The “Cancel” button exists in the buyer’s “Buy History > Item Block” until a tracking number has been entered either automatically thru the PBS system or manually by the seller.

From 0 to 30 minutes:  the “Cancel” button will automatically cancel the order without the seller’s permission.

From 30 minutes +:   the “Cancel” button will link to a page where the buyer can request a cancellation from the seller.

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A buyer CAN cancel only (1) item from an order or sub-order.

The buyer DOES NOT need to cancel the entire order.

The buyer DOES NOT need to cancel the entire sub-order.

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Buyers have 30 minutes, after placing an order, to cancel the order directly through their account (Buy History > Item Block), without the permission of the seller.

After 30 minutes, direct cancellation is no longer an option, but must obtain permission from the seller to Cancel the order, by submitting a request to the seller “to cancel” as long as the item has not been confirmed as “Shipped” and this confirmation can only come from the seller.

Note:  just because a shipping tracking number is available for an item does not mean that the item has been dispatched to the shipping carrier yet. (only the seller can answer this question).

(For Ref:  amazon has this exact same rule).

Because buyers have 30 minutes to cancel an order, sellers may not want to start the packaging process until after 30 minutes.

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A buyer CANNOT cancel an order if it has already shipped.

Already shipped= a tracking number has been entered for the item.

Note:  The entry of this tracking number is the trigger that changes the “Delivery Status” from “Order Confirmed” to “Order Shipped”.

On the “Buy History” page > in the “Item Block”, once a tracking number has been entered, the “Cancel” button changes to the “Return Item” button.

A buyer can still message the seller to see if the seller can still accept the cancellation, because maybe the seller did not “dispatch” the item yet.

Dispatch= hand the “boxed and labeled” item to the shipping carrier.

If the seller did not dispatch the item yet, it is the seller’s choice to grant the cancellation to the buyer or not.

It may be in the seller’s best interest to grant the cancellation because, depending upon the seller’s “Return” terms, the buyer may be able to return the item after he receives it, and if the seller pays for return shipping, it may end up costing the seller more money to “return the item” than it would to just “grant the cancellation”.

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Delivery Statuses that the buyer can see in the buyer’s Buy History:

Typical Order Statuses:

1. Order Confirmed:  the order that the buyer has placed has been “paid”.

2. Order Shipped:  the order has a tracking number.

   (Maybe some time in the future we also have the status “Out for Delivery” (more Easypost API work)).

3. Order Delivered:  triggered by the EasyPost API.

Other Statuses:

Order Refunded:  the order that the buyer has placed has been “refunded”.

Order Cancelled:  the order that the buyer has placed has been “cancelled” by the seller or buyer.

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Seller can “cancel” orders for reasons of:

Out of Stock

Inventory Issues

Pricing Errors

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PBS encourages sellers to accept cancellations if the item has not yet been shipped for this main reason:

Depending upon the seller’s “Return” terms, the buyer may be able to return the item after he receives it, and if the seller pays for return shipping, it may end up costing the seller more money to “return the item” than it would to just “grant the cancellation”.

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If the order has been cancelled by the Seller:

PBS will inform the buyer that the order has been canceled.

The buyer will get a refund.

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Important to note from PBS’s “payment gateway service provider” (auth):

When you void a transaction on PBS’s “payment gateway service provider, the transaction fee is typically not refunded because a void essentially cancels a pending transaction before it settles, meaning the processing fees associated with the sale were never actually charged to you in the first place; you only pay fees on settled transactions that are later refunded. 

Key points to remember:

Voiding vs. Refunding:
Voiding is for canceling a transaction before it settles, while a refund is used to return funds to a customer after a transaction has already settled. 

No Fee for Voiding:
Since the transaction is cancelled before settlement, no processing fee is typically deducted when you void a transaction. 

Refunding incurs fees:
If you need to return money to a customer after a transaction has settled, you will need to issue a refund, which will incur a transaction fee.

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