I have a feedback question. I know...right?

[city*satins]

A few days ago, as I mentioned elsewhere, a buyer purchased an item (BIN) paid for it, and then within an hour submitted a cancellation request  using a reason that didn't make sense - Invalid payment options.  

I reported in another thread that I can not change the Payment Instructions to Buyer despite this feature being supposedly available to sellers.  It appears to have disappeared in the 2 selling IDs that I just switched to Managed Payment.   There's a ticket that has been submitted to Technical Support.  

Anyhooooo.....
I accepted the request from the link eBay provided, and the buyer was automatically refunded and the sale cancelled and some or most of my $ was refunded. (I haven't yet learned to read the particulars )

Today, I got feedback from the buyer.  It was positive.  Presumably if it had been neutral or negative, she'd have had to wait the customary period buyers have to wait when it's a Powerseller.

Question - I thought buyers who request to cancel a sale and the seller complies, could not leave feedback for the sale.

Am I wrong?  Or is this a recent change?

I hope I'm not going to get a request for feedback in return.   I really don't see why feedback should be exchanged for a sale that was cancelled at the buyer's request - is it because of the bogus reason given?  The so-called Invalid Payment Options making it the seller's fault and therefore subject to feedback?

[gwzcomps]

My impression has always been no feedback can be left for canceled transactions.  I know that is the case if seller cancels for problem with address whether it is justified or not.

[*madison]

I thought buyers who request to cancel a sale and the seller complies, could not leave feedback for the sale.

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That's what I thought.

Perhaps the buyer could leave feedback because the buyer paid?

[donsdetour]

One the boards there has been a way around this. I do not know what it is, but I have read about it. You might try a search for the how.

[aldente28]

I will third the impression that fb cannot be left for cancelled transactions.

However, I have noticed that sometimes there will be a number next to "Shipped and awaiting your feedback" on my Seller Hub (which is odd, because I always leave fb as soon as I ship). On occasion, these have included cancelled orders. I always assumed it was a glitch. It's a rare one, and most cancelled orders do not show up later asking for feedback, but I have seen it before. Not for a while, come to think of it, but certainly in the past. The only way to get rid of those orders (from the awaiting feedback list) was to leave feedback. I let them sit there for a while, but if memory serves, I finally just left fb to get rid of them because them just sitting there and not going away got really annoying.

[tinstun_0]

They can leave feedback, but on a cancelled sale it will be automatically removed by ebay bots in a day or two.

Also if it is positive who cares.

[mr_lincoln]

@city*satins 

Hey City, I agree with ALL other posters that FB can not be left on a Cancelled transaction and if it was it would be removed by eBay ...

tyler@ebay, brian@ebay

This is a good question ... any official eBay stance on FB in the case of a Cancelled transaction either pre or post payment would be greatly appreciated ...

[city*satins]

Also if it is positive who cares.

One reason to care is that the wording of positive feedback on a cancelled sale might but such as to make the seller look like a pushover.  Mine is general enough not to be a worry - there's an enthusiastic thanks for my "courtesy", but it's ambiguous enough to imply that I might be worth a future buyer's time to get a refund and keep the product since it says nothing about the product or actual service - just how courteous I was.  Courtesy in the buy-and-sell sphere often refers to 'courtesy refund' or other non mandatory boon to the customer at the seller's expense.

This topic has come up before in the 'soft positive' arena - how some positives can give potential buyers the impression that it's easy to get the seller to refund without return, issue partial refunds, etc.

I have enough feedback that it's hard to actually hurt my profile, even directly with a red donut.  But still...

[city*satins]

Thank you all for your input.  I'll drop an update here if the feedback magically disappears.

Have a good weekend, everybody.   I'm treating myself to a quiet day starting this afternoon - no email, no facebook, no twitter, no news channels, no MSN or other internet news.  I need a stress free day...maybe even two days in a row!

Cheers!

[nkpina2014]

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@gwzcomps wrote:

My impression has always been no feedback can be left for canceled transactions.  I know that is the case if seller cancels for problem with address whether it is justified or not.

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This is PARTIALLY true. On a cancelled item, a buyer can leave feedback prior to the cancellation. The feedback is supposed to be removed automatically by Ebay, but robots do this work and are prone to malfunction (because it's Ebay, right?)

If you disagree with the feedback, I'd give Ebay a call to flag it for removal. You might have to give the agent the reason why (cancellation, NOT a return/refund). If the feedback is positive, just move on with life. 

[fern*wood]

I recall ebay reps explaining that feedback is permitted on cancellations.  They explain there could be a reason that a seller should still be given feedback, but it can also qualify for removal since they asked for the cancellation.

[lacemaker3]

Hi @city*satins;

The feedback removal policy is part of the defect removal policy, and there isn't any separate policy about blocking feedbacks. However, negative/neutral feedback will be removed under the same conditions as when defects are removed. 

Feedback is not blocked or removed for cancellations, although it is when a UPI is recorded on the transaction, or if eBay cancels the transaction. For other kinds of cancellations (like yours) feedback is still allowed.

Although you were clearly not at fault here, some sellers abuse the "buyer requested" cancellation by asking the buyer if they want to cancel when the seller is out of stock, rather than doing an out-of-stock cancellation as they should. There are other situations as well, when a feedback would still be relevent for a cancelled transaction.

Here's the actual policy, and cancellations are not on the list except when eBay cancels the transaction:

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy/seller-performance-def...

In those situations that are listed, if feedback hasn't been left yet, then it will be blocked. If negative or neutral feedback has already been left, then it is removed. It's supposed to be automatic, which takes a couple of days.

[myboardid]

City - do you really think a potential buyer is going to read through all of your positive feedback to see if they can find a clue as to how you react to a situation where a return/refund/cancellation might occur.  Good grief almost no buyers ever read positive feedback at all, they don't even read the negatives unless an issue comes up.  You really, truly don't need to worry about his!  Definitely take two days to ignore the world and totally chill out! 

[chapeau-noir]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

@city*satins 

Hey City, I agree with ALL other posters that FB can not be left on a Cancelled transaction and if it was it would be removed by eBay ...

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Yeah, it can and it does not automatically go away.

[brian@ebay]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

@city*satins 

Hey City, I agree with ALL other posters that FB can not be left on a Cancelled transaction and if it was it would be removed by eBay ...

tyler@ebay, brian@ebay

This is a good question ... any official eBay stance on FB in the case of a Cancelled transaction either pre or post payment would be greatly appreciated ...

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@mr_lincoln a buyer can leave feedback if they either paid for the item or if they didn't request the cancellation. In this situation they paid for the item so they had the ability to leave feedback. However, since the buyer requested the cancellation it can be reviewed for removal under seller protections.

Customer service would review the messages between buyer and seller to see why a cancellation was requested. If it's found that the reason for the cancellation was a result of something the seller did (for example, altering the terms of the transaction from what was originally stated in the listing) then the feedback would remain. If there's no evidence that the seller was the cause of the cancellation then the feedback would be removed.