Request to cancel a purchase

[bookvasity]

I recently had someone with no previous feedback score buy a book from me. I sent the invoice for payment and after a day received an email stating he/she does "not want to purchase the item due to personal problems" and request I cancel the sale.

I sent an email saying that Ebay rules do not permit me to cancel their purchase and that they had to do that themselves.

In the email I also asked what sort of personal problem could cause the purchase to not be completed. I have not received a reply yet.

I now notice the buyer has (1) feedback score. Given by a seller from US for the purchase of the same book the buyer wants to cancel from me.

Could experienced sellers advise me on what is a best course of action, please, I should take, if any...

Should I do nothing and leave it up to the buyer and/or Ebay to sort it out?

[peternt2001]

What will you get out of it either way, you lodge a non payer dispute, they will get a strike and you will still be without a sale. You lodge a mutual cancellation and you will be without a sale.

If it had been someone with lots of feedback, a long term ebay membership and should have known better i would say lodge as a non paying buyer.

Seeing as they " may " be a newbie who doesnt have too much of a clue, i would be leaning towards giving them the benefit of the doubt.

We have all heard about people not knowing how this really works and bidding on the same item multiple times not knowing they may win more than once.

It may not be the case of them being a newbie they could be an old timer under a new name i dont know.

But if you give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe send them an email explaining you could have had them issued with a strike, but because they are new you wont and hope they learn a little more about ebay before buying.

You may end up with a potential future loyal customer from your understanding and customer service. ( thats if you want them )

[***super_nova***]

I would message them that the mutual cancellation is coming and explain that they need to click on the AGREE link to finalise the transaction and to be let off the hook.

If he was not a newbie, he would have known that postage cost from USA will most likely negate any advantage of lower price.  It is also possible he bid on both thinking he will be lucky to get one.

I did that when I first joined eBay and desperately needed a dog crate, and was getting outbid the whole week.  Finally, there were 2 finishing only seconds apart,  so no time to bid on the second if I lost the first.  And none in the right size listed for days, so I bid on both, and won both, and paid for both.  Fortunately, a friend wanted one as well, so I was able to sell it to her for what I paid for it. 🙂

[protect*the*innocent]

If a buyer takes the time to communicate with the seller to request a mutual cancellation --- the best response is to offer the request to mutually cancel.

Save the unpaid disputes for the buyers who fail to pay or even bother to communicate (these are the real time wasters!).

If a seller feels unduly annoyed just add the buyer's ID to the blocked bidder list.