negative reviews when buyer cancels a sale

[eyehunt4u]

a buyer messaged us to cancel the sale before shipping - we canceled the sale... buyer leaves a negative review / ebay refuses to remove it - ebays policy allows negative reviews when buyer cancels their own sale- sellers good luck keeping your reputations as good sellers - ebay does not protect us even from non transactions

[pinktoe4]

Ebay has shown they don't care much about anything other than increasing their profits.  I'll be moving on.  

[chapeau-noir]

Ugh - you might should have waited to leave a response.

eBay has promised to clean up their awful feedback program so I would pester them about it more.

[fashunu4eeuh · Accepted solution]

Hi @eyehunt4u I checked on this. According to the Order Cancellation policy, buyers are eligible to leave feedback on an order they cancelled. Still sorry this happened to you.

See link below:

“A buyer can still leave feedback on a canceled transaction, unless the order was canceled because they didn't pay for the item. Learn more in our Unpaid item policy“

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behavior-policies/order-cancellation-policy?id=5298

[windycityart4u]

Call eBay customer service. Probably a competitor trying to ruin your reputation/ business. Call them and try to get a rep to remove the feedback. This works sometimes. Explain the situation.

[robbie31415]

It's better to ignore the cancellation and fulfill. And have them return to avoid negative feedback.

[az93]

Buyers cannot cancel a sale. You, the seller, cancelled the sale per buyer's request. Sellers should be protected from this causing a problem.

[wilsonharborsales]

There is nothing you can do.  eBay said they will review the new feedback system over the coming months, but we are all in the same boat.  I just try not to take it personally.

[mam98031]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

Ugh - you might should have waited to leave a response.

eBay has promised to clean up their awful feedback program so I would pester them about it more.

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Yes they did but I've seen no evidence that they have done anything yet and believe me I'm watching.

[reallynicestamps]

Here's the tricky bit.

A Claim/dispute is an argument. There is a winner and a loser. The dispute being ended, the problem is considered to be resolved and no feedback can be left.

But.

A "cancellation" is considered to be an agreement between two sensible adults that the transaction should not proceed. Polite and agreeable. So friendly feedback is expected and allowed.

Sounds like your customer was neither sensible nor adult.

That being said, you get a LOT of negs and neutrals. And often those are left by customers who are unhappy but do not understand how to make a Claim and get a refund. So in my experience, a lot of bad feedback, points to even more unhappy customers who did get refunds.

EBay does not use FB to assess member accounts, but they do use Claims and especially Defects from losing Claims.

I suspect based on your overall FB, that you have had many unhappy customers and that eBay is reacting not to this particular neg, but to your overall customer service.

[mam98031]

@reallynicestamps 

This situation was actually addressed in the announcement about pending feedback updates that haven't happened yet after weeks.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Seller-Check-in-Feedback-Update/ba-p/34523278

[chapeau-noir]

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@mam98031 wrote:

@reallynicestamps 

This situation was actually addressed in the announcement about pending feedback updates that haven't happened yet after weeks.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Seller-Check-in-Feedback-Update/ba-p/34523278

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This is what I was thinking of. There is no reason for feedback to be eligible for a transaction that never happened per buyer request. If their example, i.e. we will remove feedback when a seller denies a buyer’s cancellation request, because per eBay policy a seller has discretion to accept or deny a cancellation request  is to have any consistency at all, neg feedback for a buyer requested cancellation should also be removed. This isn't even open to interpretation - it's black and white.

Having said that, leaving a grievance as a response is not a good idea - it needs to be kept professional - our beef with eBay is our own business, not the buyer's.

[mam98031]

Well three weeks later and still no changes that I'm aware of.

[reallynicestamps]

FB is a relic of the 20th century internet and should be dropped entirely.

Maybe a public record of successfully completed transactions, numerical, no commentary.

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@robbie31415 wrote:

It's better to ignore the cancellation and fulfill. And have them return to avoid negative feedback.

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Overall you should just help the customer and cancel the listing. This is not the typical buyer and its better to cancel and move on. Prolonging the transaction by ignoring and shipping it out just opens yourself up to other shenanigans, especially if this buyer is just being a tool. (if they are abusing the FB after the cancellation, what is going to stop them from filing a INAD and sending back a box of rocks?)

It is a tough situation the OP is in and Ebay has stated they were going to help sellers with FB situations. We will see but don't hold your breath.