Cancellation by Buyer

[*rikishiphatu*]

A Buyer bought an item from me on Friday which was not paid for.

Ebay has kindly been sending reminders that they need to pay.

The item was a Buy Now and then Saturday I get a request to cancel the transaction with no explanation as to why.

I checked the feedback of this person - they are a "new" buyer (and Seller) but even with 100% feedback (given Seller's aren't allowed to give negative feedback anymore I believe), there are a least 3 Sellers who have advised this is a bad Buyer - stating that they haven't been paid and no communication.

I am rather annoyed given that I don't even get an explanation and given the other feedback provider is this person a "habitual canceller".

Should I just cancel the transaction or ask them for a reason why they want to cancel or lodge a dispute for payment with Ebay - this doesn't happen to me often so I wonder if it is worth the angst.

[pennyforum14]

There are two schools pf thought on this one;

A.  If she is a habitual canceller, then you are better off without her, so you could agree to the cancellation, but make sure you keep the email in which she asked to do so, in case you need it to argue any defect you might receive, and make sure when you cancel the transaction that you select BUYER CHANGED MIND as the reason, to avoid the defect in the first place.  Once cancelled, relist your item and add her name to your blocked buyer's list.

B. As she purchased on Friday you will need to wait until exactly four days have passed (to the second), then open an unpaid item dispute.  This is the only way to ensure she gets a strike for her habitual actions, and once two sellers have done this she will find the range of sellers she is able to do this to severely curtailed.  You can close the dispute in a further four days (unless she pays, in which case I would recommend signature on delivery to prevent her claiming the parcel didn't arrive).  You will receive your fees back and can then relist.

Can I just add, PLEASE GO WITH B.

PS.  Also make sure you have your buyer preferences set to block buyers with 2 or more strikes in the last 6 months.

[curraone]

I agree, there are two methods.     I would not be agreeing if the buyer has not given sufficient reason and you can see that they have done it before.   In those instances, I find the following advice good:

WISHING TO CANCEL  thanks to kopenhagen5 25 may 2013

http://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Selling/Lame-excuses-from-buyers/m-p/341707#M30699

Dear xxxxxxx

Sure, no problem. I understand you would prefer to cancel your purchase.

The method I use for closing a transaction is to follow the case procedure through ebay, hence you will still have the opportunity to purchase by paying within 4 days. Should you still wish to cancel the transaction, simply ignore the case and I shall close it on day 4. This then ensures that my ebay fees are credited back to my account. Thank you for your understanding.

Kind regards,

Open a non paying case, this way buyer gets a strike against their account and you are ensured of getting fees back.

If you send a cancellation he may not tick it and you will need to wait 7 days anyway before it's cancelled and you can relist. If he ticks non acceptance, you don't get the fees back and you can no longer open a case.

[cq_tech]

Personally, I'd be lodging a UPI then closing it after the allowable 4 days and issuing the buyer a strike and adding them to your BBL. If other affected sellers simply cancel, this buyer will never end up being blocked so the sooner they've been given the strikes they deserve, the sooner they'll be finding it awfully hard to buy from those sellers with their blocks set properly.

[curraone]

and just to be clear, there is a new method for cancelling an order when you really want to:  no need to wait 4 days at all

 BUYER WISHES TO CANCEL – HAS NOT PAID

Thanks to fuggsy on ‎01-13-2015

To cancel an order with the new system is so simple to do... easy as and no defects or issues using it

I have done a heap of order cancellations over Christmas for both unpaid and a couple of paid orders and did a straight unpaid one 5 minutes ago and its 3 click of the mouse and NO DEFECTS

Click the down arrow and select “cancel order”

CHOOSE the reason from the drop down menu... Only 2 choices... Pick this one  The buyer asked to cancel the order...

Click continue and its all done...   and no defects  and if the customer had already paid eBay and PayPal do the refund as well and again NO defects

The emails ebay send to you and NO DEFECTS at all... NOT one

You agreed to cancel this order

Hi XXX We let the buyer know that you want to cancel this order Here's what you should do next: If the buyer paid for this order, you should refund the order total and any shipping costs. We’ll ask the buyer to confirm they received the refund.

 and then this one 

You successfully cancelled an order

Hi XXX You cancelled an order from jYYY, and we already notified them. You don't need to do anything else because the buyer hasn't paid for this order yet. You'll get a final value fee credit in your account that you can apply toward listing more items to sell on eBay.

[springyzone]

I'd be going with what some of the others have suggested.

Lodge an unpaid item dispute, don't agree to a cancellation.

It could very well be that the buyer is aware that a strike against her could affect her ability to buy from some sellers, so maybe she tries it on with a lot of people, to get them to cancel a sale rather than report her as a non payer.

Sellers can give her bad feedback with a positive dot till the cows come home and it won't make much difference except to alert other sellers after the event.

UPI-you'll get your fees back, she'll get a strike & it sounds as if she deserves one.

[curraone]

I forgot to mention - BLOCK THE BUYER 

http://pages.ebay.com.au/services/buyandsell/biddermanagement.html

[paulsurf88]

I do not list a lot these days, but when I do the amount of  non paying bidders is more than half of what I sell- eg 2 of 4 things.

I did not read the ad, its not what I want now... blah blah, at least they try and make excuses, but the process on ebay is a joke.

I just cancel it, and wait for ebay to eventually recredit their fees at least I only use free ads... so if nothing sells  I do not pay.

Ebay has lost the plot really in the years I have used it.

Wishing you good luck, I just wish honest feedback about buyers was able to be left, and they had to stick to a commitment- if the seller is at fault, fair enough.. but changing ones mind when they read postal costs or whatever-  drives me to never bother with it anymore.