Seller cancelled order (reason: out of stock), can’t be cancelled due to issue with refund

[flishseller]

A few days ago, I was the only bidder on an auction and I won it. I paid a day later, and some time after, the seller initiated cancellation for the item, with reasoning being “damaged or out of stock”.

The order was marked as “cancel pending” for a few days, and said an update regarding my refund would be provided in a few days.

The day has come, and I received an email stating the order couldn’t be cancelled because there was an issue with the refund. “If I don’t receive the item by the estimated delivery date, report that it hasn’t arrived. If it does arrive, request a refund.”

The problem is that the seller never shipped the item, they cancelled the order after I paid and that was it. The order is marked as cancelled on eBay and there’s no estimated delivery date, and I assume the item wasn’t shipped because it was never labeled as such throughout the whole process.

What do I do? Did the seller just get my money for nothing? It was an expensive item and I’d like the money back.

Edit: on mobile, the order status is labeled as “Order Cancelled No Refund”, **bleep**???

[laperlalady]

Did you pay via PayPal?

[flishseller]

I did not, I paid through a debit card/checking account

[flishseller]

Update, there is now a page that tells me "The estimated delivery date for this item is Aug 15. If you haven't received your item by then, go back to the item you purchased and open a request."

The seller is pretty blatantly not intending on sending me the item. I wish I could just figure out a way to get a refund now without having to wait. There are all kinds of inconsistencies between different pages and it feels like I'm being played.

[mudshark61369]

@flishseller,

Did you check the seller's feedback profile page before buying? If you did not, do that now. You will probably find that the seller has no feedback As a Seller, or has not received any in over a year. They may have a fair number of feedback and even a 100% rating but all for buying so far or in the last year. That is just one reason why you should check the feedback profile of each seller you intend to buy from, no matter what their feedback percentage is.

While the item you bid on may have been expensive you probably won it for a good price being the only bidder. That is probably the real reason  why the seller cancelled.  If the seller is a new or returning one, they may not know that ebay placed a 21 day hold on their first few payments, and they did not refund, because the status of your payment on their account shows Pending.  So they may think the payment has not cleared and there is no money to refund.

If you find that the seller is new/returning, message them by opening the listing in your purchase history, in the message tell them if they have not refunded because their payment shows Pending, to do a Google search for "Payments on hold - ebay".  If they do that they will get the info needed to issue the refund.

"I wish I could just figure out a way to get a refund now without having to wait. There are all kinds of inconsistencies between different pages and it feels like I'm being played".

You are not being played, the cancellation, caused the issue.  Since you checked the order on the app, try logging in the classic way with your username and password.  Then open your purchase history and click on the See order details button. That should tell you the last estimated delivery date from the day you paid for the item.  If it was before the 15th, you may be able to file an Item Not Received (INR) dispute on the day after that date, by using the More Actions button. Otherwise you may have to wait until the 15th to file the INR dispute.

[flishseller]

I did check the feedback before buying, admittedly there wasn’t much there but there were a few positive reviews from buyers who bought similar products.

I wouldn’t mind waiting for the 15th to come by, as long as there isn’t some type of deadline for how long I have to get my money back (item was paid for on the 5th). I would just really hate to lose the money for no reason.

I assume based on your answer that it should be okay to wait until the 15th and I can still get my refund after submitting the INR request? I was going to contact an eBay agent about the issue but if you think it’ll be okay to wait then I won’t bother. Thanks for the answer!

[janet9988]

I don't blame you for feeling like you have been played. Buyers should not have to jump through any hoops to get a refund when the seller  is the one who canceled.

[flishseller]

Ended up contacting an eBay agent and they were able to open a not received request early on my behalf. Hopefully seller will decide to cooperate now, but who knows.