Buyer wants to cancel... help plsx

princessfayebaley

Hi All,

Just want a little advice please x

I have sold an item on Ebay, only 99p, the buyer is in the Ukraine ( she bid withot asking postage charges) and with in 10 minutes of the auction ending has sent me a message saying she wants to cancel the transaction, no explantion at all.
I replied saying this is not normal practice and that I will issue a NPB so I can reclaim my fees. I am aware that is we both mutally agree to cancel that I would receive my fees back ( the buyer promplty replied with an email with a link giving me these details!). But my question is do I stick to my guns so she gets a non payment strike on her account or just relent and cancel the transaction and relist ASAP? I am just a little annoyed that I have had a few buyers over the last year just not paying for an item and emailing me simply saying they dont want the item anymore, what would you do? I know its not a lot of money but I think its more out of principal.

Thanks in advance, Faye x

ThinkingOfLinking

It's a tough one. I'd probably put in a NPB as well as it's really annoying and frustrating when people do that and it means I have to wait more than a week to be able to sell it again....which frustrates me as I am selling things because I need money (personal items, not a business). It also means that if you're not the only one who she's done this to, that she'll be blocked from bidding on some peoples' auctions. It's also bad etiquette for a buyer to not ask postage price first; I did a few NPBs against people who ignored the "International buyers please ask me first" note on the listing and then refused to pay the price I asked, even when I provided them with links to quotes from couriers to prove I wasn't making it up. I've since blocked all internationals as it's too much hassle.

princessfayebaley

Thanks for your reply. I too am just a private seller , had a big clear out and thought I would sell everything to raise money for a new bed for my son ( I am mature nursing student so every penny counts at the mo lol!). I know in the grand scheme of things its not a big problem but as you said its annoying and how many other people has she done it to. I think I may dig my heels in just to proove a point.
Can I just check if she leaves me a neg before its settled can I get it removed from Ebay?

ThinkingOfLinking

princessfayebaley wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. I too am just a private seller , had a big clear out and thought I would sell everything to raise money for a new bed for my son ( I am mature nursing student so every penny counts at the mo lol!). I know in the grand scheme of things its not a big problem but as you said its annoying and how many other people has she done it to. I think I may dig my heels in just to proove a point.
Can I just check if she leaves me a neg before its settled can I get it removed from Ebay?

Once a dispute is opened, neither party can leave feedback. If she pays within this time, which she is entitled to do, then you are obliged to send the item and you can leave eachother feedback. If she doesn't pay within 4 days, you can close the case, meaning you get your fees back, and she gets a strike. Neither party can leave feedback once a strike is granted. So you may well be fine. If she leaves you a malicious neg, having coughed up for the item, dispute it with eBay. if they do not remove it, you can "follow up to feedback received" and explain it ie "Cust reluctant to pay - wanted to resolve w/o NPB"

theonlywayisup

Flickering_Ember wrote: »

Once a dispute is opened, neither party can leave feedback. If she pays within this time, which she is entitled to do, then you are obliged to send the item and you can leave eachother feedback. If she doesn't pay within 4 days, you can close the case, meaning you get your fees back, and she gets a strike. Neither party can leave feedback once a strike is granted. So you may well be fine. If she leaves you a malicious neg, having coughed up for the item, dispute it with eBay. if they do not remove it, you can "follow up to feedback received" and explain it ie "Cust reluctant to pay - wanted to resolve w/o NPB"

Just to clarify.

If you open a NPB and the buyer doesn't pay you can close it 4 days after you opened it. The buyer should not be able to leave feedback but the system has faults. However you should be able to get it removed.

If you do a mutual you can both leave feedback.

Op you must be careful that she doesn't pay. If she does, you may then find you have to defend a INR when you cannot prove delivery. Your preferences need to be set to only UK as too your actual listing, otherwise overseas bidders can bid, win and pay.

If you haven't added postage prices they may pay and get the UK rate you included, leaving you either out of pocket, with bad feedback or both!

Crowqueen

princessfayebaley wrote: »

Hi All,

Just want a little advice please x

I have sold an item on Ebay, only 99p, the buyer is in the Ukraine ( she bid withot asking postage charges) and with in 10 minutes of the auction ending has sent me a message saying she wants to cancel the transaction, no explantion at all.
I replied saying this is not normal practice and that I will issue a NPB so I can reclaim my fees. I am aware that is we both mutally agree to cancel that I would receive my fees back ( the buyer promplty replied with an email with a link giving me these details!). But my question is do I stick to my guns so she gets a non payment strike on her account or just relent and cancel the transaction and relist ASAP? I am just a little annoyed that I have had a few buyers over the last year just not paying for an item and emailing me simply saying they dont want the item anymore, what would you do? I know its not a lot of money but I think its more out of principal.

Thanks in advance, Faye x

Principles work both ways. As mostly a buyer I have my own principles - not to bid on auctions from people who are too lazy to do the work for themselves to ensure the best results afterwards. I find they generally are the better sellers and know what my money is worth to them.

If you are happy to sell overseas you should usually put postage prices on the auction. Ukraine is in Europe so only needs the postage price for that sector listed.

If you are not happy to sell overseas then you should block buyers in countries you don't send to and only upload UK postage.

Being inflexible or imposing things on buyers other than clicking bid and making them pay usually ends in feedback tears, and if I were this buyer and you opened a dispute I'd be tempted to pay so I could leave you a neg. It's for your own sake that you do the work before the listing so this can't happen afterwards.

That ensures this issue doesn't happen and you are not left with the consequences. If you cancel the sale then yes, she can leave feedback, but it might teach you how to sell overseas.

Also, generally speaking, if a buyer contacts me, apologises and say they want to withdraw (unilaterally, not as the result of chasing for payment) I usually let them do so as they go away with a good taste in their mouth (assuming everything else is OK) and don't normally leave poor feedback. The way you've handled this is partly your own fault so I would be magnanimous and ask her to cancel. It may result in bad feedback, but although I'd not normally bid where the seller can't be bothered to do the few minutes' work it takes to find out overseas postage, I'd be pretty upset with you by now too.

princessfayebaley

Crowqueen- at no point have said that my issue is with the buyer living in the Ukraine. I have been selling on Ebay since 2005 and have always shipped abroad with no problems and I dont intend to change to my preferences to selling just in the UK.
My issue is that people bid on item and decide they dont want it, and you have to find out after the auction has ended either by them not paying or sending an email. Personally I don't think it is acceptable for people to change their mind once they have won, why not cancle the bid before hand. General courtesy works both ways.
Yes, I agree with your point about putting postage cost on there but that isnt because I am LAZY it is because I didn't know you could do that and always put a tag line in my description 'international bidders please contact me to confirm postage cost'.
Once again I will state my problem is with buyers deciding once an auction is won deciding they dont want the item, luckily this time it was a low value item but I have had this on item that I had a winning bid of over £100 and mulitple bids and when I gave another bidder a second chance offer I was accussed of shill bidding. Crowqueen if you think I am worthy of a neg all I can say is pft I hope you dont bid on any of my items.

Crowqueen

princessfayebaley wrote: »

Crowqueen- at no point have said that my issue is with the buyer living in the Ukraine. I have been selling on Ebay since 2005 and have always shipped abroad with no problems and I dont intend to change to my preferences to selling just in the UK.
My issue is that people bid on item and decide they dont want it, and you have to find out after the auction has ended either by them not paying or sending an email. Personally I don't think it is acceptable for people to change their mind once they have won, why not cancle the bid before hand. General courtesy works both ways.
Yes, I agree with your point about putting postage cost on there but that isnt because I am LAZY it is because I didn't know you could do that and always put a tag line in my description 'international bidders please contact me to confirm postage cost'.
Once again I will state my problem is with buyers deciding once an auction is won deciding they dont want the item, luckily this time it was a low value item but I have had this on item that I had a winning bid of over £100 and mulitple bids and when I gave another bidder a second chance offer I was accussed of shill bidding. Crowqueen if you think I am worthy of a neg all I can say is pft I hope you dont bid on any of my items.

If you're happy to sell abroad, do the work and put the postage costs on the listing. They don't vary by country, you only need one rate for Europe and one rate for ROW.

General courtesy works only when the seller is responding to their buyer. You can't insist anything as regards your buyers but as a seller your account suffers if you are unwilling to admit there are better ways to sell than demanding overseas customers - whose English may not be terribly good - to contact you and ask for postage costs. That's lazy in my opinion - and certainly not courteous of you to throw a tantrum when you could solve the problems you have now by putting up postage costs so they can bid without having to contact you.

I do think your attitude needs some work - this is something that people treat as serious business, if you can't be bothered, neither can I, and neither will your buyers be bothered.

It's always fine until there's a problem. It's how you deal with problems that marks good sellers out from bad.