Cancelling an order after printing shipping label

[donnybrookqueen]

A buyer messaged me soon after ordering (after I’d printed the shipping label) and said their address was wrong. They asked me to ship it to a different address. I told them I couldn’t, and they needed to change their address, cancel the order, and repurchase it. She says it will not let her cancel.  She changed address in profile, so I tried to print a new shipping label, but the old address is still there.  Help. 

[untod]

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@mam98031 wrote:

When a seller cancels a transaction...

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You missed or misunderstood my question. DOES the seller have to cancel the transaction? Why wouldn't the seller simply complete the sale as the buyer originally intended?

@mam98031 wrote:

The seller does not have a choice with certain types of cancelations.  

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Great. But there hasn't been a cancellation yet, so all of that seems moot. What am I missing? Or are you missing it? I genuinely don't know.

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@jonathanbrightlight wrote:

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Assuming the message came from the actual buyer, shipping it instead of cancelling is likely to just lead to major headaches...

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I don't follow your logic. Even if the actual buyer used the real official eBay "cancel order" request, a seller is NOT obligated to cancel. The request that this seller received was NOT official - it was just a private message. Shipping what the buyer paid for seems like the ONLY reasonable response to me.

Now assume the message DIDN'T come from the actual buyer, and post your advice for that scenario.

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@jonathanbrightlight wrote:

Why would anyone even consider it?  And you cannot cancel without a refund being issued, obviously.

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A seller would consider NOT cancelling an order based on a private message because the seller is here to sell; not to refund. So by your own statement - THAT'S the reason to NOT cancel: so that a refund is NOT then required. The seller ships the item & keeps the money, just like God & the buyer intended.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@untod wrote:A seller would consider NOT cancelling an order based on a private message because the seller is here to sell; not to refund. So by your own statement - THAT'S the reason to NOT cancel: so that a refund is NOT then required. The seller ships the item & keeps the money, just like God & the buyer intended.

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Assuming it's the real buyer (ID) and not a scammer (different ID than the actual buyer) who is requesting the cancellation, it's always in the seller's best interest to cancel. 

No one disagrees that sellers are here to sell nor do we disagree that a remorse/changed mind/no longer needed request doesn't need to be honored. Sellers are NEVER required to honor a request. 

But that doesn't mean that refusing to cancel is the smart thing to do. 

@untod , as a seller who doesn't accept returns, wouldn't you rather cancel the transaction before shipping an item as opposed to refusing to cancel, having the receive the item they'd told you they didn't want and then, when they see your "no returns" policy, they open a claim for NAD forcing you to accept the return, pay return shipping and get the item back, after which you issue a full refund? 

For not cancelling, you have an unhappy buyer who was forced to receive the item they didn't want, you're out shipping in both directions, have a ding to your seller metrics because you have a NAD claim and you still have to relist and resell the item. 

IMO, yours is not a smart business plan! 

ETA: Comment on your last sentence: "The seller ships the item & keeps the money, just like God & the buyer intended." 

Read my reply carefully. It won't happen that way! 

Oh, and BTW, if you don't respond to the buyer's NAD return claim, the buyer will keep the item (just as you want them to) AND ebay will issue a full refund from your funds. And the defect for not handling the claim appropriately will impact your account.

[mam98031]

@untod 

Sure a seller can deny processing the cancellation for the buyer and ship the item out.  But knowing they are trying to force a transaction it is likely going to end up costing the seller more money.  Likely when the buyer receives the item they file a Request for Return, uses a reason that the seller has to pay for the return shipping and then once the seller gets the item back they have to fully refund the buyer.  Is that really worth it to you??  It isn't to most of us sellers.

You as a seller are free to do whatever you think best.  But upsetting your buyer like this unnecessarily will likely end up with feedback you don't like either.  I simply don't see the point.