Recourse Against Seller for Cancelled Purchase

[thesuperion]

I recently made a purchase and the following morning the seller messaged me to say that they were cancelling the purchase because (direct message via eBay):

 "Unfortunately I will have to cancel the sale. I just came back from the post office and the shipment does not go to “larger format letter” (cuz it's in Alberta) ... that would cost me $23 per package.."

 In this seller's listing he also has the following statement (which I believe is directly against eBay’s rules):

"***No sales to new accounts or profiles with low ratings***

(no need to buy, the sale will be automatically cancelled)"

And finally, when they cancelled the order they gave eBay the following reason:

"Issue with buyer's shipping address"

I don't quite understand their DM but I interept it that they are saying the federal mail services has special rules for Alberta that isn't allowing them to ship as they had planned? Although I just made about a dozen card purchases coast-to-coast in the last few weeks without issue. Their reason for the cancelled sale is fraudulent and their disclaimer in their description is (as far as I know) discrimination and against eBay’s rules. I assume they were either incompetent with their shipping costs or are enacting their rule-breaking disclaimer from their ad. Either way, I am wondering what the proper recourse would be since it does not appear like I will be able to leave them feedback. Since cancelling my order, they have reposted the auction and raised heir shipping costs from free to $5.

[flipistics]

Report them to eBay. They should get a strike against their account (at minimum) for cancelling the order for an invalid reason.

I'm not sure their disclaimer breaks the rules (maybe it does?), but putting it in does not make it a valid reason for cancelling. If they're caught, it could get them in serious hot water very quickly.

What was the item, out of curiosity?

[rocketscollectibles]

This is indeed a problem on ebay. Many sellers exploit this system for many reasons, maily pricing remorses. In the category i'm buying/selling, on communities, i read very often people getting their orders cancelled in auctions. Those sellers hurts ebay's reputation and cost to everyone. Lot of buyers experiencing it will leave ebay because of it. You can contact support to at least have the seller receive a selling defect, it's the minimum. Lot of buyers don't do it and it's why those sellers can runaway without consequences. It's in rules an abuse of the cancellation process. You can also leave a negative feedback to the seller. 

I never had to experience it personally until two weeks ago i purchased something worth $1k at asking price. Listed at $275. No pricing mistake from seller. It was his asked price. He told me he was getting my order ready then randomly started lying a few hours later about my adress having problems and the shipping undercharge. He admitted the day after after some messages that he decided he wanted more and would not honor his price sold. I highly suspect someone seen the item sold $275 and messaged the seller about it. I paid asking price and he was ready to ship, then randomly started talking about market price and stuff like that. One of the worst experience i had on ebay. People complain about $50 saving deals lost, i lost a $700 one. 

[femmefan1946]

The phone reps have a terrible reputation for getting you off the phone as soon as possible even if that means giving you the advice you want to hear instead of the advice you need to have.


https://www.facebook.com/eBayForBusiness/ — Message button in upper right on landing page.

https://www.instagram.com/ebayforsellers/


https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/How-do-I-contact-Customer-Support/m-p/32016431#M1783851 -> Automated Assistant, type AGENT -> enter. You will then get more options.


The social media Chat accounts are covered by trained eBay employees with some authority.
And you get a transcript so you can compare what you heard with what you were told.
 

[pjcdn2005]

I suspect it was too thick to go oversize lettermail so he was told that it had to go as a parcel.  If that's the case, it had nothing to do with Alberta as the problem would be the same to anywhere in Canada.  

He made a mistake in pricing the shipping but doesn't want to be held accountable for it with ebay.  You can report him at the following link. https://www.ebay.ca/help/action?topicid=4022

Click on seller violated eBay policy and follow the prompts.

[thesuperion]

Thanks for the advise.

I believe their disclaimer breaks the rules (rather, them doing what they say they are going to do in their disclaimer) based on the following Q & A I found: https://community.ebay.com/t5/Watches/Buyers-with-little-feedback/td-p/32788817

My interpreation is simply that their reasoning for cancelling the order does not meet the cancellation policy and therefore their selected reason for the cancel will be invalid and fraudulent, as you've pointed out.

The item was a lot of 14 Pokemon cards I am after. As far as I know they were only released in the US and so finding an auction for them in Canada was really attractive as I was to save 25%-50% on just shipping alone compared to the US listings.

[thesuperion]

Thanks for the advise, that seems to be the appropriate recourse.

I agree on the shipping. This auction was for 14 trading cards which for free shipping I expect they just planned to send as a regular letter mail but found out it was too thick. They could have simply just used two letters regular post instead for extra couple dollars. Them saying it has something to do with me being in Alberta makes no sense at all and is probably just making up excuses and trying to pretend that it has something to do with my address, since they chose that for their reason they gave eBay for the cancellation. Weather it is their failure to ask the proper shipping cost for the aunction or they are trying to enact their disclaimer and don't want to trasnact with me because my rating, I believe they are in the wrong.

[reallynicestamps]

The seller miscalculated their cost for shipping. We all do it, shipping is the hardest part of mail order.

But their decision to cancel the sale is not one allowed by eBay.

We sellers are supposed to take it as a learning experience, suck it up, and not do it again.

And the grownups do.

As others have said, Report the false reason for the cancellation to eBay.

And leave feedback, without mentioning any Claims or Disputes.

"Seller cancelled sale because the shipping  cost was higher than they advertised." might cover it.

Alberta has nothing to do with it.

We can use LetterMail and OverSize LetterMail to ship goods within Canada.

The cost varies with the weight of the shipment.

But.

If the package is over 2cm thick, it has to go by Parcel Rate which is priced based on weight, dimensions, and destination.

We sellers do get some discounts when we buy our shipping labels on eBay. Some seller pass that discount on, others use it to pay for insurance, packaging, labour, etc.

Given the jump the seller reported, the package of 14 cards was likely over 2cm thick. While a single sportscard is not likely to be that thick, multiple purchases or a bulky item might not fit the parameters for LetterMail.

And the seller didn't have the imagination to repack the cards to make a thinner package.

[flipistics]

Yeah, I can't imagine 14 cards would be nowhere close to being a problem for lettermail unless they came in those thick lucite containers. The fact that you said they relisted it for for $5 shipping suggests they probably had no issues with fitting it lettermail.

[rocketscollectibles]

The seller had price remorses and lying. It's simple. As said in my previous post: 

In the category i'm buying/selling, on communities, i read very often people getting their orders cancelled in auctions

Then OP after: 

This auction was for 14 trading cards

Pointed to what i wrote. This is a common issue in the trading cards category in auctions that sellers cancel because it did not sold for the price they expected. 

The fact seller said it would cost $23 (per package!?) because it's too big (for 14 cards!?), then relist at higher price, but charging only $5 shipping. I mean. It's obvious the seller is lying. It's non-sense. Seller probably did not even go to the post office.

[thesuperion]

I would like to leave them feedback but for whatever reason eBay is not giving me the option to. I can see in the seller's feedback that two others have had possible similar situations with this seller, but they were able to leave negative/neutral feedback - but for whatever reason I am not able to. I guess reporting them is all I can do.

[pjcdn2005]

You may still be able to leave feedback by going to your own feedback page. Scroll down to the bottom and  click on 'leave feedback'. If that transaction comes up you can leave feedback.

[thesuperion]

Thanks! This is a great help, looks like I will be able to leave them feedback this way.

I guess my last question, which is a  subjective one; do they warrent negative or neutral feedback for this situation? Obviously I am frustrated at them and believe they are demonstrating poor seller practices, but I want to be fair. At first I thought a neurtal feedback stating they cancelled the aunction due to shipping costs would be adquate (as suggested) but I can't help considering:

(1) They never attempted to see if I would be still interested if they corrected the shipping cost for me (dispite them possibly/probably lying about the shipping cost altogether)

(2) They reposted the item with $5 shipping (up from free) knowing my supposed shipping costs were $23

(3) They later changed the re-listing again and dropped the price by $5 but increased the shipping again to $15

(4) They violdated eBay policy by cancelling the order and provide fraudulent reasoning

(5) The seller has one negative feedback and in his rebuttal to that feedback he released the buyers name and address - which I believe is another violation to eBay policy

[flipistics]

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@thesuperion wrote:

(5) The seller has one negative feedback and in his rebuttal to that feedback he released the buyers name and address - which I believe is another violation to eBay policy

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I'm pretty sure that breaks more than just eBay policies. Instead of leaving feedback yet, why don't you report the seller to eBay (if you haven't already) and make sure you directly point that out. Tell them that you're afraid to leave feedback because the seller has a history of publically posting private information of buyers in retaliation and give them the link to that feedback.