Canceled orders affect my sales, eBay takes away selling tools.
I had 17 cancellations throughout the year 2025. Last summer I had a break in my storage unit. Had a hard time doing an inventory, but thought it was completely done throughout the year on finding there have been cancellations due to the fact that I don’t have it in stock. I made eBay aware of the theft I had and there was really not much I could do except for each piece by myself. I’m a one person seller. Some of the cancellations of course are from buyers wanting to cancel them, but because I didn’t hit buy a request on the cancellation penalized. I’m not making more than two sales a week now since the beginning of the year whereas I was making approximately 40 to 50 sales a week
7 comments
tobaccocardyahoo
·8 months ago17 cancellations and not one negative FB.
Whatever your other failings might be, you clearly have excellent customer service skills, after the fact.
12345jamesstamps
·8 months agoSometimes when you don't have the item...you can ask a buyer can I substitute something else I have in stock for the replacement that you may desire?...and maybe give the buyer free shipping or such.
An tell buyer if item is found it will be shipped for free or something.
Cancel of an item is usually labeled 'out of stock'...as artificial intelligence sees it.
'cancellations of course are from buyers wanting to cancel them'...buyer sends a cancellation and you approve it...there is no penalty for that.
luckythewinner
·8 months agoAfter the usual disclaimes about 20/20 hindsight, etc.:
The minute you discovered the break-in, you needed to end all your listings and only reactivateg them as you confirmed they were still in inventory.
If you listed an item and are out of stock, it is possible to manipulate a buyer into requesting a cancellation, but morally speaking those really are out of stock cancellations because the buyer was not given a choice. One could argue that the dings are valid.
Does that suck? Yes. But sometimes life is not fair.
wastingtime101
·8 months agoCan you clarify this point @randy_us ?
Are these items that were out of stock (because of the theft) and after you told the buyers they asked to cancel? If yes, then "out of stock" was the correct cancellation reason.
Were they items that you had in stock and buyers asked you to cancel the order? If yes, why did you not cancel as buyer requested and what reason did you select?
I'm guessing it's the former situation, but let us know as it'll affect the advice you receive here. People are assuming you cancelled for the wrong reason, but I'm not convinced without more details.
jbbowers12012
·8 months agoAgreed with mamacassidy - Time to "Fall Back & Re-Group." Good Luck!
fern*wood
·8 months agoYes, cancellations for out of stock are very bad and ebay does punish us per the rules. Keeping a keen eye on your dashboard, especially the defects, shows what ebay tracks and if you are approaching being downgraded.
Having inventory stolen and not ended before selling is bad enough, but on top of those if you didn't handle buyer requested cancellations properly, that can be a killer to your account. One reason offered is buyer requested cancellation and those do not harm your account, but you have to pick that. The two biggest things a seller has to avoid are out of stock cancellations and unresolved by seller cases.
mamacassidy
·8 months agoThat's a lot of cancellations for one year.
I know hindsight is 20/20, so there's nothing you can do about the ones you already got.
But if I were in your shoes, I'd end all my listings now. Then I'd go through, one-by-one, and find them, hold them in my hand and inspect them, and then re-list each one only after I've found it and made sure it was in my possession and in good condition. (You also need to make sure you don't have any items listed twice; it looks like you might have the same size 6 turquoise ring in 2 separate listings, unless you have 2 of that same ring).
You can't afford to have any more cancellations (unless the buyer requests it, but then you need to use the appropriate reason).
These cancellations fall off after a year, but since you're not able to sell much now anyway, you may as well use this time to get all your stuff in order.