Seller Has to Pay Refund on Canceled Orders?!

[opticalessence]

I have had a few customers cancle orders in past couple of weeks. Usually immediately bafter they placed the order. 

Instead of simply canceling the transaction, eBay now forces the seller to provide the refund through available funds, and has to wait for the entire payment process to have the funds restored, if the seller doesn't have enough in available, they will pull it from the sellers payment info (debit card\bank account). 

Why are sellers punished if a user cancels an order? If it's a large order it might cause me to overdraft and then not have the funds to be able to ship other non-canceled orders. 

Is legal to do this to a seller? (Make them pay for the refund on a cancled order, and then hold money from them for days and days, sometimes a week).  

And now it feels like the daily payouts have a new reason to stretch out sending money to sellers so ebay can profit off holding on to money for as long as possible under technicalities. It takes a full day to go from "availible" to sent.... Friday through Monday is "weekend" and I'd there is a holiday that Monday, ebay now doesn't send the money until Thursday. 

I hope there are some changes made, but it just keeps getting worse and worse. 

[fa_8305]

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@opticalessence wrote:

Instead of simply canceling the transaction,

eBay now forces the seller to provide the refund through available funds,

and [the seller] has to wait for the entire payment process to have the funds restored

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1. That's because PayPal or Adyen has not yet cleared the buyer's money, to give to eBay. It's the same reason why your payouts take so long.

2. And eBay is not going to front the buyer a refund out of the eBay pocket.

3. So eBay refunds the buyer from your pocket, because you listed the item which the buyer cancelled.

[opticalessence]

Thank you for the information. 

It still doesn't make sense as to why the whole process isn't just held on the buyer's end or between ebay and the buyer. Because it's canceled I have no part in the order process anymore. It's not ethical for the seller to front money for a canceled transaction. If someone were to buy my most expensive items and return just them just in spite, they would cause me a lot of grief having to wait for funds to process through eBay's payment/payout system. 

In the future, the seller should be protected from having to front the $, the buyer can wait for the processing, which I'm sure is probably faster than eBay holds it for on the seller's end. 

[fa_8305]

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@opticalessence wrote:

In the future, the seller should be protected from having to front the $, the buyer can wait for the processing, which I'm sure is probably faster than eBay holds it for on the seller's end. 

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No, @opticalessence eBay has to protect itself first, unfortunately.

- The buyer can file a dispute at PayPal one second after payment. The money which eBay has not received will be put on hold.

- The buyer can immediately file a chargeback showing that the purchase was canceled, and get a provisional refund the same or the next day.

So to forestall those additional buyer options, eBay instantly refunds the buyer.

[mam98031]

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@opticalessence wrote:

Thank you for the information. 

It still doesn't make sense as to why the whole process isn't just held on the buyer's end or between ebay and the buyer. Because it's canceled I have no part in the order process anymore. It's not ethical for the seller to front money for a canceled transaction. If someone were to buy my most expensive items and return just them just in spite, they would cause me a lot of grief having to wait for funds to process through eBay's payment/payout system. 

In the future, the seller should be protected from having to front the $, the buyer can wait for the processing, which I'm sure is probably faster than eBay holds it for on the seller's end. 

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While the others may not, I agree with you.  I've used similar arguments with Ebay myself.  I think you have some great ideas.

Ebay knows that the buyer's payment will clear, they ping the payment source at the moment the buyer submits payment.  So they are guaranteed the money is good.  No risk whatsoever.

So I agree Ebay should take the cancellation refund from the money the buyer submitted that is sitting in Processing.  Ebay should step up and do that for their sellers.  For them it would only be for a day or maybe a little more.  For sellers because of Processing Times and Payout times, it is much longer.

It is Ebay that allows a buyer to request a cancellation on a purchase before the funds that buyer paid are cleared and in a seller's Available funds.  So either IMHO Ebay should step up and front the money for the refund to the buyer instead of making the seller do it, OR allow the seller, without a penalty of ANY kind, not process the refund on a cancellation until AFTER the buyer's payment moves from Processing to Available.

[lestatsbggstfan77]

I agree with you that this is one gigantic crock of poo!  I blatantly stated in my listing that I don’t send to shipping warehouses because I had too many packages returned back to me as “undeliverable.”  So a buyer didn’t read my  recent listing and ordered anyway so I canceled their order within a few hours of it being placed. Instead of eBay just zeroing everything out upon cancellation they took the refund money out of my next completely different transaction!!!!! So I totally understand your frustration.  So now I’ve got four orders I have to cough up the postage on from my own money.  Most orders have already been received by the customer and feedback has been left before I’ve even been paid for the items.  If anyone can suggest a different site to sell toys on, I’m all ears!!!! 
 
I’m in the same boat as you as far as my bank account being overdrawn.   It’s ludicrous!!! Sorry you’re going through it too. 

[ebooksdiva]

I don't see where you think sellers are being punished. 

It isn't ebay's fault you didn't have money to cover things like this in your account.

You were paid by the buyer.. so what makes you think that you don't send the refund? Yes it is legal...

Guess your not doing your homework and reading up on refunds returns and the like 

Refunding buyers | eBay

[donsdetour]

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@opticalessence wrote:

I have had a few customers cancle orders in past couple of weeks. Usually immediately bafter they placed the order. 

Instead of simply canceling the transaction, eBay now forces the seller to provide the refund through available funds, and has to wait for the entire payment process to have the funds restored, if the seller doesn't have enough in available, they will pull it from the sellers payment info (debit card\bank account). 

Why are sellers punished if a user cancels an order? If it's a large order it might cause me to overdraft and then not have the funds to be able to ship other non-canceled orders. 

Is legal to do this to a seller? (Make them pay for the refund on a cancled order, and then hold money from them for days and days, sometimes a week).  

And now it feels like the daily payouts have a new reason to stretch out sending money to sellers so ebay can profit off holding on to money for as long as possible under technicalities. It takes a full day to go from "availible" to sent.... Friday through Monday is "weekend" and I'd there is a holiday that Monday, ebay now doesn't send the money until Thursday. 

I hope there are some changes made, but it just keeps getting worse and worse. 

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Yes this is a problem: and I do not see it changing any time soon.

[fab_finds4u]

OMGosh,,,when you refund you need .30 more than the buyer paid. Your bank account shouldn't be overdrawn unless you flat out had no money in the bank if that was your method for seller fees.

When you offer your buyer a refund, the amount will be paid from the total of your Available, Processing, and On Hold funds. If you don't have enough funds to cover the .30, the amount will be paid from your linked checking account or an on-file payment method.

Because eBay keeps the .30 transaction fee you need  to attach a debit card, credit card, or checking account for seller fees. eBay should tell you what payment method to attach. When you attach a credit card for seller fees you'll always be covered.

[kh-cathy]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.