Ina Steiner EcommerceBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on ecommerce.
by Ina Steiner, Editor of EcommerceBytes.com
Sat Apr 20 2024 22:34:11

eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

By: Ina Steiner

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Sellers are getting notices today that eBay cancelled orders due to what it vaguely called a "systems issue" (and in a tweet as a "technical issue" and a "technical hiccup"). Those who received the message are confused and upset not only because eBay cancelled the orders, but because of the lack of information about the reason and whether eBay used its own funds to issue the refunds, or whether it was coming out of sellers' pockets.

In one thread on the eBay discussion boards, a seller said they had gotten the message about eBay refunding the buyer and wondered, "Item has been mailed, so I guess I am out the money and item?" 

Various sellers posted the identical message from eBay, which stated the following:

"eBay recently identified a systems issue that impacted your order. As a result, we have had to cancel your order and issue a refund to the buyer. Please check your canceled orders for more details. We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused, and we have refunded your fees. We hope you choose to relist your item.

"We'd like to assure you that your seller performance rating won't be impacted by defects resulting from this issue, and we will proactively remove neutral or negative feedback.

"If you have already shipped your item or have any questions, please get in touch. We're here to help.

"Thank you for being a part of the eBay seller community."

While eBay's missive said it would refund seller fees, it didn't specify if that included Promoted Listing advertising fees.

One seller, former eBay employee Dan Wilson, said in a tweet exchange with @askeBay that the cancellation had been a terrible experience for his buyer who was as confused as he was. "I had already confirmed the address as requested," he said, and called it a farce. He also expressed concern over the safety of users' private data.

Some sellers said they didn't receive a notification from eBay, but instead, they received questions from buyers asking why their orders had been cancelled, such as a seller who explained in this eBay discussion board thread

"I had two auction items that were sold and paid for yesterday canceled today, the reason being "other". I did not receive any email from eBay that the ordered were canceled, which I always receive if I cancel an order because of non payment or a buyer request. I only found out because the buyer sent a message asking why the order was canceled. I've never had something like this happen before. The buyers were refunded and the money removed from my account, so it is good that I hadn't shipped the orders yet. I can make new listings for the buyers to purchase again, but I would like to know what is happening."

The timing of the decision by eBay to cancel orders has some sellers wondering if it was connected with a glitch that it acknowledged on Thursday in which it had provided sellers with incorrect ship-to addresses on some orders going back to April 7th.

Some sellers reached out to eBay moderators on discussion board threads, but as one poster pointed out on Saturday, "the staff won't be back until Monday.

Update: 4/22/2024: eBay Confirms Canceled Orders Due to Shipping Glitch
An eBay moderator back at work on Monday morning confirmed that the reason it cancelled orders on Saturday was the weeks-long shipping glitch recently discovered. 

"We recently identified an issue that caused a limited number of orders to be shipped to a buyer's alternate address. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and are moving quickly to address customer concerns."



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Readers Comments

Perminate Link for eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason   eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

This user has validated their user name. by: COVID-19

Sun Apr 21 00:26:08 2024

Keep on twerking your website, you eBay doofuses! You are just lucky that Mercari is such a [bleep]show right now so it's not like sellers have a true alternative.

Perminate Link for eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason   eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

This user has validated their user name. by: COVID-19

Sun Apr 21 00:29:31 2024

Oof! Time to put my listings on VACATION MODE.....again! Had to do it earlier this month because of the glorious USPS [bleep] up and now it's eBay's turn with the Address issue and this Cancellation thing. Thanks a lot, all you overpaid technocrats!

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This user has validated their user name. by: Rexford

Sun Apr 21 06:54:00 2024

So will eBay ding themselves like they ding sellers' metrics when sellers cancel an order that is not a cancel request by the buyer?

Perminate Link for eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason   eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

by: MeAgain This user has validated their user name.

Sun Apr 21 19:13:11 2024

There is a whole new generation of Ebay techs who have no idea how/why the code was designed, programmed, or even actually works. Expect much, much more of this. You know the Ebay Cus Support people who can barely speak English and know very little about anything? Well, it's the same folks, just with fake, foreign tech degrees and no experience, sitting in the Phillipines or India, now doing the coding/troubleshooting. Gonna get messy.

Perminate Link for eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason   eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

This user has validated their user name. by: COVID-19

Sun Apr 21 22:38:12 2024

The only "ding" at eBay is the bell signaling last call at Walker's West. This is when some of these do-nothing employees finally wake up and head on home!

Perminate Link for eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason   eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

by: ebayout This user has validated their user name.

Mon Apr 22 00:11:10 2024

How well does code written in Pakistan interface with domestic code?

Perminate Link for eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason   eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

by: Sierra This user has validated their user name.

Mon Apr 22 00:26:37 2024

Code is code if the coders are equally skilled with coding.  

Perminate Link for eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason   eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

by: Snapped This user has validated their user name.

Mon Apr 22 09:25:43 2024

“ Code is code …”

Yeah.  But the instructions and specifications that define the functions and processing and interface ‘intent’ for that code is written in the language of the ‘designer’.  And the user interface (displays, controls, input mechanics) are also language and syntax specific.

This isn’t a translation problem though.  This is a why does eBay ‘need’ to be involved in so many facets of the transaction that a single point stress fracture in any one of ‘their systems’ wreaks havoc with everything operational they have nothing to do with problem.  

A mouthful in any language.

Perminate Link for eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason   eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

by: spooky This user has validated their user name.

Mon Apr 22 11:01:41 2024

I was in contact all weekend with eBay Twitter (now X) about Terapeak being down. It is suddenly back to normal this morning. this 35 billion dollar company seems to have an awful lot of glitches lately

Perminate Link for eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason   eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

by: Allen1853 This user has validated their user name.

Mon Apr 22 11:33:06 2024

This is the second time eBay has communicated with me by e-mail to my Bellsouth account without actually messaging me in eBay. I received the "April 7th glitch" email on April 19th. I had 20 packages to ship that day and contacted each buyer with a copy of eBay's very late message about addresses. Most confirmed their address was correct. But if it wasn't it is definitely eBays problem and any misdelivered items MUST be refunded by eBay. If they do not a class action suit is definitely in order.  

Perminate Link for eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason   eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

by: Shanna This user has validated their user name.

Mon Apr 22 16:47:02 2024

I have been selling on eBay for 17 years, and when Jeff Terrell suggested if I didn't like eBay's rules, there were plenty of other options. So I took his only good advice and diversified and started listing on Bonanza and Amazon 10 years ago. Since then I have added Mercari and Poshmark. All of these other options combined have had less system failures than eBay. If fact, I can't think of one time there has been any issue with Amazon, probably because they understand they only make money when their platform is functioning properly. Thus there is never an issue there. I guarantee Jeff Bezos has never tested a new function, method, or upgrade on the live site., They test things on a parallel platform and make sure changes do not interfere with the functionality of buying or selling. In 25 years, eBay has never learned this.

Why would any company test something live, on a weekend, when there is no command structure in place to say stop, revert to the original. Or better yet, test things not on the live site. And then when things do break down, they seem to have no way to just undo what they did and figure out what went wrong. It is definitely hurting business, but no one there seems to care. At least John Donahoe gave some lip service when he said he was not happy with all the glitches on eBay, yet he and his successors did nothing about it. What would it costs to overhaul the entire platform on a modern engine, a few million? They would make that back a hundred times over if they had a stable platform like Amazon.

Perminate Link for eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason   eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

This user has validated their user name. by: COVID-19

Tue Apr 23 05:25:18 2024

Would any eBay cheerleader be kind enough to update us whether it's safe to resume selling yet? Or is this problem still happening?

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This user has validated their user name. by: Rexford

Tue Apr 23 06:37:19 2024

"At least John Donahoe gave some lip service..."

That's what empty suits do.

Perminate Link for eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason   eBay Is Cancelling Orders Today for No Apparent Reason

This user has validated their user name. by: COVID-19

Wed Apr 24 23:10:06 2024

Do you people ever wonder what eBay employees at their prestigious HQ in San Jose do all day long?



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