Cancelling Order and Relisting

[nes_ds]

I tried to call eBay to see if I was in the wrong on this one, but seems they are still not taking calls do to COVID.

Here's the situation. The non-profit I work for was gifted a watch collection. We've had it for years and during the quarantine we cleaned out a storage room and ran across it - we decided to sell it. Since I had the most experience on eBay I was the one who would list it. I listed the entire collection as a lot. Someone purchased it almost immediately. I spend the next day getting it all ready to pack up and noticed that a couple of the watches had broken bands. Being such a large collection, I began to consider how difficult this would be if the buyer wanted to return it. I also just had a gut feeling that this could go really bad considering how large the collection was.

I cancelled the transaction and refunded the buyer. I sent him a message stating the reasons why and he responded saying he understood. He tried to negotiate for a lower price or for just part of the collection, but at that point my gut feeling was really kicking in.

At that point I decided to simply list the watches individually. I also thought it might be wise to use our organization's eBay account to try and build a better feedback score (that account only has 3 transactions currently). So I list five of the watches. Two days later the guy who originally purchased them sent a message to us on each of the items saying that he knew what we were up to and was going to report us..? He sent another message about a half hour later... lets just say questioning our integrity.

Other than the initial reason for cancelling, I have not communicated with him at all. In my mind, once the refund was sent, I had no responsibility to contact him further. The fact that he wanted me to negotiate down the price really raise some flags for me. Also, after receiving the harassing messages, I'm glad I never interacted with him further.

I just want to be sure that I'm not doing anything wrong here. With the transaction cancelled and the refund sent, I'm free to list the items, correct? To clarify, the lot was not relisted. I resisted individual pieces of the lot as some of the pieces were damaged.

Thanks for any advice or clarity you can offer on this situation.

[ed8108]

Your failure to properly inspect items before you list them for sale on eBay is a major problem.

Your Buyer did nothing wrong with an offer to purchase the lot at a lower price.

There is nothing inappropriate in your buyer offering under the circumstances, to buy a part of the collection either.

[bar-29368]

Just as there is also nothing wrong with the OP deciding to cancel the lot listing and list them individually with regard to condition.

[nobody*s_perfect]

But the OP didn't cancel a lot listing; he canceled a transaction for the lot, after it was sold.

[nobody*s_perfect]

You should have inspected the items before listing them. You should have considered the potential problems with listing a large lot, before listing it.

You should have informed the buyer about the damage; and then given him the option of canceling the transaction or going through with it.

The buyer probably thinks you backed out because you decided you could get more money for the watches by listing them separately; perhaps he thinks you were alerted by how quickly the lot sold at your asking price. His attempts to adjust the price or purchase only part of the lot might have been completely reasonable.

[bar-29368]

True, but that was because the buyer had pointed out the discrepancy in condition.

[mam98031]

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@bar-29368 wrote:
True, but that was because the buyer had pointed out the discrepancy in condition.

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That doesn't change what @nobody*s_perfect said.  Just because the seller didn't know about the mistake until the buyer pointed it out doesn't mean suddenly the seller didn't make the mistake.  It simply means the buyer caught it, not the seller.  That doesn't then give make it appropriate for the seller to cancel the transaction and then relist, even though different from the initial listing.

[mam98031 · Accepted solution]

For someone that felt they had enough selling experience to take this listing on, there were all kinds of mis-steps taken in this process.

When you filed for the cancellation, what reason did you select?  If you selected it was by buyer's request or problem with their address, that would not be a correct reason because neither apply.  If you selected out of stock/damaged, then you cause a defect on your selling account.

Do you have this account properly set up with Ebay and PP as a 501c charity?  If not, you may be paying fees that if you had of ran it through your Charities Ebay account might not have applied.  Well if their account is properly set up.  And if the Charity has an account on Ebay, why would you put it through your personal account.  They can let you manage the listing from their account.

You make a statement in your listing that was really the wrong thing to put in the listing IMHO.  First you state that you weren't willing to list all the watches because their are so many of them, yet you want 4 grand for these watches.  Seems to me that is enough incentive to actually list the watches and what condition they are in.  But then you go on to state "If you are interested in any one of them, I would be willing to create a separate eBay listing for that one alone."

So someone purchasing that listing would have no way of knowing until they received the lot if you actually took anything out of the lot and sold it to someone else?  Or were you planning to adjust the original listing each time you did this with the number of watches adjusted and picture changes?

And insult to injury a No Return Policy.

I don't blame the buyer being upset with you.  You didn't give them the courtesy to be honest with them and tell them you had overlooked some damage.  Notify them of your findings and then ask them if they would like to proceed.  You just assumed you had the answer and cancelled the transaction.  Willing to give up 4 grand for your charity.

So while you weren't willing to list the individual watches in your original listing because of how much work it would be.  You are now willing to create 110 individual listings with pics and descriptions for each watch represented on the listing.  Seems that is far more work that listing the watches and their condition in the lot listing.

Yes you gave enough flags for this buyer to be very concerned.  I don't know if they will actually take the time to report you to Ebay, but you did break some very basic rules for selling here.

I hope that you will take this all into consideration when you create your new listings for these watches.  That way you can avoid repeating the issues you created here as they are avoidable.  I hope you sell them for your charity without further issue.

[nes_ds]

You make some very good points. I really should have thought this through and been better prepared when listing them. I haven’t sold a lot of this size (or rather something of this kind of value before). I did put the reason for cancelling on me by choosing the out of stock or damaged option and I fully expect a hit on my feedback. Thank you all for the input - definitely gives me a different perspective on it.

I’m going to try a write him tonight and explain the situation.

[mam98031]

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@nes_ds wrote:
You make some very good points. I really should have thought this through and been better prepared when listing them. I haven’t sold a lot of this size (or rather something of this kind of value before). I did put the reason for cancelling on me by choosing the out of stock or damaged option and I fully expect a hit on my feedback. Thank you all for the input - definitely gives me a different perspective on it.

I’m going to try a write him tonight and explain the situation.

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Good to hear.  I hope your future selling experiences go much smoother than this one.  Good luck!!