Sellers cancel item then blame you

[raasay2]

Bought item, paid immediately, sellers provides tracking number next day.  Have just discovered that I apparently cancelled the order and have been refunded my money.
No I did NOT cancel the order!  I spent ages looking for the item so why would I cancel!!!!!
Why are sellers allowed to do this and who do we complain too so that it stops? This is the second time this year it's happened and it's only January!

[domino-710]

It seems for some reason the seller cancelled the order - for whatever reason.

[jellybirddesigns]

A seller cannot be forced to complete a sale and sellers are also allowed to cancel a sale - ultimately the item remains the sellers possession until it is posted. When cancelling, I believe that one of the drop down choices for sellers is that the "buyer asked to cancel", which appears to be what they chose. It's really just a random reason, so don't take it personally.

It could even be that the item was an auction, and the end price was not what they were looking for.

Or perhaps the item got broken, or maybe something happened out of the sellers control and they couldn't complete the sale. 

For example, I've had orders on Amazon cancelled on me even though items showed in stock, then suddenly they didn't have it. Could be any reason really and is one of the risks of buying online. 

[sandypebbles]

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@raasay2 wrote:

Why are sellers allowed to do this 

Why are buyers allowed to buy and not pay?

Why are buyers allowed to open dispute eBay instantly side with, no questions asked?

It works both ways 

Complaining is not going to get eBay to force sellers to sell

Just as complaining does not get fake buyers to pay

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[springyzone]

It sounds as if the seller ticked the box to show the reason for the cancellation was that the buyer requested it.

Outright lie, but it is to their benefit to tick this box as my understanding is that if they admit to it being their fault, out of stock or whatever, their account might suffer, especially if it happens a few times.

I guess you could report it to ebay but how much notice they would take, I don't know. If the ad is still up for the item, you could report a problem with it. 

And yes it is annoying when you find something is cancelled but at least you found out next day. I am still annoyed with Myer online as I ordered a couple of travel mugs before Xmas, for pick up. Supposedly in stock nearby. One was there, I was told the other was delayed. I have only just been sent a cancellation notice, well over a month later. Not a thing I can do about it either. I think it happens with every online site from time to time.

[eol-products]

Yes the annoying part is the seller uses the buyer requested the cancelation which allows them to continue this practice without penalty. 

[papermoon.lady]

I think Springy is right - they are probably trying to avoid a defect.

It happens all the time if you search the forum. It happened to me too a couple of times, and I was not happy either because I had not changed my mind or anything, but it did not affect my account in any way. Once it happened to me when an untracked item had not arrived. When I told the seller they were nice and refunded me but said I had cancelled because I had changed my mind??

If the seller had already provided a tracking number, maybe something happened - maybe they dropped the item or they could not find it, who knows.

Have you actually asked the seller why they cancelled?

[domino-710]

Then the buyer should report the seller - having bought & paid - there was no message from the buyer to the seller to cancel the order.

The seller has lied - not difficult to prove.

[jellybirddesigns]

There are only 3 cancellation choices given to sellers:

Out of Stock or Damaged

Buyer Asked to Cancel

Issue with Buyers Address

There's nothing to report. Ebay cannot force the seller to do anything and there is no penalty for cancelling. 

You think Ebay cares what reason the seller chose? You think they are going to "investigate" the seller for using that particular drop down choice?

[eol-products]

Too many out of stock defects will put you below standard which used to increase your selling fees.