No Cancellations After Winning Bid....Fair Policy or Not?
Summary: The discussion revolves around issues with order cancellations on eBay, focusing on sellers canceling orders due to pricing mistakes and buyers canceling orders claiming they were made by mistake. thrifty-fox-90 criticizes sellers who cancel transactions due to pricing errors, emphasizing the importance of honoring the listed prices. dr.brads shares experiences of increased cancellation requests, attributing them to comparison shopping or dropshipping tactics. rileysan voices frustration over eBay’s bid cancellation policy after making a typo in a bid amount. Participants debate the fairness of these policies, with some advocating for sellers' rights to refuse cancellations and others suggesting that allowing cancellations could prevent negative outcomes.
As an independent seller with direct hands-on control of items listed for sale and having sold over 300 items since I started selling back in 2014 with the help of a former friend of my mom's who's a long-time eBay seller, I have heard some news that eBay will be locking buyers who win an auction into making the decision to A) either pay for the item they won, or B) face an unpaid item strike if they don't pay within the 96-hour window. Within the first year I have listed items for sale that time then, I have had two people win auctions on items I listed for sale (one being a Mastermind for Kids board game that was only missing a few pieces and another being a Wii Wheel accessory) but that I've never heard from them since they each won those auctions and were each the only ones for those respective auctions before their deadlines to bid but with 0 feedback points, and back then were the days you could open an unpaid item case if they didn't submit the payment they owed us sellers after 48 hours pass, and that the winning bidders could either make the final decision to pay, or after so much time passes and that if the buyers either carried on or didn't respond that we the sellers would make a final decision to close the case and that the non-paying buyer who won the auction receives an unpaid item strike while simultaneously automatically being blocked from doing business with us any further.
And five years ago alongside changing their feedback tool by expanding the max character limit from 80 to 500 and adding the ability to add photos in the case of a discrepancy of what was received versus advertised in the listing, they notably changed the unpaid order policy by simply waiting for 96 hours to pass and simply canceling the buyer's order with the "Buyer Hasn't Paid" option to warrant a strike on their account if they fail to pay for an order that they either won the auction or a best offer was accepted.
Now I'm wondering if eBay's new policy also applies to when a best offer is accepted and not just for winning an auction that the buyer must pay or face an unpaid item strike if they fail to do so within the 96-hour payment window.
Speaking of such, I have just updated my policies when selling to buyers that I will not waste my time with buyers asking to cancel after payment cleared, since I'm very eager at getting items shipped once the payment clears, especially how asking a seller to cancel an order can be a waste of their time including, 1) failure to acknowledge that seller may be preparing to get the order packed and ready to ship within 5 minutes of the transaction, 2) seller may have purchased a shipping label directly here whereas asking them to cancel will end up wasting their time and having to void the shipping label just to acknowledge the buyer wanting to backpedal and get their money back, 3) the seller is never inclined to accept a buyer's cancellation request, 4) seller has to waste more time relisting the item for sale and start the process all over after buyer insisted on wanting their order canceled and scramble to expect it to be sold once again and for good. Take it or not, it's disconcerting for us sellers to just simply refund a buyer's order because they changed their mind and don't want it after all.
Thanks to looking at sellers' listings where their personal policies are that there will be no cancellations after payment cleared, I am following their lead to make the sales final and reduce the inconvenience of scrambling to have things sold without the buyers wanting to change their mind after a transaction clears. Either way, cancellation policies are the decisions of the sellers. Plus some sellers have sales be final when it could be for personal financial needs besides just here on eBay since we the sellers pay selling fees no matter what the buyer paid for and how it costs money to ship orders and to buy shipping materials if in case we need to re-stock on them.
Fortunately, there are only two ways I can refund buyers orders. The main reason is if the order they received is different than shown in the photos (for instance, the buyer ordered a Mario plushie but received a Luigi one instead), arrived damaged while inspecting the contents from the package, or if a working item doesn't work or no longer functional after multiple tests and within the 90-day window of the transaction per the system's Money Back Guarantee. The other way I can refund a buyer's order is if I reach out to them and inform them that the item that was listed some time ago is reported to be missing, damaged, out of stock, or simply cannot find it after scrambling for so long to find it but with no luck and apologize to them for the inconvenience and have their order reimbursed after taking the time to explain the issue.
Yes, any time an order is canceled, the system will track a transaction defect regardless if the buyer did or did not ask to cancel, or worse failed to pay for their item within the 96-hour window and that amount of time has passed before the buyer bothered to do so.
FTR, I am proud to say I have a clean record of selling items and without a single case closed without resolution and that nearly 100% of my total buyers are satisfied with their purchases, even those who don't bother to leave feedback since I proudly leave it to the buyer to decide on their own time if they want to voice their opinions, and that orders are shipped on time so buyers are guaranteed to receive them on or before their delivery estimate.
However, I would like to hear people's opinions if the new policy to make cancellation requests unavailable after winning an auction to be fair or unfair.
za811154
·3 weeks agoGreat move for sellers. If a buyer places a bid and wins, they should be committed to the purchase. It helps reduce unpaid items and protects the integrity of eBay auctions.
simba6
·3 weeks agoIt's still better they cancel than file a false not as described case to return it. Or worse, " help " it get that way. I do agree people should not be pressing the bid or buy buttons without being sure they want to buy the item.
thrifty-fox-90
OP3 weeks agoActually, sellers don't have to cancel a buyer's order. Why? Sellers could be preparing the order for shipment within 1-5 minutes of the transaction being done. Sellers DO have the right at their own discretion to refuse the buyer's cancellation request and proceed to shipment anyways since a transaction is a binding contract between both the buyer and the seller. If the buyer pays for it, they are obligated to receive it in the end. If a buyer asks the seller to cancel, it's a crutch to renege on a contract. The same can be done if the seller cancels the buyer's order against their will. Most of the time, feedback over declined cancellation requests usually do warrant removal and that it's an argument a buyer is most likely in the position to lose. Because once again, a transaction is a legally binding contract. Whatever the buyer purchases (whether on purpose or by accident) the seller should have no choice other than return the favor and ship the item, plus the seller's job is to take the buyer's purchase seriously and accept that they paid for the item and must receive it. If the sale closes, seller must surrender ownership of the item and admit it's the buyer's item now, even before they proceed to pack it up and have it dropped off at the post office to be shipped and no longer under the seller's care/control.
inhawaii
·3 weeks agoGreat idea.
Don't cancel the sale and MAKE the buyer take the item even though they no longer want it.
thrifty-fox-90
OP3 weeks agoIf a buyer wants to resell it, it's their choice. Plus eBay since introduced the option for buyers to decide whether or not if they wish to re-sell items they've previously purchased different other sellers from their own purchase history.
gurlcat
·3 weeks ago · Edited😆 @inhawaii You already went through this with the OP in April, when they first started this post. ^^^
rileysan
·3 weeks ago · EditedAdding my two cents:
Today I typed in a bid of $102.99 for an item - or so I thought. I apparently didn't press the . hard enough and instead bid $10,299. The final selling price of the item was around $314, or 3 times my intended bid. Aside from the obvious argument about eBay removing bid confirmations, which irritates me, eBay's policy of not allowing a bidder to initiate a bid cancellation infuriates me. And if the seller doesn't cancel the auction (or isn't allowed to), I'll be on the hook for that amount or face the consequences of being a "non-paying" bidder, which is absurd considering my thousands of transactions over the past 27+ years.
Whoever is in charge of this fiasco needs to be removed from their job!
Brian
gurlcat
·3 weeks agoBuyers can retract bids! But not in the final 'X' (?) hours of the auction. I forget how many.
thrifty-fox-90
OP3 weeks agoLet me be fair and square. Retracting bids is considered a lose-lose situation and it's unfair to the seller who's working hard to make the sale and that they expect to be paid when the auction closes and the system decides the winner based on the highest bidder.
But thanks to doing research by typing the following keywords "eBay Bid Retraction Policy", he's what they give us.
inhawaii
·3 weeks ago"Whoever is in charge of this fiasco needs to be removed from their job!"
Wasn't this fiasco caused by YOU and your typo?
rileysan
·3 weeks agoYes, I am technically responsible for bidding $10k, or 100x my intended bid, on an item during the last 10 seconds of an auction - because I'm HUMAN. There's a good reason why bid confirmations were the standard part of the bidding process for ~30 years. This is a clear example of why eBay shouldn't have removed that step, and only an (insert expletive here) would think it's ok to hold someone responsible for such an absurd amount. Got any other useful comments to add?
inhawaii
·3 weeks agoI agree with you.
Someone should be held responsible for YOUR mistake.
adamcartwright
·3 weeks agoIf it was too late to retract the bid yourself, did you contact your seller asking him to cancel your bid?
chapeau-noir
·3 weeks agoYou didn't double check your bid, cancel and re-bid?
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 month agoWhen a buyer wants to cancel, I cancel.
An unwanted item will often lead to action which will waste more of my time and effort, and do more damage than relisting the item.
I get so few cancellation requests that it is never a hardship to honor one.
Depending on the buyer's demeanor, I might not even add the buyer to my BBL.
dr.brads
·1 month agoBeen selling on ebay since 1998 with maybe 1-2 cancellation requests per year and a strong supporter of allowing buyers to cancel prior to shipment. Unfortunately, in the past few months, this has become epidemic and defies the odds. ~90% of my higher priced items in which I accept the buyer's offer, I receive a request to cancel for "ordered by mistake" within 24 hours. Per AI, this is either because ebay shows buyers which sellers have the item cheaper or they are dropshippers who send multiple best offers to multiple sellers of the same item then, after reviewing which are cheapest, send cancellation requests to the rest. This is wrong on so many levels. Ebay's bots will remove hundreds of my active listings and without any warning if they are deemed to be stale & slowing down the search engines due to low buyer interest but cannot track buyers who habitually abuse and violate the cancellation policy?
thrifty-fox-90
OP1 month agoHere’s the thing. Sellers are neither required nor obligated under any circumstances to cancel a buyer’s order. Plus most negative feedback over buyers unhappy with the seller’s decision to refuse the cancellation request and ship the item anyways does warrant removal since every single transaction is a legally binding contract between both the buyer and the seller. Once an item is paid for, the seller must accept the fact that what’s listed for sale is an item they now no longer own and must ship the buyer’s order within the number of business days outlined in the original listing so the buyer is guaranteed to receive on or before delivery estimate.
However, cancellations against a buyer’s will, including simply canceling the order and falsely claiming it’s damaged or out of stock so they can relist it at a different price than what the buyer agreed to pay for is a form of reneging on a transaction and that will upset the buyer who was expecting the item they paid for regardless of how the seller priced it. Even if a seller priced something in error before the sale, they still have to ship it regardless. Not to mention that it will record a transaction defect on their account and likely restrict their selling privileges at the expense of their seller performance.
And any orders that have been canceled, the site still has records of an item that had been sold regardless if the transaction was canceled or not.
thrifty-fox-90
OP4 months agoAs a no-nonsense seller who can answer buyer's questions easily and provide some of the details that may not have been provided in the pictures and/or the description about the item they're looking at I'm offering for sale, while I may take the hit for denying their cancellation request, but I will not hesitate to report their feedback as abusive if it's simply over cancellation or just not happy with the price they paid for despite receiving the correct item(s) pictured in the listing with no damage done upon receiving.
Thankfully, I am not the only one who won't waste their time with cancellations after payment. There a LOTS of sellers who are very strict about cancellation to remind buyers before they make their payment. Once you place your order and pay for it, you immediately enter a contract to agree to receive the item in the end and that the seller will have the item shipped within their handling time window.
Thanks to having the eBay app on my phone, if I get those alerts that an item I listed for sale has been sold and paid for, if I'm at home, I will not hesitate to log into my computer and start the shipping process for the buyer. Not to mention that are lots an lots of sellers too who may be at their computers to start the shipping process the second they get an alert on their personal phones with the eBay app that what they've listed for sale has been sold and paid for. Thank goodness, it's better than buying from sellers who don't bother to respond or ship buyers' orders; and this is why people should check seller feedback before buying from a seller about whether or not if the buyers received what they paid for and/or if the seller shipped the buyers' orders on time.
gurlcat
·4 months agoLOL this was delivered March 18th, precisely 30 days ago. Sure it was a risk, but I don't profess to be a 100% sane person.
inhawaii
·4 months agoWhat does that mean exactly?
You're not going to cancel orders when requested?
thrifty-fox-90
OP4 months agoThing you don't understand, sellers are not obligated to cancel a buyer's order. A buyer may request a cancellation, but it's up to the seller to decide whether or not if the buyer's order should or shouldn't be canceled. If a seller prepares to ship the buyer's order or if it's already shipped, then it's too late to cancel. Refusing a buyer's cancellation request may seem predatory, but if the seller states clearly "No cancellations after payment cleared", that is their personal policy as a private seller or business. The only way a buyer can change their mind is if they don't order it, otherwise they have entered into a contract to do business with the seller. Plus it's the buyer's responsibility to read before they buy. Leaving negative feedback over a cancellation being denied would count as abusive feedback and done out of frustration or spite and an excuse to use the seller as a scapegoat for their personal spending. Not to mention, there are sellers who sell a bunch of things they don't need anymore in order to pay personal expenses on their end like rent, child care, medical bills, car and/or home repairs, etc. alongside that they have to pay selling fees when a transaction is done. The worst thing a buyer can do is damage an item they ordered in retaliation just to insist on their money back so they can stage a complaint; which fortunately I use my phone to take photos of the process of each item I have sold being packed and shipped if I need to protect myself from potentially dishonest buyers who either don't provide enough evidence of INAD or arrived damaged or anything like that, but worst of all forge a complaint for their own gain to try to demand a refund without any valid proof. Not to mention, I am grateful there are many good sellers who don't waste their time with buyers being cheap and think they're entitled to items they don't hardly make enough money to want for themselves, which I why I have the auto-accept/auto-decline thing for listings with the Best Offer feature in order to protect myself from greedy low-ball buyers. Because buyers need to be considerate of us sellers and understand what we have to pay for on our end in selling fees and personal necessities outside of selling on eBay.
shire123
·4 months ago@thrifty-fox-90
All of your points have some validity. BUT. Why risk an unhappy customer by denying a cancelation request? You are just asking for a negative feedback which would not count as abusive feedback. If a buyer asks for a cancelation they obviously don't want the item. You cannot force the item on the buyer. It will come back to you at your cost if they file a NAD claim (even a false NAD claim).
As to your fees comment. If you cancel a transaction the fees are credited back to you. Even if the package is already sent you can generally recall it.
Yes. Buyers are responsible for reading and deciding if they really want the item. But ebay is set up to largely let a buyer generally do whatever they want. ebay rules are largely set up against a seller. Once you realize that you would save yourself a lot of trouble by just accepting a cancelation request.
Your point about taking pictures to "prove" a situation won't help one bit if a buyer makes a claim. Pictures can be manipulated so ebay will NOT use anything you provide like that as proof. What the buyer states or claims will be what ebay decides a case on.
thrifty-fox-90
OP4 months agoAccording to the official one-size-fits-all cancellation policy, it states:
"Purchases on eBay can be canceled by the seller or by eBay. Buyers can request a cancellation, but it's up to the seller to accept or decline the request. If multiple items were purchased as part of the same order, then all items in the order will be canceled."
Refusing a cancellation may have buyers extort feedback, but it's better for buyers to forgive sellers if it's for the latter's personal financial constraints and the fact that they have to pay selling fees when a transaction is completed. Let's face it, because having an order canceled whether or not if the buyer requested it, it completely inconveniences the seller and they have to start the process all over and scramble to get it sold once again and it will create a financial burden for the seller if they have personal expenses and other things on their end they have to pay for.
One eBay store back in 2017-18 that I will not disclose at their discretion, I've seen someone leave negative feedback that said "Poor business, tried to cancel 2 min after order, found $30 cheaper,told toobad". This is because of someone being frustrated or cheap with their own form of "buyer's remorse", but likely didn't read the description before buying or didn't acknowledge the seller's own cancellation policy. Had that one particular buyer there not made the transaction in the first place, they would have found the right time to reconsider before buying if they were price-conscious.
Believe it or not, the smart thing for the buyer to do is that if they don't want the item after all or if it's personally too much for them, simply do not place the order in the first place, plain and simple. Because when you ask a seller to cancel your order, you waste their valuable time and they have to relist it and expect it to be sold once again, especially considering all the hard work they've done to showcase the item in different angles and fill out the description to disclose all the details about what's listed for sale. Not to mention, some sellers have their preferences set where buyers can be blocked for a certain period time if they cause a number or so cancellations within a number of months or simply do not pay for the item. Per my preferences precisely, buyers who have a feedback score of 5 or less are blocked from doing business with me for six months if they cause two cancellations within this timeframe, which is why there are many buyers with this little of feedback points that can be hard to take seriously or a sign they hardly do business here and are often frustrated when they don't get their way.
roccotacodad54
·4 months ago"Refusing a cancellation may have buyers extort feedback, but it's better for buyers to forgive sellers if it's for the latter's personal financial constraints and the fact that they have to pay selling fees when a transaction is completed. Let's face it, because having an order canceled whether or not if the buyer requested it, it completely inconveniences the seller and they have to start the process all over and scramble to get it sold once again and it will create a financial burden for the seller if they have personal expenses and other things on their end they have to pay for."
The problem may be that the type of buyers that might make a habit of cancellations are the same type that could care less about your above statement. They don't care about your inconvenience or expenses. They just want out of the deal whether it hurts you or not and if they know the system they will get out of it.
Option A, agree to the cancellation. Option B don't and take the hit....................
soh.maryl
·4 months agoI must be misinterpreting your message: it seems like you are saying that it's hard to take buyers seriously if they have less than 5 FB? How would ANY buyer get ANY feedback in that scenario, like if all sellers decided to follow your lead?
inhawaii
·4 months agoI fully understand.
Question:
Do you think it's smart for a seller not cancel an order at the request of the buyer before it was shipped?
I hope your new policy works out for you.
stainlessenginecovers
·4 months ago@inhawaii ooh ooh pick me pick me!!
The answer is........
HECK NO!!!
Unless, you love 'returns', 'unhappy customers' and possible 'negative feedback'.
Then, sure, why not?
and, of course, we ALL know- the OP's 'personal policy' is as solid as a melted ice cream cone.
roccotacodad54
·4 months agoI don't sell only buy but read these forums often. Several think that if the seller won't cancel with the new rules there will be alot more "Item Didn't Match Description" returns filed. I think they may be right.
It's not honest but I think they are probably correct. It may end up being worse to deny cancellations than to accept them.
It won't be long before there are tutorials on social media instructing bad buyers on how to make the seller pay for return shipping costing them more headaches than just cancelling......................
kibble-net
·4 months agoThis. If a buyer doesn't want to complete a transaction, I'd rather let them back out instead of risking a broken item being returned.
As someone who rarely auctions things, I'm very neutral on this new policy. But we will see how it goes.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoWould be willing to bet that the majority of eBay buyers are fully knowledgeable about how to make the seller pay for return shipping cost.
adamcartwright
·3 weeks agoSeems there are a bunch of non-sellers here.
Do you learn valuable info for your buying?
campanaelia
·4 months agoIt's only fair if sellers can't cancel too.
thrifty-fox-90
OP4 months agoI'm talking about whether or not if it's fair to buyers or whether or not if this policy undermines buyers' confidence. Plus we the sellers work very hard to expect our items to be sold and paid for, whether or not if the buyer is or isn't willing to pay. Not to mention there are buyers that we deal with whom are frustrated and try to blame us sellers for their personal spending habits.
campanaelia
·4 months agoAs a buyer only I couldn't care less about this new policy change since I can barely remember the last time I asked to cancel an auction, which was many years ago, and that was due to a discrepancy in the seller's description.
My point was it should work both ways if ebay wants to end cancellations...
Auctions on eBay work best when sellers follow through and ship regardless what the final price was.
Buyers also invest time watching, bidding, and paying, only to to get refunded in the end many times, and ebay has done nothing to discourage this.
If you want to know what undermines my confidence as a buyer, that's it.
Too many false reasons from sellers cancelling/not shipping.
Or buyers being ghosted and having to open an INR case, AMOF I just had one of those last week.
Ebay needs to also crack down on that end too.
And in addition, int'l buyers lose money on exchange rates when refunded due to no fault of their own.
Sadly most changes always seem to only favor sellers!
kibble-net
·4 months agoWhile you present what seems to be a fair point on the surface, I'd like to ask a hypothetical question.
Let's say I auction off a rare collectible glass plate, and you win the auction for $50. When I go to pack your order, the glass shatters unexpectedly.
In such a circumstance, how do you compel a seller to complete the sale when the item you bid on no longer exists?
gurlcat
·4 months ago@kibble-net In this hypothetical scenario of no cancellation option for the seller, I reckon I would ship a face mask or something. 🤣 I'm kind of surprised we don't hear of sellers doing that rather than canceling, like even when they were clearly just disappointed in the winning bid amount or whatever. Whether you cancel or get an INAD return, either way you lose the money, so the real difference is in defect risk. A single INAD isn't much of a ding, but cancelling for OOS is BIG. And same for cancelling with a false reason and the buyer knows it and reports it. So any time an unethical seller can't (or doesn't want to) ship the actual item won, shipping trash instead is the least risky choice.
campanaelia
·4 months agook, so rather than a total removal of cancellations for sellers, the buyer should be notified beforehand of the reason the seller is requesting to cancel and required to accept or decline...
With that said in the scenario you mentioned, ebay would require the buyer to accept the cancellation for "OOS/Damaged", similar to the way sellers have to accept cancellations requested from buyers now.
That would also be a good idea, to require the buyer to accept "buyer asked to cancel" and "problem with buyers address" cancellations from sellers.
If that happened I'm sure there will be a big decrease in the abuse.
Of course every different issue that could arise would have to be well thought out so there is a reasonable solution for both buyers and sellers.
I'm sure ebay's AI could fine tune everything to perfection. 🤣🤣🤣
gurlcat
·4 months ago@campanaelia I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but try as I might, I can't think of any flaws in your idea, assuming I understand it right.
So, if a seller HAD to cancel because they broke the item, couldn't find it, or even if they just wanted to lie and say they can't find it (or whatever), then they COULD do a 'commando' cancellation with no consent from the buyer, but this could only be with an OOS reason, which comes with a very hefty Performance ding.
But, if the seller wanted to cancel for Buyer requested or Problem with address, eBay would send a message to the buyer, asking them to verify or deny the seller's reason. Only if they verify would the cancellation be completed, and if they deny, then the seller would remain obliged to ship.
Do I have that right? That would certainly cut down on seller cancellations due to 'disappointing winning bid' and 'obsessive address Googling/mistrust of freight forwarders' etc.
campanaelia
·4 months ago@gurlcat
Yes, that's correct except for the part about:
So, if a seller HAD to cancel because they broke the item, couldn't find it, or even if they just wanted to lie and say they can't find it (or whatever), then they COULD do a 'commando' cancellation with no consent from the buyer, but this could only be with an OOS reason, which comes with a very hefty Performance ding.
That would be fine, but I have seen threads in the buyers forum, where buyers won auctions for great prices and still wanted the item even after the seller claimed the item was damaged but the seller cancelled anyway.
So with some items, even though damaged, a buyer may still want it, possibly for parts or repair, that may depend on the type of item it is or the price they won it for.
So maybe buyer acceptance for even those cancellation would be a good idea.
thrifty-fox-90
OP3 weeks ago · EditedThe WORST thing a seller can do is cancel a buyer's order when the buyer didn't ask for it, which in many cases an unsolicited cancellation will record a transaction defect on the seller's account and negatively impact their selling privileges.
I've seen a seller receive negative feedback from a buyer where the seller simply decided to cancel the order just because of a pricing mistake and worse falsely claim the buyer asked to cancel when they didn't. And that the seller's defense says the listing was supposed to be an auction listing, even though the buyer ordered it when it was in the fixed-price format, and then messaged that buyer after the cancellation over it being an auction listing accidentally listed under the fixed-price format and claiming it was supposed to be priced at nearly $400 when they accidentally listed it for $40. Either way, whatever a buyer purchases, they take the price very seriously and the seller shouldn't be canceling the buyer's order simply over a pricing mistake, because that will greatly affect their reputation as a seller in general since the buyer's expect to receive the item they worked hard and paid for, and since a transaction is a binding contract between both the buyer and the seller.