If the item is no longer for sale - for example you might have sold it elsewhere, or it's been broken, or you've mislaid it - then you can go ahead and close your auction early. If you don't have the item to sell, then you should remove your auction.

These are the pages where you commence the removal process:

To remove your item from eBay.co.uk go here - http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?EndingMyAuction

To remove your item from eBay.com go here - http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?EndingMyAuction

Once you've entered your auction number, eBay will ask you to choose the reason which best reflect why you're closing your auction early. The option you almost certainly want ?Cancel bids and end listing early?. If you opt for ?Sell item to high bidder and end listing early? your auction will cease, and your item will be sold to the highest bidder at the point of auction closure.

Bear in mind, however, that closing auctions early isn't really in the spirit of eBay, and you could also upset potential buyers and watchers.

If you're going to close down your auction, it's preferable to do this quickly i.e. well before the auction's end point. eBay frown upon sellers who remove auctions near their conclusion simply because they want to try the auction again and see if they can get a better price next time.

It may be, however, that what you really wanted to do is just change you auction. You may have thought that the only way to do this was to cancel the auction and set it up again with the amendments in place.

But did you know you can revise your listing in just about any way you wish and at any time, subject to a couple of exceptions?

You can change title, description, duration, change/add pictures, add listing upgrades - in fact, virtually anything to do with your auction.

The exceptions are that you can only amend auctions which have more than 12 hours left to run, and which have not received any bids at the time you make the alterations.

Closing your auction early is a legitimate function on eBay, but please make sure you're doing it for the right reasons.