Feedback On Cancelled Items

[kimrosecoloredglass1]

Hello Everyone, my first visit here in the forums, hoping for some advise. A customer purchased an item, and asked for a refund, which I promptly gave, no questions asked. In my seller dashboard, it says I need t leave feedback for this customer. Is it common practice to give feedback to customers who ask for refunds ( they are no longer a customer, and do not have your product, so what is feedback based on ? ) Any advise, greatly appreciated, thank you!

Kimberley Rose

Kim Rose Colored Glass

[ypdc_dennis]

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@kimrosecoloredglass1 wrote:

... A customer purchased an item, and asked for a refund, which I promptly gave, no questions asked. In my seller dashboard, it says I need t leave feedback for this customer. Is it common practice to give feedback to customers who ask for refunds ( they are no longer a customer, and do not have your product, so what is feedback based on ? ) ...

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Feedback is optional -- it is not a requirement.

There is no penalty for not leaving feedback. So feel free to ignore eBay's suggestion.

[snoopwiz]

The short answer is no, you do not "have to" leave them (or anyone else) feedback.

[femmefan1946]

Did you do a formal cancellation process for the customer?

If not the purchase will hang around on her account for  couple of months.

More importantly, you will be charged Final Value Fees on the failed transaction.

Feedback is now only useful to the seller as a way of showing new customers you are trustworthy.

It is meaningless to buyers (except as egoboo) because it can only be positive.

[momcqueen · Accepted solution]

If you felt like leaving feedback, you could honestly still say, "Good communication" or something like that and also add some free advertising for yourself by including your user/store name like Good communication. Thank you for choosing kimrosecoloredglass1!

Although the sale did not proceed as it could have, you can appreciate to some extent that the buyer asked for an upfront cancellation instead of letting it go to Unpaid Item (and wasting your time) or asking for a return as soon as it was shipped (and costing you money). 

And the buyer may just reciprocate with feedback of their own saying, "Good seller, thank you for pleasant transaction" because it still sort of was.

I had a seller issue a cancel order due to out-of-stock a few years ago who cheerily left me feedback as soon as it was done (I know this is not your situation) but I respected him for that since he was taking a chance against me being mad about it. In kind, I left nice feedback for him too. 

Even when transactions go slightly off the rails, there is still some good to be found in them.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Yes, I have had similar situation where I sold an item not realizing I don't have it anymore since I sold it locally, apologized to buyer for having to cancel, and I leave them something like Thank you for you patience and understanding. I think out of the five that happened over the years one buyer (a return buyer) also returned a positive feedback for me.

If a buyer asked me to cancel though I don't leave them feedback.

[momcqueen]

I may get more Cancel Order requests than average since I have been told multiple times by would-be buyers that their children had been shopping on their iPhones. The trials and tribulations of a toy seller.

If a buyer asks for a Cancel Order and then promptly accepts it (as opposed to ditching and allowing it to time-out ten days later while I cool my heels) I will leave them positive feedback along the lines of what I suggested about good communication or a fast response. Those who ignore the request they have requested get nothing since there is literally nothing honestly positive that I can say about the transaction or buyer.

Even so, from a self-marketing point-of-view, I could still leave feedback to get my store name out there again. Who benefits more from leaving a buyer positive feedback? The buyer, or the seller?

Unpaid Item Strike buyers receive no feedback from me although I think we've all seen sellers leave 'no payment' positives for other members before closing the case and giving the member an UI strike. That's prohibited, I assume, whether by the confidentiality agreement or the feedback policy. But a member has to complain to Customer Service to have it removed. (It's not automatic.) Maybe those people on the receiving end don't know that.

[pjcdn2005]

If a buyer asks for a Cancel Order and then promptly accepts it (as opposed to ditching and allowing it to time-out ten days later while I cool my heels) I will leave them positive feedback along the lines of what I suggested about good communication or a fast response. Those who ignore the request they have requested get nothing since there is literally nothing honestly positive that I can say about the transaction or buyer.

If the buyer hadn't paid, they don't get the option to accept or decline the cancellation so it isn't their fault that you have to wait for the credit. If they have paid and you refund through eBay when you cancel then you should be credited right away.  I realize that the messages we get on our end make it sound as if we are waiting for them to agree but it hasn't  worked like that for a while.

I believe that if they have paid they can disagree with the cancellation but in most cases if you refund through the cancellation process you should be credited right away.

Regardless....why reward give them by giving them a feedback for buying your item and then cancelling? It's a pain when that happens.  If it really is their child making the purchase them perhaps they need to fix that problem at their end.

[momcqueen]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

...If the buyer hadn't paid, they don't get the option to accept or decline the cancellation so it isn't their fault that you have to wait for the credit....

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Ah, but they do. None of my cancel order requests have been paid, they are all unpaid.

The most recent:

• Request to cancel came via ebay messages about 4:30 pm, and I submit it to ebay to Cancel Order by 4:40 pm and the buyer accepted that request at 5:02 pm;
• Request to cancel came via ebay messages about 10:45 am, and I submit it to ebay to Cancel Order by 10:52 am and the buyer accepted that request the following day at 5:45 pm;
• Request to cancel was made and never acknowledged, took ten days to time-out
• Request to cancel came via ebay messages about 4:30 pm, and I submit it to ebay to Cancel Order by 4:39 pm and the buyer accepted that request at 4:40 pm
• Request to cancel was made and never acknowledged, took ten days to time-out

As to those people who let their children shop unattended, I think that is a security issue. I report that buyer to ebay for irresponsible use of account. And leave them positive feedback for at least having the decency for communicating about it.

[pjcdn2005]

Interesting.  Perhaps it depends where the item was listed or which site the  buyer was when they've purchased the item.  Or, perhaps there is a difference if the buyer asks to cancel within one hour and uses the eBay cancellation request process??  I'm just guessing here as I have had different experiences than you have had.

[mcrlmn]

I purchased three 5 cent coins last Monday.
The seller stated, "I combine shipping'.
I paid the invoice, then advised the seller of my displeasure when reviewing his combined shipping invoice
The combined weight was 3.48 grams, which left plenty for an envelope, invoice, and stamp.
Obviously, the seller was greedy and expected more from the auctions.

The seller cancelled the order and refunded my money.
The 3 items completely disappeared from my purchase page, and from eBay.

I want the items that I bid on and paid for.
I also want to leave this seller appropriate feedback.

[sylviebee]

You can probably still leave FB but have to get to the items via a different route and there are several ways to do that.

For example:  Go to the site map (see very bottom of most eBay pages) and scroll towards the bottom of that page.

Under community you'll find a selection that says "Leave feedback for a member or transaction."

Click on that and you should be able to find the items you're looking for

[pjcdn2005]

Or...go to your own feedback page and near the bottom of the page click on leave feedback to see if those transactions come up.   Please let us know what happens as I am curious if feedback is possible now in a situation like this.

[lady.stark]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

If the buyer hadn't paid, they don't get the option to accept or decline the cancellation so it isn't their fault that you have to wait for the credit.

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Sorry, but they do. I had a buyer at the beginning of September who back out of sale before paying. She had to accept the cancellation. It was not automatic.

[lady.stark]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

Interesting.  Perhaps it depends where the item was listed or which site the  buyer was when they've purchased the item.  Or, perhaps there is a difference if the buyer asks to cancel within one hour and uses the eBay cancellation request process??  I'm just guessing here as I have had different experiences than you have had.

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Yeah, I think this is correct. A few months ago, a buyer asked for a cancellation within 1 hour of purchasing the item. And it was automatic at that moment when I agreed to the cancellation.

However, the buyer I recently had asked the day after the purchase in a regular eBay message and she had to agree to the cancellation request I sent (this time, it was me who had to send it).

[momcqueen]

Yes, if the Cancel Request is made within the hour, it's automatic.

[sylviebee]

I find it confusing trying to figure out the rules regarding cancellations.

I'm thinking that they're mixing it up a bit (keeps us on our toes) because one day it seems to be one way and the next it's a little different.

[kimrosecoloredglass1]

Thank you for taking the time to help, much appreciated

[kimrosecoloredglass1]

Thank you for your help, appreciated

[kimrosecoloredglass1]

Hi, yes, I did a formal refund ( not too happy that ebay will charge me a final value fee though ) Thanks for your help, I appreciate it