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Seller canceled item because auction item sold for too low of a price.
Any recourse here? I can't find anything here that protects the buyer (me) from this situation. I purchased an item on auction for a price near the opening bid price for the auction, payed immediately after close of the auction, the seller generated a shipping label, then canceled the sale and issued a refund. When I asked about it, the seller responded with:
" The seller did not approve for us to list it in an auction format with the minimum being so low. They asked that we cancel the sale due to the price it closed at, and in turn has decided to keep it instead of selling it. This is our mistake, and we sincerely apologize. We hope you can understand."
The problem is, I don't understand. They gave the reason of "out of stock or damaged" when they canceled the sale, which clearly wasn't accurate. Is there anything I can do? I don't even appear to be able to leave feedback on the seller since the order was canceled.
house*of*paws
Mentor3 years agoHi @lent97007
eBay gives sellers only a few reasons to choose from for cancelling a transaction. The seller chose the reason that gave THEM a penalty ... rather than trying to avoid blame. eBay gave them a 'defect' as soon as they cancelled.
I'm very sorry this happened, but eBay has no legal way of forcing a buyer to pay for an item OR a seller to ship an item that was paid for. All it can do is penalize members who don't play by the rules.
I hope you're able to find a similar item from a more reliable seller. It IS possible to leave feedback from your Feedback Profile if you want to.
woodland_gnome
·3 years agoThe seller already got a "defect" when s/he cancelled the transaction ("Out of stock" is the catchall of 3 reasons the seller has to choose from that blames the seller instead of the buyer for the other 2). That is 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).
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.
disneyshopper
Mentor3 years agoIf the seller selected Out of stock/damaged, then a defect was recorded on the sellers account. Too many defects and the seller can be restricted or suspended. Can you leave feedback if 7 days have passed?