eBay

photographer_pro · ‎12-13-2020

Hey Community,

I somehow got myself into a huge mess by simply pressing "cancel order" on an item I sold.

Shortly after I sold a camera for $1,100.00 I realized it was more beneficial to sell it elsewhere/wait to sell it. I hit "cancel order" on the "sold" screen I received after the item had been sold. My intent was to sincerely apologize to the buyer, give them a full refund, and move on with my day understanding I could get poor feedback or a strike of some sort. The mix up was entirely my fault and I should have been more careful before listing the item in the first place.

However, upon cancelling the transaction, I received a message that the "order cancellation was pending" and that I need to manually refund the buyer their money and then the buyer has to confirm that they received a refund. However, if I go into PayPal, the gross payment from the buyer does not match up with the net payment I received. PayPal and eBay took out money for taxes and PayPal fees. I can't refund the buyer from PayPal because I do not have enough funds to cover whatever PayPal took out (because it can't be as easy as just cancelling the transaction and having PayPal handle it all automatically and reversing the fees?). I called eBay 4-5 times before I finally gave up and just agreed to go forward with the sale and send the buyer the camera. I called eBay again to see if they could cancel the "cancel order" request, to which the guy seemed like that was not possible, but assured me that if I contacted the seller and asked them if they still wanted it, then since I already had the money in my PayPal, I could ship it to them anyways.

I contacted the buyer saying the order cancellation was a mistake and the item is still available. The buyer still wants the product, so I agreed to ship it to them soon.

My one problem is this: If I ship the camera to the buyer, I'm concerned eBay will automatically "force refund" the buyer their money within 10 days and the buyer will not only have my camera, but also they will have it for free. Additionally, if I don't ship the camera, I'm concerned the buyer will never get their money back, and I will have just stolen over $1,000 from the buyer. I've received mixed responses from calling eBay. One guy told me just to wait 10 days and the buyer will get their refund (even if the money is in my possession in PayPal). Another lady told me to refund the amount in PayPal, which obviously didn't work for the reason listed above.

HELP! I have no idea what to do from here. I don't care if the order is cancelled or if it goes through, I just want to make sure I can either undo the order cancellation, or refund the order completely regardless of PayPal pocketing fees. Any help would be MUCH appreciated. Thank you.

simba6 · ‎12-13-2020

Jeff Bezos would have probably been fine with cancelling the transaction had I done this on Amazon to begin with.

No he would not. The river is even worse when it comes to refusing to ship after a buyer has paid.

pburn · ‎12-13-2020

@photographer_pro wrote:
PayPal COMPLETING part of a transaction (by taking fees) while the rest of the transaction is in the process of being reversed is absurd and I was not expecting it.

Well, no judgment here. You can run your business any way you'd like, IMO.

I just wanted to speak to the issue of PayPal taking their fees out of your proceeds.

PayPal is a money processor/transmitter--not a bank, as some people try to claim--and they collect a fee for providing the service of sending a buyer's money to a seller (in this case). They performed that function for you, so they charged you a fee for it. They shouldn't be expected to perform the function they were contracted to fulfill for free--it's their business. They do waive the fees on a refund, where the money goes in the other direction--but they're very clear about that being a waiver, and they could probably charge for that at some point in the future.

I do hope you decide to fund your PayPal account to cover the entire cost of this transaction. Having accounts go to collections is to no one's benefit.

I don't imagine you'll sell on eBay again, but, if you do, make sure you read up on these kinds of policies. It's sort of like your procedure manual at your job--you have to read it and be familiar with company policies to avoid violations.

Good luck!

photographer_pro · ‎12-13-2020

@mtgraves7984 wrote:
@photographer_pro wrote:
At this point, my seller reputation is of little value to me, and I would not try to sell the camera a second time after the cancellation works out. I only want the buyer to get his money back and not have to deal with my problems, confusion, or delay on my end. eBay can take whatever is left in my PayPal account if they wish. I will keep my camera and never sell on eBay again.
@photographer_pro

The short amount in your PayPal account won't satisfy eBay. They'll need the amount of the buyer's full payment to issue the refund, but eBay will come to your for the FVFs on the Out-Of-Stock Cancellation. If you don't pay that invoice, they'll send you to collections. It's not worth the long-term problems you may be causing... your seller reputation and your credit reputation are two totally different things.

My apologies. I meant to further clarify this. I will be paying the cost of the refund eventually after all this is sorted out.

luckythewinner · ‎12-13-2020

Shortly after I sold a camera for $1,100.00 I realized it was more beneficial to sell it elsewhere/wait to sell it.

{snip}

The mix up was entirely my fault

Let's not sugar coat this.

This was not a "mixup".

It was nothing more than seller remorse because $1,00 was not "beneficial" enough for you.

No sympathy here, IMHO this was karma.

photographer_pro · ‎12-13-2020

I really appreciate each and every one of the responses I've received so far. You guys have been beyond helpful and probably saved me from turning an already horrible situation into an even worse one.

After I talked to eBay the 5th time and talked to the buyer (before I made this thread originally), I transferred the PayPal money to my bank thinking that I was going to be able to ship my camera. However, after yet more investigating and another phone call regarding cancelling orders, I realized this was not the way to go, and the best thing to do would be to just transfer money to cover the PayPal fees so that eBay could process the refund.

Obviously, the initial PayPal transfer has not shown up in my bank yet. Do you guys think PayPal would catch that a refund is pending on eBay and cancel the transfer? Would they allow it to go through, and then I could manually transfer that same amount back to PayPal? Would eBay then be able to process the refund? Any more insight would be awesome.

Thanks again everyone.

annadryl · ‎12-13-2020

@photographer_pro wrote:
Have they? Jeff Bezos would have probably been fine with cancelling the transaction had I done this on Amazon to begin with.

You're speaking as a buyer here. You're not. You were the seller.

You're also thinking you're on Amazon here. You're not. That's a different site.

photographer_pro · ‎12-13-2020

@luckythewinner wrote:
Shortly after I sold a camera for $1,100.00 I realized it was more beneficial to sell it elsewhere/wait to sell it.
{snip}
The mix up was entirely my fault

Let's not sugar coat this.
This was not a "mixup".
It was nothing more than seller remorse because $1,00 was not "beneficial" enough for you.
No sympathy here, IMHO this was karma.

Okay, and? I'm not asking for sympathy. I admitted I was wrong. I try to treat others how I would want to be treated, and I genuinely did not think as a buyer I would be too concerned over not receiving an item if I was keeping all my money. I tried to put myself in his shoes. If someone did this to me I honestly wouldn't give it a second thought. It's unfortunate that the buyer now has to wait to get a refund because of my mistake.

Your response is beyond unwarranted.

caldreamer · ‎12-13-2020

Never heard of changing an "cancellation order". If you ship item...customer will probably get it for free. You need to solve this problem first and then relist item and have customer purchase it again.