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Do buyers get a "ding"?
About 5-6 weeks ago I placed & immediately paid on an order for some snake scale printed leggings to use in a Halloween costume. The price was extremely reasonable, the Seller was in the Midwest just a couple states away, & there was plenty of shipping time so I wasn't worried. I got a short text from the Seller thanking me for the order & advising me it would be mailed out the next morning & what date I could expect it.
I waited a little over a week (9-10 days) & then dropped the Seller a quick, brief text message asking when my order had been sent out so I could either watch for its arrival or start the tracking process to find it. The Seller replied there had been some unavoidable delays due to "personal matters" but it would go out "first thing tomorrow morning." I replied that was ok because I know stuff happens sometimes, & that I didn't have any problem with the delay since there was still plenty of time before my event. I also asked the Seller to please be sure to let me know when it actually does ship.
The very next day, my very first email of the day was from eBay saying the Seller had informed them that I had inexplicably canceled the entire order & wanted a refund!? To make matters even worse, a couple days after placing & paying the order, I had left a very positive review on how prompt the Seller had been with the thank you acknowledgement & shipping, and now eBay won't let me delete or amend that positive review!! I also haven't been able to find anyway to contact eBay to complain & explain what really transpired!
My question is whether Buyers can receive a "ding" for (supposedly) canceling an order? I've had a spotless Buyer's record up until this incident & I really hope this fake order cancelation won't affect that record!? This really does bother me, plus the Seller is getting away with not just bad customer service but also with a big fat lie to cover their *ahem* backside!! AND I am positive I'm not the first Customer they've done this too & probably not the last thanks repeat to that lie!! Is there anything I can do to straighten this out with eBay or should I just drop the whole thing??!!
woodland_gnome
·2 years agoIt can theoretically affect your buying limits. Or at least the Help Page used to say that.
The seller should have automatically gotten a "defect" when s/he cancelled the transaction, but the lie s/he told blamed you and avoided that. "Defects" are the primary tool eBay uses to weed out bad sellers, downgrading the selling status of those who get too many relative to their sales volume (as opposed to having to pay employees to actually investigate to see how likely it was that the seller had a legitimate reason to cancel vs. deliberate policy violations).
Report the lie at https://www.ebay.com/help/action?topicId=4850 I don't know if eBay will do anything about it (give the seller the defect s/he should have gotten if s/he had taken the blame him/herself, keep the cancellation blaming you from counting toward your Open Transaction Limits) but it's relatively easy to do it that way.
You may leave appropriate (calm, factual--if the seller said that x was the reason say "seller said x. . ." so people don't think you are just jumping to conclusions) feedback to warn future buyers/bidders. If the usual links have vanished, go to anyone's Feedback Profile (doesn't matter who, click on the feedback score in parentheses behind the username) then scroll down to below the last comment on that page to find a "Leave feedback" link that doesn't vanish (it brings you to a list of items you can leave feedback for).
Theoretically you could sue the seller for breach of the contract of sale (for the difference between the auction price and what you ended up having to pay for a replacement), but that is almost never practical.
wooden_flower
Mentor2 years ago@woodland_gnome Don't you think it takes quite a few cancellations to have any impact on a buyer's ability to purchase? I bet it takes a lot 🙂
woodland_gnome
·2 years agoI'm guessing it would depend on their history, with perhaps an emphasis on recent history (e.g. if there is a recent upsurge in buying it might mean the buyer is close to his/her old limits and so even a minimal decrease might prevent the next bid/offer). I would hope eBay would be skeptical of seller-reported "Buyer request"s and have at least a bot check the messages before a "ding", but this is eBay we're talking about.
wooden_flower
Mentor2 years agoNo, you don't get a ding, and you can report the seller for lying about why he cancelled your purchase.
On this page select violated policy - https://www.ebay.com/help/action?topicid=4022 then select doesn't want to complete transaction. In the box write 'seller lied and said buyer requested cancellation to avoid a defect for a seller cancelled transaction'.