Cancelled an order from a buyer, but had to refund their shipping out of pocket?

[cynicalpink]

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I'm not getting the right results when trying to search.

A buyer purchased an item from me that I no longer have in stock (unfortunately, I sold it on another platform ages ago and forgot to take down the listing). I cancelled the order immediately, and in doing so, ebay made me refund the shipping cost using my credit card.

I hadn't purchased a label yet, so I'm confused as to why I had to pay for it. By cancelling the order, wouldn't the buyer's funds be returned in full? 

[disneyshopper · Accepted solution]

When you cancel an order, the refund comes out of your available funds.  If there are not enough available, then ebay will charge the credit card/method you have specified for paying your ebay fees.  When the buyer's payment clears, ebay then reimburses you.  For this reason, I changed my payouts from daily, to twice a month, so I would have available funds for any refunds so my credit card would not be charged.

[cynicalpink]

Thank you very much! I only use ebay to sell odds and ends on occasion, but that’s very helpful in case I ever ramp up sales. In the meanwhile, I appreciate the explanation of the refund process. 

[mr_lincoln]

Hi @cynicalpink 

In addition to what @disneyshopper provided and that you are an occasional Seller (low activity) your funds could be put on Hold (read about that here: Payments on hold | eBay ) for 21 to 30 days (if the sale is over $ 1,000 for the latter).  

The other thing that happens is when you sell something eBay takes their Fees right so if that was the ONLY sale you had then you do not have enough Available or Possessing funds to cover an immediate refund.

 The bottom-line, regardless of what happens, if your eBay funds are deficient eBay charges your cc.