eBay told sellers about its intention to change the cancellation process in an August 15th Seller Announcement Board post, and on August 28th, it informed sellers through email that it rolled out the change.
The header of the email notification read, “We’re simplifying order cancellations.” As we had reported last month, eBay is now giving buyers the ability to request an order cancellation using the “Cancel order” button prior to the item being marked as shipped. Previously, buyers could only use the Cancel order button in cases where they had purchased the item within the last hour and the seller had not yet shipped the order;
eBay said sellers retain full control to either accept or decline cancellation requests under the new process.
The full letter follows below:
Subject: Important changes to eBay’s order cancellation experience
We’re simplifying order cancellations
Hi (redacted),
We’re reaching out to let you know that today, we’re launching an update that will simplify the order cancellation process for both sellers and buyers.
What’s new
Buyers now have the option to request an order cancellation using the Cancel order button before the item is marked as shipped.
What sellers should know
- You retain full control to either accept or decline cancellation requests
- You’re protected from neutral or negative feedback for any cancellation requests made through our updated process, regardless of whether you accept or decline
- You may notice a slight increase in cancellation requests, but should receive fewer direct messages from buyers inquiring about cancellations
- In prior tests, this change resulted in a minimal increase in cancellation requests (maintaining an overall average cancellation rate of 1%, with an increase from .9 out of 100 transactions to 1.1 out of 100 transactions), and a notable 25% improvement in buyer satisfaction, which led to a higher likelihood of repeat purchases
For a detailed overview of these changes, please visit our eBay Community page.
Thanks for being part of the eBay community.
eBay
The August 15th announcement contains more information and FAQs. Let us know if you’ve experienced any pros or cons under the new system as a seller, and if you think the process has been simplified for you or for buyers.
Just had my first dealings with this “Improved Policy”. Four cancellations since the announcement, all Buyers refereeing to the Email and policy change by Ebay as their right to cancel anytime they feel now, this is even after I have printed the shipping label. The last request to cancel from a Buyer was over a year ago – it rarely happens in the Category I sell in as I have had maybe 2 – 3 in the last 10 years.
This is just Ebay’s way of pushing Sellers to ship within 24 hours of payment regardless what the terms of the sale are as set by the Seller. Here comes the flood.