Buyer left negative feedback saying I "DId not sell the item" because I cancelled his order

[tetractys_industries]

He attempted to order internationally, and I do not ship outside of the US, so I cancelled his order prior to any payment being received.  I had one potential buyer prior to this guy who wanted me to ship to the UK and I added an option to ship to the UK, but he did not wind up purchasing it, so I removed the option and decided that I wouldn't ship internationally at all.  Somehow I had a few other international people - none in the UK - attempt to order despite there not being any option on the listing and I cancelled all of their orders.  I finally had to opt out of the global shipping program and change my seller settings to only accept orders from the US to get it to stop.  There was no international option on the listing itself when this person ordered.  Weeks later (today) this person leaves negative feedback saying that I "Did not sell the item".  I don't think that's a legitimate reason to leave negative feedback.. his order was cancelled immediately,  and he never paid so there was no refund to give.  I literally cancelled it as soon as the order was placed.  I already reported the buyer, messaged the buyer explaining why I'm requesting feedback revision, requested feedback revision, and replied to his feedback stating that it was cancelled prior to payment due to international shipping.  Will ebay remove the feedback if he doesn't change it?

[the_fancy_fox]

What did you use to cancel the transaction? Out of stock? Problem with the buyers address? Which?

[mam98031 · Accepted solution]

I'm sorry this happened to you.

Something that you should be aware of.   There are site preferences for buyer's that you can set and you should go and make sure you have them set up as you'd like them to be applied.  One of those blocks is to block international buyers that do not have address that you ship to.  

An international buyer with an international ship to address would then not be able purchase your items because you only ship to the USA.  So these sales you are canceling are may be good sales you are losing out on.  You can't tell what a buyer's ship to address is when they purchase.  You can only see their primary location.

So go to your Site Preferences.  The to Buyer's Requirements and set your setting as you'd like to have them.  If you run into any questions, just ask.

[pburn]

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@tetractys_industries wrote:

He attempted to order internationally, and I do not ship outside of the US, so I cancelled his order prior to any payment being received.  I had one potential buyer prior to this guy who wanted me to ship to the UK and I added an option to ship to the UK, but he did not wind up purchasing it, so I removed the option and decided that I wouldn't ship internationally at all.  Somehow I had a few other international people - none in the UK - attempt to order despite there not being any option on the listing and I cancelled all of their orders.  I finally had to opt out of the global shipping program and change my seller settings to only accept orders from the US to get it to stop.  There was no international option on the listing itself when this person ordered.  Weeks later (today) this person leaves negative feedback saying that I "Did not sell the item".  I don't think that's a legitimate reason to leave negative feedback.. his order was cancelled immediately,  and he never paid so there was no refund to give.  I literally cancelled it as soon as the order was placed.  I already reported the buyer, messaged the buyer explaining why I'm requesting feedback revision, requested feedback revision, and replied to his feedback stating that it was cancelled prior to payment due to international shipping.  Will ebay remove the feedback if he doesn't change it?

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A buyer cannot demand something that is not offered or mentioned in the item listing. If you did not offer international shipping at the time this person bought the item, they cannot expect it. In theory, eBay should be willing to remove the feedback.

That being said, the buyer's negative feedback comment is very vague and does not directly refer to the circumstances, so, hopefully, you'll be able to explain and justify it to a customer service representative. If not, again, the feedback is very vague and your response was excellent. As a buyer, I would not be the least bit wary of buying from you.

[kensgiftshop]

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@tetractys_industries 

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When the buyer is in another country, they can give a US shipping address when they pay.

A lot of them use freight forwarders when they buy from the US.

[mam98031]

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@pburn wrote:

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@tetractys_industries wrote:

He attempted to order internationally, and I do not ship outside of the US, so I cancelled his order prior to any payment being received.  I had one potential buyer prior to this guy who wanted me to ship to the UK and I added an option to ship to the UK, but he did not wind up purchasing it, so I removed the option and decided that I wouldn't ship internationally at all.  Somehow I had a few other international people - none in the UK - attempt to order despite there not being any option on the listing and I cancelled all of their orders.  I finally had to opt out of the global shipping program and change my seller settings to only accept orders from the US to get it to stop.  There was no international option on the listing itself when this person ordered.  Weeks later (today) this person leaves negative feedback saying that I "Did not sell the item".  I don't think that's a legitimate reason to leave negative feedback.. his order was cancelled immediately,  and he never paid so there was no refund to give.  I literally cancelled it as soon as the order was placed.  I already reported the buyer, messaged the buyer explaining why I'm requesting feedback revision, requested feedback revision, and replied to his feedback stating that it was cancelled prior to payment due to international shipping.  Will ebay remove the feedback if he doesn't change it?

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A buyer cannot demand something that is not offered or mentioned in the item listing. If you did not offer international shipping at the time this person bought the item, they cannot expect it. In theory, eBay should be willing to remove the feedback.

That being said, the buyer's negative feedback comment is very vague and does not directly refer to the circumstances, so, hopefully, you'll be able to explain and justify it to a customer service representative. If not, again, the feedback is very vague and your response was excellent. As a buyer, I would not be the least bit wary of buying from you.

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Except the OP doesn't know that it was going to ship to an international address.  They cancelled the order before knowing the ship to address.  The OP assumed they had a problem.

[pburn]

mam, I overlooked that the "buyer" had not actually paid for the item. Thanks for pointing that out!

[mam98031]

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@pburn wrote:
mam, I overlooked that the "buyer" had not actually paid for the item. Thanks for pointing that out!

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No problem.  I've been known to miss things myself.  

[luckythewinner]

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@tetractys_industries wrote:

He attempted to order internationally, and I do not ship outside of the US, so I cancelled his order prior to any payment being received.  

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You cannot block buyers based on where they are located, only by where they want the item shipped. 

And since you did not receive payment, so you have no idea whether the buyer wanted it shipped internationally or domestically.

I am located in the USA, but I also have shipping addresses in the UK, Germany, Australia and Japan. 

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

Most likely not, because you did unilaterally cancel his order based on your perceptions.

I think you really need to read up on how GSP works. An international buyer CAN buy your items and then after they pay you ship it to the GSP Hub who then takes over the shipping to your customer. It's a DOMESTIC shipping transaction as far as you, the seller, is concerned.

You may have also done some damage to your account and I'd check your dashboard for defects if I were you.

[this*old*attic]

I’m confused. Why were you cancelling any bids, much less a completed sale?

The Global Shipping Program lets you sell internationally by shipping to a handler in the US. Buyer protections even end at that point.

[mam98031]

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@this*old*attic wrote:

I’m confused. Why were you cancelling any bids, much less a completed sale?

The Global Shipping Program lets you sell internationally by shipping to a handler in the US. Buyer protections even end at that point.

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The OP joined GSP after the fact.  Not before cancelling.

[this*old*attic]

I don’t think so, go back and read. 

It it sounds like OP allowed then took away an allowance to ship to Britain, had a few more international buyers that he canceled, and only then “finally” opted out of GSP.

 I think he/she is confused, and the negative might stay because it’s legit. Hard to day

[mam98031]

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@this*old*attic wrote:

I don’t think so, go back and read. 

It it sounds like OP allowed then took away an allowance to ship to Britain, had a few more international buyers that he canceled, and only then “finally” opted out of GSP.

 I think he/she is confused, and the negative might stay because it’s legit. Hard to day

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I think you might be right.  It appears, if I'm following what they said correctly that they said they would ship to the US and UK only.  And changes that after they had others from other countries purchase.

[tetractys_industries]

I called ebay after I made this post and they removed the negative feedback for me.