The ebay system itself allows sellers to cancel a sale. It doesn't encourage it as such & from what I have read, there are defects for cancelling in some circumstances eg out of stock.
But there has to be that facility to cancel a sale because sometimes things do go wrong and for ebay, an automated system as far as possible is what they are after.
Now you & I might suspect the seller cancelled because the sale didn't achieve the price the seller was hoping for. But we don't know it for a fact.
It seems to me what is bugging you is the fact you got a tick the box reason so quickly after the sale. But what if the seller had messaged the next day, with
Sorry, I went to packet today, decided to give it a final check - and discovered xyz internally is not working. You would have a fit if I sent you this. I can't sell it like this as it does not fit the ad description so have cancelled the sale and refunded you the money"
or
Sorry I went to wrap it tonight and accidentally dropped it. It looks fine externally but I can hear something rattling around inside so have cancelled the sale and refunded.
That would be a more cunning move by the seller but not necessarily any more truthful.
Again, you might suspect it is not true, but how could you or an ebay rep definitely prove it? You couldn't. Not every fault shows up in photos, especially not camera faults.
The fact a message came quickly after a sale isn't necessarily proof of anything either. That could be just when a casual seller might be expected to move or wrap an item.
So.. what should happen? What consequences should there be?
How do you know there is no warning sent by ebay? A couple of months back, I did not pay for a pick up item. I went to pick it up (it was a high chair) and it was not as described. Ad said it folded compactly. It did not fold at all. Seller opened unpaid item claim. I rang ebay and explained and they removed that strike against my name automatically, but it came with a message that basically said-it has been removed as a courtesy but don't make a habit as this sort of thing can affect your account'.
I was a bit incensed at first actually but then calmed down and realised ebay couldn't know for sure what the facts were.
So maybe sellers who cancel do already get a warning. Someone else mentioned sellers who cancel & it is their fault get a defect & too many defects and the selling account is toast anyway. A defect is a consequence & one regular sellers try to avoid.
In a perfect world, everyone would obey every law & regulation. But they don't & they won't all have the same opinion about things either. This casual seller of yours, I suspect, made a miscalculation. Should be be banned? No. We can't prove he was lying.
Should he get a warning? Yes, after a cancellation a seller should get a warning & restrictions if they repeat the mistakes.
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