I am completely baffled by a misunderstanding in my seller rating, PLEASE HELP!
I’ve been selling on eBay in good faith and I take my seller performance seriously. When a buyer asks to cancel an order, I agree and handle it quickly so there are no issues on either side. Until recently, I genuinely did not know that the cancellation reason selected could have serious long-term consequences for a seller’s account.
Looking at my 70 most recent orders, seven cancellations were marked as “out of stock.†In reality, those were buyer-requested cancellations that we mutually agreed to. When canceling, I selected “item out of stock or damaged†simply because it was the first option shown, and I believed the reason didn’t matter in a mutual cancellation. There was no actual inventory issue behind those orders, just a misunderstanding of how the system tracks metrics.
What’s most frustrating is that being below standard means I can no longer promote listings. Without promotions, my items get far fewer views, watchers, and sales, making it extremely difficult to sell at all; and logically irresponsible to create auctions without a reserve because of the few views. It feels disproportionate to lose a core selling tool over a technical mistake rather than actual poor performance. I want to do things correctly going forward, I just need a fair way to recover from this.
yeswayrecords
·9 months agoYou can definitely recover from this, but it may just take some time.
Keep in mind that there is much competition in selling, and if you don't look out for and protect your selling account, no one else will.
soh.maryl
·9 months agoAlso, this will sound harsh, but you need to realize that your lack of knowledge about selling on eBay is pretty much the reason you are where you are now. The information is readily available, but eBay cannot force you to read it.
soh.maryl
·9 months agoHopefully, you now realize that you have been flying blind selling here. Would not want to keep repeating what others have told you, but, really, you need to do a whole lot of reading.
stainlessenginecovers
·9 months agoHard way to learn this lesson.
ALWAYS look at ALL options on ANY website, before 'choosing' and choose the CORRECT answer.
meme6253
·9 months agoI agree with hotwheelsbum completely, You messed up with how you went about the cancellations & chose the wrong reason as well, It will be very difficult to rebound from this but not impossible, Good Luck to you!!
mamacassidy
·9 months agoWhen you go to cancel an order, there are literally only 3 choices in the drop down box. It is absolutely crazy to me that you chose the wrong one on 7 separate occasions just "because it was the first option shown". But alas, now you know not to do that in the future.
As far as your account goes, you might try contacting a representative on social media and telling them you made a mistake and then show them the messages where the buyer asked to cancel. They might take pity on you and try to help you. I think this is a long shot, but given the situation you're in, it's worth a try.
sfau
·9 months agoMaybe ask the buyer's to send you a cancellation request going forward? Sorry you had to learn the hard way, but it is never a good idea to pick an option that is not accurate for anything and assume there will not be consequences... You can also reach out to the boards, google or chat with Ebay Representative for assistance on what to do. Good luck!
hotwheelsbum
·9 months agoYou're cancelling through Messages. You can't do that.
Buyer wants to cancel, they send cancel request through ebay. Ebay will send you message. Ebay will then give you the option to accept or deny the cancel.
Example Message:
The buyer requested to cancel this order
Hi Hotwheelsbum,
Please see the cancel details and respond to the buyer by August 26, 2025.
If you've already shipped the order, you don't need to cancel it. Just let us know.
Otherwise, please approve this cancel request and refund the buyer. We'll credit eligible fees according to our fee credits policy.
Bottom of this Message will give you Cancel Options.
THIS is the way you cancel. NOT through Messages. Ebay's system is showing your cancelling all these orders due to not having items in stock. Ebay is looking at you like "WHY are you selling stuff you don't have???". This is BBE, Bad Buyer Experience.
Nothing you can do. Damage is done. IF ebay doesn't completely ban your account, work to get it back in good standing. It may take a while, but that's the punishment for not knowing how to cancel at "buyers request".
Good Luck.
jonathanbrightlight
·9 months agoNot true, the seller does not need the buyer to send a formal cancellation request if they have requested it via Messages. The seller does need to select the right reason when canceling, however (in this situation, “Buyer asked to cancelâ€).
bashort
·9 months agoIf a buyer sends you a message and says I would like to cancel you absolutely can and in my opinion should cancel using the reason "buyer asked to cancel" you do not need a official cancel request.
christworks
·9 months ago@mattcat_103010 Before you sell another item, you need to go through eBay and read anything and everything that concerns sellers. You cannot fly by the seat of your pants and expect things to go well. As you know, you greatly messed up.
I don't see that you have anything listed, and I do not see any feedback or sales for that matter. Has eBay notified you that they have closed your selling account?
If your account has not been closed and you are only at below standard, you can come back from this. You do not need promotions to do it. You may need some loss-leaders to generate good sales quickly so you can get back up to standard.
What you do not want are anymore out of stock cancellations for a long time - a very long time. Going forward it is imperative you make sure that you have in your possession anything you list and that you know where it is. You do not want to need a OOS cancellation.
You need all sales for the foreseeable future to go perfect. Make sure you meet your handling time. Make sure you describe your listings accurately. Give buyers good deals. If you do not want to sell your normal inventory below the market, find something you can.
I'd go to the bank and get a stack of two-dollar bills. Price them at 99 cents + free shipping. Do not do it as a multi-quantity listing, otherwise one buyer will buy them all and that will not help you. Instead, sell one, ship, then list another. You should be able to use eBay Standard Envelope for them. It will cost you a little money, but well worth it.
mattcat_103010
OP9 months agoThank you very much for your reply! I'm unsure why you can't see my account, but it is very much active. Thank you as well for your suggestion on how to fix my situation.
jonathanbrightlight
·9 months agoThere’s a Khoros issue on these forums that doesn’t update the link to your listings if you change your username on eBay. It takes a manual change in the url or a search for you on eBay to find you in that case, and many users here have no reason to know that or how to adjust it.