Who pays for the fees when an order is canceled by a buyer

When the buyer cancels the order, the transaction is stopped and the order will not take place. It is therefore very important that this decision is well-considered. If the order is cancelled both seller and Whiskybase will be prejudiced. In addition, the buyer will have to make extra costs to return the whisky to the seller. All in all a lot of hassle that should be prevented as much as possible.   

When is a buyer allowed to cancel an order? 

On Whiskybase Marketplace a buyer has the right to cancel the order within 7 days after receiving the order. Buyer does have to provide a valid reason when cancelling. 

When an order is canceled it gets escalated in our system and we will mediate on how to proceed. In most cases there are a few possible solutions, 

1. bottle goes return and the buyer receives a refund

2. Buyer and seller agree on a discount, buyer will receive a partial refund based on the agreement

3. Bottle goes return and the seller sends a new one  

Who pays for shipping? 

Shipping costs will have to be paid by the party that causes the cancellation.  

Example 1: Buyer cancels.
If the buyer cancels and returns the order without providing a reason, the buyer is clearly causing the cancellation. In this situation buyer will have to pay for shipping twice. The money that has been paid for the whisky will be refunded to the buyer. The shipping costs that buyer has paid when he made the order will be sent to the seller. In addition the buyer will have to pay the shipping costs for returning the order. 

Example 2: Seller is cause of the cancellation.  

In the following situations, the seller is the cause of the cancellation:
- The wrong whisky has been sent;
- The whisky does not satisfy the requirements that were agreed upon. The bottle is in a different state than agreed upon. For example the label is damaged worse than was told. Or the seal has been broken but the seller did not communicate this.
- The bottle has been packed up so poorly it got damaged during transport.  

The buyer will have to return the bottle to the seller. The initial shipping costs for returning have to be paid by the buyer and should be compensated afterwards by the seller. The initial shipping costs will have to be paid by the seller. 

Example 3: it is unclear which party contributed most to the cancellation.  
The buyer can see that the bottle got damaged during transport (box is wet and smells of whisky). In this situation the buyer has to refuse accepting the parcel from the shipping company! 

When the buyer refuses to accept the parcel, it will be returned to the seller at no additional costs. The buyer can then claim the shipping costs with the shipping company. If the buyer finds out that the bottle is broken or leaking after accepting the parcel, he will have to pay shipping costs to return the bottle. In this situation, the buyer will have to make clear pictures of the damaged bottle and upload these to the order page in Whiskybase Marketplace. The damaged bottle itself does not have to be returned. 

In these type of situations the Whiskybase Marketplace Administration Team will mediate. Most often, the buyer will be reimbursed the order money as well as the shipping costs and the seller will have to get reimbursed by the shipping company. 

In all situations where an order is cancelled there will have to be a lot of communicating. On the order page, both buyer and seller will have to state what went wrong, sending messages as well as pictures. The Whiskybase Marketplace Administration Team will follow the conversation on this order page and may contribute or intervene. Also, the Whiskybase Marketplace Administration Team decides on the distribution of the money.

see also Who pays the fee when an order is canceled by the seller