So, if a non-buyer can submit negative feedback, can a non-buyer leave positive???

[pjx2-2]

seller is at the whim of non-buyer.  Can non-buyer leave poasitive feedback to "restore" seller's reputation??

[dhbookds]

try it and see

[dryophelia]

@pjx2-2 

You had a buyer and you canceled the transaction. That’s still a buyer. Buyers can leave feedback. 

eBay holds sellers on a very tight leash. There is no room for ‘stuff’ to happen. 
Your buyer was justified in the feedback they left. Your reply is hogwash. 

[mtgraves7984]

You'd have to have a buyer for feedback to be left for you. You'd have to be a buyer to leave feedback.

Non-buyers aren't allowed to leave feedback, positive or negative.

What an odd question. 🤔

[jameshen1]

Well, if I bought something from you, paid, and then you cancelled telling me that you had already sold the item to someone else, I would not consider that a positive experience.  Total waste of my time and tying up my money for a while is not a positive experience to me.

[inhawaii]

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@mtgraves7984 wrote:

You'd have to have a buyer for feedback to be left for you. You'd have to be a buyer to leave feedback.

Non-buyers aren't allowed to leave feedback, positive or negative.

What an odd question. 🤔

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Excuse me, but some old timers remember a time when you COULD in fact leave feedback for someone without even having a transaction with them. Of course that wouldn't be me.   😉

[kensgiftshop]

If you didn't have a buyer, there would be no need to cancel the order and give a refund.

[stainlessenginecovers · Accepted solution]

Cancelling orders for ANY reason (besides the Buyer Requested or problem with address) is a MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT for the buyer and it is the STANCE OF THIS SITE that doing that, too often, will let to your REMOVAL as a seller. 

You only get 2 or 3 of these, anymore and you're out the door. 

[maxine*j]

You had a buyer.  A person purchased the item you had for sale, paid for it, and expected to receive it.  That is a buyer.

Since you did not fulfill your end of the deal, your buyer was understandably unhappy and left a justifiable negative.  For your buyer, the transaction was a negative experience.

Mistakes happen.  Instead of your unprofessional reply, you should have said something like, "I am so sorry you were disappointed, and I will work on my inventory control to be sure that something that was already sold is not listed.  My sincere apologies." 

That would have reassured future, potential buyers.  Instead, your reply does the opposite.

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[bonjourami]

Do you really believe that response you left that buyer?

[pjx2-2]

Thank you for taking the time to participate.  Even with 23 years on ebay, I have MUCH to learn. The schooling is usually from "hard knocks" and from the community, which has been helpful in the past. A story behind the "ODD" question:  A potential buyer asked me some specific questions about one of my offerings. After some back-and-forth, we came to the conclusion that my item would not help his situation. He expressed a great deal of satisfaction with my help and our interchange. He expressed a desire to publicize his gratitude, but, alas, no way.  Another story: A potential buyer asked if my Swagelok SST 1/2' Street Elbow was "strong". I responded with a couple of pages of info comparing pressures, temperatures, surges, etc between brass, steel, and stainless steel fittings. His response was that that was not what he needed to know. He wanted me to tell him that my fitting would not break the way his last one did when his pressure washer fell off his truck on the interstate.  I replied that if he could keep his equipment tied down, my fitting would likely do the job. He bought it. Then he complained that I had sent the wrong size, clearly indicating that he did not know how to measure pipe thread and he wanted a refund and return shipping. Since he had received what I had promised, I declined to forward his shipping expense and told him to take his broken fitting to a hardware store to be matched up. He responded with a nasty, negative, accusatory feedback. Ah well, so much for trying to be helpful.  Where is the lesson for me to learn here?  Just keep trying to do the right thing.

     Thank you again for your effort to make ebay a pleasant place to do business.

Peter

[albertabrightalberta]

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@pjx2-2 wrote:

seller is at the whim of non-buyer.  Can non-buyer leave poasitive feedback to "restore" seller's reputation??

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In your case, your buyer was NOT a non-payer. 

Non-payers can't leave feedback (if they receive a strike) when the seller canceled for non-payment. 

Buyers who have paid ARE buyers and they can leave feedback if they're disappointed and angry enough to do so.

[pjx2-2]

     THANK YOU for your response!  I do believe that I have much to learn, even after 23 years with ebay and tend to see my latest situation as a learning, or as you put it, a "positive" experience.  Please be aware that my intention is not, and was not to sell something "out from under you".  I literally sold  the item to a neighbor and then got home to see my ebay sale notice.  I had no choice. Ebay has "previously sold" or some such as a reason for cancelling a sale. I immediately took that route.  The time and tie-up of money could not have been briefer.  The reason was valid, in my eye, and again in my eye, could have been accepted as a life event. The used car you saw this morning was sold this afternoon. The deli was out of sesame seed bagels. The department store was out of my size shirt.  What prompted me TO ADDRESS EBAY to cancel buyer's negative feedback was that he "expected" from me a warning or notice that sale could not be consumated and that my lack of same was unforgiveable.  The deli should have called me, the dealer should have not presold the used car, and the department store should be shuttered for running out of my size shirt!!  NOT!

     Again, thank you for your willingness to contribute to the ebay "neighborhood".

Peter

[gloryglorygifts]

That's feedback of what the buyer experienced with you. As a seller, you are responsible to know that your 396 listings are available for purchase and the listings correct. 

You can also look at it as a buyer is "at the whim" of the seller. If they aren't happy, you are going to hear about it. There are, unfortunately, seedy sellers in every marketplace. 

A non-buyer cannot leave any feedback for a seller. That was a buyer, though, with a cancelled transaction.

[pjx2-2]

THANK YOU for taking part in making ebay sort of a "community".  I have much to learn in my next 23 years of ebay and will keep on trying.

Your point is succinct and clear.  My understanding was skewed by the buyer's "unreasonable" (my term) expectation of a "warning" or "notice" of out of stock and the lack thereof generated the negative feedback.  "Out of stock" is the same as "highway construction" which causes missed appointment, or lack of my shirt size in the department store.  These are enexpected events which have consequences that cannot be anticipated.

I appreciate your help and effort and will try to be a better "neighbor" in our community.

Peter