Unpaid item case, not fair

[karen-1965-store]

I believe Ebay will allow a buyer to cancel an order within 1 hour, seller 30 days.

I recently bought a part for my daughters car. A friend showed up shortly after doing so and fixed the issue at no cost and without needing any parts. Within a  few hours of the purchase I very politely and sincerely contacted the seller explaining the situation and asked if he would cancel order and I offered to pay any fees incured, if any. Being on a pension I can not afford something I don't need. The seller did not reply and opened an unpaid item case.

I have been on Ebay for almost 9 years, have a history from day one of 100% feedback rating. Yes an unblemished record from day one. The seller in question has a 98% feedback rating.

I think it is very unfair given the circumstances, my long unblemished record and the fact that the seller is being very unreasonable that this single non serious issue be recorded against my account and restrictions applied. I think buyers should be allowed 1 unpaid item every year or so. 

Very very unfair. 

[padi*0409]

karen, here is the toughest requirements a seller can put in place for members with strikes against them.

[digital*ghost]

eBay allows buyers to ask to cancel, but a seller has no official obligation to agree.

The unpaid item process cancels the transaction anyway, ensures the fees they were charged for the sale are credited back, and prevents feedback being left by either party for the non-transaction - a protection some sellers will prefer.

It may not have been the 'nicest' way to deal with it, but not every decision or action made by a seller is about the buyer, especially in cases where the buyer renegs (that's what happened, regardless of the reason for it).

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@karen-1965-storewrote:

I have been on Ebay for almost 9 years, have a history from day one of 100% feedback rating. Yes an unblemished record from day one. The seller in question has a 98% feedback rating.

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I won’t comment on the other bits of your post that I have omitted, but I will comment on your unfair feedback comparison.

Why do I say unfair you might ask?  Here’s why

- We don’t know the seller f/b breakdown, like total f/b, total selling f/b, total buying f/b etc

- Your feedback can only show as 100% as you have only been a buyer these last 12 months

- If we compare your seller’s buying feedback for the last 12 months it too would be 100%

- An argument could be put that your selling feedback these last 12 months is 0%.

- We don’t know if you have rounded the seller’s feedback down to 98%, and this may make a difference

- According to the figures you have provided they sell about 80 items a year, with a total of approx selling 320 f/b.  This would mean only 1 or 2 negatives in the last 12 months, and maybe only 1 or 2 out of 320

- We don’t know if their negatives were warranted.  For all we know they are due to Aust Post slow delivery times, with a neg comment like “slow delivery”

- Based only on f/b, their total sales in 12 months is equal to about five times as many sales as you have had in 9 years.

- What we don’t know is how many times the seller gets jerked around by buyers not paying or asking for cancellations!

- Using your figures, the seller has been on eBay for less than half the time you have . . . . . . but they could have double your feedback score if they are also a buyer on eBay.

Most regular posters here have seen how f/b is not always a good indicator of a seller’s character, and you have come here and labelled the seller as being “very unreasonable” and an “unreasonable sod”.  Many that sell may have had a buyer request cancellation shortly after committing to buy in the past, and they may be posting based on their experiences and may agree with me that the character assassination is unfair.

@In a later post you wrote:

What I would like to hear is:
1) if people agree/disagree with the punishment, does it fit the crime, given my record.
2) Is the seller being unreasonable given I contacted him soon after purchase and offered to pay any fees.

My responses are:

1) Yes, the punishment fits the crime.  You don’t pay, you get a non-payer strike, regardless of your record.

2) Hard to say as we only have your version of the transaction.  I will reserve judgement for now.

[papermoon.lady]

I understand your frustration. I was once in a similar situation (I had bought an item that had stopped working, and yes, I had tried several times). Then suddenly, just hours after i had bought the new item, it started working again.

I contacted the seller explaining the situation and we agreed that they would not send it immediately and that I  would see if my item stopped working again or not.

My item is still working to this day and I have no idea what happened back then.

The seller cancelled and refunded with no problems and was very patient to wait too.

So there are no rules. It depends on the seller. I am sorry your seller didn't understand.

Maybe you can try to explain your problem to eBay?

[papermoon.lady]

I ran out of time to edit my message just when I was editing it...

So I just wanted to add (after I said "there are no rules") that a seller has the right to do what they did to you, but they don't have to. That's what I meant with "no rules". They can, but they don't have to.

[springyzone]

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@karen-1965-storewrote:

I believe Ebay will allow a buyer to cancel an order within 1 hour, seller 30 days.

I've seen people claim this a few times now but I have seen no evidence of it at all. When I buy things, I don't have any little message coming up to tell me I have one hour to change my mind. If I were you, I wouldn't take it as gospel unless one of the seller's here can point us to some link that has this in writing. Even when you make an offer on something, there is a message you can cancel in some circumstances. Those circumstances are if you typed in the wrong amount and things like that. I haven't seen it say you can just cancel for change of mind.

I have been on Ebay for almost 9 years, have a history from day one of 100% feedback rating. Yes an unblemished record from day one. The seller in question has a 98% feedback rating.

As others have explained, unless you're a seller, you can't have anything less than 100% because sellers can only give positive feedback. in the early days they could but the rules changed a few years back. You maybe haven't been on ebay long enough to realise this next bit, but if you gave some of the negs you have given to sellers back then, you would have received at least a few negs back.

I think it is very unfair given the circumstances, my long unblemished record and the fact that the seller is being very unreasonable that this single non serious issue be recorded against my account and restrictions applied.

It isn't unfair. It really has nothing to do with ebay, it is up to the individual seller and all this seller did was formally indicate that you hadn't paid. That part was true. The seller will now get most of his fees back.  It is not like one strike can affect you in any way, as others have pointed out. But if you are finding you have any restrictions, you may not realise this next bit. A seller can block any buyer for any reason. Normally of course they wouldn't because they're on here to sell. But just say you buy something and give that seller a really vicious negative. Let's say the seller doesn't think it is fair. That seller can then take your user name and put it on his/her blocked buyer list from then on. That way you won't ever be able to buy from them again.

Sellers often block buyers with 2 or more strikes or buyers who have given them trouble. But they don't have to, it is up to them whether they use those filters, so each seller is different and you as a buyer won't know what the blocks are unless you hit one.

I think buyers should be allowed 1 unpaid item every year or so. 

And which seller do you think that should be allowed with? It's not like you're buying from ebay, they are all independent sellers.

Ebay though is in charge of your account, so as others have explained, you're in fact given 2 unpaid item strikes before your account will be affected with some sellers.

Very very unfair. 

Look, it isn't unfair as such. it's justice but it's not mercy. 

This might be the first time in 9 years you haven't paid for an item but for all we know, your poor seller might strike a non payer every week & just be sick of it, so carry through with an unpaid item claim as they know that that way they definitely get most of their fees refunded. Perhaps if you were a regular seller you might eventually do the same.

Really, as a buyer, you don't have to worry. No one can force you to pay anything, one strike alone won't hurt you. No one can see your strike. You've got your wish. Ebay has in effect granted you a free strike every year.

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[kopenhagen5]

Sellers are charged fees immediately an item sells.

When it's buyer changed mind, the seller is not obligated to cancelling.

If you don't want the unpaid on your account perhaps you should pay for the item and resell it yourself.

Besides you are incorrect, buyers DO get one 1 unpaid per year as others have mentioned.

[papermoon.lady]

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@kopenhagen5wrote:

Sellers are charged fees immediately an item sells.

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The OP said she had told the seller she would pay any fees the seller would incur though...

[digital*ghost]

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@papermoon.ladywrote:

I understand your frustration. I was once in a similar situation (I had bought an item that had stopped working, and yes, I had tried several times). Then suddenly, just hours after i had bought the new item, it started working again.

I contacted the seller explaining the situation and we agreed that they would not send it immediately and that I  would see if my item stopped working again or not.

My item is still working to this day and I have no idea what happened back then.

The seller cancelled and refunded with no problems and was very patient to wait too.

So there are no rules. It depends on the seller. I am sorry your seller didn't understand.

Maybe you can try to explain your problem to eBay?

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Canceling and refunding was the only choice your seller had, though. An unpaid item was off the table, so the only alternative was sending the item to a buyer who clearly indicated they didn't want it anymore, or if they were rude about it, a neg for their troubles. 

Personally, I cancel transactions whenever a buyer asks me to, often with much inner chagrin (especially when the request comes literally seconds after payment) but always service with a smile 😉

But it's not unfair to open an unpaid item case on an unpaid item, it's a process available to sellers to void a transaction that's not going to be paid for with the least risk to themselves. 

[digital*ghost]

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@springyzonewrote:

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@karen-1965-storewrote:

I believe Ebay will allow a buyer to cancel an order within 1 hour, seller 30 days.

I've seen people claim this a few times now but I have seen no evidence of it at all. When I buy things, I don't have any little message coming up to tell me I have one hour to change my mind. If I were you, I wouldn't take it as gospel unless one of the seller's here can point us to some link that has this in writing. Even when you make an offer on something, there is a message you can cancel in some circumstances. Those circumstances are if you typed in the wrong amount and things like that. I haven't seen it say you can just cancel for change of mind.

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That was a policy introduced on the US site - it never made its way here - and it still came through to the seller as a request which they could accept or decline, and was only available if the order hadn't shipped. It'd be nice if the policy came here, TBH, because if a seller cancels a transaction at buyer request, it blocks FB (see spoiler and link). 

I sometimes get messages with the heading "Request to cancel order", so I think there may be something in the messaging topics that refers to it, but it doesn't work the same way as it does over there, sadly. 

Spoiler

Buyer-requested cancellations (US site)

If a buyer has contacted you and asked you to cancel the order, they’ll need to file a cancellation request with you.

Once you receive their request, you’ll have 3 days to approve or decline it. If you approve it and the buyer has already paid for the item, you have 10 days to issue them a refund. If you haven’t refunded them within 10 days, they can file a claim through the eBay Money Back Guarantee.

When a buyer cancels a transaction, they can't leave negative or neutral feedback or low detailed seller ratings for you.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/cancelling-transaction?id=4136#section2