What should a buyer do if the seller emails them and states the item they bid on and paid for is not

Question

I won a bid on an item and paid for it and now the seller is emailing me and asking me to cancel because their item is no longer available. I cannot cancel online it will not allow me. What should I do?

woodland_gnome · Answer

Reply to the seller that you expect the item you paid for and s/he agreed to sell to you by the estimated delivery date.

If you don't get a package from the seller by the time the estimated delivery date you were given when you paid has fully passed, go to your Purchase History for that item, click the link for more options and select that you haven't received the item, then follow instructions from there. If you haven't gotten the item as described or a full refund after 3 days (but before 21 days) from doing so go back and you should find a link to "Ask eBay to step in" to get your refund.

eburtonlab · Answer

Ask the seller if the item is out of stock.

If the seller is out of stock, the seller should cancel for that reason, rather than asking the buyer to request a cancellation.

The seller likely hopes to avoid an "out of stock" defect by getting the buyer to request a cancellation instead.