Cancelling a late shipment

[iamalwaysright]

I have a buyer who messaged me to cancel their purchase. I saw it but was too busy to adjust inventory so I just tagged it as “do not ship out” in my notes.

It has now fallen into “shipping overdue” since I didn’t ship it and I assume as a late shipment defects wise right?

What happens once I cancel it as buyer requested, does the late shipment defect go away?

[reallynicestamps]

It won't go away if you don't cancel as Buyer Request.
It might go away if you cancel as Buyer Request.

What have you got to lose?

[iamalwaysright]

Nothing. I was just wondering if someone knew off the top of their head. I’m too lazy to monitor that closely if that one late shipment defect goes away since I still have a good amount of them from scanning issues.

[slippinjimmy]

It's not 100% clear to me if this was paid for or not. If paid for then the buyer must be waiting for their refund so get on it!

[fern*wood]

If it is showing as a late shipment, then it must have been paid for, so I'm not sure why you wouldn't have cancelled as the buyer requested already.  You could have probably cancelled it in the time it took to mark it as do not ship.  Regardless,  I definitely would do so immediately so the buyer gets refunded, and the late shipment ding might disappear, but that wouldn't be my first concern. 

[dbfolks166mt]

Nothing. I was just wondering if someone knew off the top of their head. I’m too lazy to monitor that closely if that one late shipment defect goes away since I still have a good amount of them from scanning issues.

     EBay is not a good place for a seller to be "lazy". 🙂 Once you have done the cancel check your metrics a couple of days later and see if the late shipment defect has been removed, I kind of doubt it will be. As for you "scanning issues" it is something you need to watch. Not sure if your issues are because you are not getting the labels created and the packages to the post office within your handling time or if it is because the post office is not getting them scanned in time but if you get too many of these it could push your seller rating to below standard and you could be subject to several penalties including being charged and additional 6% FVF at best and your account suspended at the worst. 

     If you are not getting the labels created and the package to the post office on time you may want to consider increasing your handling time. If it is because you are simply dropping the packages at the post office without obtaining an initial scan and receipt then you may want to consider standing in line and having a postal worker scan each package and hand you a printed receipt. 

[iamalwaysright]

Yea, thanks for the heads up. I’m far below the percentage threshold for me to bother worrying about and it really only happens during the holiday season that will soon age out for me and my eval period. Chalk it up to the lazy again 🙂. My original question was just about curiosity.

[iamalwaysright]

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@fern*wood wrote:

You could have probably cancelled it in the time it took to mark it as do not ship.

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Yea, I could. It’s more for a placeholder for back end and when things get hectic like during the holidays or peak season for specialty items the item in question can easily get lost since it was picked, prepped, and removed from inventory ready to go out. I like to make sure the item is completely reset in storage where it should be and digitally accounted for before completing the cancellation on eBay. In other words, completely restocked. Most of the time it can be done right away as see the notice, but in chaotic times I’d much rather not disrupt the rhythm of product fulfillment and shipment for the day to avoid mistakes. eBay gives sellers two days to accept a formal cancellation request and I have no problem doing that for unofficial cancellation requests (buyers asking thru eBay messages) if necessary.

In response to others if my system is broken, then it’s broken and I’m fine with not fixing this part.