About 5 weeks ago I posted on the Selling Board about the Buyer Cancellation page. https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Cancelling-an-Order-question/m-p/28814703
Nothing has happened yet, but it needs to be fixed.
From that page:
"If it's been less than an hour since your purchase, and the seller hasn't sent the item yet, you can cancel your order yourself. Otherwise, you'll need to contact the seller and ask them to cancel it for you.
Depending on how long it's been since you made your purchase, either by selecting Buy It Now or by winning an auction, and whether the seller has dispatched it, you may be able to cancel your order. If you can't cancel it yourself, you can ask the seller to cancel it for you.
Top Takeaway
If you change your mind within an hour of your purchase, and the seller hasn't dispatched your item yet, you can cancel the order. If it's been longer than that, or the seller has already sent the item, you'll need to contact the seller."
The way it is currently written states that they, the Buyer, can effectuate a cancellation on their own within the first hour. It is 100% wrong. It's missing a very key word - cancellation "request." It needs to be clear to buyers that it's only a request and that a seller may not be able to accomodate them.
Repeatedly and recently there are posts on the board from buyers who are angered stating that they cancelled and the seller sent the package anyway. Also, there are posts from sellers who are suffering because of this inaccurate wording as well. The most recent is a seller who is wearing a negative now because they had the shipment ready within 15 minutes and dropped it on their way out to work. https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/I-got-a-Neg-for-doing-the-right-thing/td-p/28925467
Now granted the negative doesn't figure into eBay's metrics for seller standings, but it could play into the decision of future buyers whether to purchase from them or not - which could impact a sellers' revenue.
And then there's this from that page:
"What to do if the seller has already shipped your order
If the seller has already shipped your order or if they don't accept your cancellation request, you'll need to wait until you receive the item and then start a return."
Really? Tell a buyer to open a return if they don't get their cancellation? I guess it's fine if a seller accepts returns, but what if they don't? What kind of return can the buyer open?
This will ultimately cost the seller financially on several different levels. It could result in a [false] SNAD which puts the seller out shipping both ways. It could result in a normal return as well, but that could also mean a loss of original shipping, return shipping and/or shipping both ways (depending on the seller's return policy)
However, very importantly, SNAD returns count against a seller, and if this grossly inaccurate cancellation information page puts the seller into a higher return tier than their peers, they will suffer financial damages when eBay imposes a higher FVF.
In summation, there are 3 ways that this causes financial problems for the sellers.
1) Negative feedback which could impact sales to future buyers
2) Returns - loss of initial shipping and/or return shipping
3) Returns - potentially resulting in higher FVFs
eBay has a financial responsibility to its sellers to remedy this. It is causing sellers financial harm. They also have a responsibility to the buyers to make this clear as to not create a bad buying experience. Those buyers may never return and may also tell their friends.
Does posting on this Weekly Chat with eBay Staff forum constitute putting eBay on notice? If not, where should I post? Please realize I'm not trying to instigate. Instead I'm trying to remedy a problem for buyers, sellers, and eBay themselves.
- Suzanne -
Comics-scifi_collectibles Is a Volunteer Community Mentor.
