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.

[martmarg41]

We're reaching out to let you know that today, we're launching an update that will simplify the order cancellation process for both sellers and buyers.

What's new

Buyers now have the option to request an order cancellation using the Cancel order button before the item is marked as dispatched.

I usually pay for my postage (through Evri or Parcelforce) the night before I dispatch the next morning. Only when taken to Parcelshop/Post Office do I mark as dispatched and add tracking number. How is this going to help me as a seller if the buyer can cancel after I have paid for postage?

One solution would be to 'Mark as dispatched' as soon as payment made but this will likely result in more INAD claims.

I am another seller Ebay are going to lose very soon.

[sellingmystuff642]

Funnily enough I have had a cancellation just this morning. Coincidence? Buyers don't seem to have to give a reason for cancelling despite ebay stressing in the past that a purchase was a binding contract. Some issues can be easily resolved - someone once wanted to cancel because they had the wrong address on file - but unless you know the reason you can't do anything about it.

[leon9503]

I've had that happen to me twice recently and as it's obviously a lie I'll not buy from those sellers again.

[dwtrading2015]

One evolution on many sites that offered cancellation in order to give confidence to a buyer they could change their mind was the adding of a non-refundable admin type fee.  It stopped people repeatedly abusing the cancel system whilst allowing genuine people a minor cost withdrawl.  This has sprung up on a lot of booking sites to stop people clogging up on speculative reservations whilst continuing searching over weeks and months for better deals (guilty). 

On selling platforms, this also stops buying of individual listed items whilst searching for a lower price or pitching offers and waiting for responses.  If eBay buyers had to pay a £1 reservation fee which was non-refundable, it would stop the carpetbaggers pretty quickly.  I expect this new system to simply allow more people to abuse the system.  And any claim people are abusing the system will be sanctioned, well I think we all know what that is really worth!!!!!

[eastern-lights]

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@leon9503 wrote:

I've had that happen to me twice recently and as it's obviously a lie I'll not buy from those sellers again.

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Assuming you mean you have twice recently been unable to cancel Ebay purchases because the items have been marked as despatched, then as a serial canceller you will be doing the sellers a favour by not "buying" from them again. Though I suspect you may find you've been blocked anyway.

[seacave-5]

Well said.

Ebay seems to always favour the buyer!  You can't give a buyer a bad review.

I am dismayed about this news because as you said this opens up the oppurtunity to place a bid even though you may not be sure if you want it or not as being a 'watcher' did. So  a buyer can place a bid right away without fear of having to pay for it and without any recourse from the seller to report them.  It gives the winning bidder 4 days to cancel it without penalty and the seller has to relist. Too much time wasted for the sellers on ebay trying to sell their goods and for ebay having to wait for a successful sale.

[seacave-5]

Hi

I never print a postage label ( thus dispatched) without payment first.

[tranceenthusiast]

Can they cancel after they have paid? What happens if the seller is on their way to dispatch and they buyer hits cancel? lol Buyer gets the item for free. Ha ha. 

Edit ; just got the email. Seems nothing has changed except adding a cancel button request for the buyer.Seller has full control to either accept or decline. 

[martmarg41]

"Seller has full control to either accept or decline. "

Not much control for seller. If declined and posted the buyer will just open an INAD claim and seller has to pay for a return postage cost😱

Ageeing to purchase is deemed a 'Legal Agreement'  has obviously been dispensed with now by Ebay. Sellers suffer all the problems.

[m25jet]

If eBay are so hellbent on implementing this stupid new rule then they ought to give sellers something to counter it with.  For example, at present if a buyer ends up with two or more Unpaid Item Strikes on his or her accoun then he/she will more than likely end up being blocked by the vast majority of sellers who have got their Selling Preferences set up to automatically block buyers with two or more Unpaid Item Strikes earned during the past twelve months.  Therefore, what I'd suggest eBay do would be to introduce another aspect to the Blocked Bidders List, one which gives all sellers the opportunity to automatically block buyers who have pulled out of a certain number of sales within a twelve month period, especially if they appear to be repeat offenders.  At least that way sellers could protect themselves to some degree against buyers who may well win an auction or purchase an item via a fixed price listing, but then use this new eBay "improvement" as a loophole to enable them to void their own side of the contract that they entered into with the seller when they won or purchased the item that requires them to actually complete the transaction and pay up.

[leon9503]

😂 Completely wrong and you know the saying about assuming....But on this occasion it's only you....

I've never cancelled an order as my brain works as it should and I know what I'm buying, but here's a perfect example for you to digest whilst you're writing an apology....

My last purchase, 10 mins ago....Marked as dispatched!

Those handy late night couriers eh!

[tonyfisher]

Every single update is a negative for sellers and a positive for time wasters. I am still furious that you can't give non payers negative feedback. Now they can request to cancel after payment which makes you look bad if you refuse. And don't get me onto being forced into using new unasked for layouts and then hunting to return it to normal.

[61stephenuk]

eBay marks the item as dispatched when the seller purchases the postage label,nothing to do with the seller, they may not actually be sending for a day or more.

[a45heaven]

id never buy labels from ebay - my items are shown as dispatched when i mark the item as such in the 

Manage orders awaiting dispatch page.

Then actually Post the following day. I do how ever show longer handling times.

TRS status is meaningless these days, not worth the effort to maintain it.

[vinylscot]

That's now a trade-off though. Do it your way, and you're widening the window in which buyers can cancel.

You don't need to buy from eBay for your items to show as dispatched. I use RM Click and Drop, and it updates the dispatch status in eBay within a few moments of a label being bought. It's also pretty simple to get re-credited for an unused label.

In real life, it's academic, as refusing a cancellation request will, more often as not, just result in problems further down the line. I can't imagine this arrangement will last for long - buyers are going to get savvy to sellers marking items as dispatched as soon as the sale goes through, as @leon9503  shows above.

[a45heaven]

Horses for courses - what works for some doesnt for others.

I use RM Click and Drop, 

I Use Royal Mail Drop And Go - without the connection to ebay, for me, the less connections to the ebay system the better, way too many problems on a very regular basis to put trust in ebay operations.

It's also pretty simple to get re-credited for an unused label.

Not an issue for me.

[geosacha007]

To avoid ebay shortening my delivery time even more (currently my items are due to arrive from two days before I am supposed to post to one day after) the last thing I want to do is mark as dispatched early.  I usually wait a day after I've posted it to mark as dispatched. And I never mark as dispatched until after it posted.

I will have to trust ebay that if a buyer requests to cancel after it is posted I can decline.

[martmarg41]

The problem is that you cannot cancel a label or retreive your parcel once it is registered at the PO/Parcelshop. Buyer can potentially still request cancellation after that point in time which if you refuse they, as pointed out previously, will just issue an INAD claim and the seller is stuck with paying for/sending a return label. (Ebay are notorious for siding with the buyer in INAD claims). End result - seller loses out, buyer no penalty.

[dottystripe]

I am not a business seller, and I feel like eBay forgets, with these policies, that some of us are just trying to get rid of WAY too much stuff, and pay the bills! It's not my main job!

I've had a bid cancellation before,  a couple of times, but this weekend, for the first time, some idiot bid early, waited until auction finished then instantaneously requested cancellation. No reason, no communication. I just accepted, messaged my displeasure, and blocked. This should not be ok, and it should be monitored as are non-payers, supposedly. 

eBay is surely not an auction site if bids are not binding. 

Thank goodness for block. Don't want idiots like that anywhere near my sales, I don't have time for it.

I also block the feisty ones who message during an auction telling me my postage costs are too much, or I should accept an offer because it didn't sell already, or who want endless extra photos or detail on descriptions. Some buyers seem to think I am Tesco Customer Services.