New cancellation process

[vinylscot]

I have just read eBay's announcement regarding changes to the cancellation request procedures, after listings have ended.

I can see where they're coming from in trying to simplify the process, but there are a couple of aspects which make the situation worse for sellers.

If a buyer makes a cancellation request, and it is not accepted or declined within three days, eBay will now automatically accept it, so sellers will no longer have the ability to report such "buyers" as non-payers.

That seems like a carte-blanche for buyers to bid away to their hearts' content, knowing they won't need to pay, and they won't face any sanctions for not doing so. They can stick a high bid in early on an auction, knowing they don't need to pay, if it goes higher than they would like. There is nothing in eBay's announcement to suggest buyers will be monitored, or limited if they overuse/abuse this procedure.

Like their failure to do anything about retracted bids, this tilts the balance of "fairness" even further in favour of the buyer, and requires further thought/action from eBay.

[*vyolla*]

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@vinylscot wrote:

If a buyer makes a cancellation request, and it is not accepted or declined within three days, eBay will now automatically accept it, so sellers will no longer have the ability to report such "buyers" as non-payers.

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Previously, if a buyer issued a cancellation request (which they have to do within an hour of winning an auction or purchasing via Buy it Now) it meant that the seller could no longer cancel it as unpaid, so I don't see much of a difference here.

There was never anything to be gained for the seller by ignoring or declining a cancellation request, I think that eBay are just adding some clarity here.

I agree that there needs to be something in place to sanction the buyers who make a habit of cancelling, though I don't think that many will be aware that they have an hour to cancel.

[vinylscot]

However, many "buyers" submit their cancellations (some informally, by  message) well after that one-hour period has elapsed, and now they are being given much more time to do so. (Indeed -  even now you can still request a cancellation well after the one-hour limit - I purchased something on my private account on Tuesday, and the "ask for a cancellation" button is still there - the new process doesn't start until 28th August)

I think, to a certain extent, it depends how it is presented to buyers, whether it is abused or not.

The one-hour window will now go - buyers can request to cancel at any time until the item has been shipped. That may give eBay another excuse to insist on tracking numbers being added (I presume you may need to prove the item has been sent, if refusing for that reason)

I agree that most of the time it's best, as a seller, to accept cancellation requests, but I think this change opens the door for abuse of the system.

[*vyolla*]

It's not a positive change, I agree.

Personally, I feel that it adds an air of flippancy to the whole buying process.

[kempseykate]

Indeed. Now intead of putting into the basket and making a decision from there, a buyer can just 'buy' a few items, make their final decision as to which they want and cancel the rest.

[tommystrezures]

It would be useful if like with the bid retractions which you can see on a bidder via their feedback if there was a similar thing which said Bids cancelled and a number.

[a45heaven]

Transparency would be a great addition to ebay for sure - but pigs will fly before you see it here.

The platform gets worse with every dimprovement they make.

[eastern-lights]

If buyers can cancel any time up until the item has been despatched, how about, as a seller, as soon as an order comes in, mark it as despatched. Add any tracking number later.

Drawbacks?

[a45heaven]

Whilst it sounds fair in addressing the system as ebay have made it, if a buyer does not want an item, then shipping may result in an INAD and the hassle that involves.

Throw the issue of rouge members back where the problem lies - ebay for accepting them with no vetting procedure, rather than have sellers to clean up the mess.

[vintage-emporium-jedburgh]

We just cancel and move on nothing to be gained by refusing 

We have had cancellation requests saying if you dont cancel we will pay

then return  as not as described costing you time and inconvenience and money 

[eastern-lights]

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@vintage-emporium-jedburgh wrote:

We just cancel and move on nothing to be gained by refusing 

We have had cancellation requests saying if you dont cancel we will pay

then return  as not as described costing you time and inconvenience and money 

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I think I would have reported that. After cancelling and blocking.

[vintage-emporium-jedburgh]

Reporting  to ebay is even more of a waste of effort 😂 

[martinhopkins58]

After many years of selling I have never had a cancellation. In the past three weeks, I have had instant cancellations on four occasions. People are taking the p**s now. All I can do is accept the cancellation and block them. Problem is eBay will only allow 5000 blocks!!

[andybrussell]

We also experience the same. 

I think the problem is, once a buyer decides to buy our item, once they get the check out and make the payment eBay present them with a list of other sellers they could have bought the item from.

If we sell an item for say £5 and after paying eBay show the buyer they could have bought the same item from another seller for £4.50 then allot of buyers will simply cancel and purchase from another seller.

After paying for promoted listings to get the buyers to our listing, then the final falue fee on the sale, its a bit of a pee take that eBay show buyers alternative sellers after the buyer has paid, selling the same product.

[johnwash1]

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@andybrussell wrote:

We also experience the same. 

I think the problem is, once a buyer decides to buy our item, once they get the check out and make the payment eBay present them with a list of other sellers they could have bought the item from.

If we sell an item for say £5 and after paying eBay show the buyer they could have bought the same item from another seller for £4.50 then allot of buyers will simply cancel and purchase from another seller.

After paying for promoted listings to get the buyers to our listing, then the final falue fee on the sale, its a bit of a pee take that eBay show buyers alternative sellers after the buyer has paid, selling the same product.

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Which seems bad business for ebay, because they'll get lower fees.  Or will they?  Perhaps they only show cheaper items where the potential fees are structured differently and work out higher?

[dwtrading2015]

This one irritates the hell out of me.  As a buyer I always wonder why these cheaper search hits never appeared in the original results.  As a seller, I don't see how often it happens but I'm sure it does.  eBay gazumping.  

[andybrussell]

The listings that are presented to buyers after already checking out are PPC promotions, so potentially if a selller uses advance promotions (pay per click) they are paying to get the customer to their listing, once the customer is on their listing and purchases the item eBay then shows them other listings from sellers using PPC which could be cheaper.

If a buyer cancels their order and you refund you get your standard fees back but eBay do not refund the PPC fee. Very unethical if you ask me.

[rayman_1701]

I had something somewhat similar to this a few weeks ago. Though it was for an auction item I had running, the buyer was the only bidder. Asked me the next day to cancel: "because I found the same item cheaper on Facebook marketplace and paid for that". When I said no and pointed them to the Ebay page stating a bid on auction if a committment to buy if won, they then complained everyone else lets them do that without issue, and I was in the wrong.

Couldn't directly report them for non-payment as their cancelation request meant I couldn't cancel it for non-payment. Ebay site error: "Because a cancelation request has already been made." Which is wild and also open to abuse.

Sorted it via support and they got a non-payment strike, blocked them anyway of course.

[atlasshruugged]

Once Ebay implement one of their 'improvements', I don't think I can recall a time when they revisit and refine it unfortunately. 

This one does, on first read, seem like another nail in the coffin for, particularly,  smaller sellers who use the site but this has appeared to have been the direction of travel now for some time. 

Can you imagine real auction houses allowing amd making it easier for people to bid for and win items, on many occasions, outbidding others in the process, and then just deciding to renege on the legal agreement they have entered? No, don't think so.      

[baz000000]

I have become very sceptical about eBay over recent years with their ever increasing fees and expanding list of paid for services to boost sales over other hapless eBay sellers. I see this as just yet another revenue earner with all those retained listing fees on cancelled sales.