Multiple sellers from China offering ITEMS for sale, but asking buyer to cancel right after purchase

[mstoetz1]

In the last week I've had three Sellers all selling identical items (two different kinds of small metal project box), all from Shanghai.

I place the first order and the next day the seller sent me the message:

Sorry to bother you.
We have noticed that there are some quality issues with this item before we ship the item.
We need to contact the supplier to exchange the items.
Would you mind us to help you to cancel the order first?
We will inform you to make a new order after we have the new items.

I responded that I wanted the item, therefore I won't cancel the order... I still needed it. The seller then cancelled the item stating that "The buyer (me) wanted to cancel" which of course was **bleep**.

I found the same item from what I thought was another seller, and purchased it.

The next day I get the identically worded message from the seller:

Sorry to bother you.
We have noticed that there are some quality issues with this item before we ship the item.
We need to contact the supplier to exchange the items.
Would you mind us to help you to cancel the order first?
We will inform you to make a new order after we have the new items.

I responded with no, I won't cancel, since I want the order to go through and I still need it.

Just like the first purchase the seller then cancelled the item stating that "The buyer wanted to cancel".. which again was **bleep**.

I found another seller  selling similar project boxes, and ordered it.

Again the next day I get the identically worded message from the seller asking ME to cancel the order:

Sorry to bother you.
We have noticed that there are some quality issues with this item before we ship the item.
We need to contact the supplier to exchange the items.
Would you mind us to help you to cancel the order first?
We will inform you to make a new order after we have the new items.

Now, I've been on Ebay for 25 years and understand things happen. What I find wrong is that this appears to be the same seller using different usernames all with exactly and identically scripted messages they send to buyers after the purchase of items that are "not available for sale".

Sellers should not be knowingly be posting items for sale when the order cannot be fulfilled. ALL these items still show up for sale from all the above sellers even after they cancel my order.

Also the buyers are lying each time they cancel the order stating that I wanted the order cancelled which is not true.

Also, there also appears to be multiple sellers using different usernames that seem to be the same seller, also misleading buyers into thinking they are dealing with the same seller.

I did a complaint to EBAY about these sellers, and wanted to leave feedback to warn others, but, since the orders were cancelled, I can't leave any feedback which I think is unfortunate, since they will continue to waste the time of buyers with items that appear to be available that are not.

[ms.rodriguez*]

Agree to the cancellation.  It's obvious that the sellers sold out.  What is more obvious is that you were most likely going to get a bad item, poorly made or counterfeit. If it was an electronics, it would burn out quickly or destroy your item being charged.   Agree to the cancellation and buy only from sellers in the USA.   If the item you wanted was dirt cheap, trust me, it is a crappy item.   If clothing, the size will be for a smaller person in China.  A size Large is NOT a size Large here.   Stop buying from China. Did you know that if you want to return the item, many sellers in China want you to return the item back to China?  Sellers outside of the USA cannot issue a return shipping label.

[ittybitnot]

Would you mind us to help you to cancel the order first?

@mstoetz1 

They want you to cancel so they avoid an "out of stock" defect on the account.  It is not necessary for you to 'file' a formal request to cancel.  If they have on record any mention from you that you would rather not wait for the item to back in stock and would rather have a refund, that should suffice for the seller to say that you requested the cancellation. 

Tacky, but typical of these sellers.  

[aph519]

I've recently had the same issue three time for the same item from different sellers, all with similar responses.  One claimed it had been returned by the courier company, another that the courier had lost the parcel. Tracking showed none had been actually sent out in the first place. They all then claimed I'd cancelled the order. Just lying, but I was able to leave 1* honest feedback. I'm beginning to wonder if it's actually a profitable scam where the money is in their account for a short while earning interest before being refunded. It may not be much on an individual sale, but it may add up if they are doing this across the board in a range of fake sellers.

[aph519]

I've now gone to only buying from China if absolutely no option, even if they say it is from the UK. Sadly, this practice is undermining genuine Chinese companies, but I've never had any issues with a genuine UK based company.