Why are sellers offering an item for sale with Buy It Now and then canceling

[pk13]

I have had several transactions on eBay where I have purchased an item with but it now. After about three days of no activity I get a message saying they are cancelling my order because they can't deliver to my address. It is an eBay verified address that has had many many items delivered to it. Additionally, it says that the buyer requested the cancellation. Which is false. 

What are they gaining by this?

[mtgraves7984 · Accepted solution]

What are they gaining by this?

@pk13 

The only thing the seller gains is to not  receive an Out of Stock strike on their account. You can report this activity.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Some sellers, myself included, sometimes cannot find the item to ship.

Some sellers, not including me, try to avoid the cancellation strike by lying about the reason. The one year window on cancellation strikes keep many sellers from being top ranked.

[inhawaii]

When a seller cancels an order (for whatever reason),  they must choose a reason from this list:

A) Out of stock or damaged (buyer gets a serious strike from ebay)

B) Buyer asked to cancel (no strike)

C) Issue with buyers shipping address (no strike)

If they are using B or C they are lying because they don't want to get the strike from ebay.

As @tobaccocardyahoo said, if a seller cancels a buy it now sale, that usually means they can't find the item.