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@hd_dvd_man wrote:

 

1 Australian seller drop shipping from Vic when saying item was located in NSW, 7 days after I purchased I emailed them asking for a tracking number, they had advised me within 90 mins that the courier had never even picked up the item and they were investigating it.

So then I get the story of here is your tracking number and C19 something something delays.

I asked them to cancel the order but they advised me they had given me the wrong tracking number and that the item had just been picked up for delivery.

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You said that the first seller was "drop shipping from Vic". It's not something I would do (if I were a seller), but as far as I am aware, such drop shipping (aka third party fulfilment) meets the requirements in eBay's Third Party Fulfilment policy. Perhaps the seller usually has stock, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic his/her supply chain was affected, leading to the necessity of having third-party fulfilment.

It's not such egregious behaviour that I would be overly upset over it.

The incorrect tracking number being given might worry you, but I would probably give sellers some slack in these tricky times.

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@hd_dvd_man wrote:

[...] When I explained to them, they had cost me 10% discount due to paying with Afterpay and eBay providing a 10% discount promotion, I had waited 1 week for nothing and this is when the promotional code had appeared.

The response I got from the seller was, nothing to do with us, it's between eBay and Afterpay. So I paid an extra $40 for an item and waited 9 days for delivery for get this, an item that was 30 minutes away from me.

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Do you mean that after you purchased from this seller, you became aware that there was a pay-by-Afterpay-and-we'll-give-you-a-10%-discount promotion by eBay, one week later? That truly has nothing to do with the seller. A similar situation would be if you buy an item from a large company, and the day after your purchase you see that same item heavily discounted by the same company... You would NOT have the right to expect the company to refund you part of your purchase price because you could have got that discounted price had you waited before buying.

This is addressed in ACL (Australian Consumer Law) as it is an example of change-of-mind (aka buyer's remorse) post purchase. Unless the seller offers change-of-mind returns, the buyer is not entitled to a refund. A seller is able to offer a discount without that discount having to be applied retrospectively to all other purchases of that item. In addition, a platform such as eBay is able to offer a discount or voucher to buyers at any time without that discount or voucher being able to be applied to past purchases.

It can and does upset buyers to see a nice juicy discount dangling above their heads just after they've already snapped onto the hook, but that's how it is.

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@hd_dvd_man wrote:

 

[...]

I asked them to cancel the order [...]

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A seller is not obliged to cancel an order post sale. If the seller sends within their handling time, that doesn't represent a breach of eBay policy. If the item arrived no later than the latest Estimated Delivery Date, that's also not a breach of eBay policy. eBay may well have extended the delivery time to compensate somewhat for the delayed delivery timeframes resulting from COVID-19. (See eBay's Additional support during COVID-19 for buyers and sellers on eBay, and Australia Post's Coronavirus: Domestic updates for some idea of how this pandemic has impacted and continues to impact on parcel deliveries.

With regard to your second seller...

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@hd_dvd_man wrote:

 

Another seller 2 weeks after purchase still did not have item so i asked for a refund, China seller and wants me to be patient as drop ships from Australia, item should have taken 3 business days at best, 5 at worst but in the 7 emails asking for a refund I was continually told to be patient and go and check the mail box again (all emails in the same day)

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I think you may have meant "drop ships to Australia"...? You're probably talking about "just in time fulfilment" - more about that in this post. I wouldn't have ordered anything from China during these turbulent times... but I must also admit that I tend not to buy from China at all.

If you want a refund, and the item's EDD has passed, of course you can simply open an INR case and be refunded. However, you do sound somewhat impatient if it's not been much more than 5 business days. You say it "should have taken 3 business days at best". That is simply not realistic... not in these circumstances. Online businesses throughout Australia have banners on their websites reminding customers of the imapct of COVID-19 and how delivery timeframes are much longer.

We need to be a little more patient in this chaotic and frightful time, hd_dvd_man. I'm a buyer only; I do understand the wish to get things quickly, but the reality is that we must just deal with the delays without feeling that thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

To answer the main question at the start of your post... I don't think that the sellers are breaching the eBay policies.

I don't think the giving of feedback is a big deal. However, I realise that other buyers may be more attached to the whole feedback process.

I hope you haven't tried to destroy the business of the Australian seller who, in particular, does not seem to me to have deserved your animosity.

If you attempted to give negative feedback based on the seller not cancelling the transaction because you wanted a discount available after the fact, that feedback would actually have been a breach of eBay policy and that would explain why it was removed.

I suspect that the negative for the second seller would have been removed under eBay's COVID-19 support which includes this statement:

❝We're also protecting your late shipment rate, defect rate and item not received (INR) count in service metrics. For transactions between 1 March to 30 June 2020, we'll automatically remove:

• Late shipments and seller cancellation defects, along with any related negative or neutral Feedback
• Item not received count (INR) in service metrics, along with any related negative or neutral Feedback.❞

I should also mention that it's not relevant how much positive feedback you have. As a buyer, you cannot be given negative feedback, even if you were the worst buyer in the world. (Buyers can only receive positive feedback on eBay.)

In any case, I hope that your future buying is more successful and gives you a much happier experience.