Buyer wants to cancel transaction because shipping is too high. I say too bad. What say ye all ?

[musinteg]

Hi all, My buyer outbid another on an item and won. He first asks if I can ship to Taiwan ( he has US address listed for Paypal and eBay ) . I give him price to Ship to Taiwan, and now he wants to cancel because its too expensive. Do I let him off the hook or have him do the honorable thing and finish the transaction properly. THX...RG 

[brandeentertainment]

Well they most likely will not pay if they have decide to not complete transaction.. Your options Mutual Cancellation: Results -They accept you get fees back all is well -They Ignores Request to cancel and you file for fees back fter I think 7 days -They Decline Cancellation and your out the listings and seller fees OR You file unpaid case and let it's take it's course Results - Unpaid strike on there account and you get your fees back -Forces the buyer to pay for something they are having buyers remorse about and see how they deal with it .. Pay and get it and be happy... Leave Neg or even act like they never received and file a case ... That is basically how the cooki e crumbles there .. I would cancel transaction if item is fairly cheap and if it is expensive I will let the unpaid case take it's path.. Good luck

[pjcdn2005]

If it were me, I would file a cancellation. I would rather have a buyer tell me that they don't want the item then to ship it and have them unhappy with it.  If he hasn't paid, you can file an unpaid item claim but I usually file those only if the person doesn't contact me to cancel.

There are a few of your listings that have the shipping price just for Canada. I suspect that the ones that don't show a US shipping price are for expedited USA parcel and the measurements are below the minimum dimensions. It really is a good idea to have shipping prices listed for all countries that you sell to as not having them listed tends to cause problems.

[mr.elmwood]

Imagine if every time you went into a store and picked something, then they made you pay for it? Well, that does not happen, doe it? eBay takes the same approach.

No, there is no contract, has never been, will never be.

Problem started when you decided to be a good hearted seller and offered to ship to a country you do not ship to.

Set yer blocks to include refusing bids from people who are registered in countries you do not ship to. Or? Include the whole world and put in actual shipping.

[rose-dee]

I agree with most of the others here. I'd rather have a happy cancellation than an unhappy, forced transaction. I really don't see the purpose in obligating someone to pay for something they don't want or don't wish to buy, especially if they contact me to tell me so. If there is no contact at all after several days, then I'd file an Unpaid Item Dispute. As Mr. Elmwood says, in the "real" world, how often have you gone into a store, picked up something, then changed your mind (for whatever reason) before you got to the door and just put it back? Or got to the checkout counter and had second thoughts? You never know -- if you agree to a cancellation at a buyer's request, you may actually make a customer who will return to buy something the next time.

[mr.elmwood]

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@rose-dee wrote:
I agree with most of the others here. I'd rather have a happy cancellation than an unhappy, forced transaction. I really don't see the purpose in obligating someone to pay for something they don't want or don't wish to buy, especially if they contact me to tell me so. If there is no contact at all after several days, then I'd file an Unpaid Item Dispute. As Mr. Elmwood says, in the "real" world, how often have you gone into a store, picked up something, then changed your mind (for whatever reason) before you got to the door and just put it back? Or got to the checkout counter and had second thoughts? You never know -- if you agree to a cancellation at a buyer's request, you may actually make a customer who will return to buy something the next time.

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Exactly.

How much does it cost to not fight, and, to be the better person. Battling always ends in long memories and acrimony. Doing the right thing, you forget about it almost instantly.

[dutchman48]

until they leave you a neg.

[mr.elmwood]

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@dutchman48 wrote:

until they leave you a neg.

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Choose to live in fear, I do not.

[rose-dee]

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@dutchman48 wrote:

until they leave you a neg.

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Well, there is always that possibility (although I've never had that happen).  In fact, I find almost all cancelled transactions result in no FB being left at all.  The way I look at it is this: if I handle the request for a cancellation cheerfully, promptly and courteously, without any argument or commentary, the buyer is going to be happy and delighted to be let "off the hook".  

It all has to do with how one approaches the customer.  If someone asks me for a cancellation, I don't take it as a personal affront or regard it as a failed shoplifting attempt, but as an opportunity to make a repeat customer. In fact, at the end of my message in such a situation, I usually say "Thanks, and I hope you'll visit my store again."  

You never really know the true reason for why a person changed his/her mind about a purchase, but why argue about it?

[73rhc]

Unfortunately, I must disagree with some of the points that were made here. There is an obligation for buyers to pay! Unless they have a really good reason. If you cancel and say "thanks for looking, please come back again" what will happen next time? There seems to be an epidemic of buyer pressing the "buy" button and not paying. They are not picking up an item at Walmart!!! They are committing to buy!!! If you want to let them off the hook, that's your perogative. But you're not helping the overall situation, let alone the next buyer that he or she does it to next.

[mr.elmwood]

Doesn't happen to me.

[73rhc]

What doesn't?

[73rhc]

"No, there is no contract, has never been, will never be."

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/questions/unwanted-item.html

[73rhc]

"Doesn't happen to me."

I hate to assume things, but considering your unwillingness to answer. I assume that unpaying buyers do not come your way?!

People come to these boards for advice from people with similar experiences. If you don't have this problem, then why are you giving advise here?

[mr.elmwood]

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@73rhc wrote:
"Doesn't happen to me."

I hate to assume things, but considering your unwillingness to answer. I assume that unpaying buyers do not come your way?!

People come to these boards for advice from people with similar experiences. If you don't have this problem, then why are you giving advise here?

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Cool yer jets Sport, I have other things I am doing today. Non-payers are not an issue to me. I had 2 or 3, can't remember because I do not care. To me, a non-payer is the same as the item not having been sold at all. I am still not out anything.

My advice is to cool down and look at things from a non-threatening perspective. I choose not to get wound up about things that are not within my control. You are accusing me of a lot of things, when all I am is even tempered. I refuse to let eBay affect me personally.

I separate business and personal. eBay is business and does not bother me in any way at all. Never has, does not now, never will.

I do not care who pays and who doesn't. I do not care about negs and neutrals. I do not care about defects. All the things that bother you, do not bother me. Why is it a bad thing that I can handle it?

My advice to anyone and everyone is "Pull your pants down and slide on the ice".

[73rhc]

My jets are quite cool, thank you very much, SPORT! But with advice like that, it would be better not to give any. You do lose. Time, listing fees (if you do nothing about it) and the chance it will happen again... Like the OP said, he or she had another bidder. So maybe now that other bidder found that same item elsewhere. There goes your second chance offer. Now you waste more time relisting. If you are lackadaisical about this, then that's choice. As I said before. It's your prerogative. A lot of people are looking for solutions. There are other steps that can be taken. Because some people do care if there item sells and that they get paid. That's the concept here!!! Grasp it!

[73rhc]

"You are accusing me of a lot of things"

What are all of these things that I accused you of???

[mr.elmwood]

You are absolutely right. You are better and smarter than I am. You know it all.

[rose-dee]

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@73rhc wrote:
Unfortunately, I must disagree with some of the points that were made here. There is an obligation for buyers to pay! Unless they have a really good reason. If you cancel and say "thanks for looking, please come back again" what will happen next time? There seems to be an epidemic of buyer pressing the "buy" button and not paying. They are not picking up an item at Walmart!!! They are committing to buy!!! If you want to let them off the hook, that's your perogative. But you're not helping the overall situation, let alone the next buyer that he or she does it to next.

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I've always felt that if a buyer changes his/her mind soon after a "commitment" to buy, and informs me promptly, I am not going to generate an angry buyer by forcing him/her to pay.  It's all a matter of perspective, and it happens so rarely anyway that it's really not a significant part of my business dealings.  

If I have a buyer who takes 7 days to pay and hasn't contacted me at all, I'll send them one message, and if I get no response, I'll assume they have no intention of paying, are not even willing to be courteous about it, and I will file an Unpaid Item Case.  Actually, I've only had 2 or 3 of these in all the years I've been selling, and probably only a handful of cancellations.  

I disagree that such an approach is not helping the overall situation.  I believe the majority of people are honest, or at least can come up with a reasonable explanation for not following through with a transaction. What does it mean if a seller lets a buyer "off the hook" with a cancellation?  That person will likely come back to eBay to buy again, maybe even to the same seller (which has, incidentally, happened to me).  Initiating a confrontational or adversarial process without taking a reasonable approach will probably drive the buyer away.  

Lastly, I disagree that there is any real loss to the seller in such a situation.  The item is still available for sale, especially if you're using a fixed price listing.  True, a bit of time may be lost in dealing with the cancellation, but that's part of business.  

Yes, there are non-payers, but if you consider the underlying reasons for most non-payment, you'll probably find folly, misunderstanding, over-eagerness or poor estimation of available funds as the explanations.  I just don't think most people are deliberately dishonest or malicious, and I don't believe in escalating a simple business transaction into some sort of personal retribution.  

I'll give you one recent example: a buyer purchased an item, then vanished for several days.  I checked the buyer's FB, and saw she was quite a new eBayer.  I guessed that she may have made a mistake but was afraid to admit it.  I messaged her, asking if she'd like me to initiate a cancellation.  The answer came back: "Yes, please, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize my Paypal account had no funds".  Sometimes you have to dig a little deeper and treat people as customers first, not delinquents.  

As for the purported "commitment to buy" and the admonition that a buyer is entering into a contract, while perhaps true, they are hollow warnings -- unlike a shoplifting situation in a B&M store, there is no legal enforcement behind that commitment on eBay.  The only true recourse you have as a seller is to either treat the anonymous customer harshly with an immediate UID, forcing them either to pay or get a strike (in either event sending them away disgusted), or let them go with the minimum of fuss, to hopefully buy another day.  

In either scenario, your item is going to be hung up for a few days until the process is completed, so there's no difference except in the level of tension for you and for the buyer.  

[73rhc]

"You are absolutely right. You are better and smarter than I am. You know it all."

Wow, great comeback. Is that the best you can do?