Seller cancellation request and unpaid item strike

[danious1981]

I recently sold a sofa on here, for the grand total of 99p. That was fine as it wasn't about the money but rather about getting rid of it in time for the replacement.

The buyer however, despite winning a barely used sofa for 99p, has completely ignored all of my polite messages to arrange collection, until today when I've just received a cancellation request due to 'an accidental purchase', no reply to my messages, no apology offered, no explanation. I obviously already knew that I needed to resell but my question is, if I now accept the cancellation, do I still get a chance to report a non-payment to eBay? The 4 days are up tomorrow and I'm not sure if this is a way to get around an unpaid item strike, I don't really understand how it works. Thanks

[albertabrightalberta]

About $1.29 USD? 

Why not just donate the darn thing and take the tax deduction?!? Many charities will even pick it up and haul it away. 

[lucifel7]

You could recreate the same listing and put it up for sale while you wait the 96 hours for the <Unpaid> option to show up in the cancelation. Keep in mind that if the buyer ends up purchasing that you will have to take down the other listing, so only do this if you are confident that buyer will not commit. 

[richard1rst]

Actually there is no need to wait for the unpaid time too expire. You can just cancel the order . Be sure to use "Buyer requested cancellation" and you will NOT get a strike.

[iamalwaysright]

Nope! Once a buyer files a formal cancellation request in eBay on an item they didn’t pay for yet, they are TOTALLY off the hook for not paying regardless if you accept or decline the cancellation request. They can’t ever get a payment strike for that transaction. Some might say it’s a buyer loophole to avoid a strike if they never paid. I say, this is how eBay is now.

[iamalwaysright]

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@lucifel7 wrote:

You could recreate the same listing and put it up for sale while you wait the 96 hours for the <Unpaid> option to show up in the cancelation.

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This tactic will not work because of the way eBay changed how they deal with unpaid item strikes about a year or two ago. That option will never show up for this sale. Since eBay now calls unpaid item claims “cancellations”, the 4 day cancellation claim (aka unpaid item strike) will never enable itself because according to eBay “you cannot have more than one cancellation for a transaction.” And the first “cancellation” happened when the buyer filed for the request.

You can decline the buyer’s cancellation request, then the transaction will sit in your awaiting payments page forever or until eBay times it out. You will be unable to file an “unpaid item” or force the buyer to ever pay you. You won’t be able to do anything about it. Yes, it’s stupid. But as I said, this is how eBay is now.

[slati_2013]

Put it on Craigslist in the "Free" section. It will be gone fast. 

[mam98031]

No.  You should have done that awhile ago.  Once a buyer requests a cancellation, you can NOT cancel for non payment.  

Just process the cancellation and move on.  This transaction is dead and nothing good can come from it.

[mam98031]

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@lucifel7 wrote:

You could recreate the same listing and put it up for sale while you wait the 96 hours for the <Unpaid> option to show up in the cancelation. Keep in mind that if the buyer ends up purchasing that you will have to take down the other listing, so only do this if you are confident that buyer will not commit. 

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WHAT?  Not only is that against the rules, it is horrible and dangerous advice that can cause the seller to get a defect or worse.  

The buyer has asked for a cancellation.  The best thing for the OP to do is accept it and move on.

[lucifel7]

Thanks for the insight, I just realized that even if you let the cancelation expire it will simply count as if the cancelation was declined by the seller.

[lucifel7]

What "defect"? It is not against the rules to decline a cancelation, that's a courtesy from the seller. You're allowed to decline even if it's requested the second after a sale was completed. Of course, it's not a good idea and could cause unnecessary problems. 

[danious1981]

Not that it's relevant as that's not the question I asked, but for your info charities won't take a sofa here unless it has the fire label, which this one doesn't. It's since been put on a site for free and I have someone that wants it.

[robbie31415]

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@iamalwaysright wrote:

Nope! Once a buyer files a formal cancellation request in eBay on an item they didn’t pay for yet, they are TOTALLY off the hook for not paying regardless if you accept or decline the cancellation request. They can’t ever get a payment strike for that transaction. Some might say it’s a buyer loophole to avoid a strike if they never paid. I say, this is how eBay is now.

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At least one person provided correct information.

Once the buyer submits a cancellation request they can't receieve an unpaid strike. So it's pointless to deny a cancellation or it will just sit there unpaid.

[danious1981]

Yeah, that's what I suspected. Frustrating, definitely seems like a loophole for buyers. Thanks for the info. 

[mam98031]

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@lucifel7 wrote:

What "defect"? It is not against the rules to decline a cancelation, that's a courtesy from the seller. You're allowed to decline even if it's requested the second after a sale was completed. Of course, it's not a good idea and could cause unnecessary problems. 

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What you suggested could create a situation for the seller to sell the item to two different buyers. 

What you suggested "You could recreate the same listing and put it up for sale while you wait the 96 hours for the <Unpaid> option to show up in the cancelation. Keep in mind that if the buyer ends up purchasing that you will have to take down the other listing, so only do this if you are confident that buyer will not commit. "

What are you going to do if the item sells during the night [while you are sleeping] and the new buyer sends payment.  During this same period of time while you are not at your computer, the original buyer pays.  You now have two buyers that have purchased and paid for the ONE item you have.  One will have to get cancelled and refunded for OOS, which does create a defect.

I didn't say or imply there was anything wrong with declining a Cancelation requests.  There are good reasons for doing that and there are bad reasons for doing that.  Depends on the situation.  However if you decline the cancellation and the item hasn't been paid for, it has been known to happen that the buyer contacts Ebay and they will force the cancellation. 

There is no way for a seller to force a buyer to pay.  So if a seller denies a Cancellation request on an unpaid item in the hopes of forcing the buyer to pay, that can backfire too.