Personal Finance Tips

How to retract and cancel a bid on eBay as the buyer (UK)?

Gert Svaiko

21.06.23 (updated more than 1 year ago)

Read time 3 minutes

Bid on an eBay listing by mistake? Perhaps you got carried away in the frenzy of the online auction, or simply changed your mind about buying an item.

Whichever is the case, read on. We’ve put together a quick and helpful guide on how to retract a bid on eBay. This includes how eBay bidding works, and whether it’s possible to cancel a bid once submitted.

Want to save when buying on eBay from international sellers? With a financial services provider Wise, you can open a Wise account, and get a virtual card for shopping online in different currencies. It has low fees and uses mid-market exchange rates for currency conversions - all to save you money.

Learn more about the Wise virtual card

Please see the Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise fees & pricing for the most up-to-date information on pricing and fees.

But for now, let’s get that eBay bid sorted for you.

How does bidding on eBay work?

For auction-style eBay listings, the seller will set a starting price. Potential buyers will need to submit bids in the hope of being the highest bidder when the auction ends.

However, it’s not always that simple. eBay also has something called automatic bidding. This is where you set the highest price you’re willing to pay for an item, and the platform automatically bids for you up to that limit.

If you’re the highest bidder at the end of it all, the item is yours.

Can you cancel a winning bid on eBay?

It’s important to remember that once you make a bid on eBay, you’re agreeing to buy and pay for the item if you win the auction. So, only bid if you’re sure.

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to retract a winning bid. This is unless any of the following exceptional circumstances apply:¹

You bid the wrong amount by accident. For example, you typed £100 instead of £10 when submitting the bid.
The seller significantly changed the item description
You’re not able to reach the seller.

It’s not guaranteed that you can cancel or retract a bid under any of the circumstances above, but you can give it a try.

You might also be able to contact the seller to ask them to cancel the bid for you. You can explain the circumstances and they may be understanding.

What happens if you don't pay a bid on eBay?

You must pay for any items you’ve purchased on eBay within 4 days.² This policy is the same whether you’ve bought something outright or won an auction.

If you don’t pay up in time, you’ll be in violation of eBay’s abusive buyer policy. Your order may be cancelled, and your eBay account limited or restricted. You may lose buying privileges on the platform altogether.²

How to retract and cancel a bid on eBay?

If one of the exceptional circumstances listed above applies, here’s how to retract your bid on eBay.

Login to your eBay account
Go to ‘My eBay’
Select ‘Bids/Offers’
Find the item and bid, and see if there’s an option to retract a bid. If not, you can click on the ‘Retract a bid’ button on this page.

If there’s no option to retract a bid, you can try contacting the seller. There’ll be an option to do this on the item listing page, or within ‘Bids/Offers’ in ‘My eBay’.

How to retract a bid on the eBay app?

If you’re using the eBay app to bid on auctions, here’s how to cancel or retract a bid there:

Open the eBay app and login
Go to ‘My eBay’ from the menu at the bottom
Select ‘Bids & Offers’
Under ‘Active’, find the item and see if the option to retract your bid is available
If not, click on the listing and find the option to contact the seller.

What’s the time period for cancelling a bid?

According to eBay, you’ll only be able to retract a bid for up to 1 hour when the listing is ending in less than 12 hours.¹

And that’s it - everything you need to know about how to cancel a bid on eBay. It’s a little tricky to do, as the option to retract a bid is only really available for exceptional circumstances.

If you can’t cancel your bid, it’s always worth contacting the seller. You might be lucky and have an understanding seller who is happy to cancel your bid.

Won an eBay auction and are happy to buy the item? If it’s an international seller, use the Wise virtual card to pay for your purchase in their local currency.

Your money will be automatically converted at the mid-market exchange rate, for just a small fee. Or if you already have the currency in your Wise account, there’s no fee to pay.

It’s a smart, money-saving way to shop online in multiple currencies.

Please see the Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise fees & pricing for the most up-to-date information on pricing and fees.

Sources used:

Sources last checked on date: 05-Jun-2023

*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

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