Seller cancels, refunds and relist immediately after payment

[halographic]

Hello,

As the title states: Sellers cancels, refunds and relist (exact product and description) within an hour after payment-- citing "out of stock/damage. (A shipping label was also created as well.)

Filed a report with eBay 2 days ago. But as of today, the relisted auction is still up, so I suppose eBay didn't find anything wrong with this.

Experienced a "purchased/refund/cancel move a few years ago. What sort of scam is this?

TIA

[flipistics]

If it's an auction, they probably didn't like the price it went for and decided to cancel and relist it. The problem for them is that eBay really REALLY hates orders being cancelled for "out of stock". That's a seller that is going to be very unhappy very quickly if they keep doing it.

[halographic]

Thanks for the reply.

I should add that this wasn't an auction. It was a "Buy It Now", with the seller sending me an offer and accepting my counter offer.

The previous cancel/refund expereince was also a "Buy It Now".

[flipistics]

Interesting. I'm not really sure then. The only things I can think of is maybe they were trying to build a sales history and don't realize the damage they're doing, or more likely and simpler is that they had it set to automatically relist the item and they forgot they had that setting turned on.

I don't really understand how a scam would work for something like this. Maybe you could do some "creative" bookkeeping with it or something. That wouldn't affect the buyer (except to annoy them) though.

[halographic]

Thanks again for the insight of possible issues that could and would possibly affect honest sellers. This seller however, only had that one item for sale, so oversight wouldn’t be a problem.

To give the issue some more context, the first cancel/refund was for an iPad Pro. This time it was for an iPhone 12 Pro Max. Both were “Buy It Now”. Maybe it’s just all an innocent mistake.... but odd pattern with both experiences: That the sale is cancelled, then refunded. Why not cancel before payment was made since it’s a “Buy It Now” and not an auction??? Especially after a “tracking number” had been registered to the system. It’s just shady.

iPhones users are hesitant to sell on eBay because there’s a plague of bots/scammers “buying”. But I seem to have the opposite problem as a buyer with iPhone “sellers”… 

[reallynicestamps]

A cancellation for "Out of Stock" leads to a Defect.

Defects can mean higher fees, loss of discounts on fees, restrictions on the number and value of listings, and even a closed account.

If it was a single listing, the seller may have discovered that he doesn't have a Managed Payments account set up and cannot be paid.

Yes, eBay allows listing even without this necessity.

Or he may have learned that new and occasional sellers have a 30 day Hold on payments against their good performance.

No scam involved. Just inattention to detail.

And why he might think relisting immediately is going to help baffles me.

[halographic]

Very insightful. Thank you for sharing such invaluable info. The first time I experienced the cancel/refund after payment, I didn’t think anything of it. This second time had me concerned. But your post makes sense. Thanks again to both for your insights.

[rosscd57]

Well - you do have a hammer - the feedback system. Just give some appropriate feedback - then block them.

[halographic]

Can't leave feedback to warn others: That option is not available. Searched everywhere but apprently eBay has taken this option away for some reason.

(This "Buy It Now" auction is currently still up, BTW.)

[pjcdn2005]

@halographic 

You may be able to leave feedback if you go to your feedback page, scroll to the bottom and click on leave feedback.  That transaction may then come up. 

[halographic]

Thank you so much for the suggestion. I always head to the "Activity" page since all the options are conveniently available there.

Odd how the feedback option for this particular auction was removed from the most obvious location. As suggested, had to navigate to the seller’s feedback page’s bottom for “Leave feedback”. 

Thanks again.

[needsmorerobots]

Sadly I don't think your complaint with eBay is going anywhere.

I've experienced the same recently from a major seller.

There was a leave feedback option but it wouldn't connect. I filled a complaint with Ebay with a copy of the seller's e-mail. I don't believe it did anything.

These sellers give other sellers a bad name. They make it hard for buyers to trust making purchases.

Use what you have at your disposal. Report them to Ebay, leave neutral/negative feedback and/or if you're a buyer/seller, add them to your block list.