eBay

sin-n-dex · ‎10-01-2025

Just wanted to share this since people ask about cancelling orders here quite frequently (and I'm doubting most regular posters have seen the verbiage in this email unless maybe they cancelled and eBay decided it wasn't for the right reason).

Shared with me... It was my sale that got cancelled (just passing this along).

***

Activity on your account isn’t following policy: Listing cancellation policy

Activity on your account didn’t follow our Listing cancellation policy.

What happened

Canceling a transaction and selecting a false reason to avoid a defect isn’t allowed.

More specific details are provided below.

What this means for you

Because you may not have been aware of this policy, we're letting you know about it and ask that you follow this policy in the future.

No other actions have been taken on your account

Not following this policy in the future will result in a temporary 3-day restriction placed on your account, and your listings will be hidden from search during this period. All fees paid or payable for listings that are ended and/or hidden from search will not be refunded or otherwise credited to your account.

This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.

Cancel transactions only for valid and accurate reasons.

More about this policy

- Canceling a transaction and selecting a false reason to avoid a defect isn’t allowed
- To cancel a transaction, sellers must:
-- Notify the buyer of the cancellation reason
-- Cancel the transaction within 30 days of the sale
-- Use the correct process in My eBay or Seller Hub:
--- Go to My eBay > Sold and locate the item. From the More actions dropdown menu, select Cancel this order. Or;
--- Go to Seller Hub and locate the item. From the Actions dropdown menu, select End.
-- Choose a reason for the cancellation and follow the on-screen instructions

This policy helps sellers avoid problems with buyers, and prevents sellers from avoiding defects by falsely selecting a reason to end a transaction.

Learn more: Listing cancellation policy

If you have any questions or concerns, or think we’ve made a mistake, please get in touch. We're here to help.

We appreciate your understanding.

Thanks,
eBay

Please don't reply to this message. It was sent from an address that doesn't accept incoming email.

ebooksdiva · ‎10-01-2025

I have never cancelled a transaction that a buyer didn’t request.

gurlcat · ‎10-01-2025

@sin-n-dex wrote:

Shared with me... It was my sale that got cancelled (just passing this along).

Did you mean to say it wasn't your sale?

12345jamesstamps · ‎10-01-2025

I had one like that a while back.

Gave a refund because one stamp had a small tear...and I got a 'out of stock' 'ding' from AI.

The 'ding' was after item was marked shipped when I gave a refund.

I did not mark it as a cancellation or out of stock item.

I notice the photo(s) after it got shipped and didn't want buyer to get mad or give me a bad feedback.

Lesson learned...no more Mr. Nice Guy.

sin-n-dex · ‎10-01-2025

@ebooksdiva wrote:
I have never cancelled a transaction that a buyer didn’t request.

It wasn't for the benefit of regular posters that I started this thread, it's because people come on here and ask, and I figured since most regular posters follow the rules they never would have received such an email (at least I hadn't received it).

The content of the message was shared with me, so I thought it might benefit those who answer lots of posters questions about cancellations to know that eBay is actively monitoring cancellations and considering them to be a policy violation if not done correctly.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎10-01-2025

@gurlcat wrote:
@sin-n-dex wrote:

Shared with me... It was my sale that got cancelled (just passing this along).

Did you mean to say it wasn't your sale?

Um, yeah, that's what I meant. Only I probably would have said "was not" instead of "wasn't". I'm tired, it's been a long day, and I keep typing things wrong (in the other forum I wrote customers instead of customs).

The original message was in the eBay Canada forum by a regular poster there.

C.

sin-n-dex · ‎10-01-2025

@12345jamesstamps wrote:
I had one like that a while back.
Gave a refund because one stamp had a small tear...and I got a 'out of stock' 'ding' from AI.
The 'ding' was after item was marked shipped when I gave a refund.
I did not mark it as a cancellation or out of stock item.
I notice the photo(s) after it got shipped and didn't want buyer to get mad or give me a bad feedback.
Lesson learned...no more Mr. Nice Guy.

I remember that thread. I presume you just got a "ding" on your metrics and did not have a policy violation email? I am presuming the OP of the thread I took this from got both a ding and policy violation (hence the 3 day suspension warning). Sounds like in your case they just gave you a ding because you refunded without providing a reason (not providing the wrong reason).

C.

babyers88 · ‎10-01-2025

It's not that ebay is monitoring, in this example it is likely that someone selected buyer requested to cancel and the buyer did not request the cancellation and then the buyer reported the seller as such.

also it is likely this wasn't just one instance you do get a couple before they start taking action.

There are sellers that have multiple accounts and list the same items across all of there accounts to get a leg up on visibility, but as you can see that can backfire due to the cancellation policy

I personally don't think it is fair to get a ding for just 1 out of stock/damaged, things happen in reality like theft or it got dropped or fell over or a mouse chewed on it in storage, all kinds of things can happen that are sometimes out of our control.

but it is what it is.....

gurlcat · ‎10-01-2025

Here's what I am wondering. This part where it says, "This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence." -Did it make only the determination or did that happen because it was it looking for determinations to make? Last I knew of, the legitimacy of cancellations could only be flagged by the buyer. So is that still the case or are all cancellations being scrutinized for legitimacy?

Also there's a big difference between automation and artificial intelligence, so it's unsettling to see eBay saying one "or" the other is doing stuff here that can have real "teeth" results on sellers' accounts.

luckythewinner · ‎10-01-2025

@gurlcat wrote:
Last I knew of, the legitimacy of cancellations could only be flagged by the buyer. So is that still the case or are all cancellations being scrutinized for legitimacy?

You only offered two options:

only flagged by a buyer
all cancellations are scrutinized

Those are not the only two possibilities.

I can imagine a scenario where eBay was only scrutinizing one type of cancellation, for instance cancellations for "buyer requested".

For example, automation could detect a "buyer requested" cancellation where there were no messages from the buyer to the seller.

And a natural language model could determine if a buyer's last message to the seller said "no, I do not want to cancel".

gurlcat · ‎10-01-2025

@babyers88 wrote:

I personally don't think it is fair to get a ding for just 1 out of stock/damaged, things happen in reality like theft or it got dropped or fell over or a mouse chewed on it in storage, all kinds of things can happen that are sometimes out of our control.

True, and that's why 1 ding alone doesn't do anything to your account. But it doesn't take many either, because if you have many it means you are too clumsy or need to call an exterminator, LOL.

babyers88 · ‎10-01-2025

I don't even want 1, lol I was just using examples of things that "can" happen. If something crops up I usually offer a solution to the buyer such as maybe they would be interested in something else or something else and some refund, etc or even a no cost upgrade to something better. Then at least I made some effort to rectify the situation. Because things do happen.... hard as we try to avoid it.

tobaccocardyahoo · ‎10-01-2025

@12345jamesstamps wrote:
I had one like that a while back.
Gave a refund because one stamp had a small tear...and I got a 'out of stock' 'ding' from AI.
The 'ding' was after item was marked shipped when I gave a refund.
I did not mark it as a cancellation or out of stock item.
I notice the photo(s) after it got shipped and didn't want buyer to get mad or give me a bad feedback.
Lesson learned...no more Mr. Nice Guy.

I refunded for a similar reason after I printed the label through Ebay.

If you refund without an scan by the carrier it is an out of stock ding.

If you do not use a tracked shipping method, refunding can be dangerous to your seller level.