Order Cancelled After Postage

[omgawesomeusername]

I ordered an item earlier this week, the buyer posted it on Friday. However they have now cancelled the order, issued me a refund and want me to return the item to them. They have offered to pay any costs I incur. 

My question is do I have to do this? I would really rather uncancel the order and keep the item. I feel for the seller but I also feel like seller's remorse is not my problem. 

Or if not does anyone know how to contact eBay? Have requested a callback from Ebay a few times through their AI chat but caller is always silent.

[jckl1957]

You don't have to accept the seller's cancellation of your order.

Don't do anything until you actually receive it.

Then, as long as you are happy with the item and do want to keep it, I think you should contact the seller, tell them that you plan to keep the item and offer to pay them again.

Really, you don't need to contact Ebay.  It is up to you to sort this situation out with the seller.

This is an issue I have genuinely never heard of before.

Why did the seller say they had changed their mind after posting the item to you?

[omgawesomeusername]

Yeah I'm struggling to find any existing info out there, probably because no one else would be daft enough to issue the refund before they have the item back? Around the same time as the cancellation I got a few emails from the courier saying that they'd "received [my] request to redirect to a neighbour" so I think they thought they'd be able to redirect to their own address and recall the item that way. 

They said the item actually belongs to their sister and that the sister changed her mind and wanted to keep it at the last minute. To be honest it was a really good deal on a pretty hard to find item so an uncharitable part of me suspects they realised they could sell the item for much more than I paid. 

[m25jet]

Personally I feel that if the seller was willing to sell you the item to start with and you paid for the item in full, then from that point onwards the item became your property, in which case the seller had no right to try to pull out of the deal.  Even if the seller did have some genuine regrets about selling the item after you had bought it, he/she would need your permission to cancel the sale, although to be honest I suspect that the seller is more than likely just making up excuses to try and get the item back again, having subsequently realised that he/she could probably have sold it for a higher price than you bought it for had they not been so hasty with regards to selling the item.

As to what you do now there are two options for you to consider.  If you decide to return the item to the seller you would have to work out with him/her how to go about returning the item.  Should you decide to return the item to the seller then make sure that you tell him/her how much money you want for the return postage, having worked out in advance how much it is going to cost you so that you can charge the seller appropriately.  In this case I would not return the item until you have received a payment via PayPal for the return postage costs.

The second option for you to consider would be to stand your ground and tell the seller that you bought the item in good faith and it isn't your problem that he/she is having regrets about selling the item.  In this case just refund the seller's money and keep the item.

Should you decide to choose the second option then if the seller tries to harass you into returning the item make sure you leave appropriate negative feedback for the seller.  Just keep it short and to the point - for example, you could say something along the lines of "Shortly after purchasing the item the seller cancelled my order and, having already posted it to me, asked me to return the item once I received it.  Not exactly the best selling experience I have had on eBay."

If you also sell on the same account that you used to purchase the item then add the seller's User ID to your Blocked Bidders List and make sure to tick the box next to the option that reads "Don't Allow Blocked Buyers To Contact Me."  Given that you have recently been in a transaction with this seller the blocks will not kick in as quickly as they would have done had you never entered into the transaction but once they do kick in the seller will not be able to continually bombard you with messages, trying to pressurise you into returning the item.

[the_book_seekers]

If I were in your position I'd be waiting to see if the item arrives. It sounds like the seller has tried to monkey with delivery. 

It's  a strange one. Usually sellers who don't want to sell  at the sold price cancel before postage and don't send a refund before getting the item back. If I were to believe the story given and agreed to send it back I would expect to receive a postage label or the cost of the return postage on top of the refund. 

[jckl1957]

I agree with your opening point.  After I replied, I began to wonder if the item purchased would actually arrive.

Hopefully @omgawesomeusername will come back to the thread to tell us if they received the item and what they did.

[omgawesomeusername]

I can confirm item received, great condition and exactly as described! Surprised honestly. The seller must have been genuine

Not 100% sure what to do about it just yet. I did end up contacting eBay who told me my best option would be to hash it out with the seller but as far as eBay are concerned I do not have to send it back or pay for it. I'm not going to do that, but I do feel really guilty 😭 the seller types like they are very young, the account has never sold anything before, I think they are probably a new adult and genuinely didn't realise you can't sell something and then change your mind and ask for it back. 

Still undecided for now but the seller looks to have been legit, probably inexperienced and a tiny bit naive

[m25jet]

It's not your fault if the seller sold you something and later came to regret selling the item.  It doesn't matter how old the seller is, once the buyer has paid for the item it is no longer the seller's property and they are contractually obliged to proceed with the sale.  Personally I wouldn't give in to the seller's bleating about the item and allegations that it belongs to his/her sister - the seller probably just realised that he/she could have sold it for more and is now regretting letting it go so cheaply.  Don't be guilt tripped into agreeing to send it back to the seller - you bought the item in good faith and are under no obligation to return it.

With regards to your observation that the seller types as though they are very young, either they really are very young and didn't fully realise the implications of what they were getting into, or it is just a very manipulative attempt by the seller to mislead you into believing that they truly didn't understand what they were getting into in the hope that you will give in to them and return the item.  Either way, if I were the buyer I would not be returning the item under any circumstances.