Seller cancelled order for Best Offer citing item not working

[ryz05]

Hi 

I recently won a best offer an item where the item was advertised as working (and ironically had a video of the item working).

A few days later I got a message from the seller saying

"I have some bad news, I got the remote out of storage to ship it to you, but unfortunately, when I tested it, it did not work!I have put new batteries and cleaned it (no corrosion), but it still did not work!so I am going to cancel your order."

I mentioned that the item wasn't cancelled yet so please action now (which i now regret)

I later offered to purchase the item (under the idea reversal of the cancelation with a partial refund was possible) and was told;

"Hello, no I will try to fix it and relest it as working.thanks"

My first thought is that the seller had second thoughts on the price they accepted the offer for and wanted to resell for a higher price.

Is this suspiscious activity from the seller? Why not give the buyer the option of waiting for the item to be fixed, rather than re-selling.

[twyngwyn]

what is the item number?

[ryz05]

226244181966

[twyngwyn]

They could be old pics & video or they have sold off eBay or they want a higher price....you will never know unless they attempt to sell again

[ryz05]

They've openly stated they are going to relist the item.

[twyngwyn]

leave them appropriate feedback , watch their listings & move on

[gutterpunkz05]

They have given you a reason for cancelling, and they are entitled to relist, repaired or not.

They are about $12 out of pocket for ebays FVF, which will not be refunded to them.  As such one would expect any relist price to be higher to recoup fees and any repair costs.

You have no future entitlements, first offer, discount etc, in relation to the item.

[ryz05]

I've had an instance where I requested to cancel an order to a seller via m message, I I didn't initiate that on my end, so I'm assuming that seller copped fees? Seems odd doesn't it that they didn't complain doesn't it?

Not trying to vent here but I really don't understand the point of this forum. eBay staff don't obviously view it. 

I have one seller telling me to leave feedback on a cancelled item, and another exposing a loophole if I'm unsatisfied about a sale I decide to make. Because I can simply make it up and there is no way to verify it.

[ryz05]

eBay will always favor the sellers who run as a business, it is what it is. 

After some thought, going to take the high road and let it go. Left a polite and respectful message to the seller advising to take better care of inventory for the future. 

[springyzone]

We can't know exactly what happened but let's consider the option that the seller was telling the truth.

If that happened to me (as a seller) I would not be prepared to post the item off & then give a partial refund.

I'd be worried the buyer would later open a claim, stating the item was unrepairable and the ad said it was working etc etc etc

The seller could argue the buyer had been given a partial refund as compensation but the buyer could counter it with the fact they were told it was all fixable.

You as seller may be competent at fixing things but you can't assume all buyers will know what to do.

If it has a fault, the seller would be better off to fix it and advertise it then, or relist, describing the fault in detail and leaving it to a buyer to decide if they can fix it or not.

You ask why the seller could not give you the option of waiting for it to be fixed, but the clock was ticking. They only had a limited time in which to post it off to you so that you would get it before the expected delivery date & maybe they weren't keen to put themselves under pressure to do it that day or the next, maybe they thought they might need a bit of time or prefer to tackle it the following weekend or whatever. Maybe they wanted to fix, leave it a few days and re check it was still working. We don't know.

I had a look at the item number. Your seller is a steady seller, not big volume but has been on ebay long term and has a 100% rating with some great feedback.

I don't get the feel this seller would advertise as best offer and then later decide not to accept the offer, he seems more experienced than that. I'd actually be inclined to believe him, I think he has probably been honest with you.