Buyer Cancellation and eBay response/process

[tzuwo-66]

eBay's navigation is atrocious, I opened a topic on community.ebay.com already on this here (https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Buyer-remorse/td-p/31502581), but I just found this discussion forum too and thought I'll share what's happening so far with my issue. Will keep it updated along with the other thread.

Before reading:

I know the path of least resistance is Cancel Transaction with Buyer Requested as reason, but I'm curious to see eBay's process and whether their Help page is actually correct. So here goes...

Issue Summary (TL;DR):

• Buyer wants to cancel transaction due to buyer remorse.
• I ask for Buyer-initiated cancellation or I can open Unpaid Item Case in 4 days as per "Cancel an order"
• Buyer went silent and left negative fake feedback without payment.
• Contacted Chat with *redacted* on 9th January 2021 ~11:50:00 AEDST
• *redacted* was unable to help. Redirected me to open Seller Help case on Negative Feedback.
• Opened negative feedback case.
• Case got rejected "Due to Technical Error" and told me to go back to Customer Service.

Oddity:

• When I goto transaction cancellation for that item, it said it was cancelled already when I have never confirmed a cancellation.
• When I click View Cancel Details, it takes me to an error page saying "This listing has been removed, or this item is not available."
• I still see the transaction in my Seller Dashboard and able to ask payment, masked as paid etc

Issue (in full):

• No payment from Buyer for over 24hour.
• Sent payment reminder ~30hours after Auction Ended.
• Buyer says his PayPal got hacked and wants to cancel.
• I replied he can open another PayPal with a new email.
• Buyer replies he wants to cancel transaction as he found cheaper elsewhere.
• I asked for buyer-initiated cancellation or I can open Unpaid Item Case in 4 days.
• Buyer did not reply and left a negative fake feedback.
• Opened a discussion on community.ebay.com (https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Buyer-remorse/td-p/31502581)
• Contacted Chat with *redacted* on 9th January 2021 ~11:50:00 AEDST
• *redacted* was unable to help. Redirected me to open Seller Help case on Negative Feedback.
• Opened negative feedback case and reported *redacted* for breaking eBay policy.
• Negative feedback case got rejected "Due to Technical Error" and told me to come back to Customer Service.
• Made second report on *redacted* for non-payment.

[digital*ghost]

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@tzuwo-66 wrote:

As per "Buyers don't have all the power, eBay does, and they favour buyers in most cases", is what I meant as "Buyer > Seller" as this is eBay's platform. So we're in agreement here.

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The distinction I made is actually really helpful to understand when dealing with ebay, and buyers.

Customer service always contains a level of lip service - it's higher with some businesses than others, but it's a useful tool to bring a situation around to the outcome you want, without triggering certain responses from buyers and / or eBay. In short, it's about learning to play the game with the rules that are in place, and without being "carded", so to speak.

As for the whole cancellation thing, sometimes it helps to read the help pages designed for the buyer, not the seller, however I should note that ebay gives absolutely terrible advice on this page about paying for items they want to cancel regardless:

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/buying/getting-started/cancel-order?id=4004

[tzuwo-66]

Of course it's gross. But none the less, it is what I felt after I've been told I'm at the wrong after listing out my sequence of events multiple times previously.

I still don't understand why I'm at the wrong for sending a reminder and telling buyer he can still open another PayPal if he want the item. Perhaps this is the mentality I should have if I want to sell anything on eBay? If buyer have any sense of transaction cancellation. Oblige?

Edit: Just saw your second reply. Yes I agree there. Make sense. Thanks for that.

[tzuwo-66]

Final Update.

• Negative Feedback Case got rejected due to "Technical Issue please contact Customer Service". Yes, that is literally what it says.
• The first CS representative brick-walled my attempt at trying to rectify this as I was given "any notion to alter feedback is final", ie. "Technical Issue" is a final justification that my feedback is fixed.
• Second CS representative gave the same response
• Third CS representative finally saw my case and went talking to his/her supervisor during Chat. Immediately my case was reviewed and negative feedback removed.

Tips for any other seller in future.

• Cancel as per Buyer request as per discussion. This is eBay's playground, eBay favours Buyer.
• I don't know if buyer is able to leave review after seller-cancellation, but I heard on buyer-initiated cancellation, they won't be.
• Buyer CAN leave feedback whether they've paid or not
• Customer Service CAN help with feedback if you're clearly at the right and persistent enough

[digital*ghost]

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@tzuwo-66 wrote:

Of course it's gross. But none the less, it is what I felt after I've been told I'm at the wrong after listing out my sequence of events multiple times previously.

I still don't understand why I'm at the wrong for sending a reminder and telling buyer he can still open another PayPal if he want the item. Perhaps this is the mentality I should have if I want to sell anything on eBay? If buyer have any sense of transaction cancellation. Oblige?

Edit: Just saw your second reply. Yes I agree there. Make sense. Thanks for that.

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No one is saying you were wrong - or at the very least, I'm not - what I'm saying is that the buyer's response could have been predicted.

Perhaps it just comes from experience, but the second a buyer indicates in any way, shape or form they want out of a transaction, as long as the order hasn't been sent, I let them out, for my own sake. If they change their mind later, if they really were experiencing problems that get resolved etc, they can always come back and say "I'm ready to buy now".

Sure, sometimes it grates, especially if I think they're lying to me about the reason why, but by and large their reason (eg "I was hacked, my toddler was playing with my phone, I had a heart attack and I'm currently in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy, the neighbours cat was chasing a mouse and jumped through my window and landed on my keyboard while I was browsing eBay"....whatever),  is irrelevant, only the desired outcome is what's relevant. 

I'm not saying these things so you can apply them to your current situation, though, I'm saying these things so you can apply them if it ever happens again. 

[tzuwo-66]

Regardless, I felt discouraged as I thought I was being helpful.

It again reminds me of videos where people would not help someone on the street simply because it's a bother or they might get scammed, then onlookers say "you were too pushy for trying to help out"

But I digress.

Lesson learnt and thanks again for clarifying ghost, it's helpful. It pains me to hear "outcome is what's relevant" but none the less, that's the truth in a lot of things in life.

[digital*ghost]

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@tzuwo-66 wrote:

It pains me to hear "outcome is what's relevant" 

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It shouldn't, it's just another way of saying "solve the right problem".

That is, if a buyer says "I want to cancel, I was hacked", you solve the cancellation problem, not the hacking problem, because if the buyer wanted you to solve the hacking problem, they wouldn't have asked to cancel, they would have asked how else they could pay, or for more time to pay. 

This shouldn't draw any parallels to someone asking for help and not getting it, unless it's to the buyer asking for help to cancel, and not getting that, if you really want to draw such comparisons.

[lyndal1838 · Accepted solution]

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@tzuwo-66 wrote:

Tips for any other seller in future.

• Cancel as per Buyer request as per discussion. This is eBay's playground, eBay favours Buyer.
• I don't know if buyer is able to leave review after seller-cancellation, but I heard on buyer-initiated cancellation, they won't be.
• A review is not the same as feedback.  A review is in connection with the item but feedback is about the transaction.
• It is my understanding that feedback can still be left when a cancellation is done but it cannot be left (or will be removed) if a UPI dispute is opened and subsequently closed.
• Buyer CAN leave feedback whether they've paid or not
• Correct but can be removed if the buyer states they did not pay.  However, this scenario is one where a UPI should be opened if thy have not paid.
• Customer Service CAN help with feedback if you're clearly at the right and persistent enough

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Also, with regards to opening a new paypal account if you have had one hacked.

It is not as easy as just a new email address, although this is the criteria for an ebay account.

A new paypal account requires new bank accounts, debit cards, credit cards.....the whole works.   You cannot use the same bank/card details on both accounts.

[tzuwo-66]

Ah, I didn't know that regarding PayPal as it's been a while since I signed up. Thanks for clarifying!

[tzuwo-66]

That makes sense actually. My mistake. Perhaps it really is Murphy's Plough... Sigh...