What if a seller underestimates the cost of shipping? Is that cause to cancel a sale?

[motorsdaddgum]

What if a seller underestimates the cost of shipping? Is that cause to cancel a sale? The shipping, after careful packing to avoid damage, creates a loss on the sale. Does eBay consider that like selling something not in stock? Penalty?

[mam98031]

1.  Sellers can take full responsibility.  Usually that means shipping the item and pay for the difference as it was your mistake that was not in control of the buyer.

2.  Or you can file a cancellation of the transaction.  Reasons are limited in this process but you need to select a seller reason for the cancellation and in this case it would be OOS [out of stock]/damaged.  This will cause a Defect on your Seller Dashboard.  Too many of these can cause you real issues with Ebay as a seller.  So if you go this route, make sure you keep a close tab on the health of your account.

https://sellerstandards.ebay.com/dashboard?region=US

Keep in mind that cancelling the transaction will cause your buyer to be upset and it can result in you also getting some neutral or negative feedback.

These are your choices.  

If you are looking for a recommendation, I personally would only ever do option 1.  I would take full ownership of the error and pay the difference.

We all make mistakes from time to time.  It is very important that you own your mistakes and react in the best possible way.  If it is your desire to be a long time seller, you need to always take care of your buyers.  I wish you nothing but the best.

[simba6]

No it's not.   The seller would receive a serious NPS strike for doing so.  Those can get  a seller banned from selling for life.    eBay gets very testy about sellers that fail to ship after being paid.