Negative Feedback for shipping cost cancelation

[seattlemary]

I had to cancel and order for and item that would have cost 45.00 to ship instead of 25.00 that I charged. The item only sold for 1.00 which I did not care, I have alot that do. But I could not eat the shipping cost on this one. I contacted the buyer , no answer so I cancelled the order and refunded the money.

Never heard from the buyer, Until he left negative feedback. With a HUGE false statement, saying I told him it was stolen. 

I am giving him time to change it, I understand he is disappointed but he never started a conversation with me about how to fix it. Will eBay help when they make a complete wrong statement?

Seriously sad about people these days......

[mtgraves7984]

Man, this is a tough one. I'm TRS (and have had feedback removed), but I don't think I'd poke the bear here. The red donut is the least of your problems with this order. Please let me expand...

In my humble opinion, the right thing to do was to take the loss. You set the shipping cost.

If you cancelled as 'Buyer requested' or 'Problems with buyer's address', it's false. If you cancelled as OOS, you're account has already suffered a 'ding' and you can't relist it, obviously. 

With all that being said, I think that your response was well-worded. Good luck, however you proceed.

[wpt05]

@seattlemary 

Refusing to mail an item after it was purchased is a major defect.  

You need to use calculated shipping on your listings so this doesn't happen again in the future.  

Using our shipping calculator | eBay

[katzrul15 · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, the Buyer is entitled to leave feedback for a cancelled order.  Regardless of the final sale amount, profitable or not, e-Bay expects every Seller to ship timely and honor the sale. 

These types of situations reflect poorly on the Selling community as a whole.  Buyer only bid and paid.  If they report you, as a Seller, you could end up dealing with other sanctions from e-Bay.

Try to see this from the perspective if You were the Buyer.

Really think you owe your Buyer an apology for the error in judgement on this order. 

Realize you do not think you can afford this order on the terms "you" set.  I would be apologizing and shipping the item tomorrow to this Buyer, no charge.  Once delivered, apologize again, sincerely.  Then ask for feedback removal/revision.

[fashunu4eeuh]

As this was your mistake, you kind of earned the neg by canceling the sale without consulting the buyer first. Sending a message was not sufficient, but at least you reached out. That reflects well on you. 

However, when a seller miscalculates on shipping, it is up to the seller to make it right. Instead, you chose not to ship. Your unhappy buyer then chose to express her dissatisfaction with the transaction. Deal is done. Time to move on.

(As to her claim of stolen item, it is possible the buyer is confused about who told her what and she has you mixed up with some other seller who claimed their package was stolen.)

[swappart]

I looked at the feedback and see that the buyer claimed you said the item was stolen. In the event the buyer made that part up, you could try to have the feedback removed. It's worth a try. Buyers can't just falsely claim a seller said something which wasn't said. eBay will look at the message you sent, and if you didn't say that, they will do something. I don't know if they can revise feedback, but I certainly know they can and do remove negatives under certain circumstances. If not, that negative will cost you more in lost sales than eating a $20 loss on shipping. It's not even that buyers look at feedback before making a purchase. Heck, most don't even bother to read the description. But, eBay's search algorithm will do something and your sales will drop. As someone else has already said, you can prevent this in the future by using calculated shipping. 

[releasethekraken_1]

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@seattlemary wrote:

Seriously sad about people these days......

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Me too, but not for the same reason. You screwed the buyer and deserved a neg, with an accurate comment. You also sold something for $1 that cost $45 to ship; if you had charged shipping accurately, you'd be paying over $5 in eBay fees on your $1 sale. What kind of business plan is that?

[tdumonde2014]

Why would a buyer need to have a conversation with you to "Fix it"? You held the power to " Fix it" and you chose not to and want to blame the buyer. Not your first neg for not shipping.

[seattlemary]

Thank you , it helps to get others input. I guess I really needed it, to hear from others.

Thank you!

[seattlemary]

Thank you!

[donsdetour]

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@seattlemary wrote:

I had to cancel and order for and item that would have cost 45.00 to ship instead of 25.00 that I charged. The item only sold for 1.00 which I did not care, I have alot that do. But I could not eat the shipping cost on this one. I contacted the buyer , no answer so I cancelled the order and refunded the money.

Never heard from the buyer, Until he left negative feedback. With a HUGE false statement, saying I told him it was stolen. 

I am giving him time to change it, I understand he is disappointed but he never started a conversation with me about how to fix it. Will eBay help when they make a complete wrong statement?

Seriously sad about people these days......

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Made a mistake you eat it as the seller.

I can not see how you can go with some thing at $1.00 and say $25.00 shipping when this for sure cosrt you money instead of making any...

So the final value would be on a total of $26.00 with out the tax...

That would cost you approx $3.26 in ebay fees; Higher with tax....

If you are willing to lose a bit: then this also should not have been a problem I would think.

The buyer is not a happy buyer for sure.... Why should they be????

[varebelrose]

Unless those figures are huge or extremely heavy, I cannot figure why it would take even $25 to mail? They should go coast to coast by parcel select for less than $20 easily.

[nobody*s_perfect]

They apparently ran into dimensional weight.

[luckythewinner]

Imaginary answers from the buyer's perspective:

I understand he is disappointed but he never started a conversation with me about how to fix it.

You already know the "fix" - you ship what you promised for the price you promised.

Seriously sad about people these days

You mean people who pull a bait-and-switch with their shipping prices?

That aside ...

Never heard from the buyer, Until he left negative feedback. With a HUGE false statement, saying I told him it was stolen.

What were your *exact* words to the buyer when you told him you would not ship his item for the price you quoted him?