Complaint About Seller Conduct

[Anonymous]

Here's my issue...I live in the Philippines...on 05/27 I purchased an Icom IC-W32A handheld ham radio  from a seller

I paid for the item...and my order was confirmed...I have the email confirming that fact...

With no more than an hour or two I get another email that my order had been cancelled by the seller and the reason being "buyer cancelled" the purchase - this was when I looked at the details why it was...

Then I dug deeper and found that the seller had cancelled the order...so which is it? Whichever reason it was I contacted the seller and have yet to receive a reply...

That aside...if it was a matter of not wanting to bother with shipping to the Philippines then should not the listing reflected that? In which case I would not have (obviously) been able to purchase it in the first place...

Listings that don't ship to the Philippines indicate that as my experience has been...

So what is the problem with this seller???

If it was a matter of shipping a radio like that to a foreign country it would then be my problem not the problem of the seller...

I was further advised that I'll receive with 3 to 5 days a full refund...

I'd rather have the item than a refund though a refund is acceptable certainly...

I have purchased a number of other similar radios and never had any issue(s) with those sellers. The items were shipped here and arrive...

If I was a seller and didn't want to ship to the Philippines or any other foreign country my listing would so indicate is clear and concise terms and an issue like this would not have occurred...

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

Seller's listing claims to ship to Philippines.

If you bought using this account, I could see them not wanting to ship a $250 item to a foreign buyer with a low feedback score, they may have feared a scam. Not a legitimate reason to cancel but...I can see that logic.

[campanaelia]

The seller cancelled the order using the reason "Buyer requested to cancel" to avoid any penalty from ebay and they'll have their fees refunded. This is a violation of ebay policy. Please report the seller at the link below. saying exactly that. " Seller cancelled the transaction using the reason "buyer requested to cancel" to avoid a defect"

https://www.ebay.com/help/action?topicid=4022

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response...I'm going to do that...

[Anonymous]

I tried the link, got to where I wanted to go, but when I clicked to submit my complaint it threw a "something is wrong please try again later" thing at me. Appears like typical eBay nonsense in that they don't like handling complaints...

[Anonymous]

A couple of things you need to know...

Number 1: I'm not a scammer, and resent even being considered such...

Number 2: I've made numerous purchases and never had any issues with any of the sellers I've purchased from...

Number 3: My credit card was not declined...

As for the logic, I don't see that...

The logic that I do see is that this seller cancelled the order but claimed I cancelled it - too bad I can't say in more graphic terms what I think about that...

Thanks for your response...

[Anonymous]

To judge simply based on a low feedback score doesn't really justify cancelling an order from a legimtimate buyer.

[campanaelia]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I tried the link, got to where I wanted to go, but when I clicked to submit my complaint it threw a "something is wrong please try again later" thing at me. Appears like typical eBay nonsense in that they don't like handling complaints...

---

Did you fill in all the required info first before hitting submit?

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

@Anonymous 

I'm sorry you were clearly offended, but these "couple of things I need to know", I don't need to know them. Go tell your seller them.

1) I never considered you a scammer. Your seller probably did. It's a common thing or common thought by sellers.

2) Irrelevant to me & not possible for sellers to know that 100% honestly especially with a feedback score of (3).

3) Not sure how that is relevant at all.

The logic is that people with low feedback scores raise red flags for some sellers. It means you don't have a huge reputation on EBay. It makes sellers nervous especially when its a high(er) value item. Furthermore, you're in a foreign country. Shipping to foreign countries can be prone to issues. So shipping to foreign countries can be risky.

Pair international shipping with a low feedback buyer and it makes sellers uneasy.

I don't condone it, it is against eBay policy, but I can follow the logic. That is all I was saying. I was explaining why a seller may hesitate selling and shipping a $250 item to you.

__________________________________________________________________

Why the seller claimed you cancelled it has been answered. There are financial motivations for this, and there are motivations in terms of seller metrics. This way, the seller doesnt have a "defect" on their account to hurt them.

It is logical, but unethical, and against eBay policy, to cancel citing buyer request.

_______________________________________________________________________

I hope you can separate emotions out of this for a minute and see for a second why I say it's "logical". It is "logical" for the seller to want to protect themselves. Unethical, immoral, wrong, bad business. Yes all those things. But the seller did it for reasons that make sense to them. Protect themselves, their money, their account. They saw risks they weren't willing to take. 

I'm sorry for not answering the reason about why they cited buyer request for cancellation, someone else took care of that thankfully. I'm sorry I offended you, I intended to make no comments about you, but simply to explain the sellers thought process. As right or wrong as it is, it's likely what went through their head and that is what I intended to provide to you. (The reasoning and motivation)

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

I do not completely disagree with this statement, but at the same time, what WOULD you like a seller to judge a buyer based on?.

Now I fully appreciate the answer should be "a seller should not judge a buyer based on anything".... but we live in the real world. So if we put the idealist answer aside, I come back to, what would you want sellers to look at?

Typically sellers are left with feedback, feedback scores, feedback buyers left for other sellers, and length of account history (when you started the account).

I understand and appreciate this is personally frustrating and probably infuriating for you. I'm a 3rd party, I have no stake in this, I'm just trying to provide a level-headed answer and reasoning. Again... i don't mean to justify or amplify or excuse what the seller did .... just trying to provide the reasoning the seller likely used to justify their own actions. 

[fab_finds4u]

Maybe they don't  know how to block countries they don't  ship to. They could have used problem with buyer's address- it's an address in a country they don't ship to. That would've avoided a defect as well.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

They have Philipines as an approved country they ship to. I looked at the listing. 

Unless you say they dont intend to and dont know how to add to the excluded list ... but 🤷‍♂️

[albertabrightalberta]

---

@fab_finds4u wrote:

Maybe they don't  know how to block countries they don't  ship to. They could have used problem with buyer's address- it's an address in a country they don't ship to. That would've avoided a defect as well.

---

But it's not in a country that the seller doesn't ship to. 

This is from the listing: 

[Anonymous]

I appreciate your response and thank you for taking the time to spell it out as you see it. But unfortunately I don't agree with it in its entirety. This seller needs to understand that it's not ok to treat people like that, and whatever his justification(s) were the adult thing to do would be to communicate that to the buyer...

I thought were I this seller what would I have done different or done better - that came easy...

I would make doubly sure my listing(s) made it absolutely clear that I don't ship to foreign countries. A number of the listings I looked at do indicate they don't, so I bypassed them in favor of those who indicate they do ship to the Philippines...

This seller needs to better learn the ropes so they can avoid these kind of situations in the future, and that's what I'm hoping will come from this...

As for addresses here, admittedly they're not like those in the US, but none of the sellers I've purchased from have ever had a problem with  that - one however did reach out to me to be sure my address was as indicated and I confirmed it was...

Again, thanks for your response...

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response...If a seller doesn't know how to block certain countries they can simply ask here in the Community, or reach out to eBay and ask, or even Google it...

I saw many listings that did clearly indicate they don't ship to foreign countries, so I bypassed them in favor of those that do...

I did follow that link as I said, and filled in everything and it gave me that indication I mentioned. In fact I tried it again and the same thing...

Trying to get eBay to admit to anything like that is like trying to get my Grandson to eat his veggies - that's not going to ever happen... ~LAUGHING~

Again, thanks for your response...