Ebay should charge buyers a fee for cancelled orders

[fatesfan]

I have had a crazy amount of cancelled orders as of late. 

Why doesn't Ebay charge some type of fee for that?

Once i see the customer orders something I package it up.

Ebay and the customer always expect quick ship so i try and deliver on that.

To waste time, packaging, locating the product, and the fact that other buyers see bids and then don't want to then bid on the item getting into a price war, are all factors the seller has to deal with. I'm not saying it has to be alot- maybe 5% of final sale gets credited to the sellers account - to deter careless and mindless buyers to just bid on stuff they aren't committed to only to yank the rug out from sellers at the end who anticipated a sale? 

Thoughts? 

[hartungcards]

I think this is never going to happen.

[ebooksdiva]

Not going to happen, if it ever did, buying on eBay would drop like a rock. So think about that for a moment. 
I would rather a buyer ask to cancel, than having to wait for 4 days to cancel for non payment. 

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

I'm a little torn on this one ...

Cancelled sales on Buy It Nows vs Auctions ... Buy It Now cancellations waste a seller's time. Auction cancellations also harm other buyers in addition to waste sellers time.

I don't run any auctions ... I'm definitely extremely annoyed with cancellations on Buy It Nows where someone buys it or accepts an offer and IMMEDIATELY requests to cancel ... that irks me but I wouldn't truly punish a buyer for that one.

As for cancelled auctions, I feel there should be some form of strike system or something counting against buyers, but not punitive financially. It harms and discourages good buyers.

One solution, stop packing so quickly. I do not pack/ship immediately b/c cancellations. I pack all my sales at once at night or the following morning and if I JUST made a sale while I'm packing, I'll likely not pack it b/c I rather let it sit in case cancellation. (Let it sit for 15-30min ... after that I'm in the clear).

I guess my question is, how quick are you packing? Prior to end of auction? At end of auction? An hour later? How fast are they cancelling? Do they usually cancel within half hour? Can you delay packing reasonably til after an average cancellation window?

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

... Oh ... do you mean non-payers? If so, I totally didnt get that since you talked about cancelled orders and not people not paying.

I assume you're talking about paid orders ... if you're packing pre-payment .... why?

[orangehound]

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@fatesfan wrote:

I'm not saying it has to be alot- maybe 5% of final sale gets credited to the sellers account

Thoughts? 

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You are describing a restocking fee.  Years ago, eBay specifically enacted policies that forbade this practice, and I wouldn't anticipate that changing.

 I can appreciate your frustration.  But I think you are either going to have to emotionally deal with it as a fact of retail ... or maybe give a few hours of cushion between the sale and packing it up.  (I ship once a day.  Once the process begins, everything is pulled, packed, and at the USPS/FedEx within an hour). 

[toysaver]

"Ebay should charge buyers a fee for cancelled orders"

I think they should charge for customer service.

[bennotbill]

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@toysaver wrote:

I think they should charge for customer service.

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Considering the bad advice / wrong answers CS hand out I would think any charge would involve a minus figure.

[mam98031]

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@orangehound wrote:

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@fatesfan wrote:

I'm not saying it has to be alot- maybe 5% of final sale gets credited to the sellers account

Thoughts? 

---

You are describing a restocking fee.  Years ago, eBay specifically enacted policies that forbade this practice, and I wouldn't anticipate that changing.

 I can appreciate your frustration.  But I think you are either going to have to emotionally deal with it as a fact of retail ... or maybe give a few hours of cushion between the sale and packing it up.  (I ship once a day.  Once the process begins, everything is pulled, packed, and at the USPS/FedEx within an hour). 

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I agree with you.  

FYI, if Ebay charged the buyers a fee for cancellation, then it would be a fee paid to Ebay, NOT the seller.  It is as you stated, it would need to be a restocking fee charged by the seller.  

[mam98031]

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@toysaver wrote:

"Ebay should charge buyers a fee for cancelled orders"

I think they should charge for customer service.

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@toysaver 

They DO get paid.  We pay for CS through the fees we pay to the site.  

[inhawaii]

I agree with you.

I also think that shoppers in the grocery store who bring something up to the checkout, then change their mind, should pay a fee -or- be forced to buy the item.

[iamalwaysright]

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@toysaver wrote:

"Ebay should charge buyers a fee for cancelled orders"

I think they should charge for customer service.

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How's about we GET some customer service first. Hey-yoooooo 😁

[albertabrightalberta]

@fatesfan 

Based on what I see of your "sold" listings, I'm going to infer that the "cancellations" are really non-payers for whom you need to cancel for that reason. 

If I'm correct, there's a really easy fix, one in which you'll never have to cancel "because the buyer didn't pay." 

Stop doing auctions. List your items as FP/IPR. Item won't be "sold" until payment is processed. 

Auctions have a place but not for the items you're selling. Most of your auctions are ending with just  1 bid and a few others with 2 bids and even fewer with 4 or 5 bids. Instead of auctions in which the winner may have forgotten about their 1 bid placed days ago, just list items at the lowest amount you're willing to accept.

It'll be less aggravation, less waiting for buyers who don't want to wait days for an auction to end and no more UI cancellations.