Confusing buyer message for cancellation

[iamalwaysright]

I received a buyer message requesting me to cancel their order. No formal cancellation was filed. I checked and their message has a timestamp of a little more than an hour BEFORE they made the purchase.

Unfortunately all this was done in the middle of the night and my packing guy already shipped the order this morning before I came in and saw the ebay message.

How is this chronological order possible? Is the buyer messing with me? Don't know if it matters but this buyer is a very high shooting star high volume TRS seller.

And before I hear this from other replies, it's very rare that we get unofficial cancellation messages denied due to it already being shipped by my packing guys. They'd have to coincide with in the middle of the night purchases and the buyer did not file a formal cancellation request that removes the order from "awaiting shipment" pages. My post is more in regards to the weird timestamps.

[wastingtime101]

Top possibilities that come to mind:

Buyer placed order after messaging you, mixing you up with another seller with a similar item.

Payment took a while to process. I've had buyers message me that they bought something and ask a question about it. But there's nothing on my orders page. Order eventually shows up - usually within 20 min, but it has taken up to an hour before. That's the longest I've seen.

If you don't have immediate payment required enabled, buyer could purchase and wait to pay, then submit payment a while later. I don't use IPR and sometimes my buyers do that. So in theory they could have committed to the purchase, sent the message, then paid later.

[slippinjimmy]

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@iamalwaysright wrote:

I received a buyer message requesting me to cancel their order. No formal cancellation was filed. I checked and their message has a timestamp of a little more than an hour BEFORE they made the purchase.

Unfortunately all this was done in the middle of the night and my packing guy already shipped the order this morning before I came in and saw the ebay message.

How is this chronological order possible? Is the buyer messing with me? Don't know if it matters but this buyer is a very high shooting star high volume TRS seller.

And before I hear this from other replies, it's very rare that we get unofficial cancellation messages denied due to it already being shipped by my packing guys. They'd have to coincide with in the middle of the night purchases and the buyer did not file a formal cancellation request that removes the order from "awaiting shipment" pages. My post is more in regards to the weird timestamps.

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It's possible that the time stamp for the message and the time stamp for the sale are using different time zones.

FYI - The "formal cancellation request" is only available for one hour after payment, after that the only option for the buyer is to contact the seller.

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/buyers-can-cancel-order/buyers-can-cancel-order?id=4004

[iamalwaysright]

Really? I initial thought about processing time and thought it shouldn't take THAT long though. I rarely buy from ebay aside from supplies and they've always been immediate for me. And sorry I forgot to say it's an IPR order.

Also different time zones is something I haven't thought of. As well as mistaking me for another seller. Thanks.

[gurlcat]

Yes I believe email timestamps are according to eBay headquarters in California, but then again maybe the 'item sold' notifications are too.  I'm not certain about either.  

[iamalwaysright]

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@gurlcat wrote:

Yes I believe email timestamps are according to eBay headquarters in California, but then again maybe the 'item sold' notifications are too.  I'm not certain about either.  

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See that's where I'm spoiled because I am in California. Do you guys not in Pacific Time not time stamps accurate to your local time zone?

[iamalwaysright]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

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FYI - The "formal cancellation request" is only available for one hour after payment, after that the only option for the buyer is to contact the seller.

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/buyers-can-cancel-order/buyers-can-cancel-order?id=4004

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Probably why this buyer didn't file one because that option wasn't available to him 1 hour before the purchase 🙂

[dbfolks166mt]

      I tend to agree with slippinjimmy that it may be a time zone issue but it could also be a mix up on the buyers part as  wastingtime101   mentioned.  At this point I would reach out to your buyer and see if you can get some clarity. If they did in fact intend to cancel tell them to just refuse the delivery when the package arrives and once you have it back simply cancel the order. If they canceled by mistake no harm, o foul. 

     I would not simply wait for the package to be delivered to the buyer only to have them open a NAD and have to cover the return shipping label. With delivery refusal it simply comes back to you at no additional charge. 

[coastaltechsolution]

@gurlcat 

Yes time here is always in San Jose CA time 

Like when you have the shipping deadline, that is San Jose CA Time 

[wastingtime101]

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@iamalwaysright wrote:

Really? I initial thought about processing time and thought it shouldn't take THAT long though. I rarely buy from ebay aside from supplies and they've always been immediate for me.

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The longest I've observed between the time I submit payment as a buyer and get the email order confirmation is 45 min. Usually it's within 10-15 min.

As a seller, the longest I'm aware of (which requires buyer to message me after making a purchase for me to have any idea) is 1 hour for the order to appear on my orders page.

Take from that what you will.

[iamalwaysright]

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@dbfolks166mt wrote:

      I tend to agree with slippinjimmy that it may be a time zone issue but it could also be a mix up on the buyers part as  wastingtime101   mentioned.  At this point I would reach out to your buyer and see if you can get some clarity. If they did in fact intend to cancel tell them to just refuse the delivery when the package arrives and once you have it back simply cancel the order. If they canceled by mistake no harm, o foul. 

     I would not simply wait for the package to be delivered to the buyer only to have them open a NAD and have to cover the return shipping label. With delivery refusal it simply comes back to you at no additional charge. 

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Oh yes of course, leaving the buyer hanging would cause additional issues. Thanks for the reminder