Reporting a buyer for misuse of the messaging system to cancel an order

[royalprincessdesigns]

I had a buyer purchase an item tonight. About an hour later, she messaged me asking to cancel the order. I replied and told her that I was packing the item up for shipping and to please place the cancellation request through ebay.

She messaged back asking me to do it since she placed the order less than an hour ago and didn't see why she had to go through ebay. I again asked her to please make the cancellation request through ebay.

She came back with this reply: "You know I really would understand if I purchased it even yesterday but I think it’s pretty bad customer service since I just purchased it an hour ago and you have not even shipped it yet you’re just packaging. I don’t think I should have to go through eBay when you haven’t even packaged your ship yet. I would expect a lot more with someone with 100% satisfaction rating. I never give negative reviews but sadly I will do that today based on this customer service"

I went ahead and cancelled the order and refunded her money. I want to report her for making threats via the messaging system, but the system is not allowing me to do so because the order was cancelled and it tells me the item number is invalid. 

Would you contact customer service about this? She has been blocked and I have not replied to her yet.

[oaktoncardinal]

I had a situation last week where a New Buyer, just joined eBay that day, purchased a small $20 item.  She almost instantly realized she hadn't asked questions about the item that were important to her and started messaging me with her questions.  The very first thing I said in my response was ' we can cancel this sale if you've changed your mind or have regrets, no worries ' .  It was obvious she was transacting on a mobile device and after 3 - 5 more messages she decided to cancel.  I asked her to go thru eBay to do that and you know what, that was just stupid on my part.  She wasn't familiar with eBay she couldn't find what it was she needed to do.  Again, I told her no worries, I'm cancelling right now and you'll have your refund very quickly, probably within minutes.  I felt I was 'safe' to cancel due to our messages and that's what I did. 

I think it's important to be flexible and understanding.  I want her to have a good first impression on eBay so she'll come back and make additional purchases within the eBay community.  I want a happy customer.  I want to broaden eBay's buyer base.  I want her to tell her friends how well she was treated.

And it is so much easier to cancel a sale as a Seller than it is to cancel as a Buyer.

[kensgiftshop]

I wouldn't contact CS, I would have canceled the order the first time they asked.

[evelyb30]

She's probably gotten away with it before. I'd use FB for Business on Facebook and report her that way if you bother.  If the buyer was what you consider abusive I'd definitely report it.  

[lakefor94]

Never ever try to send a buyer something they dont want.

That is just begging for a INAD return case and negative feedback. As long as you have the item still in your possession, cancel the transaction and get your final value fees back. Even if you have printed the shipping label, cancel the transaction and void the shipping label.

Always cancel upon the first request from the buyer. Save yourself a headache and another trip here to the boards with a false INAD return case.

The buyer cannot cancel an order and eBay will not cancel in the buyer's behalf. Only the seller can cancel.

[robbie31415]

I agree with the customer.

No matter how annoying customers can be with last minute cancels.

If you hadn't shipped you should have just cancelled it without being confrontational.

[slati_2013]

eBay does not cancel orders. Buyers make request to sellers to cancel orders and sellers cancel the orders. The worst thing a seller can do is to refuse to cancel an order and ship anyway. It will be returned. It may come back as is, or damaged, or in a dispute  you many end up losing your money and the item. When a buyer request a cancellation, you cancel. Never ship to a buyer who ask that you cancel. It will end badly. 

And no, the buyer did not threaten you. Her experience with the purchase was negative and if she chose to leave negative feedback, it would not be removed. I don't think she can leave negative feedback anyway since the order was canceled, though I am not sure about that because orders I have canceled still show up for me to give feedback. 

[toomuchstuffagain35]

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@slati_2013 wrote:

eBay does not cancel orders. Buyers make request to sellers to cancel orders and sellers cancel the orders. The worst thing a seller can do is to refuse to cancel an order and ship anyway. It will be returned. It may come back as is, or damaged, or in a dispute  you many end up losing your money and the item. When a buyer request a cancellation, you cancel. Never ship to a buyer who ask that you cancel. It will end badly. 

And no, the buyer did not threaten you. Her experience with the purchase was negative and if she chose to leave negative feedback, it would not be removed. I don't think she can leave negative feedback anyway since the order was canceled, though I am not sure about that because orders I have canceled still show up for me to give feedback. 

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I don't know why ebay continues with this pretense of calling them 'requests'. They may as well just make a cancel 'request' an actual cancellation as long as there's no 'shipped'.

But then I guess that would only work if the seller was using ebay labels.

[xadexane]

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@royalprincessdesigns wrote:

About an hour later, she messaged me asking to cancel the order. I replied and told her that I was packing the item up for shipping and to please place the cancellation request through ebay. 

"I think it’s pretty bad customer service since I just purchased it an hour ago" 

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During the first hour @royalprincessdesigns the buyer can request a cancel via a button.

After an hour, eBay requires the buyer to send a message instead, to request a cancel.

[doug_5857]

I would not contact CS. The customer sent Seller request/message to cancel an order. It has been recorded in the message for cancel. Thats enough for me. 

[simba6]

Well, you can either cancel it or, ship it and have it returned under a false not as described case. or worse yet, they might " help " it get that way.

If the buyer wants to cancel, BY ALL MEANS DO SO and FAST.

You have it in the eBay message system so your covered.

[gloryglorygifts]

I would have just cancelled it. No need to go through ebay if it is in writing from the customer. You just choose customer requested on the cancellation. 

[rosachs]

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@lakefor94 wrote:

Never ever try to send a buyer something they dont want.

The buyer cannot cancel an order and eBay will not cancel in the buyer's behalf. Only the seller can cancel.

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That first line I agree with - why waste the time and effort?

The second line is incorrect - buyers -can- cancel a purchase, but they have a limited time to do so.  After that, they are directed to contact the seller.  And it's not a big window of time - you don't want buyers to be able to unilaterally cancel an order the next day or later in the week.  So the timeframe is kept short and after that, the buyer needs to contact the seller.

An experienced seller would just cancel and move on.  If eBay offers to relist, go for it -- you've still got the item in your possession, and Best Match loves inventory with recent sales.  Good thing it doesn't look to see if the sale was cancelled -- the best I've been able to determine is that it just looks at the last sale date, and on a relist, that includes the last sale from the previous listing.

You could report the buyer for threatening negative feedback, since they hadn't posted it a the time they sent the message, but it takes a LOT of reports to get a buyer disciplined....far more than it takes to punish a seller.

-Bob.

PS: do be sure to add the buyer to your BBL.  If they come back for a second round, do you really want to deal with them again?

[albertabrightalberta]

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@royalprincessdesigns wrote:

 "I never give negative reviews but sadly I will do that today based on this customer service"

I went ahead and cancelled the order and refunded her money. I want to report her for making threats via the messaging system, but the system is not allowing me to do so because the order was cancelled and it tells me the item number is invalid. 

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@royalprincessdesigns 

You've already been told that you should have just canceled the order as requested and after much (unnecessary) back-and-forth, you did so. 

You're jumping the gun in wanting to report her feedback extortion threat. 

If she does neg you, you can report at that time, referring to the threat. But reporting about what might happen in the future isn't going to get her the ding the report will do if she follows through on the threat.

[reallynicestamps]

Why did you argue?

Don't ship.

She doesn't want it. She won't accept it. She will demand a refund. She might destroy it to make a Not As Described claim stick.

Some customers are not bright.

Walk her through the steps.

Be calm and professional.

This may help.

I never give negative reviews but sadly I will do that today based on this customer service"

And that will allow eBay to remove any FB she might leave. I think she also gets a black mark of some sort.