Those guidelines are laughable considering the range of item types possible. Imagine going to Target and finding makeup or medicines marked down only 5% because the "factory seal is broken but item is still in its' original condition." And when it comes to clothes, as far as buyers are concerned unattached tags or security features means someone wore that garment on their body, sat on their butt in it, sweated in it, etc. I personally have no problem with second hand clothes (they can be washed) but I expect to pay second hand prices for them, and so does everyone else. Not side-eye "new" prices because tags come with them but not ON them.
It's also pretty messed up that the top two tiers "guide" sellers to deduct percentages that are less-than or barely-more-than what the seller likely paid eBay in fees, of which 0% will be credited back by eBay.
If the seller paid 15% FVF and 10% promotion = 25% ..... but only deducted 10% of the buyer's refund, then it's LITERALLY A LOSS! -If that item was $100 then they'd be PAYING EBAY $15 for .... nothing. It seems that when they created those guidelines, they banked on sellers not realizing this discrepancy and/or sucking at math big time.
And lastly, how rude to condescend to the OP about this post based on what you consider a "relatively low cost item." She specifically said, "This item was a $68 sale so not a small one to me." And even if she did consider it a small amount, isn't it better for her to get the full picture on how this feature works with a small-amount item, so she'll have the info in her pocket when she faces a large-amount dishonest INAD???
There are 2 types of partial refunds.
1. Where you go to the Order Details and VOLUNTARILY issue money back to the buyer. This could be be anything from refunding part of the shipping they paid to combine multiple items, to refunding for partial dissatisfaction (like say they ordered several dinner plates and a couple of them arrived broken, but they want to keep the intact ones and just get compensation for the broken ones).
2. Where the buyer files an official return and returns the item in worse condition than you sent it, and it was something they did, not that you packed poorly or whatever. Then you can retain up to 50% of the would-be refund, using a special feature that eBay offers (ONLY IF the listing offered free returns).
When you say you always get fees credited back to you, they must have been the 1st scenario, voluntary partial refunds. And eBay shows you that you will receive those fee credits when you do the refund. Like this:
But the 2nd scenario, the partial refund for a RETURNED item, eBay does not credit back any of your seller fees.
WHAT??!!
What kind of cheap-azz deduction schedule is that? I see nothing on it above 30%. They need to build it out a little:
@mynewfindstore $68 is a lot to me, too. Even if it wasn't I wouldn't dream of knocking it.
I have endless sympathy for west coast pickers. Not only is everything more expensive including second-hand, but if you're into actual antiques they're just crazy hard to find. I remember this Northern CA eBay Youtuber I used to watch made a picker video about an antique store he had just learned about (and had to drive pretty far to). When he got there he was like "Oh my god, look at this place, it's incredible!" -it was the kind of antique store I always swiftly exit, the kind that looks like you're in Cracker Barrel, with thinly-spread and very "staged" antiques of the most cliche kinds, old gas station signs, wagon wheels, Coca Cola junk galore, etc. ...... and when he showed some of the prices, good lord!!
I mean it makes sense; the further west you go, the more recently the towns were settled, and the less likely people were to drag much stuff that far, especially before cars, over the Rockies. Not to rub it in your nose, but Mobile is the 14th oldest city in the U.S. so there are antique stores out the wazoo, also the biggest flea market on the Gulf Coast is in Mobile, plenty of regular thrifts shops too. And being deep-south, err thang DIRT cheap!
But you got me wondering -how does the storage unit game compare? So I checked the online auction site I'm familiar with (certainly not the only one, but it is nationwide) ..... and man, it appears even that is bleak, out west. In the 120 mile radius of Seattle, there are TWO units currently up for auction.
One looks like it was rented by an actual homeless person (tent and various wheeled cases, buggies, bags with handles)
And the other is kind of weird, most visible stuff is VHS/DVD's, and it's weird that they ARE visible -look, most of the boxes have their tops cut off. My guess is that was someone who was a picker themselves, selling stuff at flea markets or maybe even eBay (could save time not having to open every box to find a sold item).
Then I checked the same distance radius of my zip code -26 current auction units. But I left quickly. That's the LAST thing I need to look at too much, because my mind AND my back are bad nowadays.
