Seller Carelessness In Cancelling Orders

[eocostello]

Incredibly, twice in one day I had two different sellers have to cancel purchases of books, because, as they sheepishly informed me, they couldn't find the book, because they'd posted the listing long ago.  This, to my mind, should incur a penalty to the seller, even if (as was the case both times) a refund was given.  Sellers can and should have a responsibility to ensure that they have the items they're selling, and merely allowing them to cancel an order because it's out of stock, without some kind of penalty, is a bit much.  Since I got the refunds, I'm wary of giving negative feedback (something I've never done in the 20+ years I've been on eBay), but I have left critiques on the feedback to indicate what happened.

[kensgiftshop]

If they use out of stock as the reason to cancel the order, they do get a defect.

Ebay does track those and if they get very many, Ebay will deal with them.

[lakefor94 · Accepted solution]

If the reason they chose for the cancellation was Out Of Stock, they do obtain a nasty defect on their Seller account. Several of those and they land as Below Standard and garner an extra 6% additional seller fee.

Too many of those defects and they get the boot.

[4pawsup*]

I applaud you for your choice not to leave negative feedback. I agree with you that a seller has a responsibility to know what inventory they have in stock. That is bad luck to have two sellers in one day do that. I hope you find the book that you were trying to buy.