How if somebody who bought my item and it was sold but buyer wants to retract order?

[discountsbuddy]

I was selling my camera on eBay and I had the buy it now option for it. A buyer bought it but emailed me couple of hours after he bought the item. Says he wanted to retract the order. What shall I do?

[ok_so_im_50]

Add the person to your blocked bidders list.

Four days after end of sale, file an unpaid item dispute. Four days later, close the dispute if the buyer has not paid and they will get an unpaid item strike and you will get your final value fee.

There is an option to cancel a transaction but those should not be sent to buyers who change their minds or who simply refuse to pay. Transaction cancellation should only be used if you as the seller did something wrong like item was described correctly and it is returned. Once it has been returned and you refund the buyer, then would be the appropriate time to send a transaction cancellation and explain to the buyer it doesn't reflect negatively against them and that it is for the purpose of you getting your final value fee credit.

Non payers do not get the courtesy of a transaction cancellation.

Also, set your buyer requirements in My Ebay > Account > Site Preferences to block bidders with 2 or more unpaid item strikes in the past 12 months, no paypal account, 4 or more policy violations in the past 6 months or in countries you do not ship to.

[dmil8030 · Accepted solution]

Hello 'discountsbuddy',

The buyer wants to cancel.  In a case like this you have 2 choices, - offer a Cancellation, or file an Unpaid Item dispute.  Each option has its 'pros and cons', and very often the choice you make is best determined by the temperament of the buyer, and your email exchange with that person. 

When an amiable buyer asks to cancel, there is little reason not to.  You send the buyer a Request for Cancellation, he accepts and no longer has to pay, you get your fees back and relist the item within minutes.  Each person can leave feedback.  The downside is that a disagreeable buyer could select 'decline' on the Cancellation request, and then you would not get back your fees.  The following link will tell you what to do about Cancellations:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/cancel-transaction-process.html

Then there is the Unpaid Item dispute.  When an item is not paid for, most sellers send a pleasant reminder on day 3, and with still no word from the buyer and no payment, start the Unpaid process at the end of day 4.  The buyer then has another 4 days to pay, and if not, the seller closes the case, gets the fees back, and the buyer gets a strike.  No one leaves feedback.

The downside to the Unpaid case is that you do risk having the buyer decide to pay rather than get a strike.  When that happens there's a good chance you'll get a negative, - which would completely squash your selling career at this point, - and you'll certainly want to ship the item Delivery Confirmed.  Also, your item is tied up for at least 8 days before you can relist.  Ultimately you have to use your own judgement each time.  To find out how the Unpaid process works, go here:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/unpaid-items.html

And of course, block the person here:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#block

(not that he'd ever bother you again anyway) and block people with unpaid strikes in general because nonpayers tend to be repeat offenders.  Be sure to block countries you don't ship to as well.  Otherwise you may find someone from the other side of the world has bought your item, with neither of you fully aware what it will actually cost to ship it:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#set

If you find yourself inundated with nonpaying zero-feedback newbies, you might want to block people without paypal accounts, at least for a time.  Few sellers do that, however, because there are a lot of paying people with credit cards, and no one really wants to miss a sale.  Some categories seem to attract more problems than others, - maybe yours will be one of them, maybe not.

Best of luck. 🙂