Any other sellers seeing a SPIKE in Cancellation Requests IMMEDIATELY AFTER a Purchase is made?

[z240dude]

 So like the title above says, is anyone else seeing a SPIKE in Cancellation Requests IMMEDIATELY AFTER a Purchase is made?  I've seen a MASSIVE spike in this kind of activity over the last 2 months. This is very aggrevating as most long term sellers here know that once this hapens , even if you had 10 watchers before on the item, when you relist it NO ONE seems to trust you and will not make a purchase unless you drastically slice the price.  This is just one more sad example of bad buyer activity that just makes we want to say #@%#   %^&   %#&#^   $%^#

But back to my main question, are any other sellers noticing a drastic rise in this type of "buyer" behavior?

[futuretomorrow]

@z240dude

Yes. At least once/twice a week now and that's at a minimum. It happens much more frequently to me but only on shoelaces. At first I didn't think much of it but then as the frequency of cancellations became a regular affair I started to wonder what was going on but never called eBay about it because they either wouldn't know, claim not to know or tell me something like "it's a buyers right to cancel before the item is shipped".

As someone else has mentioned, I think what happens is they buy the item and then see that it was available for a few cents or a $1 or so less than mine and decide to cancel and buy elsewhere. As much as shoelaces can be a regular seller it's less frequent these days to have people buy 2-3 pairs in one purchase and I also get more people sending emails saying "if I purchase more than 1 can I get a discount?" or "long time customer here, is there no discount for me?"

Yet we're told unemployment is at an all time low, the economy is great and there's no need to worry. My eBay sales and buyer behavior compared to when people were actually spending money just 2-3 years ago suggests otherwise.

[lightlily_arts]

I had one recently request to cancel after I had already shipped it out.  And then she hit me with a SNAD when she received it.  This was another seller here on eBay who of course is now on my list like that really does any good now.  But  I lost the shipping money both ways and she stole a part out of it that she wanted.

[z240dude]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I feared this was becoming a widespread problem and it looks as though sadly this is indeed the case.

[z240dude]

Man that is just terrible. And then to add insult to injury, you cannot even leave neg feedback or even warn us here with the buyer's name. Those are the type of buyers that are KILLING ebay. It isn't Amazon poaching sellers that may eventually kill ebay, it is the stealing and  lying buyers that have been emboldened to abuse sellers by ebay's own implementation of unfair rules. I know I have not sold anything expensive here in years since I was ripped off in 2015 three times by buyers who were aided and abetted by ebay's lack of DUE PROCESS for sellers.

[z240dude]

Thank you for sharing your story..Your's even worse than mine. The gall of someone to make THEIR offer and then want to cancel it. I figurw it is a competitor messing with you.  And I agree 90% of my problem buyers doing this have 0-10 feedback.

[z240dude]

Yup that is JACKED! We pay thousands in fees a year only to have ebay throw up a competitor's price and product up ON OUR OWN ADS! Then the CEO accuses Amazon of trying poach ebay sellers....the irony.......oh the irony.....

[castlemagicmemories]

Users that have been on Ebay for years are less likely to indulge in this behavior.  They started long ago and carefully learned the policies and rules.  Some may just realize that it is a waste of time to buy and then cancel, and that since the bid is (supposed to be) binding, they have broken their word.

But now, many don't learn the rules of the site, they just buy, and they want to cancel just as quickly.  I understand that this is upsetting and wrecks havoc on the seller who is subjected to this.  

Unfortunately, though, I believe that this, along with bid retractions and the like, are tolerated because Ebay has competition and they want to keep and increase their buyer base.  Ebay has been running commercials lately, and likely they are gaining new buyers, which would account for the rise in cancellations, especially as previous posters have stated that it is very low or no feedback buyers that are cancelling.

[annasunicorns]

Ebay clearly has thier price drop notices on a differnt email track from buying records, I get drop price on same item notices long after buying the thing. Especially when sellers have free returns, its tempting. I wont put anyone through all that return nonesense to save $5 but its unsettling to know ebay tells my buyers the same thing.

[kathieskorner]

I think I have had one cancellation request in the past 5 years - so no spike that I have seen. 

[z240dude]

That is awesome. I wonder if the fact you keep 99% of your items below $20 is the reason why you have had no cancellations. I have a number of items over $70 and those are the ones that seem to get canceled

[kathieskorner]

I stopped selling most high ticket items during the recession, and now the total amount I have invested in inventory over four accounts is less than $600.    The marketplace has changed,  as has what I sell on ebay. 

[z240dude]

I agree. I used to sell items up to $400 but now I try to keep 95%  under $100 so that when I get ripped off, as we all know happens, the pain won't be as great.  Of course I have to work much harder now to sell more items to make the same amount of money though. That is what is killing ebay's numbers in my opinion is the fear of selling anything of real value here knowing that it can be stolen with ease either through ebay not backing you up, paypal not backing you up or the credit card companies not backing you up. Buyers have 3 avenues to steal from sellers and if they are determined one of these organizations will help the buyer do just that.

[nowthatsjustducky]

Currently no.  I have to have actual sales before there can be a spike in cancel requests.

[z240dude]

Yeah I guess that is an even worse position. I have 0 sales today. First time that has happened in years. Odd that after I start posting opinions on this forum acouple days ago my sales nosedive and then go  to 0.........interesting

[z240dude]

Even more interesting is that right after I posted the remark above I got my first sale for the day.....LOL