LYING TO GET OUT OF A CONTRACT ALLOWED BY eBay?

[leopard_frog]

I had a buyer so excited about purchasing my candle she asked me how much shipping would be if she bought 2? I packaged two candles calculated weight, measured and gave her the appropriate amount.  Here is her reaction:

Shortly after eBay sent me an email with a bit retraction notification, guess what reason she gave them?

Bidder	Action	Date of Bid and Retraction
		Retracted: C $20.00 Explanation: Seller changed the description of the item	Bid: 10-Feb-14 15:48:22 EST Retracted: 13-Feb-14 17:53:20 EST

[007steveb16]

I've often wondered how much attention/investigation eBay pays to buyer's who tell fibs when doing bid retractions.

[femmefan1946]

There just aren't enough reasons for retractions. From my point of view as a seller, I would rather have a retracted bid than chase a deadbeat, who is tying up my stock for a week while I work through the system.

And I think "I changed my mind" is a valid reason for retracting.

Bid retractions should continue to appear on the member's feedback page and possibly eBay should add an optional Block to Seller Preferences for say 5 or more Retractions in 12 months.

But it is annoying to us oldies and upsetting to newbies trying to get a business started.

[femmefan1946]

Hmm -- candles are heavy, especially those in glass jars.

Did you know that your shipping cost to the USA is not showing? That may be the problem.

Buyers hate paying for shipping. Even when the amount is perfectly valid.

And if the shipping is higher than the price of the item they feel gouged.

Do some thinking about your business plan with that in mind. Your product may not be suitable for mail order selling.

[mr.elmwood]

Buyer was not lying and there is no contract. Get over that. There are not, never have been, never will be contracts online. certainly not on a flea market site like ebay.

I'm with Femme, you are not posting a shipping cost. Buyer asks and had a heart attack and hit the back button as fast as they could.

[rose-dee]

I agree with the others.  You have a Cdn shipping price of $21.33 on a ca. $24.95 item.  That's enough to scare off all but the most determined buyers. 

As others have mentioned, you also need to set up a shipping rate for the U.S.  There is nothing there at the moment on a couple of listings I checked.  This fact (missing US shipping rates) may also be having an impact on your visibility on eBay.com, and I think you may find that if you stay in business the majority of your customers will be from the U.S.  Hiding shipping cost until the auction is over (or until a buyer asks) is a recipe for trouble.  You need to fix this. 

Don't focus on the retracted bid - which happens all the time - as on the reason for it.  Ask yourself what you're doing that would make a bidder want to retract.  The answer, as many of us have suggested, is most likely in your shipping quotes (or lack thereof).  In your situation currently, you're probably better off having a bidder retract anyway than having a buyer who finds out after the fact what the shipping charge is and is so shocked they don't pay.

My advice?  Stop running so many auctions on these items.  Pick just a few key pieces to list at auction.  List the rest with fixed price and set your BIN price somewhat higher on all listings, in order to cover some of the shipping cost.  Make sure you have your US shipping options properly set up -- come back to these boards if you need help or advice with that.  For example, you could probably charge around $27 US for these items and show, say, $12 shipping to the US.  This would cover most of the Small Packet shipping costs to the US. 

I'd say forget about tracked shipping on these sorts of items.  If you're not able to absorb the occasional postal loss or breakage on an item of under $30, then you may be in the wrong business (in my experience, lost parcels are pretty rare anyway).  You could use 3rd party insurance if you feel anxious, but you'd be better to self-insure on these lower-value items.

Shipping heavy, breakable items like this is never going to be easy or cheap, but you have to find a price point and a shipping quote that will attract buyers and will still permit you to make some profit.  How much depends on many factors, but high shipping costs are a sales killer, and showing no shipping costs (to the US) will wreck your business before you get going.