Seller cancellation after successful win. Ebay -> Zero response

[oau]

I've experienced a second instance of winning an auction, only to find the seller has cancelled it due to "item no longer available-broken".   It was an obvious scam. When I inquired, the answers I got from the seller were just nonsense.... she didn't like the price the item sold at so she just cancelled it.

I reported this to EBAY and of course got zero response of any type.

This seems like a huge loophole that is being exploited more and more by shady sellers.   Is EBAY doing anything about it?    Are we all free to cancel auctions that are completed and for which we're not happy with the final selling price?

[mudshark61369]

@oau,

"I've experienced a second instance of winning an auction, only to find the seller has cancelled it due to "item no longer available-broken". 

Usually when this happens it is because the seller is new to selling on ebay. They may have a fair number of feedback and a 100% rating but all for buying not selling. Check their feedback profile. Something you should have done before bidding on the auction.

   New sellers often take ebay's poor advice to start auctions at a low price "To encourage bidding", which usually does not work out well for them. They also do not know that ebay will place a 21-30 day hold on their first few payments. On their account the payment status shows Pending, so they do not ship and often make excuses or ignore messages.

"This seems like a huge loophole that is being exploited more and more by shady sellers. Is EBAY doing anything about it?"

When the seller cancelled the transaction they got a defect on their account, and they will be charged the final value fees for the transaction. If the seller is just starting out it doesn't take many defects for them to be banned. When you report a seller or buyer for that matter, ebay will not disclose what if any action they take against them.

[oau]

Seller was NOT a new seller and has been selling on Ebay for years. 

She claimed she dropped the product during packing and damaged it. I asked for photo and mentioned that there was a good chance I'd take it anyway. She refused to send a photo and mentioned "the side came off".

There is not a "side" in the product as I have one.

Fortunately most people on Ebay are honest. When you run into the rare cheat,  in my experience, the Ebay "help" process is completely useless.

Maybe others have had better results.

[ebooksdiva]

When the seller cancelled the transaction citing damaged it is treated as out of stock. When that happens the seller is given a defect against their selling account. Doing that often the seller will get selling restrictions or suspensions depending on how often those cancellations occur.

Reporting the seller is the right thing to do, but understand due to eBay's privacy policies they are not going to tell you what actions, if any, they take on the seller.

[house*of*paws]

Hi @oau 

eBay has no legal way to force a seller to ship an item that was won and paid for.  Nor can it force a buyer to pay for an item that they’ve won.

Most buyers and sellers play by the rules.  eBay can only penalize those that don’t.  Your seller was penalized.

I’m very sorry this happened.

[mudshark61369]

@oau,

"Seller was NOT a new seller and has been selling on Ebay for years".

If they have a high number of selling feedback and good percentage as a seller, maybe they did break the item when packaging it. It is even possible they do not list items as auctions very often.

"Fortunately most people on Ebay are honest. When you run into the rare cheat, in my experience, the Ebay "help" process is completely useless".

What do you expect ebay to do,  Ban the seller over one bad transaction? You have been an ebay member for a long time and sell on the site yourself.  So you should know how ebay works by now. 

[oau]

What do I expect Ebay to do?

How about:

1) Answering my reported dispute. 

"We received your dispute and are acting on it"   or  "you haven't provided enough details"  or....  anything....

The present policy of not responding in any way could indicate that they contacted the seller.  It could indicate they put my complaint in the trash. It could indicate they never read it.    How would I know?

2) Allow feedback on such a transaction.

Yes, I've been on Ebay a long time.  I buy and sell.  I do know how Ebay works.    Increasingly,  it sucks.

[mudshark61369]

@oau,

1) Answering my reported dispute.

First, you did not file a dispute, you reported the seller. As I and others have written ebay does not give any info out about what actions they take, and never have.

"2) Allow feedback on such a transaction".

I do agree with that. Especially,  if they find a seller did use an invalid reason for a cancellation, like relisting an item with a higher price. but when a seller cancels and a refund is automatically instituted, eBay thinks that giving them a defect and losing the selling fees, solves the issue. 

[youn2240]

If I set the policy I would ban sellers that do this more than once in a year. it's the sort of thing that gives eBay a bad name and frustrates the customers. I do expect going into the future this will become a reality because it's an enormous risk to the brand that can be easily prevented. 

[*madison]

This happens on a daily basis, best not to let it bother you and move on. Seller gets a defect, and I think you can leave neg feedback.

[oau]

Agree about moving on.

Sadly, there's no way to add feedback. Even though the auction is completed and I won, when the sale is cancelled, it's as if it never happened....    Which is a mistake that dishonest sellers exploit (2nd time for me)

[oau]

Sure, it's far easier for Ebay  to provide zero communication to the parties involved and move on.

[soh.maryl]

If the seller gave the true reason for the cancellation like "no longer available" the seller got a ding.

If the seller gave the reason as "buyer requested" (a lie) he avoided the ding.  

[janet9988]

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@mudshark61369 wrote:

@oau,

"I've experienced a second instance of winning an auction, only to find the seller has cancelled it due to "item no longer available-broken". 

Usually when this happens it is because the seller is new to selling on ebay. They may have a fair number of feedback and a 100% rating but all for buying not selling. Check their feedback profile. Something you should have done before bidding on the auction.

   New sellers often take ebay's poor advice to start auctions at a low price "To encourage bidding", which usually does not work out well for them. They also do not know that ebay will place a 21-30 day hold on their first few payments. On their account the payment status shows Pending, so they do not ship and often make excuses or ignore messages.

"This seems like a huge loophole that is being exploited more and more by shady sellers. Is EBAY doing anything about it?"

When the seller cancelled the transaction they got a defect on their account, and they will be charged the final value fees for the transaction. If the seller is just starting out it doesn't take many defects for them to be banned. When you report a seller or buyer for that matter, ebay will not disclose what if any action they take against them.

---

NOT true.  The seller will be refunded the final value fees.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/fee-credits?id=4128

[buyselljack2016]

If you feel that the seller needs more than a "defect" on their account, then leave calm factual feedback. You just have to find the spot to do it😊

It can be done. I have received feedback on the last 2 OOS cancellations that I did. One not that long ago.

ETA: if you buy and sell on the same account.....................  be careful about leaving honest feedback. Sometimes it will bite back.