Cancelling A Sale Now Opens A Case?

[ThatAnonymousWoman]

I had a sale today where the buyer sent me a message immediately after purchase and asked that I ship to a different address. I said yes but I would have to cancel the sale and then she would have to repurchase it using the new address. I have done this before and it was no problem. But today though when I tried to cancel the sale, new options appeared for cancellation reason and one was “buyer asked to ship to and unconfirmed address.” I chose that one and instead of it cancelling the order, it opened a case the buyer has to respond to. One of the problems is that it is still showing as an item I need to ship. I’m trying to figure out how this will affect my seller account if the buyer doesn’t respond within my one-day handling time. Any ideas what I should do?

[Jay]

If a buyer asks us to mail to a different address, we just ship to that address. eBay reps have told us that they’ll back us up as long as its documented in the official eBay messages. We’ve done this numerous times without issue.

[T-Satt]

We agree Jay. We have done the same for the same reason multiple times…

[ThatAnonymousWoman]

I called eBay and they confirmed I could have sent the item with the address in the message. But now that a case is open, I don’t know what to do. The eBay rep told me to ship it at first then she changed her mind after I explained my concerns and said I should just message the buyer instead. The buyer has 10 days to respond and still has not responded 24 hours later. Here are the possibilities:

1. Regardless if I ship the item and the buyer declines the request to cancel, I get a defect. At this point there is nothing I can do to prevent that.
2. If I ship the item and the buyer accepts the request to cancel, she gets the item and her money back.
3. If I wait for the buyers response I get dinged on late shipment. And could still get a defect.

I thought I was doing the right thing and now I may get a defect.

[Jay]

Unless you have a problem with too many defects, a single defect is not a deal breaker.

Since you’ve started the process, I’d just wait for the buyer to respond. So you have a late shipment. Not a big deal if you have a good shipping percentage already.

[ThatAnonymousWoman]

Thanks Jay. I have one defect from a month ago where the buyer opened a return for a large, heavy item and stated she didn’t like the color but chose item not as described, I believe, because the shipping was substantial. I asked her to cancel the return request and reopen one and she didn’t respond. I called eBay because the buyer wouldn’t respond and it was the last day for me to respond to the case and the rep assured me that she would close the case in my favor. As soon as I hung up, a new case was opened and then closed immediately in the buyer’s favor basically stating I wouldn’t accept the return. Which is not the case at all. I guess I should have accepted the return first THEN disputed the shipping?? It is so unclear. So now I have a defect and I had to pay the shipping. eBay will not remove the defect or reimburse me for the shipping.

I have one from months ago also. I sold an item then a few hours later eBay said I shouldn’t ship it because the buyer had closed their account. So I refunded and relisted. I got a defect for “out of stock.” I waited too long to have this removed. Apparently it has to be done within 90 days.

I’m angry at this point because in each of these situations I thought I was doing the right thing.

[Jay]

Yep, always accept the return. Then you can dispute it.

You only have a couple defects so no big deal. eBay doesn’t expect any of us to be 100% perfect. As long as we don’t have consistent defects because of bad business practices, we just ignore random defects.

[ThatAnonymousWoman]

So the buyer never responded, and I was able to close the “case.” However, closing the cancellation case didn’t actually cancel the sale or refund the buyer though. The whole process was pointless. It is still giving me the option to ship and is still appearing under items waiting to be shipped. The message I got when I closed the case said that the buyer can no longer contact me about this item. There is no way to refund the buyer in eBay at this point. So now I’m wondering if I should refund through PayPal using the original order (which I’m afraid will give me an out of stock defect because that is what happened once before), or just send her a direct payment (which will leave the item still hanging out in items awaiting shipment and leave no eBay trail.) All the eBay reps I have spoke to don’t know why it opened a case in the first place, so I’m hesitant to take their advice especially since I’ve been burned couple times this year by following the reps’ advice. I’m just trying to think through the possible outcomes on my own before doing anything.

[AdventureE]

Hello,

I would offer that you do nothing. If the buyer still wants to be refunded they can do that through PayPal and not eBay is my understanding.

On another note, when I spoke to an eBay rep recently about the change of address concept, they said canceling the sale at the buyer’s request and then reselling with the new address put in by the buyer allows for eBay protection while simply mailing to the new address identified in the email would not invoke eBay protection.

It sounds like the situation you are experiencing has become a little complex. I would offer that you call back and ask to speak with a supervisor. Begin with the general structure of the situation and what outcome you want to have happen by making the call. Then offer details as relevant in order to keep the conversation simple, structured, and focused on resolving this situation in a manner that is most appropriate (especially due to the fact that you noted that a case should have never been opened).

[Jay]

This has become overly complicated.

In the future, if a buyer asks you to ship to a different address, just do that.

[T-Satt]

Agree. We have done this in the past and we have been told by eBay that they will back us up as long as the address change is through eBay messages.

[Author]

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