My husband bought something the other day and the seller sent a message the next day saying that he didn't have any of that item left, had issued an immediate full refund and sent a request for cancellation. He sent the request as an item not in stock (or whatever the wording is). Of course I accepted it, but I added a message saying I hoped he didn't get a defect for that particular transaction due to eBay's defective defect system. He's a large volume seller and replied that he hadn't heard of the defect system. He checked and sure enough, he had been defected. I guess some people don't keep up to date with the latest things and maybe don't want to know. I suggested in future that he sends them as an 'other' and he was very grateful for my suggestion.
Would he still have got the defect if I didn't accept the cancellation?
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I hope this wasn't one of those sellers who are constantly refunding for items not in stock. Sellers shouldn't list what they haven't got in stock, end of story. I've made the same mistake once and I expected to pay the penalty. Too many sellers list things they don't have in stock and they think, "Oh well, I can just refund their money", so they aren't concerned with proper stock control.
A buyer might spend time in carefully comparing different sellers and choosing items so they make the most of combined postage, and then what happens when some of the items aren't available - they're stuck with buying the rest of the items from this seller and postage ends up costing more than anticipated. Then they have to buy the rest of the items from another seller and end up paying extra postage there too.
This is an instance where sellers waste a buyer's time because they list items they don't have, and it's only right that they should be penalised for it and made to toe the line.
