Cancellation of problematic sale

[thestuffofchris]

I purchased an item on Sat. Feb 4. I paid right away and the seller sent me a message stating it would be sent on Monday. Great!

The payment stayed in the "Pending" status for the entire week. It went through to my credit card, but was still showing "Pending" on eBay and PayPal, and had never been marked shipped. I wasn't sure why, but figured I'd wait until Monday to see if anything changed or if I received the item, and if not, message the buyer. Today I think I realized what might have happened.

Today I got a PayPal e-mail saying that the payment was refunded. An eBay cancellation came minutes later, along with a message from the seller that said that the payment was supposed to be in USD, not CAD. I assume that the seller primarily deals in USD on .COM, but had set up a listing in CAD on .CA (perhaps as a test, or a template) and of course that's the one I bought. I'm guessing (though I can't be sure, those with more experience can chime in) his PayPal is US-based, so the CAD payment was still pending acceptance on his side. (???)

I sent him a message stating (paraphrasing here....) that I was disappointed, and that the eBay listing had been set up in CAD, not USD, so that was the only way I could pay. He did apologize.

What irks me is that, 1. since it wasn't cancelled until today that means the item was never actually sent, and 2. the cancellation was marked as buyer requested or that there was a problem with the address, which are both false.

In the words of Charlie Brown: Argh!

[momcqueen]

I remember reading a post on the ebytes ecommerce blog once that there was a paypal glitch that allowed buyers to send Dollars in their native currency instead of the one the item was listed in. Could this be that?

[thestuffofchris]

I don't think so. The listing was in CAD (the numbers I saw were NOT italicized on .CA).

Edit: I just checked and can confirm the listing was CAD. Every other item listed by the seller is in USD, so it appears for some reason this one was still a .CA listing in CAD.

[momcqueen]

It seems like the problem is two-fold. The pending payment thing is separate from whatever issue the seller had with listing currency. Payments don't pend for a week without cause. Even if the seller Unmarked it Paid. It would say that instead of payment pending.

[momcqueen]

Like, the seller may have accidentally listed it on eBay.ca but have his PayPal account established to only accept USD unless authorized on a case-by-case basis.

Regardless, the seller could have and should have dealt with it sooner and better. Let your feedback speak your mind.

[thestuffofchris]

I agree. Unfortunately I'm not able to leave feedback.

[momcqueen]

You should be able to leave feedback. You bought, you paid. Seller cancelled. Did you try? 

[thestuffofchris]

I did try, but I think the eBay system sees it as having been cancelled before payment (because of it never moving past "Pending" status) so feedback can't be left.

[momcqueen]

Interesting. So the email you got from paypal wasn't for a 'refund' per se but the return of your funds sent. 

[thestuffofchris]

Exactly. Here's a couple screenshots so you can see what I see. The first one shows the options available to me when I view the cancelled sale. The second one shows what I see when I go to leave feedback on the item using the "Leave Feedback" link on the bottom of my own feedback page. The "after purchase" part is what leads me to believe the system sees the transaction as having been cancelled before payment.

[momcqueen]

The fact that ebay is attempting to protect the seller from feedback makes me wonder if this wasn't actually an ebay-created problem.

[thestuffofchris]

May I ask what exactly you mean?

[momcqueen]

What I mean is that in cases where ebay is found to be at fault for creating a problem, feedback cannot be left for the seller.

As an example, my item was shipped to me as a buyer through the Global Shipping Program and the hub in Kentucky repacked it and it got wrecked: the seller is protected from my angry feedback. I'm not allowed to leave any feedback for the seller after the SNAD case is decided and closed in my favour because it is presumed that the GSP is at fault, not the seller.

That's what I mean. As an example. I cannot speculate what went wrong for or with this seller here in your case.

Also buyers cannot leave feedback for items when payment hasn't been recorded, that changed a few years ago. It may merely be that. 

[thestuffofchris]

The latter is what I'm thinking is going on here, but thanks for the clarification. It makes sense that eBay would protect the buyer if it was indeed eBay's fault, I just don't believe that may be the case here.

[i.am.vivian]

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thestuffofchris wrote:

I purchased an item on Sat. Feb 4. I paid right away

when I go to leave feedback on the item using the "Leave Feedback" link on the bottom of my own feedback page. The "after purchase" part is what leads me to believe the system sees the transaction as having been cancelled before payment.

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My take on all this:  Not seeing the listing first-hand I can only guess, but my guess is that the seller accidentally listed on the Canadian eBay.  His PP account is for USD.  You paid, the system thought you paid, but the payment couldn't go through because of a different currency.  At least you got refunded.  

Now you want to leave the poor guy a neutral.  Maybe this is a good opportunity to rethink that.  But the only thing stopping you that I can see is time.  Everything is "to the second" on eBay.  You paid on Feb 4th, and want to neut the seller on the 11th.  

Give in another day.  It should work then.  

[thestuffofchris]

Now you want to leave the poor guy a neutral.  Maybe this is a good opportunity to rethink that.

Just to clarify, I had no plan to leave feedback either way. My replies and screenshots were directed at mjwl2006's statement "Let your feedback speak your mind."

Also, in my opinion calling the seller "poor guy" insinuates he did nothing wrong and that leaving feedback of any sort would be unwarranted. He made a listing error, could have rectified it sooner, and put a false reason for cancellation.

I am a seller as well and have made my own errors from time to time, and I do want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he is not without fault here and I think could have handled the situation better. But, that's just my opinion.

[i.am.vivian]

It's OK, I see your point, and you're probably right.  I make mistakes myself and really kick myself afterward, and maybe that is why I try to be lenient toward others.  If I were in this situation and couldn't leave FB when I wanted, I would wonder if it happened for a reason  I believe in Fate sometimes. Or maybe Karma is the word.  If I left the neutral for this seller's mistake (because it IS a mistake, nobody tried to cheat you), sure enough in no time I would get a negative and I would never be able to shake the feeling that if I hadn't been so impatient this might not have come back on me.  I know that sounds dumb but a lifetime of belief is hard to let go of.  

I'm not saying the seller "did nothing", ie nothing wrong, but to my mind its just a mistake.  I forgive mistakes easily, maybe because I make so many of them too.  It has something to do with that saying about people who live in glass houses should not be the first to cast a stone.  I agree the seller may have handled it better, but it seems he is not good at a lot of things.  

You asked the questions and I just answered is all.   :-)