Cancelling bids

[liketoshop4]

I have only been selling on Ebay for a short time and I have had 2 occasions where a buyer entered a bid and then sent me a message to cancel/withdraw the bid.  Is this acceptable?  One said they thought the stones were something else and my pics were too blurry.  The other one just said that she found something she liked better.  It is very disappointing to think you have a sale and then get a request to cancel it.  I don't want to get negative feedback.  I just want to know if this is something that happens a lot.

[nobody*s_perfect]

IMHO it's always better to just cancel a bid or a transaction if the buyer requests it, regardless of the reason/excuse given.  As you anticipated, if you force the buyer to complete the transaction they can make your sales life unpleasant. Better to get out of it ASAP.

[klhmdg]

If they request to cancel, its best to just cancel.

It happens more on Auctions than BIN listings.

I looked and your photos look blurry to me also. You may want to retake them so they are clearer.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hello and welcome. You have some beautiful pieces.

Like the others said, it is best in the long run for the seller to cancel when a buyer requests it. It is not something out of the ordinary. It happens regularly here.

I took a look at your listings. Your photos are too dark, and look foggy, like you shot them in a smoke-filled room. Jewelry photos need to be crisp to show the detailing on the piece. You might also consider close-ups of any maker’s marks and hallmarks showing the metal’s purity level.

In Item Specifics, be sure to qualify the metal content. I noticed in a listing for a sterling silver bracelet that there was no mention of sterling silver in IS. It may seem redundant to repeat important keywords in one’s Title, Item Specifics, and Description field, but each section plays a role in Search engine optimization. That helps get your listing picked up by Google and others. It can also get you better placement in search results on eBay.

Wish you much success. 

[ms.rodriguez*]

Your photos are dark.  Some look blurry. The ones on the citrine earrings show a background.  You need to take better photos.  Use white as a background. Use white paper or get a white posterboard.  You need to find an area in your that has better lighting.  You can't sell a piece of jewelry if people can't see the color properly.  The stones on the earrings look like 2 totally different stones. I like to make sure that the color on the earring is IDENTICAL on both before I buy .  I would not even click the description of those earrings based on that main photo.  When selling,  there should be NOTHING in the background. You want your buyer to focus on your earrings or whatever the item is and not what is that in your background.

Like the others told you, anytime a buyer wants to cancel, go ahead and cancel it. If you make them go through with the sale , they might lie and force a return by saying you sent a rock or whatever. Avoid headaches, cancel the sale and make sure that you block them.

Goodluck.

[Anonymous]

I make them jump through some hoops and find how to RETRACT a bid.  Too easy to simply ask seller to do it. 

[coolections]

Make them do it themselves. If you keep cancelling for them they will not get a strike on their account. Anyone can cancel a bid as long as there is more than 12 hours left. To help them maybe send them the link so they can cancel.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I make them jump through some hoops and find how to RETRACT a bid.  Too easy to simply ask seller to do it. 

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When a buyer starts the process of retracting a bid, they have to choose from the very short list of valid reasons, which does not include, "... thought the stones were something else" or " found something she liked better. "

The bidder is told that if none of the reasons applies, they should ask the seller to cancel the bid.  Some just go ahead with the retraction anyway, which is why the short list of reasons is sometimes referred to as the "Pick a lie" list.  But other bidders do as eBay tells them, and request cancellation via the seller. Then they wait for the seller to cancel, and maybe they never do.

Regardless of the validity, the sooner the bid is gone, the sooner the auction can get back on track with sincere bidders, which is why it's best to just cancel ASAP.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Better a cancel today than a SNAD tomorrow I always say.

[12345jamesstamps]

I would use a black paper sheet for the jewelry. That would bring out the colors of the jewelry better.

 People who bid can retract their own bids. I don't think it's up to a seller to cancel any bids. Plus sellers do not hang around 24 / 7 to do that sort of thing.

 And in buyers(ID) who are bidding anyone can see how many bids a buyer has done lately as well as retracting their bids. When you see someone bidding on your item and it shows they have like 50+ bids retracted over a short period of time something tells you something is going on.

[frommichel]

Everyone is giving you great advice here. Only thing to add is that maybe you should add the would-be buyer to your blocked list so that they don't play a game with you on other listings.