Won Auction & Paid for item. Then seller cancels transaction! :(

[be-like-water]

I won an auction and paid immediately. A few days later I received notification from eBay that the order had been cancelled, with zero communication from the seller.

Naturally I was quite annoyed and sent a message questioning the cancellation, to which the seller replied that the item was no longer available.

Is a seller allowed to put an item up for auction if it is unavailable?

Personally, I suspect that she wasn't happy with the amount it sold for....

I did receive a refund, but I am unable to leave any feedback for the transaction.

Surely the seller shouldn't be able to get away with that.... People are going to be swindled left and right if seller's are able to just cancel because they're unhappy with the outcome of an auction 😕

Is there anything I can do, to warn others of this seller's shadiness?

[curraone]

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@be-like-water wrote:

I won an auction and paid immediately. A few days later I received notification from eBay that the order had been cancelled, with zero communication from the seller.

Naturally I was quite annoyed and sent a message questioning the cancellation, to which the seller replied that the item was no longer available.

Is a seller allowed to put an item up for auction if it is unavailable?

Personally, I suspect that she wasn't happy with the amount it sold for....

I did receive a refund, but I am unable to leave any feedback for the transaction.

Surely the seller shouldn't be able to get away with that.... People are going to be swindled left and right if seller's are able to just cancel because they're unhappy with the outcome of an auction 😕

Is there anything I can do, to warn others of this seller's shadiness?

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Nobody's being swindled left and right - you received a refund.     As will any other buyer when the purchase is cancelled.

The seller cannot be made to sell.    We don't know what the reason might be.

[be-like-water]

I appreciate that the seller cannot be made to sell and that there is no way of knowing what the reason for cancelling the transaction may be, however zero communication and the recall of an item that I committed time and energy to securing and paying for, meanwhile writing off alternative possibilities to commit to purchasing this seller's auction item, is essentially the issue here.  Where is the duality? If I am expected to commit to the item, why is the seller not expected to do the same? I cannot just change my mind at the end of the auction and refuse to purchase it, so why is it ok for the seller to essentially do the equivalent? In that sense, people are 'swindled' by having their efforts in chasing auction items abused by unreliable sellers. There is no harm in human error, of course, but if that is the case, where is the communication? Communication is a key factor in feedback scores. A simple message explaining the problem would have saved all this frustration and I wouldn't have given two hoots about it. It would have just been tough bikkies and we would all go about our lives as normal. Instead, I committed, paid and days later had a void transaction without any explanation. The only reason I got any indication of the reason for cancellation was because I messaged her to ask what had happened.

I just wanted to know whether there was a way to leave feedback of the event for others to be wary of the possibility that this could happen. In other words, if you commit to this item, bid and win, it could all be a complete waste of your time. Consumers have a right to be informed of a seller's performance, surely?

[collect247]

You need to agree or disagree to the cancellation and you get 10 days to decide this,if you don't agree then the seller doesn't receive their FVFs back.I think that you can leave feedback and the seller can also leave feedback and so you should,there should also have been a reason as to why the seller cancelled the transaction.

[be-like-water]

Yes, that's what I thought, too, but it seems that because the refund was put through before I'd even heard of the cancellation that I've had no say in anything. I didn't have to agree. There was no 'settlement' period, so to speak and no explanation until I sent a private message asking for the information. Has eBay changed things again, perhaps??

Thanks for your response 🙂

[be-like-water]

When I say 'I didn't have to agree', I mean that I wasn't given the opportunity to either agree or dispute it, it just happened without any input from my end. I don't think I'm explaining myself very well. I'm not peeved that the seller had to cancel. It's not the first time I've had a transaction cancelled and I've been in the seller's position before, too. It's the process by which it was cancelled.

Surely I'm not the only one thinks this is poor practice? 

[black*poppy]

How did the seller manage to do that? I've only seen the system as Collective described. Were they a big powerseller?

[springyzone]

whimsical said:

I cannot just change my mind at the end of the auction and refuse to purchase it, so why is it ok for the seller to essentially do the equivalent?

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Actually yes, a buyer can just change their mind and refuse to pay after they win an auction. Many do just that.

It doesn't make it right, but it happens just as often as a seller cancels out, I would imagine.

[wildviolet]

To th3e best of my knlwledge...If a buyer refuses to pay, the buyer risks receiving an unpaid item strke.

If a seller refuses to sell ie cancels the transaction without buyer's consent...which is possible when using the Canacelling a Transaction process set out on eBay

  Help-Selling and Seller Fees-Resolving Seller Problems-Cancelling A Transaction...I imagine the seller would receive a "defect" on their account...for whatever reason they give eBay for not selling...

[be-like-water]

Ditto. I truly have no idea and can't find any helpful information anywhere. When I go to my Purchase Summary and click on the 'see cancel details' link in the drop down for the order, all it shows is 'The seller has cancelled your order' and shows the refund amount. There isn't a reason in sight. It's bizarre. She is not a big powerseller, either.