eBay

irlandaise · ‎11-05-2017

I was very surprised a few minutes ago to get a message from the buyer of an auction of mine that just ended, saying, "I can pay your seller fees if you want to realist this. I really don't need it. Sorry."

Should I write back and ask why he doesn't want it, or just go ahead and cancel the order? From reading community postings, it's best to just let him cancel, so I don't want to pressure him to buy the item, but I'm genuinely curious why he bid on it if he didn't want it. He has a 99% positive rating on eBay, so he seems upright. Plus he offered to cover my fees for a relisting.

Thanks to knowledgeable people on this board, I now know that I can cancel the order and say it was at the buyer's request. eBay has already charged me $3 on my October invoice for a boldface listing, but of course they haven't yet billed me the nearly $24 final value fee after the sale. I don't know whether they'll refund the $3; if not, I'm not sure it's worth asking the buyer to pay me back for that, although he did offer to.

Unfortunately, he was the only bidder, so I can't offer the item to anyone else and will have to relist it. Drat.

Anyway, although I think it's straightforward what I should do, I wanted to get advice from more seasoned sellers before I act. Thanks in advance.

emerald40 · ‎11-05-2017

The buyer has already told you he does not want it. The reason is irrelevant.

Cancel using buyer requested.

slippinjimmy · ‎11-05-2017

it's best to just let him cancel

Buyers can only initiate a cancellation within 1 hour, after an hour only the seller can. In any event the buyer has told you to cancel so go ahead. Your fvf's will be credited automatically.

As in the previous post...."buyer requested" as the reason.

You will not be refunded the extra fee for Bold, I have to say that is the most useless option that really does nothing for you yet costs a ridiculous amount.

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep

fern*wood · ‎11-06-2017

I have had this happen, and it is natural to wonder why, but I don't bother asking. I doubt I would receive an answer and I know it could range from they found a cheaper one to mommy said no.

I just cancel with buyer requested reason and move on. Oh, and I usually block that ID from wasting my time again.

One more thing, I agree with the prior post about the money spent on BOLD. I went back to look at your sold listings to see what it looked like, and had I not been searching for a difference, I would never have noticed it.

irlandaise · ‎11-06-2017

Thanks everyone, I'll go ahead and initiate the cancel request.

Does anyone have an opinion about how soon I should relist my item? Is there any psychology of prospective buyers I should be aware of, such as, "Gosh, that sure came up again fast" or "It's been a few days, I guess things didn't work out"?

muttlymob · ‎11-06-2017

Once the cancellation is complete go ahead and relist it. If you only had one bid then there may not have been enough interest to worry about what other potential buyers may think of the fast relist. You may consider listing it as a Buy It Now instead of an auction.

As for why he bid then requested the cancel, maybe he initially thought he would be able to pick it up in person and for some reason that fell through. Your shipping rate for buyers close to you is high enough to make it not feasible if he had not expected to pay it. Just one possibility.

irlandaise · ‎11-06-2017

Hi, Muttly.

That item had over 500 page views and a few dozen watchers, so it was very surprising to me that I only got one bid. I'll reduce the price a bit and relist it.

The buyer was on the other side of the country, so he couldn't have been planning to pick up the equipment in person--unless maybe he had a trip scheduled to my area, I guess. Anyway, we'll never know. Thanks for your advice.