How To Retract a Best Offer on eBay
You must meet certain criteria to retract a Best Offer on eBay. Learn if you are eligible and access the form you need to submit.
By Corbin HartwickUpdated on September 19, 2024
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Best Offers, like bids, are a selling option that gives you greater flexibility in terms of how you can shop on eBay.com. But every now and then, you may make a mistake while using it. For example, you make a typo when entering your offer so that it seems an unreasonable price to pay for a particular item. Or the seller significantly changes how the item is presented and/or described after you’ve already made your offer. And you can’t get in contact with the seller to discuss either of these issues.
In most cases, you don’t need to panic. There’s a way to request to cancel your Best Offer if you get stuck in any of the above circumstances. That’s what this guide will teach you: how to use eBay to retract a Best Offer.
Let’s begin with what must be true about your Best Offer to make you eligible to cancel it.
4 essential criteria needed to cancel a Best Offer on eBay
Generally, Best Offers are treated much the same as bids on eBay: they’re legally-binding contracts. So if you make one and a seller accepts it, or a seller makes a counteroffer and you accept it, you’re typically obligated to pay the price you named or agreed to. The process for canceling a bid and canceling a Best Offer are different though, and require different criteria for you to be allowed to retract your offer.
To be eligible to retract an offer on an item, you must meet all four of the following criteria:
- There’s sufficient time left in the listing – There need to be at least 12 hours left before the listing you made an offer on closes.
- Your latest offer was fairly recent – It has been less than 1 hour since you made your latest offer on the item.
- The seller hasn’t responded to your latest offer yet – The seller must not have accepted, rejected, or made a counteroffer on your latest offer.
- You haven’t reached your limits on sending offers – You are typically only allowed to make up to 5 offers (including counteroffers) on most items on eBay, or up to 10 on items in the “Vehicles” category. If your latest offer was your final available offer for an item, you can’t retract it.
If all four of those statements are true, you would be allowed to withdraw your Best Offer.
How to Cancel an Offer using the eBay Best Offer Retraction Form
Start by going to the eBay Best Offer retraction form. Once there, enter the item number (from the item’s listing page, or in the Bids/Offers section of My eBay) and then click Continue. You will need to choose a reason as to why you want to withdraw the offer, and then click Cancel Offer.
The eBay Best Offer cancellation form is an alternate way of withdrawing a Best Offer. It’s meant to be used if you are using eBay on a mobile device (such as through the eBay app or a mobile browser), but it can still be used if you’re accessing eBay from a desktop computer. You can find a link to it by going to the eBay help center article on making a Best Offer.
How to retract a Best Offer on eBay from your eBay Bids/Offers Page
If you’re using a desktop computer and meet the above criteria for canceling a Best Offer on eBay, you can retract your offer by following these steps:
The fastest way is to go directly to the My Bids/Offers page. If you aren’t logged in, instead go to www.ebay.com, log in to your account, and go to Bids/Offers under My eBay.
![View your list of bids and offers on eBay]()
Under the “Offers” heading, find the offer you want to retract and click Review Offer.
Click Retract Offer.
Pro Tip
You can also retract an offer by going to the details page of an item you’ve made an offer on and doing the same thing: clicking Review Offer, and then Retract Offer.
4 helpful FAQs to withdraw a Best Offer on eBay
Here are some other things you may want to know about how withdrawing an eBay Best Offer works.
1. If I don’t meet the criteria for retracting a Best Offer, am I stuck with it until the seller responds?
Not necessarily. If a seller doesn’t respond to your offer within 24 hours of you making it, the offer will automatically be canceled. The same is true if you make an offer on an item, but the seller doesn’t respond to you before that item’s listing ends.
In addition, if a seller responds to one of your offers with a counteroffer, and you don’t respond to the counteroffer within 24 hours, your original offer will be canceled.
You can also always try contacting eBay customer service as a last resort, as they are interested in trying to help you resolve problems whenever possible.
2. Can I ask a seller to cancel my Best Offer for me?
Yes, with a caveat. You can contact a seller and explain to them the reason you wish to have your offer retracted, and they may choose to reject your offer in order to fulfill your request. Remember, however, that Best Offers are considered legally-binding contracts on eBay. If you don’t meet the criteria for having one retracted, a seller is under no obligation to cancel it for you by rejecting it – even if you ask politely.
3. If I retract a Best Offer, does it count towards the limit on offers I can make towards an item?
Yes. Any offer you make on an item that is retracted, rejected, met with a counteroffer, or left to expire counts towards your limit on the number of offers you can make on a particular item. Remember that you aren’t typically allowed to retract your final available offer on an item, so try not to use the ability to retract offers more often than you need to.
4. Are there some categories that have restrictions on Best Offers?
Yes. The “Trading Cards” category, for example, doesn’t allow buyers to retract bids or Best Offers through normal means. You may still be able to retract an offer by contacting the seller, but again, they aren’t under any obligation to accept your request.
In addition, some categories may not allow you to make another Best Offer on an item if you’ve already retracted one.
While Best Offers on eBay are usually binding, there are certain situations in which eBay will allow you to get out of them. After reading this guide, you now know when you’re eligible to retract an offer, as well as where you need to go and what you need to do to cancel the offer. Ideally, though, you’ll only use this knowledge in an emergency situation, and will make the correct offers the first time on items you’re willing to commit to buying.
Pro Tip
If you’re having trouble getting your Best Offers accepted, try searching eBay for items with misspelled listings. These tend to not get much attention, since eBay’s search function only looks for exact spellings. The lack of activity around these items may make the sellers more desperate to get rid of them, and so more likely to accept a Best Offer!
Make sure you’re taking adequate precautions when trying to cancel Best Offers, especially if you are interacting with sellers through the platform. Review our guide on eBay safety & scams to learn more about what to look out for, and be sure to check out the rest of our eBay guides if there’s anything else you want to know about how to use eBay!