Changes to Items After An Order Is Placed

Mistakes happen. Maybe the listing was posted for too long and who knows what happened to the material. Maybe someone mistakenly used the material set aside for the listing. Sellers are entirely responsible for these situations, but you do have a way to deal with them and minimize or do away with any losses.

One of two scenarios will result:

1. You correct the listing before an order is placed

Great! You discovered the issue before someone placed an order. Update or delete the listing right away and there won't be any issues.

Problem solved.

2. Someone ordered the item before you could correct the listing

Darn. Someone ordered the incorrect item and now you can't deliver. Now you have to pull the item from the order.

There are two scenarios in this situation that can play out. The result may eat a little bit into your earnings for this order, but not if you find the issue before you combine items for shipping. (Items that are to be picked up by the buyer won't have any potential losses.)

a) You discover the issue before you combine items for shipping, and before shipping labels are generated.

Nothing has happened yet beyond the process of the buyer making the purchase and paying for the item(s) and the shipping (if applicable). You will be able to identify the item on the order that can't be fulfilled, the buyer will be refunded the cost of the item and shipping (if applicable), and the order will be reduced to the remaining items as if they were the only ones in the buyer's cart to begin with. Now you can proceed like any other order with the Shipping Confirmation.

Problem solved and no money lost except for the item that was deleted. The buyer won't be happy, but it could have been worse and you can move on.

b) You discover the issue after combining items for shipment or after shipping labels are generated.

Here's where you may end up with a small loss on the order. If you combined items into one package reducing the total cost for shipping all the items in that package, the buyer will now need a refund for that item's shipping cost that you removed, but you will not have the ability to recombine what's left to reduce the shipping cost and you will cover the cost for the refund. (* See below for the adjusted shipping cost.)This is where the loss comes from. If the label was purchased through the website (for example a USPS flat rate package), then the total cost of the shipping will be deducted from your payout (as would normally happen) so the website can be reimbursed for that label plus the buyer's refund for the shipping cost of the removed item. If you are purchasing the shipping label (paying for shipping) outside the website (like for a custom package or if purchasing the label through the website did not go through), then your payout will include the full shipping cost since that is owed to you minus the buyer's refund for the shipping cost of the removed item.

* The shipping cost refunded to the buyer for an item removed from a combined shipping package is adjusted to a value proportionate according to that item's shipping cost relative to the other items.

Example

Three items were combined into one package. The shipping cost for the individual items as listed were $10, $15, and $20. That's $45 total for shipping that the customer originally paid for. Let's say you had combined them into one package with a shipping cost of $30. (The buyer already paid $45 for shipping so now receives a refund of $15.) You find out you don't have the item to sell them that was listed at $10 shipping and remove that item from the order. They will not be refunded $10. This item effectively cost the buyer a fraction of the original shipping, determined by the new total shipping cost compared to the original shipping cost. Since the new shipping cost for the entire package is $30, the new shipping costs are 30/45 times the original shipping costs. So, $10 × 30/45 = $6.67 for this item's share of the new combined shipping cost. This will need to be refunded to them and will come out of your bottom line for this order.

Obviously, it's better for everyone to stay on top of your listed items and make sure your listings are up to date.