What's with sellers deciding they can just cancel orders because the item sold too cheap?

[rimtrim]

Maybe this is more of a buying question, but I'd really like to put it to the audience of sellers. I've been on eBay as both buyer and seller for over 20 years. I'll admit that I love to jump on a great deal, either a B-I-N way below market, or an auction that's ending cheap. That's supposed to be part of the fun and profit of eBay. I was always under the impression that rule #1 on eBay is that if the buyer pays for the item and provides a valid shipping address, the seller must complete the sale, no ifs ands or buts.

Just in the past couple years, I've had a rash of sellers who canceled my purchases because the item sold too cheap and they didn't want to sell it for that price. Some came right out and told me that was the reason, while others pretended they "couldn't find" the item and then amazingly they "found" it and relisted for more money. I always respond and tell them that I'm not approving any cancellation and I expect them to complete the sale. In response I've been called a "thief", a "scammer", "rude" and "threatening", probably among other things that aren't coming to mind 😛 Let me be crystal clear that all I'm doing is insisting that sellers fulfill their obligations and ship the item they listed and sold.

Am I out of touch or out of line on this? Are there now serious sellers who think it's acceptable to cancel orders because they didn't research pricing or check shipping rates, or because the auction didn't get bids when they thought it would? As a seller I would never dream of refusing to ship an order or asking the buyer for more money after the sale, and I have had a few stinkers over the years where I made nothing on a deal. Mostly I learned from those experiences, and I'm careful about researching prices and setting shipping rates. But if I did mess up, I'd never be comfortable asking the buyer to take the hit.

I'm also wondering whether other sellers who like to jump on a cheap deal for potential resale are seeing a similar increase in seller-initiated cancellations. I remember back in the early days, sometimes I would win auctions for pennies and I never had this happen.

[gray02945]

The 'cannot find' the item I had just purchased after accepting the Seller's offer happened to me. They just cancelled it. I knew straight away they wanted more for it. They just wanted to find out what it was worth. It went back on sale for a higher price immediately and they didn't like being challenged about it.  I reported it to Ebay and it disappeared then came back on for a higher price then sold. It went for more than I could afford for it. There are unscrupulous Seller's out there of course and best avoid in the future the ones that do this to you.

[mam98031]

---

@gray02945 wrote:

The 'cannot find' the item I had just purchased after accepting the Seller's offer happened to me. They just cancelled it. I knew straight away they wanted more for it. They just wanted to find out what it was worth. It went back on sale for a higher price immediately and they didn't like being challenged about it.  I reported it to Ebay and it disappeared then came back on for a higher price then sold. It went for more than I could afford for it. There are unscrupulous Seller's out there of course and best avoid in the future the ones that do this to you.

---

@gray02945 

I encourage you to read my earlier post.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/What-s-with-sellers-deciding-they-can-just-cancel-orders-becau...

[cardsforauction]

I wish eBay would allow buyers to create a seller block list just like sellers can do that to buyers.

[gurlcat]

---

@cardsforauction wrote:

I wish eBay would allow buyers to create a seller block list just like sellers can do that to buyers.

---

OMG you beat me to making this exact reply.  I remember SOME of the seller names that I had trouble with in the past (or detected it in time to avoid it, or saw a warning about in other social media groups), but I certainly can't remember them all.  And even if I had a written list it would be a pain to have to consult it each time I'm thinking of bidding/buying (especially if it's an auction with little time left).  I would so love to just never see certain sellers' listings ever again.  

Yeah, there's technically a way, using Saved Search, but it would require a separate one for each keyword saved search, and then you'd have to add new names to each one as you encounter each new bad seller.  Total pain the butt, unlike the Fisher Price easy BBL.  

[inhawaii]

---

@cardsforauction wrote:

I wish eBay would allow buyers to create a seller block list just like sellers can do that to buyers.

---

Why would you need a seller block list?

Just don't buy from that seller.

[gurlcat]

I don't know if you buy here much but those of us who do have all probably run into problems with lots of sellers and would not be able to remember all their user/store names.   Could you remember all your blocked buyers' names if you needed to approve purchases before they were finalized?  

[cardsforauction]

So you know which ones you had a bad experience or bad dealings.

[cardsforauction]

I've been thinking about this block seller list for the last couple years because seems there are even some experienced sellers who refuse to ship an item when you get a good price.  So much time wasted, research the item, waiting for the auction to end (sometimes 9 day auction).  Then you pay for the item, and suddenly you get the email from the seller "Sorry I made a mistake, I don't have the item, blah, blah, blah."  So why not know who you had problems with in the past so you don't bid on their stuff again?

[ed8108]

Ebay appears to have become notarious for inappropriate seller cancellations.

Ask people who decline to shop on ebay for the some of the reasons

[mam98031]

---

@ed8108 wrote:

Ebay appears to have become notarious for inappropriate seller cancellations.

Ask people who decline to shop on ebay for the some of the reasons

---

@ed8108 

I would agree.  There are some problematic sellers and there are some problematic buyers.  It is a two way street.

[brightlightbookseller]

I don't often suggest reporting a seller, but if they choose any other reason than Out of Stock, please do report that.  Those types of sellers hurt eBay as a whole and we don't want that happening here.