Can I cancel a sale because the buyer opened Ebay account today and has no feedback?
New to Ebay selling. I listed a Canon PowerShot (hot seller) and it sold within the hour to a new account with 0 feedback. I do not trust the transaction. Can I cancel it? What are the ramifications?
Thanks,
Kim
33 comments
christworks
·4 months ago@mattva - You are sitting on some cash. Get those listed it. Oh, one more thing. My consult fee is 20% of all sales. 😁
@krazzykats Now you are asking too many questions.
boosterboy
·4 months agoAdmittedly, during my first 10 sales, I was leery of the no feedback accounts, especially the ones that look like guest accounts. But now they are some of my favorite sales. No haggling on the front end, and some extra de facto protection on returns and feedback. (They can presumably still do returns and feedback, but trickier without a full account). That's all for naught if they do a chargeback, but I digress.
Having never sold one, I do think of cameras as being a risky category. So it probably does make sense to maintain situational awareness of this order through completion and beyond. Having lurked on this board for awhile, they are very good with advice on how to deal with after the fact issues. So if this buyer does end up being a rare dud, you can always cross that bridge when it comes.
krazzykats
·4 months agoI have a few old digital cameras, mostly Kodaks and HPs and this discussion has me wondering if they might be worth something. I think most of them still work, though I haven’t used them in years.
Why would older digital cameras have any value when everyone has a smartphone? What features do they offer that I’m overlooking?
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nyr134
·4 months agoAt least part of the reason is that young people are trying to (or being told to) disconnect from their phones. Rediscovering some of the “retro” devices.
meme6253
·4 months agoI wouldn't advise it, I mean you can but you have no real valid reason to do so, Just because it's a new account is not a good reason, People start new accounts all the time, You obviously have concerns so you should send it insured, but going on gut feelings to cancel an order is not very valid reasoning.
mattva
·4 months agoI had no idea that digital cameras were worth anything. I didn't bother to look them up because of that and moved onto something else. I had these in my junk drawer right next to me and I know there's a boat load more in other places. I'm glad I read this thread! Thanks a bunch! I know the two at the top don't work but the other four do. Cool beans!
kimmermaid-ca
OP4 months agoAwesome mattva! Yes, I learned a lot too and will be prioritizing these gems when sourcing.
bandrarmoire
·4 months agoI never even look at feedback. LOL
They paid, I ship.
lakefor94
·4 months agoI did not read this whole thread but will add, "New Seller" and "Canon PowerShot (hot seller)" puts a bullseye on your listing. Hope you got a solid buyer. Good luck.
kimmermaid-ca
OP4 months agoThat is what my gut was telling me because there are 100s of other same listings, lower and higher price, yet mine sold instantly.
fullers_uk
·4 months agoDont let an algae rythm overide your instincts.
inhawaii
·4 months agoYes, you can.
Can I kick a customer out of my store because i've never seen them/sold to them before?
Yes, I could.
But it wouldn't be very smart.
krazzykats
·4 months agoIf you can't afford to lose it, don't list it.
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kibble-net
·4 months agoBetter yet---- If you can't afford to lose it, INSURE IT and follow ebay's seller protection policy. Get a tracking number, and signature if $750+.
There is a lot of paranoia on this forum. The average new seller who posts here thinks that every buyer is out to scam them. The actual odds of you losing the item are astronomically low. I've been selling on here for 27 years, I've never had an item truly lost. Maybe I'm just really lucky, but any time there's been a problem, insurance or ebay's seller protection policy has saved the day. Insurance paid for a laptop damaged by USPS. Seller protection prevented me from chargeback fraud several times, as I had the buyer's signature on file. Never have I truly been up the creek without a paddle - an ounce of prevention is worth of a pound of cure.
Yes it is theoretically possible for a buyer to falsely claim you sent them a box of rocks. And it is also theoretically possible for you as a seller to send the buyer a box of rocks. Similarly, it's also possible for you to get struck by lightning during a storm. But are you going to stay inside your house for the rest of your life every time it rains?
My best advice is that if you're that paranoid, just don't sell online in the first place. Stick to cash-only transactions in person through Craigslist or FBM. There's no point in selling on here if you're going to stress out about it. But if you do want to sell on ebay, follow the best practices and you'll probably be fine. 🙂
kimmermaid-ca
OP4 months agoThanks for your expertise kibble-net. I don't think it's paranoid to question the circumstances of this sale, especially as an inexperienced seller. I'll grant you my impulse to cancel may have been wrong. I am certain the confident professional advise you have provided will some day be how I look at the situation if continue to build my business. I admit I do not know how the seller protection policies work in practice, but take comfort in what you have relayed.
Thank you
christworks
·4 months ago@kimmermaid-ca
I want you to imagine for a moment that you and your closest loved one are going out to eat in a nearby town at a nice, upscale restaurant. The night is beautiful. The stars are shining bright. It is spring, but the evening air has an ever-so-slight chill to it.
Your loved one opens the door for you, and you both walk into the restaurant. The maître d' sees you and realizes neither of you has ever been into the restaurant. For all they know, you are serial food complainers who dine, then complain about the food to get a comp. Should the maître d' ask you to leave because they fear something you might do? How would you feel if they did?
In any business, losses happen. For a restaurant owner, serial food complainers are a real concern. The reality is they cannot turn away anybody who has never come into their restaurant. While there is always a risk they might get messed over, there is an even greater risk of missing out on a repeat customer if they turn them away. If 50% of the customers that walk through the door that night are first-time guests, the restaurant will take a loss for the night if they turn them all away.
It is one thing to have discretion. There are certainly times and ways to do that. Lack of feedback is not one of them. Sellers can never leave buyers negative feedback. Many sellers have their accounts set up to leave buyer feedback the moment an order is paid—before any problems have a chance to come up. You would have no way to know that.
You can cancel the sale. You need to use the out-of-stock option. I would not cancel the sale. I routinely sell Canon cameras and other electronics to people with no feedback. I've never had a problem. That doesn't mean I won't. I sold two cameras last week. One of them could be a problem. Who knows. Why worry about it? I need money. I don't have it growing left and right. My ex-wife took all of our savings! I still do not stress over this stuff.
Here is a $400 Canon I sold a few months ago. As you can see, the buyer had no feedback and the order went smoothly, as I expected it would.
Unlike @pilcherent , I do not Google addresses and I certainly do not bother eBay. What a great way to get crazy thoughts in your head and miss out on money. eBay expects me to be an adult and run my business without needing mommy and daddy to hold my hand. Even if you contact eBay about a concern and they note it, no way would I ever trust their word to cancel a sale and it not mess up my metrics. Poor metrics will hurt you more sales-wise than taking a loss on an order because you got scammed.
By the way, you heavily undervalued it which is one reason why it sold so fast. I would have priced that at $175. You are likely selling to a reseller who will flip it and make a quick $80 on it. One more thing...next time take a brief video showing that it works and I would offer returns as well. Those two things signal you are a good seller and will attract you the best buyers, thus reducing your risk. It also means you get a premium for your stuff.
kimmermaid-ca
OP4 months agoOk then. Very thorough information. Can I call you next time I need help pricing things. JK 😊 I find the sold comps and Ebay suggested prices all over the board. I am really conservative on pricing things high when they have condition issues. Like with that item it had fine scratches all over the casement and display.
Do you think as long as it is well described and photo supported, you can go higher and let a buyer decide?
I am also trying to build some metrics and not get a negative feedback. And my final excuse, I have so much unlisted inventory, I just need to move things. So anyone who wants to get some deals... feel free to follow along.
Thanks again Christworks (love the name, by the way)
christworks
·4 months agoOld(er) digital cameras in general are in high demand. People think they are junk. They are not. If I could have a large enough supply of digital camears, that's all I would sell. On a good month I can source a half dozen on them.
Canon is one of the best brands and the Elph series always brings good money. There are multiple buyer types for them, which drives up demand. As long as they work, cosmetic condition isn't as important. I mean, you don't want a cracked (some scratches are fine) screen or lens, but scratches and scuffs on the shell as yours has is fine. Even if one was not working properly and I listed it for parts, I would price higher than any that have sold in the past 90 days because the strong demand supports it. Pretty much buyers want them no matter the condition. A few years ago I sold some off-brand digtial camera. I think it was 2.0MP. It was beat up, but it turned on and took photos. I honestly did not think anybody would want it. It sold for around $100.
I don't know that a reseller bought it, I'm just saying it is possible. It is also possible you listed at the right time someone was searching or they had a search saved.
kimmermaid-ca
OP4 months agoAlso, why would a reseller open an account just to buy a camera? Seems a bit extra.
pilcherent
·4 months agojust to clarify. I have called eBay twice with regard to addresses on first time buyers. Once when a new customer had an address that was on bare land and once when it was a storage unit. I am quite capable of running my business. I called eBay to run this by them. My thought process was to also protect the selling community from potential scammers. eBay removed the "buyers" from the platform and had me cancel the sales. To put a post out there about "needing mommy and daddy to hold my hand" was quite insulting.
christworks
·4 months agoYou cannot depend on what pops up during a Google search. If you look at a part of my town on Google Maps, it will look like a rundown factory. That was just a few years ago. Today that land has been completely redone with new homes and streets. This means if you sold to someone in one of those homes, you wouldn't send the order because to you there are no homes there. Regarding the storage unit, do you not think a business might order from you? Even someone who works at a business, like a storage unit, might place an order and have it delivered there rather than their home. You might be running your business, but keep running it like that and you'll run it into the ground missing out on good money or putting your account at risk by cancelling orders for an invalid reason.
Again, that is not something I would bother eBay with because the CSRs are well-known for telling you what you want to hear, then whatever they told you turns out not to be true. If it worked out for you, great. I would not advise another seller to do that or to even worry about this stuff. If someone orders, send the item. That's what eBay asks of sellers. Then, there is a process in place for when something goes awry.
chapeau-noir
·4 months agoI've sold more than a few items to people who have signed up to eBay (or another site) specifically to purchase that item. With real cameras having become popular again, there is a lot of interest.
roccotacodad54
·4 months ago"With real cameras having become popular again, there is a lot of interest. "
Amen to that. The best pictures I ever took were with an "old school" camera once I figured out F-stop etc.
One had to actually learn how to take great photos and the knowledge gained enabled one to take the photos that were above most...................................
annadryl
·4 months agoThey paid, you ship. FWIW that item is not a very high-risk scam item anyway. If it was an pricey iphone or a rolex, that's different.
kimmermaid-ca
OP4 months agoThanks for the reassurance.
pilcherent
·4 months agoHi,
Did you google the address of the buyer? I have done that, and if the address is legit, I proceed with the sale. If the address is not good or they ask to ship to someone else's address, I call eBay. They then, note it and tell me to cancel it. Then you are not getting dinged for a cancellation.
We sell to a lot of new buyers or those who don't buy a lot on eBay.
kimmermaid-ca
OP4 months agoVery helpful. Thank you.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoLet me get this straight: You contact eBay about buyers' addresses. If the buyer asks you to ship to someone else's address, you are told by eBay to cancel the sale. What reason do you use for cancelling? Are you aware that buyers can change their shipping address to ship to a friend, as a birthday gift, or maybe it's an item they know the friend collects, for instance?
dhbookds
·4 months ago@soh.maryl
A seller would cancel with the reason of "address problem".........and then ask the buyer to rebuy, putting in the correct delivery address when they check out. As you say, buyers can change delivery address, but to protect the seller, it has to be done within the transaction.......during checkout. An email isn't sufficient.
albertabrightalberta
·4 months ago"Can I cancel it?"
You can cancel, but the question should be "should you cancel?" And the answer to that is NO!!
"What are the ramifications?"
The consequence of an OOS (out of stock) cancellation is a HUGE ding on your account and as a new (<3 month old) account), it could mean suspension.
OOS cancellations are the kiss of death, especially for a newbie.
I'm curious; do you think the buyer should be leery of new seller and a new account with just 4 feedbacks, only 2 of which are automated feedbacks as a seller?
Everyone starts at the beginning and if all buyers and sellers avoided newbies, how would anyone get experience?
kimmermaid-ca
OP4 months agoWhy thank you for your quick response albertabrightalberta. I will just have to chalk this one up to the learning curve if it goes poorly then.
And yes I do believe a buyer should be leery of a new seller with just 4 feedbacks (all positive) of which 2 positive are as a seller. But I also understand that Ebay has a stronger policy protecting buyers than it does sellers as far as I have come to understand.
Given your experience, I would love to hear policies or processes you use when selling to accounts opened on the same day as your sale with 0 transactions.
Thank you for your time.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoAs others pointed out, your listing price could've logically been higher. Lots of people apparently returning to those cameras right now. And, yes, eBay is a learning curve. You'll do a better job of researching prices next time.
You have exactly 4 more FB than that buyer does, only 2 of which are for selling, so, in terms of experience, you are just a whisper beyond that buyer.
kimmermaid-ca
OP4 months ago"You have exactly 4 more FB than that buyer does, only 2 of which are for selling, so, in terms of experience, you are just a whisper beyond that buyer."
Agreed. And as a seller, this is one of the reasons I questioned why me and why so fast. If I were the buyer, I would look to a more experienced seller for electronics. So I will instead presume it was my price point. Thank you