Canceled purchase "due to out of stock / damaged item."

[zirkni]

I mistakenly listed an item for $0.99. When my real target price was $6.99. Within an hour a buyer purchased the low price listing. I immediately canceled the sale with reason being "Item is out of stock" and refunded the buyer. Now I am thinking will this cause a seller defect? I directed the buyer to my correctly priced listing after canceling and refunding him. It would be ridiculous for me to get a ding on my account over a $0.99, immediately reversed, transaction....

[kattinsanity]

Sellers do have the option to limit buyers on the number of purchases during a time limit.  I believe my limit is 4 items during a certain period of time.  It prevents a buyer from buying a whole bunch of stuff and bombing the seller with a whole bunch of negative feedback.

[luckythewinner]

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@zirkni wrote:

I mistakenly listed an item for $0.99. When my real target price was $6.99. Within an hour a buyer purchased the low price listing. I immediately canceled the sale with reason being "Item is out of stock" and refunded the buyer. Now I am thinking will this cause a seller defect? I directed the buyer to my correctly priced listing after canceling and refunding him. It would be ridiculous for me to get a ding on my account over a $0.99, immediately reversed, transaction....

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It is not ridiculous that you would received a defect for cancelling a sale for being out of stock. It was entirely deserved.

What is ridiculous is that you (a) were unwilling to complete the transaction and take the $6 loss; (b) were willing to lie to eBay about the reason for the cancellation; and (c) had the nerve to try to extort another $6 out of your buyer. Oh, and were not ashamed to admit all of this publicly on a message board.

[kattinsanity]

Just recently I messed up on the shipping cost to ship an item~~a coffee cup.  After shipping and fees I made about $1.50 on the item.  I never once thought about not shipping it~~in fact, it didn't bother me at all.  You win some and you lose some.  It was my fault and no amount of $$ is worth getting a defect for.

[zirkni]

You think is reasonable to ding an account with multiple tens of thousdands of dollars of annual revenue over a $0.99 transaction that was imediately refunded? I don't. And no, the buyer was not harmed. He was refunded. He can buy the item any time he wants for the correct price. If you go to a real world store and find an item on the shelf that is missing a price tag or has an incorrect price on it the store is not under any legal (or ethical) obligation to give you the item for free or sell it at the wrong price. Why should eBay be different. I made a mistake. I would have given the guy the item for $0.99 (it is only worth a few dollars more) just to avoid a ding on my account. If eBay does hold this $0.99 transaction against me that is ridiculous.

[zirkni]

Ethically there is no obligation to sell an item an any price. If I decide not to sell an item at a certain price that does not harm the buyer. They may have missed out on what they perceived as an opportunity but they did not experience any loss...they never had the item in their possession. I really don't understand why people think that eBay sales should be final when real world stores accept returns for any number of reasons and can refuse to sell a product for any ( non - discriminatory ) reason they want.

I do understand eBay policy is another matter. But in terms of what is right why in the world should a seller be forced to sell any item that they don't want to sell?

[zirkni]

It is ridiculous that the policy does not take into account the value of the transaction...if that is actually the case...

In terms of buyer being annoyed over "loosing out" of $6 item mispriced at $0.99. I guess I send him my condolences. Life is rough like that some times. I hope he gets over it some day.

What are people not understanding...mistakes happen in the real world. The scale of the mistake and the harm done should be considered when determining punishment. I am not concerned because I have hundreds of correct transactions. I am a little annoyed this one is going to be held against me.

[zirkni]

Understand the policy. But ethically what was the obligation and who was harmed? I don't owe the buyer an item because I put the wrong price tag on it. That is not how it works in the real world either.

[zirkni]

Actually if a $6 - 0.99 = 5.01 mistake results in higher fees or lost sales or eventual loss of the account it is worth much more potentially hundreds or thousands of dollars. That is really stupid in my opinion. But I am not worried. I don't have any other defects that I am aware of.

[zirkni]

There is honour in giving people free stuff that they don't deserve?

[zirkni]

Well I would have reversed and sold the chap the item for 0.99 if I could but eBay won't let you reverse a cancellation. It was a mistake. I hope the chap gets over the loss of the bargain. I am sure he is still despondent to this day. Just like this will effect my account into the future I would not be surprised if he develops PTSD over losing such a bargain. Is there anything I can do now to correct the problem? This experience is really making me angry. Is there any way to undo a defect?

[zirkni]

What can I do to mitigate the damage now?

[zirkni]

People have very strange views here about "extortion." Suggesting some one buy something for the correct price...if they are actually interested in the item is not extortion. Maybe in eBayWorld but not in the real world. There is no coercion involved. Maybe eBay sales a "legal contracts" but under contract law if consideration (money) is not given a contract is not enforceable. If a buyer is refunded before receiving an item he is not harmed...especially so when the refund is immediately subsequent to the sale. All Hail Stupidity! I go out of my way to serve my buyers and have 100% feedback but if I cancel an item I am a deffective seller and the buyer was "wronged" and "ripped off" and suggesting that they buy the item for the right price is "extortionate." It is absolutely ridiculous. My only regret is that I was not familiar with the defect policy for out of stock items. I am under no ethical or moral obligation to ship an item that I have refunded or to sell an item for any price eBay policy not withstanding.

[myangelandmyprincess]

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@zirkni wrote:

People have very strange views here about "extortion." Suggesting some one buy something for the correct price...if they are actually interested in the item is not extortion. Maybe in eBayWorld but not in the real world. There is no coercion involved. Maybe eBay sales a "legal contracts" but under contract law if consideration (money) is not given a contract is not enforceable. If a buyer is refunded before receiving an item he is not harmed...especially so when the refund is immediately subsequent to the sale. All Hail Stupidity! I go out of my way to serve my buyers and have 100% feedback but if I cancel an item I am a deffective seller and the buyer was "wronged" and "ripped off" and suggesting that they buy the item for the right price is "extortionate." It is absolutely ridiculous. My only regret is that I was not familiar with the defect policy for out of stock items. I am under no ethical or moral obligation to ship an item that I have refunded or to sell an item for any price eBay policy not withstanding.

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But in contract law if there is a contract saying I will sell this for this amount and then you refuse to sell it for that price you've broken the contract.  

Regardless ifs ebays rules and you wonder why they just wouldn't base defects on the small transaction amounts.   That's what you should do for yourself.   Determine if it's worth it.  For eBay all amounts are worth it because cancelling is just about costing them money it's about upsetting a customer a losing repeat business 

[luckythewinner]

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@zirkni wrote:

People have very strange views here about "extortion." 

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Of all the points I made in my post, you chose to focus on the definition of one word and ignore all the rest?

I rest my case 🙂

[dangre_1]

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@zirkni wrote:

You think is reasonable to ding an account with multiple tens of thousdands of dollars of annual revenue over a $0.99 transaction that was imediately refunded? I don't. And no, the buyer was not harmed. He was refunded. He can buy the item any time he wants for the correct price. If you go to a real world store and find an item on the shelf that is missing a price tag or has an incorrect price on it the store is not under any legal (or ethical) obligation to give you the item for free or sell it at the wrong price. Why should eBay be different. I made a mistake. I would have given the guy the item for $0.99 (it is only worth a few dollars more) just to avoid a ding on my account. If eBay does hold this $0.99 transaction against me that is ridiculous.

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This wasn't about missing a price tag.

A better analogy would be to say that the item had a price tag that was wrong and and more expensive than the price tag said.

In that case the store is obligated to sell the item at the price on the price tag.

So in your case you listed the item at $0.99, you're technically and morally obligated to sell item at that price, then correct your listing error later.