Dates change on transaction?

[gemaddict]

I have been selling on this account and another for a few years. This is the first time I've seen this happen and I am going to assume it is a glitch. Unless of course something has changed.

 A buyer bought two separate lots from me so I combined them and sent an invoice. This was on Sept.25.  They did not pay and I have not heard from them so I resent the invoice yesterday Oct.2.  While going through my sold folder I notice the sale date on their items now says Oct.2 and not Sept.25.  Regardless of this I am getting the notice that the transaction is eligible for an unpaid item dispute. I find this all very strange. I plan on trying to contact them through messaging before escalating this. I wonder though if the "new" date listed will be the one that eBay uses? Anyone else seen this happen? Thanks!

[momcqueen · Accepted solution]

As far as I can recall, if you combine items into one order, it will consider the invoice date to be the new sale date in terms of the order but not the first item purchase. 

I wouldn't worry too much about this yet, I have data misdisdplayerd in strange place too. Like the Resolution Centre is presenting me with an incorrect monetary value on an item awaiting the buyer's response. They have been doing site work and it is getting to be odd all around but I expect everything will go back to how it should before too long.

[gemaddict]

I am not extremely worried but I do like to have a record of the proper dates of sale in the case of any issues. I often combine purchases and this is the very first time I've seen this, but perhaps I just haven't noticed before.

As to getting "odd" around here I agree totally, though I don't think things are ever going to go back to the way they should be. However that is another story!

[gemaddict]

Well this has generated a different problem. You were correct mjwl2006, the date did rectify itself. The buyer paid but somehow the invoice 'uncombined' itself and they only paid for one half! Now I am at a loss. I should be shipping but instead I messaged the buyer to let them know that they only paid for one order and not two combined ones. I have no idea how that could have happened. If I don't hear from them by the end of the day I will ship the one they paid for. I loath to open an unpaid item against them when obviously there is a glitch here and to make matters worse this person possibly does not speak English as a first language and has a score of 1.

[momcqueen]

Definitely an awkward situation.

All you can do is ship the item/portion of the order that was paid and then add a note to the packing slip about the other. you'll have to request to cancel it too. Best not to open an Unpaid in that case!

[gemaddict]

I went ahead and shipped their order this morning. I have messaged them twice and not heard back. I very carefully explained the situation to them regarding the initial four items they purchased and that they only paid for two. I'm still scratching my head over this. I will end up requesting to cancel however I have a feeling that message might be ignored as well. That would leave me no other recourse then to open an unpaid unless I want to take a hit with fees. Depending on how everything goes I may just suck it up and forget about it. My biggest worry is that this person truly has no idea what they are doing eBay-wise and despite all my messages think that they are supposed to be getting four items...sigh.

[momcqueen]

If your request to Cancel is ignored, the case will close and you'll still get your unpaid items refunded. You can't open both a Cancel request and Unpaid Item case.

The other possibility with some of these totally new buyer IDs is that someone is using you as a dropship. Like, an order was placed with them for a high enough sum of money that they can buy from you and send it to the third party which is their buyer, and they picked the wrong two items to start. That also explains the lack of response to your communication because they just don't have time to deal with it.

[gemaddict]

I have been fortunate enough to not have to deal with this type of thing in the time I've been selling. I didn't even consider the drop ship angle. Mind you they purchased the same two items two separate times. I suppose it could still be the drop ship scenario if their customer decided they only wanted two instead.

I didn't realize that I would get my fees back if the cancel request was ignored. I had thought if you chose "the buyer and seller agreed to cancel transaction" that it would require the consent of both parties. That is good to know. I didn't think I could open both an unpaid claim and a cancel request at the same time but was wondering if I could open one if the other failed to get results. This was before I knew I would get my fees back even if they didn't respond to the cancel request. Thank you for your help.

[momcqueen]

You're very welcome. You'll get your fees back if the buyer agrees to cancel a transaction too. There used to be an extra step with that to formally request the fees back but I think it was supposed to change under the 'new' Cancel Order system as it was unveiled in Spring or last spring or whenever it was, I don't remember anymore. But, no, you can't open an unpaid case after a Cancel request was initiated even if it is ignored. Unpaid Item cases that are ignored gain the buyer a strike but those Cancel Order requests, ignored or otherwise, don't seem to leave any kind of mark on their account at all. It's a pet peeve of mine when a buyer sends me a message saying, three days later, that they bought something by mistake, please cancel and then evaporates. It takes a week to 10 days for that Cancel request to expire. That's a long time for something to sit in limbo without knowing if it's safe to relist.