Seller cancelled after payment but opened a case for non-payment!

[caynadine]

Just received email from Ebay:

"To be no.1 recently opened a cancel transaction case for an item you recently purchased.

Toilet Brush Holder - Brushed Stainless Steel (30394).

Reason for cancel transaction request: The seller says that you did not want the item.

Click the "Respond now" button to accept or decline this cancellation."

"Respond now": message: there is no case!

I ordered this item 27 December, paid immediately as usual.

Received a message from seller:

I replied "Very unfortunate. Please refund asap."

I received the refund on 28 December, thought that was the end of it.

... until today of course!

Problem: cannot respond to a case which apparently does not exist.

(I have never not paid for an item, and I leave 5 star feedback.)

What to do?

Any advice would be appreciated.

I would like the seller to put this matter right with Ebay and I expect an apology!

[momcqueen]

Due to your use of direct quotes and the name of the seller (I think) the moderator (not me) was forced to edit most of your post and now I cannot make enough sense of it to try to help. Is there any way that you can re-explain what happened in less specific terms? We're not allowed to share verbatim what information takes place in ebay messages on the Discussion Board, nor name-and-shame. 

A seller cannot both refund/cancel an order and open an unpaid case. The Resolution Centre system does not allow it. Parts of what I am able to decipher from your post still don't make sense, and I'm sure the members here would like to help you.

Also, making matters worse, the headlines and text in messages from the Cancel Order process often contradict the reality due to it's one-size-fits-all approach to all problems that might arise.

Please write back and clarify.

[momcqueen]

Or was it this? 

1. You bought something and paid for it. Then the seller said (whatever) and refunded your money.

2. The end. Except.....

3. Today, you get a Cancel Order request from the seller?

The seller wants to officially cancel the order so she/he can recoup their fees paid to ebay for the sale. This is normal. But the problem is that you can't see the case you're being direct to? Is that it?

Are you on a mobile device? Can you go to a desktop and look for the Resolution Centre?

Some of these ebay applications/features simply DON'T exist unless you are looking at it on a proper desktop. 

A Cancel Order request is NOT the same as an Unpaid Item Strike case. The latter is punishment for not paying for something. If you paid for something, you paid for it even if you were refunded. Ebay will always know that. Or was it merely a message from the seller asking you to pay because they forgot what had happened?

[caynadine]

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply!

I am on a desktop (hardly ever on mobile!)

Your description is correct:

I bought something (buy it now), paid for it (immediately.

Seller cancelled the order, apologized, apparently item not in stock.

Full refund next day. (Paypal payment and Paypal refund).

Thought that was it.

Received email from ebay, not from seller.

"Respond" takes me to Ebay, no case.

Searched "resolution centre", could not find a solution, and gave up after half hour searching.

So here I am first time on community centre!

(after many years of buying on Ebay, never had or caused any problem!).

(Maybe the seller pressed the wrong buttons? but still I have to do something about it.)

Thank you again for your reply.

[caynadine]

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time.

My first time on the Community forum after many years of buying on Ebay.

So I am sorry, I did not know the rules.

It was not my intention to "name and shame", only to figure out how I can sort this out.

(don't know what the consequences are of not sorting it out!

Please see my reply to the second response regarding what happened.

Thank you again for your reply.

[momcqueen]

Uhhhh......

Are you sure it wasn't a phishing email that wasn't from ebay?

Those make the rounds sometimes and they aren't ebay-sanctioned but will have some urgent message you need to do whatever, click here and then they basically steal your log-in info when they do. 

Was there a copy of it in your ebay Messages?

Maybe you better call ebay.

[caynadine]

Thank you!

Just checked: yes there is a copy in my messages on Ebay.

I just don't understand it.

My guess: the seller made a mistake when refunding?

Resolution center Ebay: case is still open.

Impossible to respond ... there is currently no information available.

I don't like to keep this on my history (bad Ebay reputation is no good).

Thank you again.

[femmefan1946]

Can you find the original listing?

It should be on your PP page if nowhere else.

Then you can find Contact Seller and ask her what she thinks is happening.

[momcqueen]

Okay, not a scam message which is good. Maybe your seller sent the money to you directly through paypal so she would not get a defect for cancelling the order due to it being out of stock and hoped you forgot the reason? Is this a North American seller? Could there be a language barrier? 

[pjcdn2005]

It's not really a case. Assuming that the seller was out of stock, they don't want to admit to that as they are only allowed to get so many of them. Now they are requesting a cancellation from ebay so that they can get their fees back but they are saying that you requested the cancellation. You can decline the cancellation since you didn't request it. You still won't get the item but the seller will be penalized and will not receive their final value fees back. 

[caynadine]

Hello,

Thank you  very much for your advice.

I had searched for a way to contact the seller without success, but your idea worked.

I have contacted the seller, but I did not receive a reply yet.

Wait and see I guess ...

[momcqueen]

Now that I think on this a little longer.....

If a Cancel Order request was put to you by the seller more than 10 days old, it will expire without your input and the case will close on its own. That might explain the reason you don't see it any longer. Does the email you have registered with ebay go somewhere you don't check often? Maybe that is what has happened. 

If it is within 60 days of original purchase and payment, you can still leave feedback for it though. If you paid, it's a proper transaction, regardless of whether it was refunded or the seller asked you to cancel. (I believe. If I'm incorrect, I'm certain someone else will clarify that for us.) The same does not apply for Unpaid Item cases or Returns. 

[caynadine]

Hello,

I purchased and paid for the item on 27 December, got apologies and refund from seller on 28 December.

I received the Ebay "Please agree to cancel your recent purchase" mail on 21 January.

"Click the "Respond now" button to accept or decline this cancellation."

When I try to respond "there is no case"!

Purchase history shows "1 request still open", and item is listed as "unpaid item".

Someone mentioned here that maybe the seller "did not want to admit to be out of stock as they are only allowed to get so many of them. Now they are requesting a cancellation from ebay so that they can get their fees back".

The fees surely cannot be that much on a small ticket item that the seller risks getting into problems with Ebay?

Feedback:

Back in November I left the same seller 5 star feedback (bought 2 items which were shipped quickly).

(I bought many things over the years on Ebay and on the very few occasions that sellers did not deserve 5-star feedback

I simply did not leave any feedback.

I have now contacted the seller (thanks to the advice from someone here), and I hope to receive a reply.

Will let you all know when I do!

[pjcdn2005]

Someone mentioned here that maybe the seller "did not want to admit to be out of stock as they are only allowed to get so many of them. Now they are requesting a cancellation from ebay so that they can get their fees back".

I didn't think that it was necessary to get into too much detail but the fees are just one reason. If they refunded you and cancelled the transaction using the out of stock option or if they didn't cancel the transaction at all, they would still get a defect for not following through with the sale. eBay will penalize a seller if they have over a certain percentage of  seller initiated cancellations. They are just trying to avoid this. There's nothing to be gained by contacting them, there is nothing that you need to do at this point and there is absolutely no reason to be worried about it. I'm not sure why the system would tell you to respond and won't let you respond but it must be some sort of glitch in the system which is confusing but ultimately harmless.

The fact that ebay used the term 'case' is probably what is confusing to some. The only type of 'case' that a seller can open against a buyer is an unpaid item case and it very specifically states that it is an unpaid item case NOT a cancellation.   Once the buyer has paid for an item, an unpaid item case cannot be opened even if the buyer has been refunded. The item shows as unpaid in your purchase history because they refunded you and ebay doesn't have a specific heading for cancelled transactions. It's very unfortunate that it is set up that way.   I do think that it will disappear form that column within the next 10 days. A couple of weeks ago I had a buyer request that I cancel a transaction before they paid. When I cancelled it continued to show as an unpaid item but after a while it did disappear so I am guessing that it will do the same thing for you. 

What did the seller tell you when they first contacted you about the transaction. The impression I got was that they were out of stock or there was some sort of problem with the item.Either way they sold you an item and they are not sending it to you and they are trying not to get a defect for that.  If the situation was totally different than perhaps my reasoning is wrong.

[gilliankehler]

This happens to me all the time!! Gah, so frustrating. An open case that requires my attention, yet I cannot find it anywhere in the Resolution Centre or ANYWHERE!!

Try going to ebay.com and logging into your account and looking in the resolution centre there. This sometimes works for me. If it doesn't, make sure you're logged out of all other ebay sites (.com, .co.uk etc), then log back into ebay.ca and try looking at your resolution centre again. This also sometimes works for me.

Freakin frustrating. But yes, cases will close on their own if no action is taken. In your case, best to decline the cancel request or just let it die on its own. Seller is wrongly trying to avoid a defect for not having enough stock, making you take the blame. I'm not sure if this would negatively affect your feedback or anything, but poor selling practice at the very least and should not be encouraged. Sneaky seller.

Good luck!