New Seller Seeking Advice. Pricing Error and irritating Buyer.
Summary: lotusrayne17 accidentally listed an item for $25 instead of $125 and sought advice after the buyer refused to cancel and threatened negative feedback. Most participants recommended owning the mistake by shipping the item or canceling and accepting negative feedback. They discussed the implications of cancellation, defect impact on seller accounts, and the importance of learning from mistakes. Some highlighted the potential risks to a new seller's standing if the account gains defects from cancellations.
I’m looking for guidance on how to properly handle a pricing error on a sold listing. I accidentally listed a card for $25 instead of $125, and the buyer purchased it before I noticed. I reached out to explain the mistake and asked if they could request a cancellation. The buyer declined and stated they would leave negative feedback if I cancel it myself.
I’d appreciate clarification on the following points:
What is the correct procedure for canceling an order due to an obvious pricing error?
Is “out of stock” the only cancellation reason available to sellers in situations like this?
How should a seller proceed when a buyer openly states they intend to leave negative feedback if the seller cancels?
Are there any protections or best practices for avoiding penalties when the mistake is clearly a listing error?
Thank you for any advice experienced sellers can offer.
futurespast1113
·2 months agoNice 0% positive feedback rating lmao. I would definitely be wary of buying from a zero percent positive rated seller. You should just have owned up to the mistake and shipped out the card for a better reputation.
anything.gadget.inc
·2 months agoIf it make you feel better i seen that many versions of the same 2022 card you sold are actually going for $45, and a PSA 10 graded goes for 400, there was some that sold for 120 but those seem overpriced for no reason, Check sold listing for said card and you will see, so maybe not all hope is lost
mr_lincoln
·2 months ago · EditedHi @lotusrayne17
-You ship the item to the Buyer for the price they paid
-You learn from your mistake
-Many - Most Sellers have made one kind of mistake or another that cost them money, I have
-Own the mistake, learn and move on.
-eBay provides 3 reasons to cancel a transaction on a BIN item, none of them cover a pricing mistake
1786davycrockett
·2 months ago@lotusrayne17
The good news is -- you've learned this error early on in your eBay career, so that you never (or rarely) need do it again.
The bad news is -- if you are an honest and honorable person, you will send the card without any more drama: it was YOUR error -- not your buyer's, and not eBay's. Don't try to weasel your way out of it, since you don't need that sort of reputation, particularly as a "newbie" eBay seller.
Many of us have fallen into similar situations -- but we lived up to our responsibilities as honest eBay sellers, and did the "right" thing.
And we're still here -- many of us for decades. That's why positive feedback recommendations are important -- even at the cost of a $100 loss.
Finally -- how much did that $125 card actually cost you initially?
Because that's your actual cost -- not your "selling" cost.
Avoid any future hassles -- ship the card, learn your lesson, and move along.
Good luck.
inhawaii
·2 months ago · EditedToo bad you're not one of those sellers who are incapable of making mistakes.
There are a lot of them here.
One of them in a similar situation as you recently blamed a ebay glitch for their typo.
At least you owned up to it.
roccotacodad54
·2 months agoI see you have a very short selling history.
A little story. I ordered an item from new a seller that he never sent.
I filed "Item not received" after communication turned out to be fruitless. I won the claim. His positive reviews dropped to 50% (Yes I gave something I rarely do, a negative.).
I checked a week later and he's gone. I don't know if eBay cancelled him or if it was self imposed but gone.
It's entire possibly it was self imposed as any buyer that would buy from a seller with a 50% positive review score?
Either way I assume you wouldn't like to be in his shoes.........................
shire123
·2 months agoOne poster brought this up and it is maybe the most important point to consider. This is a new seller. Only 2 items sold. If they cancel one of those orders then their percentage of defects would be 50%. When it comes time for ebay AI to evaluate seller status that might be an automatic permanent suspension. (I don't know if there is a minimum number of sales before that percentage is used to calculate).
I know some are recommending canceling. But would you really jeopardize your selling ability on ebay for $100 that was the SELLERS error?
mamacassidy
·2 months agoThis is exactly what I was thinking. It is an unfortunate situation, and I remember when losing $100 was financially devastating to me. But in this case, I would be more worried about losing the whole ebay account and money making that comes with it.
monica-sells
·2 months agocomplete the sale...if you continue to sell on ebay, you will save well over $100 in the long run without the defects......
kibble-net
·2 months agoCancel transaction. Eat the negative. Respond to it calmly and professionally.
Your best case scenario is that the buyer acts like a three year old and ebay removes the feedback for violating TOS.
Your worst case scenario is that you have a neg for 12 months and that you learn a valuable lesson.
stuff4divas
·2 months ago · Edited@lotusrayne17 here are the instructions should u decide to cancel
How to cancel an order in Seller Hub or in My eBay
1. Go to Orders in Seller Hub
2. Find the order you want to cancel, and from More actions, select Cancel order.
3. Choose a reason for the cancellation and then select Submit to finish.
If you're canceling the order because the buyer hasn't paid, the reason code "Buyer hasn't paid" will become available after 4 full calendar days. Learn more about resolving unpaid items with buyers.
Tip
You can cancel an order up to 30 days after a sale, even if your buyer has already paid. Keep in mind that if you cancel an order because you're out of stock, you may receive a transaction defect and this could affect your seller performance level.
kensgiftshop
·2 months agoWhy would you ask the buyer to cancel the order when it was your mistake?
I'd ship the card.
ryry-jj
·2 months agoThink of it this way...you have received well over $100 of free advise on this matter :)
bonanza125
·2 months agoYou will need to either cancel the transaction and state "Out of Stock" or follow through with the transaction and eat the $100 difference. Even though as a buyer I personally understand mistakes which can be made other buyers do not. This buyer is making a threat of leaving a negative feedback. Which personally making that threat I would just take the defect cause that's not a grateful buyer but a buyer who probably sits looking to snatch items for bargain deals right when they list. Defects are on your record for 1 year. Now it will affect your seller performance rating doing that if you choose that route.
soh.maryl
·2 months agoYou've given an excellent answer; however, although I rarely buy any more, when I did buy, I was often a buyer who "probably sits looking to snatch items for bargain deals". Isn't that what most of us are?
bonanza125
·2 months agoThank you. When I talk about snatching items for bargain deals I am referring to the term Ebay vulture. As in someone who waits for new items in categories to get listed to get bargain deals. A lot of buyers just casually browse Ebay and look for the right price they are willing to pay or make an offer. Now I am unsure how long the OPs item was up for sale for but I can imagine not for very long.
roccotacodad54
·2 months agoWell I guess I'm an "Ebay vulture". I have (had) saved searches that I check a couple of times a day. When I see a good price on something I've been looking for I snatch it up before someone else does.
"To he!! with patience, I'm gonna k!11 it"...................................
sin-n-dex
·2 months agoBTW, if it makes you feel any better, I listed a token for 9.99 instead of 99.99 once, I shipped the token.
I also once bought a purse for 37.50 when I think the buyer meant 375.00. She shipped me the purse.
You'll have a happy customer if you ship the card, just learn from this and be more careful next time.
C.
fern*wood
·2 months agoI'm been here a long time and make my fair share of mistakes. I would never consider asking a buyer to basically cover my butt for my mistake. In my opinion that set you up for bad feedback. There is no real protection for mistakes, but best practices is to man up when they happen.
My last bad mistake (I sold shoes my husband loved and did not want sold...oops) so I told my buyer this and cancelled for out of stock. My buyer was actually awesome about it and told me no problem. I would have deserved bad feedback, but didn't get any. The defect was on my account for a year and I made sure I kept my nose clean and had no other issues to earn another.
Pricing mistakes are easier. I once meant to use action format, but forgot to switch from fixed price, so I sold a nice item for pennies of what it was worth. oops I shipped and never once thought to ask my buyer to save me from myself.
sin-n-dex
·2 months agoYou can't ask a buyer to request a cancellation to get out of the fact you want to cancel with the "out of stock" option (which is appropriate if you don't want to ship it and the buyer didn't request it.
You've basically got two choices...
Ship the card and learn from your mistake
Cancel and accept negative feedback for cancelling
C.
luckythewinner
·2 months ago · EditedThere is no correct procedure. All you can do is violate policy and disappoint a buyer.
You are not 'out of stock'. You are choosing not to fulfil a legitimate order.
The buyer's feedback would be appropriate and within policy. So to avoid it, you should take the loss and ship the order.
Learn from your mistake and become a better seller.
ryry-jj
·2 months agoYou ship the item. Never ask a buyer to cancel for your mistake. You have stated the reason for listing it a $25, but it's not an excuse...you are 100% responsible for the accuracy of your listing, and buyer expect that. We are talking about $100, most likely that is just opportunity cost lost not real out of pocket as I bet you pulled that card. So even at $25 you are not losing money, But either way it doesn't matter, ship.
Btw, this is what feedback is all about, being able to point out sellers who make mistakes & then want to punish buyers or provide a BBE and do it without facing any responsibility for their errors
robot-hands
·2 months ago$100 is worth the negative. Cancel it however you like, let the buyer fight with the air.
libbywebst
·2 months ago · EditedWill you for sure get $125 if you cxl and relist? Is the $100 worth a defect but likely no long-term collateral damage? Cancel the sale. When the buyer leaves neg feedback, you can reply and explain exactly what happened for all the world to see.
tarotfindsandmore
·2 months agoNo longer term damage? The defect will remain on the seller's account for 12 months. That's pretty long term for a new seller with almost no feedback and only 2 sales. Responding to the inevitable feedback, explaining that they completely screwed up the listing and didn't feel like taking responsibility for the error absolutely will not help the situation.
Sorry, but this is not good advice to be giving a new seller who clearly needs to learn to pay attention to what he/she is doing, at the bare minimum. No buyer with any sense of self preservation would buy from a seller who does what you are suggesting.
You take the L and learn from it if you care at all about your seller status.
libbywebst
·2 months agoOpinions are like noses; everyone has one. As this poster said, it's real easy to armchair quarterback when your money isn't involved.
tarotfindsandmore
·2 months agoI've made mistakes, there's no armchair quarter backing here. I've also been here a very, very long time and seen just about every kind of mistake one can make. Perhaps you don't understand what it is to be an armchair quarterback.
I doubt the seller realizes just exactly how long the penalty to his/her account will be in effect, as you certainly don't. What you're suggesting could easily put the OP into a situation where sales will drop, if not stop altogether, which will then result in lengthening the process of getting paid, which then means the seller will not be making enough money to continue selling. Taking your advice could ultimately result in the demise of the OP's selling account, so I stand by what I said.
We see stuff like this on this board all the time. People make mistakes. What separates good sellers from bad ones is the ability to take responsibility for those mistakes.
Beyond all that, it's a hundred bucks, not a thousand. That's a trip to the gas station for a lot of people these days. Acting like this is make it or break it cash does nothing but reinforce the option to NOT take responsibility.
libbywebst
·2 months agoSo now canceling the sale presents an existential crisis: does the seller accept "responsibility" for the listing error and "honor" the sale or does s/he tell the buyer to pound sand with their threats, cancel the sale, relist, get value for their item, and live to sell another day? Why don't you leave it up to the poster to weigh the risk and whether that $100 is worth it. This is a forum for soliciting advice--since you've been here so long, you should be aware that not everyone will offer the same advice as you. It's an opinion--by definition, it cannot be either objectively "right" or "wrong."
grann-4629
·2 months agoFeedback, good or bad, is also just an opinion ...
tarotfindsandmore
·2 months agoYes, advice can be objectively wrong. That's a fact. If I tell my neighbor to go ahead and cut the weird mole off of her arm when she asks me for "advice" about it, I would be giving her bad ...wrong... advice. Better, or good, advice would be to tell her to consult with a physician who can treat her weird mole.
The facts that I've shared are objectively true, they're not my opinions. The buyer will be penalized for a minimum of a year if they follow your "opinion"...that means your opinion is bad advice since the option to avoid this outcome exists.
As to the rest of your comment, you're correct. This IS a board where people come for advice. We're not standing on street corners with cardboard signs offering up unsolicited truths about the universe. I would not offer unsolicited advice. I also have no plans to contact this seller to follow up to see what they decide to do. If they hadn't asked, I wouldn't have posted...just like you.
libbywebst
·2 months agoYour advice avoids the outcome of negative feedback. My advice avoids the outcome of losing money. Let's let the poster decide.
authentic*vintage
·2 months agoShip the item and smile.
tarotfindsandmore
·2 months agoHonor the sale. You messed up. We've all had one of these at some point. If you're planning on continuing to sell here, you'd be well-advised to just suck it up and accept the loss.
If you don't, there's a very good possibility your selling days are essentially over. The account you're using to post here probably doesn't have the longevity or established history to overcome a defect of the type you're going to get if you fight this.
nanniestreasurechest
·2 months agoIf it were me, I'd take the loss since it would have been my error even though I really wouldn't want to. As a new seller you are still building up your feedback and a negative is going to bring your percentage down plus cancelling for "out of stock" will hurt your metrics. Chalk it up to a lesson learned and make sure you check your price once you list an item moving forward.
shire123
·2 months agoWhat is obvious to you is not obvious to everybody. Some sellers list things at greatly reduced prices in order to get rid of it.
Listing something at the wrong price is NOT an obvious error.
You have two choices. 1. take the monetary hit and send out the card and learn from your error. 2. Cancel the order as an "out of stock" which is your only honest reason. Take the well justified negative review. And take the hit to your metrics.
grann-4629
·2 months agoCancel the order as an "out of stock" which is your only honest reason.
Say what? What is honest about that?
dhbookds
·2 months agoCanceling for out of stock is your only option, outside of shipping it. You do need to understand you will get a transaction defect for cancelling. Read here:
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-standards-policy?id=4347&st=3&pos=7&query=Seller%20standards%20policy&intent=Out%20of%20stock%20cancellation%20by%20seller&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1272
snoopwiz
·2 months ago · EditedIt is easy for others to tell this seller to "eat" the $100 and ship. Real easy when it is not their c-note. On a personal level, I would do as the poster said and contact the buyer in the hopes they would see it was obviously a pricing error and throw the seller a bone. The buyer is holding firm but........once the "if you don't ship I am going to (gasp) leave you a negative" is used, game over. You have something they want, they aren't willing to "give and take so......at this point, it's f you Mr/Miss buyer, bring on your neg. Leave a carefully worded response to their neg and move on.
libbywebst
·2 months agoRight. Contracts are not about "honor"--they are transactional and there are a million ways to void a contract, including when it is entered into based on a mistake.
jdbelt1960
·2 months agoIs that you Donald?
libbywebst
·2 months agoNo, just a real life lawyer here.
kickin.assets
·2 months agoOnly a real life eBayer here … honor is the only choice the OP has or they are done as a seller when negative feedback is left.
eBay does not care if we made a mistake, if you are a lawyer or we want to argue what happens in “real life” … it’s their sandbox and owning up to any mistake you make is the right way to handle things IMO
libbywebst
·2 months ago · EditedSo let's scale this up then and extend your sandbox principle to another scenario. You've just closed on the sale of your home only to discover that there's a transpositional error in the buy-sell agreement. Your house that you intended to sell for $425K just sold for $245K. Do you "own up" to that mistake or do you want out of that contract? What most people don't realize it that contracts are not blood oaths. Again, they are transactional. When there is a mistake as to terms, the contract is either voidable or void ab initio. You cannot contract without mutual assent. If you disagree with those principles, go revise the Uniform Commercial Code.
kickin.assets
·2 months agoStill eBay’s sandbox … seller either sucks it up and takes the loss financially or accepts the hit to their selling account. There’s nothing to argue about here. It’s this or it’s that.
jdbelt1960
·2 months agoYou are correct that anybody can walk away from a contract. People can rob a bank also but should be prepared for consequences. People do it all the time but must be prepared to accept the consequences which would be a short eBay career. It would be difficult for a person who created a contract to stand up in court and say they made a mistake so please void it. At the least the seller would be liable for costs incurred by the buyer.
kensgiftshop
·2 months agoWe're not talking about a house here, just a cheap card.
monroe67
·2 months ago"Your house that you intended to sell for $425K just sold for $245K."
A house is not quite the same thing as a trading card.
Selling a house is not quite the same process as selling/buying the majority of Things that are sold/bought on eBay.
"You cannot contract without mutual assent."
TRUE !! Yay, you passed Contracts !!
When a person decides to try to sell something on eBay, the "contract" or agreement is between eBay and the seller.
At the end of the online listing form, there is a statement to the effect that the seller agrees to be bound by eBay's User Agreement and all its provisions.
A careful seller will notice and read that statement --
perhaps choose to save the listing as a Draft --
then go look at eBay's User Agreement --
and perhaps decide not to agree with everything in eBay's User Agreement --
then go back and cancel that listing.
In that scenario, by cancelling the listing, that careful seller has not given his/her assent to "contract" with eBay for the possibility of selling the item on eBay.
That same careful seller, in my opinion, will have been careful enough to verify the asking price for the trading card he/she is trying to sell on eBay.
grann-4629
·2 months agoNo! Not the lawyers, please ...
libbywebst
·2 months agoRight, let's keep this strictly emotional.
inhawaii
·2 months agoMy opinion...
The honorable thing to do is honor the sale and take the loss.
Learn from this experience.
I understand that $100 is a lot of money.
If you can't afford to lose it, then you have no other choice than to cancel, out of stock.
Don't lie about the reason. If the buyer reports you, you could be in big trouble.
Good luck.
warrenshobbies
·2 months agoI know you'll think this is harsh, but this is your error. When you make a mistake, own it. Ship the item and learn from it. Or cancel and accept the negative. Thos are your real choices.