January 16, 2026 at 1:35 pm

An Online Seller’s Customer Wants To Cancel An Order, But The Seller Won’t Do It Unless The Item Is Shipped Back To Them First

by Matthew Gilligan

man with a serious look

Shutterstock/Reddit

I have a good friend who sells things online all the time and boy, does he have some horror stories about customers who are DIFFICULT. And some of them are difficult for no reason at all.

I guess some people are just like that!

And the person this Reddit user is dealing sounds like one of those folks.

Read on and see what you think!

WIBTA if I didn’t cancel/refund refund an online purchase after the customer asked?

“I sell items online.

I’ve worked hard to build a reputation of being honest and reliable and responsive. I’ve always tried to make mistakes right and always work with people. A customer purchased an item from me no questions asked.

When I got the alert, I packed it printed the label and took it to the post office drop box.

Not more than an hour later the customer asked me to cancel the order.

Oh, come on!

I offered to refund if they shipped it back but they want me to pay for shipping because they weren’t expecting my response to be so fast.

I said I’m sorry you aren’t used to that but I’m not a big store I’ll be happy to refund you but you gotta ship it back first and get me a tracking number.

What a creep!

Customer started calling me a con artist and a scammer. I’ve never dealt with someone so nasty before.

So I said keep it then all sales are final.

My buddy said I’m being a jerk and I should just eat the shipping cost. “It’s the holidays and all.”

WIBTA if I didn’t refund the customer at this point?”

Reddit users spoke up.

This reader had a lot to say.

Screenshot 2025 12 23 at 12.08.33 PM An Online Sellers Customer Wants To Cancel An Order, But The Seller Wont Do It Unless The Item Is Shipped Back To Them First

Another individual said they’re NTA.

Screenshot 2025 12 23 at 12.08.46 PM An Online Sellers Customer Wants To Cancel An Order, But The Seller Wont Do It Unless The Item Is Shipped Back To Them First

This person spoke up.

Screenshot 2025 12 23 at 12.08.57 PM An Online Sellers Customer Wants To Cancel An Order, But The Seller Wont Do It Unless The Item Is Shipped Back To Them First

Another Reddit user shared their thoughts.

Screenshot 2025 12 23 at 12.08.16 PM An Online Sellers Customer Wants To Cancel An Order, But The Seller Wont Do It Unless The Item Is Shipped Back To Them First

And this person weighed in.

Screenshot 2025 12 23 at 12.09.09 PM An Online Sellers Customer Wants To Cancel An Order, But The Seller Wont Do It Unless The Item Is Shipped Back To Them First

This customer sounds like a nightmare to deal with!

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.