you will agree this is a substantial amount compared with the profit we stand to make if the auction is successful.
In all of the above examples, we have ignored our administrative costs in creating, monitoring, and cancelling or processing the sale. Our wage bill is £2,000 per week.

Unreasonable Expectations
Some ebay buyers do not realise that a seller can or may end an auction early. Others seem to believe that it is unfair or unreasonable to do so. To this latter, fortunately small group, we would say that there attitude is unreasonable. Just because a seller enters an item into an auction, it does not place him under any legal or moral obligation to sell that item until such time as the hammer drops, or its electronic equivalent on ebay. Once an auction closes in the normal manner, both buyer and seller are party to a contract to complete the transaction. Even then ebay acknowledge that certain details such as shipping to unusual locations may entail further negotiations.
Bidders can retract bids, and should do so it they have made an error. They should not do what this person did.

Unreasonable Person
If you have time, you may be interested in reading about one unreasonable person, who put us to a lot of unneccesary time and trouble..

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