Seller cancelled order without my permission

[yokkiber25]

Netgear Wifi Range Extender

The seller cancelled my order without my permission and I can't seem to find way to leave feedback. I did NOT request to cancel the purchase. I won the auction for $33, and the options were an additional $15.35 for shipping, or free local pickup. I messaged him for local pickup as I was only a short drive away. He refused saying it was not available - that I would have to pay for shipping. I pointed out he was mistaken and offered the local pickup option in the listing. I was flexible and told him I was prepared to wait until a day it was convenient for him. But I said I would not have bid on the item in the first place with that additional postage cost.

I accepted it was possible he did not intend to offer local pickup. But I pointed out that he would still get $33 in the end whether I paid for postage or not, as postage is only supposed to reimburse the seller for shipping costs, not for a profit. The seller was rude and made a smart alec comment saying words to the effect of "if you still want this item, go to JB HI FI (a lot more expensive there)". For some reason I cannot find the option to leave feedback. I am disappointed we could not come to an agreement and he just canned it all, seemingly with no consequence.

Please help I'm fairly new to ebay, so not sure how to proceed. I really just want to leave a reasonable, factually based feedback comment. Something like, "rude seller, and cancelled my order without permission"

[lyndal1838]

Just a tip as you are new to the boards.....once you have started a thread it is open to anyone to post on it for as long as there is anything to be discussed.  It can even be dragged up months/years later if anyone so desires.

You cannot stop this even if you don't come back.

Take it from someone who has been buying on ebay for a good many years....your seller is not the norm for ebay sellers.....you have been unlucky.

But you do need to be a bit flexible and ignore some behaviours that you dislike if it is going to mean a successful transaction without unpleasantness.

[tazzieterror]

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@yokkiber25 wrote:

Update:
Somehow the feedback has been removed. It was definitely there intially I checked, the feedback score went down.

...

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I actually had a chat with eBay about this issue today, as I'd noticed it happening elsewhere.  For the moment, negs are automatically removed for transactions that meet certain (flawed) criteria, as eBay assumes it's a COVID related issue.

I won't provide further details here, but I showed the CS agent some examples and they agreed it's been poorly implemented.

This is one instance where the scales have been tipped in favour of the seller...a rare thing on eBay.

[digital*ghost]

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@tazzieterror wrote:
Hey digi, this seller seems to be well aware of how to edit the postage and pickup options, as evidenced by their completed listings. I don't believe offering pickup was unintended here.

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When I looked last night, they had relisted the item (with pick up) then ended it shortly thereafter, and it hasn't been relisted since (they cited an error in the listing or somesuch), and none of the other items I looked at had pick up as an option in the listing (I looked at about 6 from memory, skipped over doubles - which others had pick up as an option, in case I'm just being blind?).

I mentioned I didn't want to defend the seller as such because I'm aware there are multiple possibilities or reasons why the seller might have wanted to withdraw from the sale, some of which are much less defensible than they couldn't offer pick up, but I also didn't want to throw possibile reasons to criticise the seller when they were primarily just that, theorised possibilities. There are also plenty that can easily be defended - eg the seller is listing on the behalf of someone else, and in some cases pick-up is available, in other cases not, but it's not helpful to theorise unless someone is specifically looking for possible justifications of one thing or another. 

At the end of the day, I just saw that the seller couldn't (or wouldn't) provide the option the buyer wanted, and the buyer didn't want any other options, so while they didn't give "permission" for the seller to withdraw from the sale, they didn't really give the seller any other option, either. (My initial purpose for posting was to highlight permission is not required - I disliked the use of the word, if I'm being honest, was tired and too tetchy to be on the boards   )

[yokkiber25]

I thought I wouldn't come back on this thread but I changed my mind. Just an update today - I have won a similar item, slightly less valuable but won for $20.50 + $9 postage so pretty happy with that. I don't anticipate any issues this time.

I agree from a rational perspective in terms of last night's mishap, your last paragraph is absolutely correct. Since I wanted to pay $33 without shipping costs, and he wouldn't offer that, the simplest solution was to cancel. I think looking back the real reasons I was shi++y were because:

1) $33 was below market value even for a used item, and I believed it would be difficult to snag another good deal

2) He just blindsided me with the cancellation without asking me first, and I couldn't leave feedback.  If he had asked me first, there was a chance I might have paid the $48, I don't know. But if I chose to cancel mutually, I wouldn't have been so agitated.

3) The seller was rude and sarcastic - words to the effect of "fine I've cancelled your order. If you still want one they are available at JB, go there, best of luck with a deal" (it's way more expensive there, even with the extra $15 shipping). This comment was made after he blindsided me with the cancellation. He never apologised for accidentally offering the wrong option in the listing and the inconvenience to me.

[yokkiber25]

And of course my mind went to all sorts of assumptions which are theoretically possible but unfair to assume, but they felt very real in the middle of being angry, especially after my previous frustration selling. I concluded everyone was dishonest to me because I'm new. E.g. Thinking the real reason he cancelled was because $33 was too low for him and just made up a convenient excuse as to why it couldn't go ahead. But stepping back I see it differently now. While it is true in my opinion that $33 is a bargain and I would personally have started the auction higher, I can't assume he thought likewise and it's purely speculative.

In the end I chose to let it go and I'm glad I did, I regained my focus, scored a deal equally good, perhaps even better.

[tazzieterror]

There are some wireless in-ear headphones listed multiple times with pickup as an option (e.g. 283845570695). I'm actually seeing less completed listings tonight than I did when I checked last night - I know I spotted at least a couple of of listings with pickup (not including the relists) but can only see the earphones now.

I realise you were providing a balanced view and not necessarily defending the seller; I just wanted to point out that that the variation in charges and pickup/no pickup options seems to indicate to me a seller who is likely active in adjusting postage options.

[tazzieterror]

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@yokkiber25 wrote:

And of course my mind went to all sorts of assumptions which are theoretically possible but unfair to assume, but they felt very real in the middle of being angry, especially after my previous frustration selling. I concluded everyone was dishonest to me because I'm new. E.g. Thinking the real reason he cancelled was because $33 was too low for him and just made up a convenient excuse as to why it couldn't go ahead. But stepping back I see it differently now. While it is true in my opinion that $33 is a bargain and I would personally have started the auction higher, I can't assume he thought likewise and it's purely speculative.

In the end I chose to let it go and I'm glad I did, I regained my focus, scored a deal equally good, perhaps even better.

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It's good you were able to find another option. The selling price for any given model of wifi (or even computer) gear can vary a *lot* depending on a range of factors - a bargain will always pop up again as long as you're willing to wait. 

I actually think your gut reaction was probably right and $33 was too low for the seller.  It's interesting they don't have it listed for sale anymore.  Could also be they sold it through another site and forgot to cancel the auction - that's happened to me quite a few times.

You'll sometimes get sellers who aren't happy with an auction price, make an excuse for cancelling the sale, and then you'll find the same item newly listed on Gumtree for a significantly higher price.

[yokkiber25]

Yep

[lisarunswell]

I can so understand the frustration the OP is experiencing right now. I gave up trying to sell my junk on ebay 3 weeks in due to a string of non payers and scam messages. I do use ebay for buying occasionally but not high value items. A strike is not a real consequence. I have never had a problem with a seller, but I believe OP was already agitated long before bidding on this item, due to his frustration trying to sell his items. It made last night seem like a bigger deal to him in the moment than it really was. I can see that he has since gained some perspective and has managed to turn things around today. Keep going OP, I saw your comment about giving up ebay, it's too early, most sellers are very good. I agree that being a new seller is tough though. Whatever you decide best of luck.

[digital*ghost]

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@tazzieterror wrote:
There are some wireless in-ear headphones listed multiple times with pickup as an option (e.g. 283845570695). I'm actually seeing less completed listings tonight than I did when I checked last night - I know I spotted at least a couple of of listings with pickup (not including the relists) but can only see the earphones now.

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Ah yeah, I see it now, though if I were going to staunchly defend my position (in as much as you could call it one), I could say that it's still possible the seller never knew they were offering pick-up until the first person wanted to avail themselves of this option - in current times, that is probably even less likely than it used to be for easily post-able items (copying from older listings is a great way to include things you don't mean to, as was mentioned earlier).

But I am more paunch than staunch at the moment. (Well kinda, since I went ahead and said it anyway  ). But what I mean is I'm just throwing it out there, and not invested if / where it lands, lol.  Plus I know there's still a chance it was more something like the seller saw an opportunity to try again for a better final price - I won't excuse their rudeness, either, nor the lack of an apology. Reagardless of how it came about, there would have been much better ways for the seller to handle the situation, either way.