Seller asks me to cancel
Summary: jalve expressed frustration with sellers who ask buyers to cancel purchases due to lack of stock. Several participants advised against canceling the order and suggested reporting such sellers to prevent manipulation of feedback. fabrics24 and albertabrightalberta noted that these practices could be linked to dropshipping or inexperienced sellers. jalve shared a specific case of being falsely accused of requesting cancellation and sought advice on reporting the situation to eBay. Other participants shared similar experiences and emphasized the importance of sellers taking responsibility for cancellations to maintain transparency.
What are your thoughts on sellers that ask the buyer to cancel the purchase to get a refund because they don't have the item they sold? This is very frustrating when you have searched for a good deal for a long time and finally when you find it, it was too good to be true. Can you even leave negative feedback if you cancel?
jalve
OP2 weeks agoI tried leaving feedback. I can only leave positive feedback. For negative or neutral I will have to wait seven days. I guess they hope I fill forget by then!
jalve
OP2 weeks agoI refused to cancel. Now the seller has lied that I requested cancellation!
titus1964
·2 weeks agoNever offer to cancel an order unless you want it cancelled. The seller is asking you because it looks bad on their account when they initiate the "cancel". When they cancel your order be sure and report it to eBay. It is usually a "strike" against the seller and they can be charged a higher rate that eBay takes from their sales.
stephenmorgan
·2 weeks agoI had a seller cancel a order for 100 boxes. Said there was an error in the price and would/could not sell them for that price. Seems reasonable, I did not seem a reason to be vindictive by making an report to eBay. What would be my point, I still would not get the boxes at the price stated initially.
jalve
OP2 weeks agoThe difference was that the seller cancelled, and was not coercing you to cancel.
titus1964
·2 weeks agoIt will help in keeping them from doing it to someone else.
airsheep
·2 weeks agoRecently I've had a run of poorly performing sellers, only one of which actually said 'out of stock.' The cherry on top was the one that asked for an extra $140(!) for shipping after I bought a scrapbooking diecutter, then gave me 5 hours overnight to decide if I wanted to pay it before canceling and claiming there was a problem with my address. I'd say the problem was an extra undiscussed $140!
jalve
OP3 weeks agoI would like to report this seller to eBay, but the only applicable topic seems to be "get help with an item you haven't received", and eBay wants me to wait until August 4th to see if it magically appears even though the seller says they don't have it.
kensgiftshop
·3 weeks agoIf the seller doesn't cancel as out of stock, you'll have to wait until a day after the estimated delivery date to file an Item Not Received case for a refund.
thriftyfiftyfifty
·2 weeks ago@jalve Type "Report Seller" in eBay Help. It will take you to the right path. Reporting a Seller for not wanting to complete a sale is inside the "suspicious activity" radio button.
albertabrightalberta
·3 weeks ago@jalve
Do not ask for or agree to the cancellation.
Tell the seller that they need to cancel if the item is out of stock.
And if the seller lies and cancels for "buyer requested," report it.
If you already paid, you can leave an unemotional, factual feedback saying how disappointed you are that the seller canceled your order for no valid reason.
jalve
OP2 weeks agoThe seller indeed lied that I have requested cancellation. How do I report this?
kensgiftshop
·3 weeks agoSeller looks like a dropshipper that's probably not keeping up to date on their suppliers stock.
jalve
OP3 weeks agoNow they are listing the same product, which they claim is unavailable, at a slightly higher price.
kensgiftshop
·3 weeks agoDropshippers do that when their supplier raises their prices, but they don't keep their listings up to date.
jalve
OP2 weeks agoeBay seems to have a great sense of humor! Now they sent me an e-mail with the following line: "Buy with confidence. You’ve bought from this seller before." It's advertising the same product at a higher price.
kensgiftshop
·2 weeks agoThat sounds like Ebay.
kibble-net
·3 weeks agoIt's the seller's PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. Tell them they can either locate your item or eat a defect. The ball's in their court. Don't ever let a seller bully you around.
mudshark61369
·3 weeks ago · Edited@jalve ,
This sort of thing happens from time to time, usually it is an inexperienced seller who lists an item on another site as well as on ebay, and they either do not know how to end the listing, or forget to. It's also usually inexperienced sellers who ask you to cancel, instead of cancelling themselves. Did you check the seller's feedback profile before buying from them? You can leave a non positive feedback, but I'd check the seller's profile first.
jalve
OP3 weeks agoThat doesn't fit this case. 98.1% positive feedback,
154K items sold.
eburtonlab
·3 weeks ago · Edited@jalve
The seller is likely retail drop-shipping, then. Such drop-shippers are notorious for suddenly being "out of stock" when the supply dries up, and drop-shippers with thousands of items listed rarely keep their listings up-to-date as they should.
The seller has about 200 negatives in the last year, and a similar number of neutrals, which means that about one in twenty-five transactions ends badly. One of the negative comments which seems relevant to your situation:
"Seller seems to systematically list items, then claim there was a stock error and not being able to deliver the item, just to relist it at a higher price shortly after. Also tries to make you cancel the purchase multiple times, even though it is their responsibility to cancel the purchase if they cannot deliver. That way they try to avoid getting negative feedback. Do NOT cancel the purchase yourself, make the seller cancel it. Ebay should take action against sellers like this. Stay away"
jalve
OP3 weeks agoThey are now listing the same product with a slightly higher price.
ryry-jj
·3 weeks agoAlways respond, "Thank you, Im looking forward to receiving my purchase". And leave it at that
fabrics24
·3 weeks agoIt's very annoying; part of selling is keeping good inventory and paying attention to your stocks. Even if they package well and have great items at great prices, I'd consider someone who doesn't do that to be a mediocre seller at best.
I know you can leave feedback, but idk if it can be negative. Not saying it can't be; I just genuinely don't know.
The good news is if they cancel for almost any reason, that's a ding on their account; enough of those and eBay shuts their business down.
That doesn't make it any less frustrating when it happens, though; I'm sorry this happened to you :(
fabrics24
·3 weeks agoOh! Right! If the seller asks you to cancel, don't do it!
It's their fault they didn't keep track of their stocks; the only time the seller should give "buyer asked" as a reason for cancelling is if you literally did ask.