Seller cancelled sale to save on fees?

[Tiggerdig]

I have been to collect an item i bought on eBay today. I paid with cash. This evening i have had an email saying the seller cancelled the sale as damaged or not available and I do not need to do anything. Now I am guessing that this is a very cheeky way to avoid fees? Have you come across this before?

I would think it’s very common. It’s happened to me a few times.

Its never even occurred to me to do that and I have sold quite a lot! I am guessing you couldn't get away with it often.

In cancelling the sale it leaves a black mark on one of you.
Eg by canceling as no longer available it becomes a flag on the sellers account and can be a problem further down the line of they keep misbehaving
They could also cancel a sale claiming it was never paid for which becomes a black mark against the seller.

You now have the item but no purchase history and no comeback via eBay if there is an issue, such as it turns out to be faulty etc
You have the option of reporting to eBay to complain that you completed the sale and they falsely closed it
They have breached the terms and conditions of eBay, and strictly speaking have committed fraud in order to get out of paying eBay for their services in connecting buyer & seller

It says out of stock or damaged so black mark will be against them. And thankfully it’s nothing that really can go wrong but it still irrationally irritated me. I’m a stickler for the truth .

I don’t think it is about fees. More to prevent the seller being scammed.

Unfortunately some buyers try to scam by claiming not receiving goods ie seller marked as collected but I haven't collected it. However if you collect in person you generally can't claim as damaged or faulty as you had chance to inspect goods , this used to be a buyer scam saying collected goods were faulty but you now generally can't start cases claiming not as described for collection items
. So though I see why the cancellation may seem suspect it could be a case of a seller being conned before and protectING themselves.

Interesting that wouldn’t have crossed my mind at all.

I don’t think it is about fees. More to
prevent the seller being scammed.

It is to avoid fees. How could the seller be scammed in this scenario?