mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
You misread the policy. It does not say the buyer "Can" cancel the transaction it says the buyer can Request a cancellation. There is a big difference. Buyers can't file a cancellation of a transaction, but they can REQUEST a cancellation. Only the seller can actually do a cancellation.
There could be a couple reasons why your seller was not able to cancel your order before shipping. It is Friday and sometimes they aren't watching or checking their email for the weekend. Or their order system could be automated and the order was sent to the shipping department while no one was reviewing emails.
You did NOT send a "cancellation". You sent a REQUEST TO CANCEL a transaction. Sellers are not obligated to accept your request for a cancellation, but chances are really high your seller didn't even see the email yet.
Please know your seller did not do anything wrong. I know you are frustrated and I understand why you are frustrated. Sometimes when we have a misunderstanding it is very problematic and annoying.
From the policy:
Canceling an order you've just made
If you've changed your mind about an order, you can request that it's canceled within an hour of your purchase, as long as the seller hasn't dispatched it yet. Here's how:
- Go to Purchase history and find the order you want to cancel.
- From the More actions drop-down, select Cancel this order.
- Select Submit.
We'll send your request to the seller and ask them to confirm that they haven't sent the item yet. If they haven't shipped your item, they'll cancel your order and we'll send a confirmation of cancellation to your registered email address, as well as to your
Thank you for reply. I appreciate your kind explanation. Especially for the point that I misread the policy of the cancellation of the eBay. According to your assertation, the buyer can not cancel the order but ask the cancellation of the order. Is that right?
It isn't my "assertation", it is the Ebay policy. No buyer, no matter what can actually cancel a transaction.
But as the policy that you kindly quoted shows, it is possible that the buyer can request as long as the seller did not shipped the item within a hour of purchase. In other words, the seller have not shipped the item, he or she will cancel the order.
Yes, absolutely. But a request does not make a cancellation. It is simply that, a request. The seller does NOT have to accept your request. A buyer can just formally request a cancellation within an hour of their purchase. That does NOT guarantee that the seller will accept your request.
Yes, there is no sanction to the seller who rebukes the request of the cancellation which fulfilled the condition of the policy. It is not necessary for the seller to accept the request of the cancellation.
You are assuming the seller "rebukes" the request. As I explained earlier, it is doubtful your seller even saw your request for cancellation. It is more likely that they have an automated order system and since you ordered late Friday afternoon, there may not have even been anyone monitoring their emails. Sellers are not required to have their emails always monitored.
So you are correct, there would be no sanction for your seller because your seller hasn't done anything wrong. I respect that you made a mistake or changed your mind on your purchase. It happens sometimes. But please know your seller isn't doing anything wrong, they just didn't meet your need in this case because you made a mistake. Honest mistakes happen.
I asked or requested the cancellation in one minutes after purchase and eBay delivered my request to the seller in two minutes after my purchase. It happened within an hour of my purchase, which satisfied the condition of the policy ; "If you've changed your mind about an order, you can request that it's canceled within an hour of your purchase".
Yes, I understand. I'm not confused or questioning what you did. You have been very good about explaining it. Yes, you satisfied the condition of the policy which allows a buyer to formally request a cancellation of the purchase if you send it within one hour of the purchase. You absolutely satisfied that part of the policy. But that isn't the entire policy and you simply can't ignore the rest of the policy because you met a portion of the policy.
You met your burden under the policy, there is no question about that. But because you did what you needed to do does NOT mean the seller has to accept your request. It is a request for a reason. You are ASKING the seller to cancel your transaction, you can't mandate that they do it.
Moreover, the seller did not shipped it yet. Namely, I requested the cancellation 3:04 pm, by the confirmation e-mail of eBay and the seller shipped 4:36 pm, which also met the criteria of the policy of the cancellation ; "as long as the seller hasn't dispatched it yet."
Again, it sounds to me like they have an automated system. I don't know what else you want me to tell you. I realize you are upset and you want to blame your seller, but they really haven't done a thing wrong.
Now, my request of the cancellation, I think, fulfilled the condition of the policy. But the cancellation has not happened. What is the problem? Is the problem my misreading of the policy ? Or is not possible in origin for the buyer to cancel the order or is there no methods to cancel after paid in the policy of eBay unless the seller accepts the request of the buyer?
It seems there is some difficulty in accepting that you requested a cancellation. You don't have the ability nor does any buyer have the ability to create or make a cancellation of a transaction. You can REQUEST one and it is completely up to your seller to accept it or not to accept your request. You are correct, it is NOT possible for the buyer to cancel a transaction. Only the seller can do that.
Your seller likely didn't even know you sent in a cancellation request before your order entered their order flow. Again, your seller hasn't done anything wrong. I realize you want a different outcome, but the seller is not to blame here.
I wonder the real interpretation of the policy of the cancellation in eBay. Although I worry that I could understand what the policy means, I would like to say that eBay delivers the request of the cancellation of the buyer, but does not take the responsibility of the request.
Ebay isn't the seller here. Ebay is the site in which you are using to shop on. Ebay is made up of members, both buyers and sellers. Ebay sells no products to the members that are buyers. Ebay provides the site in which we can buy and sell on.
eBay just, nothing but delivers the request. After that, nothing happens. As you explain, the seller is not supposed to read the request and might omit to read the email of the eBay, which is no problem.
I'm trying to be respectful here because I realize you are just trying to understand and that you are upset because this isn't going the way you wanted it to. But DO NOT twist what I said. I did NOT say the "seller is not supposed to read the request...omit read the email". What I have told you is that they may not have read the request yet. We can't always be at our computers. We are not required to be always at our computers.
Even though the buyer asks the cancellation of the order by the policy, the seller would not accept it, which is not a mandate.
Nope, not a mandate. The word "request" should tell you that.
Then, is the role of eBay in the cancellation of the order? Just delivery? If so, I misread the policy of the cancellation in eBay, as you indicated appropriately. It is my fault.
Yes.
Nevertheless, it is too harsh to the buyer or the consumer, especially contrary to my native country where the cancellation fulfilling the conditions should be permitted by the Act that the Congress legislated. Anyway, just my fault, I did not know .
We all have to accept that we make mistakes. We are afterall human. You just made an honest error in the purchase of an item you didn't want and/or need. I've done it myself. But you should not take this out on your seller as they are just trying to do their job. Quick shipping is a big thing on Ebay and they drill into sellers to ship as fast as possible.
After the case of today, I would be very nervous to buy the item in eBay, especially from the seller who did not accept return. Otherwise, I keep the distance from eBay because the price of today's item is too high.
That is your decision to make. Some sellers do have no return policies and others don't. I'm not sure why this particular problem should make you reluctant to purchase from a seller with a certain return policy since this problem has nothing to do with that. But again your right to purchase or not to purchase.
You are very welcome. I'm glad I could help you have this more clear in your mind.
Well I'm off to take the kids to the pumpkin patch. One of their favorite times of the years. Lots of smiles, excitement and laughter. Always a good time. Perfect weather too as it is all foggy outside!!!
Oh by the way, not everything on Amazon is sold by Amazon. There are still individual sellers. If you purchase from an individual seller, you may have the same issues as you did here if you were to try and cancel a purchase. It is just so important to remember, we have lives too. We aren't always at our computers. Sometimes we are at the pumpkin patch! LOL
@dwoh_0 wrote:Yes, there are a lot of people and firms in the world. As a foreigner, I was not familiar with the policy of the cancellation of US firms. For example, Costco refunds even somewhat used stuff that the buyer bought two months ago. I did noy expect that it is impossible of cancellation in two minutes just after purcahse. That is my fault and corrected by your explanation.
Additionally, my poor English had you misunderstood. I am sorry about that. Please excuse me.
Anyway, have a nice day with your kinds.
Thank you
It is NOT impossible. Don't over-react. You just happened to purchse from a seller that apparently has their order system automated. Not all sellers have that. In fact, most probably do not. You just had a problem with this one transaction. It is likely that you won't have this problem ever again. Or at least we can certainly hope for it.
