I don't have the time to look it up, but I would bet that it is against eBay's rules for a bidder or non-bidder to contact the seller and induce him to end the auction so the buyer can buy it early outside of eBay.

The reason on eBay's part has to do with spam (unsolicited commercial offerings) and fee avoidance.

For a long time it has been OK (for many, many reasons) for a seller ON HIS OWN to decide to end the auction. One reason could be that he changed his mind and decided to keep the item. Or he got scared and was afraid it would go for too little.

When the eBay rules talk about ending the auction early so that the current high biddder gets it, eBay must mean that the buyer wins the auction and ebay gets its usual percent fee of the winning bid amount -- that it is like any other eBay auction with a winner, just that it ends prematurey.

Robert