eBay's policy on Cancellation Requests clearly states that the Seller can accept or decline a Cancellation. I received a Cancellation Request from a Buyer an hour after he ordered something on a Saturday. He apparently didn't read the description or the title on the item for sale. I have a warehouse that packs and ships all of my inventory. The warehouse is 4 hours driving distance from my office. The shipping staff work weekends, but they do not take phone calls and they are not on e-mail. We use an order system that they can pull down orders once submitted that generate a FedEx label and they pull the item, pack and ship.
When a Cancellation Request comes in over the weekend or after hours, I currently have no method to stop the order. It gets packed and sent over to FedEx over the weekend. This particular order was for a mere $108 and shipping was included for an 11-pound package, and unfortunately it was from a Buyer in Alaska. So even though I didn't want to take this order, I bit the bullet and submitted the order to the Shipping Department.
Then comes the Cancellation Request about an hour later. I declined it because I had no way to stop it. I wrote a nice response to the Buyer (on Saturday) telling him that I could not stop the shipment and had to decline the cancellation.
So the Buyer writes negative feedback because I declined the order. I submitted it to eBay for review, and they are siding with the buyer and won't remove the negative feedback. eBay policy clearly states that the Seller can Decline or Accept a Cancellation Request. What eBay policy doesn't warn you is that the Buyer is free to trash your reputation because you followed eBay policy. Why is eBay allowing these Cancellation Requests? I can see sending a Cancellation Request within 5 or 10 minutes max, but not longer. I cannot tie up inventory that can be sold on a different sales channel waiting for a potential Cancellation Request. I cannot hold up shipping of orders over the weekend and have the shipping department sit on their hands waiting for potential Cancellation Requests. What if I have a Buyer that wants a helmet that was already sold on eBay. Do I tell him "I don't know if it is available yet, as I have to wait another hour or more to see if my Buyer on eBay is going to cancel"? eBay, let me let you in on a little secret that other sales channels already understand: A Sale is a Sale. I accept refunds for any reason, including buyer remorse, but I cannot hold items hostage while Buyers figure out whether or not they really want to buy something.
Accepting or declining your cancellation request
The seller can either accept or decline your cancellation request.
In the meantime as I sort through this, I have now changed my eBay business policy to exclude shipping to AK, HI and PR. I have everything set as "free shipping", but I usually cringe when I get orders from AK or HI for over-sized items. Most of what I sell is large. I will no longer respond to eBay messages, Cancellation Requests or Return Requests after hours or on weekends. I responded to this particular Buyer's Cancellation Request on Saturday as a courtesy, but it burned me in the end since he thought I could wiggle my nose and magically stop this shipment that was already in process. The Managed Payments process at eBay is a nightmare as they hold onto money way too long. Selling goods on Friday won't hit your bank account until some time the following Wednesday. I did a Refund on a Friday afternoon after I received a return, and eBay took it from my bank account immediately on Friday, even though they had payouts of mine that I didn't get until Wednesday. Funny how that works. It takes 4-5 days for them to send you your own money, but an hour for them to take your money.
Sorry for the book. This is very frustrating. I have been slowly ending listings on eBay after I was forced into Managed Payments. I don't see an end in sight for eBay to realize that they don't have a business without Sellers.
