Buyer has asked me to cancel their bid.

[sarah-anna]

Isn't that the buyers responsibility?

[stainlessenginecovers]

No. 

Buyers can't 'cancel' bids or purchases. 

It's YOUR responsibility. 

[12345jamesstamps]

Tell the buyer to 'retract' their bid on their own.

Actually, I wouldn't even reply to such a question a buyer's email. I would just 'ghost' the email...but that's me.

[a_c_green · Accepted solution]

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@sarah-anna wrote:

Isn't that the buyers responsibility?

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If the auction has not ended yet, they should be able to retract their own bid (though I think there are some limitations on that if you're within 12 hours of ending, something like that). You can cancel it for them too. 

One key difference is that a buyer retraction goes on their Feedback page record (their 12-month record of bid retractions is shown on the Feedback as a Buyer tab), but a seller cancellation is not logged anywhere.

When I encounter a bidder with cold feet, I generally suggest that they leave their bid where it is, and let someone else outbid them. That way the auction doesn't get tainted by a bid removal, which can make other bidders wonder what's going on.

I tell them that if the auction ends and they're the winner anyway, I will be happy to cancel at that time. If that happens and there are other bidders below the winner, I'll send the 2nd place guy a Second Chance Offer, and about half the time, I'll salvage a sale at only one bid increment below the flaky winner.

[76c]

They can cancel their own bid if done within a certain, short, period of time.  If that has passed, you can cancel their bid.  That may be better than letting it go and then they win and won't pay.  When a bidder asks me to do that, I do it and then block them from any further bidding on my items.  I have a low tolerance for childish games played by buyers. 

[sarah-anna]

Thank you!

[sarah-anna]

Thank you!

[slippinjimmy]

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@12345jamesstamps wrote:

Tell the buyer to 'retract' their bid on their own.

Actually, I wouldn't even reply to such a question a buyer's email. I would just 'ghost' the email...but that's me.

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Back in the day when I did Auctions, if a bidder asked me to cancel their bid I would send them a link to the instructions, if the buyer didn't take action within a few hours I would cancel it for them.

I suspect that most buyers have no idea that they can do it themselves. Apparently even some sellers don't know.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@76c wrote:

They can cancel their own bid if done within a certain, short, period of time. ...

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In eBay jargon, bidders retract bids and sellers cancel them. A bidder can retract their bid at any time if the auction has more than 12 hours left.  During the final 12 hours, a bid can be retracted only  within one hour of being placed.  But a seller can cancel any bid at any time before the auction ends.

When a bidder starts the bid retraction process, they are asked to chose a reason from a very short list of valid retraction reasons (IIRC it's down to 2 reasons).  But eBay does not follow up or enforce anything, so the list is sometimes referred to ask the "Pick a lie" list. There are members out there with hundreds of retractions in their history, with apparently no penalties.  

I always cancel a bid if I'm asked to.  The acceptance rate for Second Chance Offers is very low in most categories, so I follow the KISS principle and get rid of the unwilling bidder ASAP so the auction can get back on track with sincere bidders.