Becoming very difficult to have an eBay bussiness

[medproequip]

Is anyone else getting messages from eBay that final value fees are increasing as a result of returns.   On-line shoppers have become comfortable with returns though their Amazon shopping.  Buy two, keep one, is the way people shop.    How do we build a business and  partner with eBay when they don't understand the dynamic?  I'm at a loss, any suggestions?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I have not received any such message.

Are you talking about a general increase in FVFs, or are you saying your Seller Performance rank has fallen to Below Standard? In which case, yes, one of the consequences is higher FVFs for Below Standard Sellers. 

[craft-stash]

FVF?

Another guess please?

[dbfolks166mt]

     I have not received any notification from eBay along those lines and frankly it would make no sense. Comparing eBay returns to Amazon returns are separate dynamics. In eBay's case returns generally cost eBay nothing out of their own pockets but there are exceptions. EBay is not directly involved in the logistics process and most of the time they retain their FVF's so the cost of returns is born by the seller not eBay.

Amazon on the other hand is directly involved in the logistics process and returns consume time and resources to handle which I am sure  Amazon has factored into its costing models which of course are passed along to the buyers and sellers. 

     Return ratios for the ecommerce industry vary greatly depending on the item and the reason for the return. It is estimated ecommerce return rates average about 20-30%. The following is a pretty good article on returns and some of the dynamics surrounding them. Bottom line is this is a sellers issue to address I doubt eBay really cares other than applying the returns toward your performance metrics. 

https://www.richpanel.com/blog/ecommerce-return-rates#:~:text=The%20average%20ecommerce%20return%20r.... 

[kensgiftshop]

More photos and better descriptions might help cut down on returns.

[luckythewinner]

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Is anyone else getting messages from eBay that final value fees are increasing as a result of returns.  

Only the sellers whose return exceed eBay's metrics 

Buy two, keep one, is the way people shop

No, it's just the way some people shop for some items. I just avoid selling those items. 

[dhbookds]

Cold, hard facts are that Ebay is probably not going to change........so it's up to the seller to figure out his problems and cure them.......   It might involve better listings, eliminating "problem" items,  changing product type/s, or listing only those items with a large enough margin to absorb the extra charges....... 

[meme6253]

I have not received any such notice, It may only pertain to those that are having high return rates!

[luckythewinner]

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@meme6253 wrote:

I have not received any such notice, It may only pertain to those that are having high return rates!

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It is a penalty fee assessed only to those that are having high return rates.

eBay explains this in detail in their help files:

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy/service-metrics-policy...

And I think they give you a dashboard in the seller hub to monitor it.

Having a high INR or return rate can cause (a) penalty fees, (b) seller limits, (c) holds, (d) extended delivery time reported to buyers, and (e) lose the ability to deduct a percentage from SNAD returns. 

[sextons-sweet-deals]

Doesn't the seller get burned with the return fees? Why should FVF increase for everyone?

I did see on the national news last week that retailers are putting a stop to constant returns from on-line sales. Of course, they did not go into detail how that was going to handled or enforced. 

[dbfolks166mt]

Doesn't the seller get burned with the return fees? Why should FVF increase for everyone?

I did see on the national news last week that retailers are putting a stop to constant returns from on-line sales. Of course, they did not go into detail how that was going to handled or enforced. 

     It's becoming more and more common for ecommerce companies to charge for returns but the process and policies vary from company to company. You can simply google it and find multiple articles like the following. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/more-companies-are-charging-return-shipping-mail-fees-2023-5