How does cancelling an order as a buyer affect me?

[mpirie]

I wanted an item in the colour that was pictured in a seller's listing.  I paid with "buy it now", and then the seller replied about 2 days later that he doesn't have the colour, and asked if he can he cancel the order.  I really did want it, so it wasn't a question of me initiating this.   Today I got the refund with a note saying that the reason was because the buyer initiated the cancellation.   Having read other threads on here, I heard that it can affect a seller in a negative way if they cancel, but since he put as his reason that I initiated it, will it affect my record in a negative way?   I wanted the item, he simply did not have what was shown in his photos on his listing.

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

No it has no effect on your account.

EBay is really cracking down on sellers who list items they don't have, but are comfortable with buyers changing their minds.

As an aside, I hope this means that eBay is also cracking down on dropshippers who have no stock, but only pass orders on to their suppliers, often overseas. From the buyer's point of view, this means the seller has no idea whether or not the stuff he is offering is available at all, until someone orders. Infuriating for the buyer, especially since all of the dozens of other dropshipping sellers who have the same item are also out of stock, whether they know it or not.

The fact that the seller took a few days to let you know he couldn't supply your paid for purchase, leads me to believe that he was dropshipping.

[mpirie]

Thanks for taking the time to respond.  I appreciate it.

The seller is in China.  I've previously had bad experiences (takes forever to arrive, looks worse than pictured, fakes, etc.) & I believe that overall the sheer volume of items from that source is drowning out everyone else, not to mention putting new items in vintage categories.  However, he did have a very specific item I needed to repair another, and was the only one with the item.   He said he ran out of that colour, but it would make sense therefore to change the photos for your listing.

Thanks again for your response & have a nice day!

[maddkatt06]

dropshipping scares me, I know someone who does direct from amazon but honestly theyve been **bleep**ping the bed lately and sending me not what I ordered so I would never have the balls to ship something without laying my own two eyes on the item first. I have no way of knowing what was actually in the box

[atvds1210]

It may not affect your account, but it is not correct as the reason was a seller issue.  The seller said "Buyer initiated" because they avoid a defect on their account that they would have gotten by putting the real reason or you filing for a return.    You could contact Ebay to indicate your disagreement with that and the real reason for the cancelled sale.  It isn't a big deal, other than this may be a seller tactic.   They should have indicated if the colour may be different than the picture.