The New Return Policy and May Ruin Some Sellers

[theseeker_jamrock]

What Ebay should understand that majority of Good and Honest Sellers are not against taking returns from Good and honest Buyers. The Problem is that honest on the buyers part is decided by the click of a button which even if the buyer is not a scammer or thief he maybe a liar who does not want to pay return shipping. The worst part that we as sellers Fear is that we will accepts a return and get something totally differnt from what is sent out. Not all Buyers can absorb free returns because we don't buy in bulk at sweat show prices.

Now sellers

Lets Just say there are certain sellers who will be suffering from returns more than others. If you sell Clothing, Shoes, Hats, Bags, Jewelry, Video games, Movies or anything that can be used for a short term basis or one time event you are going to get returns. I would not be surprised if people will buy food items use some and send it back lol. Seriously though a lot of sellers will be paying people to rent their items. Clothes and other Accessories may be worn to events and then returned. The maybe returned with stains or tears. Video games will played and reurned by shady buyers,Camera equipment or computers maybe rented for events. I think this could be a new service Ebay offers Rental of these items but must comeback in the same condition thats a business idea right there Lol.

Buyers who have small Profit margins will suffer Example if you sell a shirt for $13 pay 3 buck to ship it you make $4 in profit. Buyers returns for whatever reason you pay 3 buck to take it back then that's 6 buck leaves now with a $1 profit to make and if you do relist it again and have to pay another $3 to ship it you are now paying someone to take the shirt with a probiliity of it being returned again. Now if this is a seller who only sell small priced items and this happen a few times in a single week or month we know what will happen.

Things to look for if a buyer buy three shoes are 3 bags from you at once its a very high possibility that one or two may be coming back.

Some sellers on Youtube say they actually decided to test the 30day free returns to see how it will work for them if the actually discided to accept returns. None of them actually got increase sales they only got increased returns. And that was a no brainer right there

Sellers just need to evolve with the times and come up with new strategies as ebay changes some things you should just stay away from or adjust with it the best way you can

[waterbed_bigfoot]

Paul we had one on Amazon and we weren't getting the traffic we get on eBay.  The sellers are really competitive on there and the fees are terrible unless you pay their monthly set up.  You can only list where they say you can.  After almost 2 years on both we left Amazon and stayed with eBay.  But give it a shot who knows you might do better than we did depending on what you sell.  Good luck.

[keziak]

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@sheilad2090 wrote:

I got a Call from Ebay Bragging that returns will only average 15% WOW i do About 3.5% becouse I Sell Clothes and it doen't Fit Returns So I have Been Moving my Items to other Venues and so far so Good No Returns Higher Sales with Much Less in store inventory its been about a Month and No Returns Clothes that sat here are moving Quickly and I doing better in Profect Ebay Burnened there Sellers Bad this Time But if you need to Rent Someting for 30 days for Free Ebay will be the place to shop so There are other places to sell at i used to by alot from Ebay but Im Buying at other Venues I Refuse to Buy here anymore and calling me to brag about how much more money it will cost me to sell here WOW Im done Its going to take me awhile to more the  rest of my items But Yah Im Done 

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Is this the kind of writing that results from texting a lot? Just wondering. So hard to read. 

Another post  coy about unamed other sites that are so much better. Hard to know how valid that is without a name. People (like me) can compare to Amazon without being turned into a pillar of salt. For my product line (books, media), Amazon is better with ebay second in importance.

But never ever think Amazon is better about returns. They now have automatic returns, no questions asked of buyers, and paid for out of seller accounts.  They will refund out of your account if you do not respond the minute the item comes back. Also they do not care if tracking shows the item delivered. If the buyer claims it wasn't, instant refund.
 

[sheilad2090]

Poshmark and Estasy i thought you were not allowed to say the sights im also going to try Mercari some of the Face book Poshers say they do very well there too. Trust me I love Ebay but its not for me anylonger its for High Volume Sellers that can absorb the Return Cost My income is Extra for Vacations Fixing Cars and Home Repairs Not for a living Just Saying I have never Tried anything Else Ive been here since 2004 so I decided to give it a Try and it is working My guess as to why is Sellers are buyers Me included I haven't Bought anything here since the announcement and Today Ebay Really **bleep** me off with that call about only 15% Return Rate 

[tunicaslot]

Not trying to be coy kez - first we aren't allowed to say other venues - then we were - now it seemed like we're not - so I'm reverting back to the old pseudos. 

[keziak]

I haven't been pink-slapped so maybe it's OK. Hard go know when something might in fact get thrown at your end over an issue like this. 

I never heard of those other sites BUT I have a daughter in college and I am sure they would gravitate to some trendy, flashy site over boring old ebay. Her friends all have Prime, too, so that detemines where they shop. 

As a buyer I try to avoid Amazon because it's an Evil Empire. I"ve had a couple of problems with ebay merchandise but so far, so good. Recently I found a plant here that I could find no place else and was blown away by the size and quality of the plant, great packaging, etc.  I am very grateful to ebay sellers who make so much merchandise available here.

[goodluckselling]

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@carlmarxx wrote:

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@goodluckselling wrote:

Returns are just part of the business.  Events will happen and it should be part of your business plan.   I get it that you do not want to be taken advantages of, but it really is just part of doing business.  Same type of things happen at B&M locations as well.

Good Luck Selling!

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Yes  ligament returns are part of doing  business . However  a lot  of the big named companies  that  did  liberal  returns  ended up out  250 Million to 1 billion dollars  month lost to retail buyer fraud  issues  because  those buyers abused the loop holes.       Just  read  a current research  done  on  buyers  are  want  from online   dealers  and at the very  bottom  of list was free return shipping  ! Because  buyers  don't consider it a priority  . The amazing thing is it shows how clueless the folks running  ebay  are on  real Market buyer research .

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All online returns are legitimate returns.  The sooner you are others accept this and make business decisons to limit your overhead from any return will help you thrive in online sales.

Your post shows very short term low level business thinking habits.  Just because some big box have changed there stance on free return shipping does not mean they will not see declines in sales in the months ahead.  They understand the liberal returns policies they once had brought in a lot more business and now they are gauging based on the reversal exactly how much decline they will experience.

This is about as basic a two steps forward one step back approach to growing online sales and gaining valuable buyer retention info they can use moving forward.

I find it completely incomplete that you would be comparing sellers here in the forum to big box advanced marketing techniques.

Good Luck Selling!

[beckyinga]

Yes, but you likely won't have that option next month.

[beckyinga]

I've sold in fluctuating capacities on both platforms for over a decade and a half. They are completely different beasts. Both require the seller to use common sense, due diligence, and persistence. Neither require a tax ID. Both take into consideration your longevity on their system when dealing with you, so even if you close your store, I'd keep your account open in case you ever randomly wanted to sell something.

[beckyinga]

I know who you're talking about. It looks time consuming, though, and some items sell for almost nothing.

[beckyinga]

MMMMMMM...I know who you mean... I have themmm on my radar, too...

[beckyinga]

I've not had an issue with Az, but I sell mostly books, and not fba. I just describe everything as much as I can and I'm very honest about condition. 

[keziak]

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@beckyinga wrote:

I've not had an issue with Az, but I sell mostly books, and not fba. I just describe everything as much as I can and I'm very honest about condition. 

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The wake-up call for me on AZ was the time tracking showed a book delivered and the customer said they never got it so Amazon refunded them out of my account. I called CS and was informed that I should be putting signature confirmation on everything. Given that the AZ shipping allowance is already insufficient I can't see paying for that on every order so basically it's a case of cost of doing business. 

[d-k_treasures]

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@keziak wrote:

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@beckyinga wrote:

I've not had an issue with Az, but I sell mostly books, and not fba. I just describe everything as much as I can and I'm very honest about condition. 

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The wake-up call for me on AZ was the time tracking showed a book delivered and the customer said they never got it so Amazon refunded them out of my account. I called CS and was informed that I should be putting signature confirmation on everything. Given that the AZ shipping allowance is already insufficient I can't see paying for that on every order so basically it's a case of cost of doing business. 

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Because CC's don't accept DC as delivered - they require SC. That's why the immediate refund from AZ. 

Do we think it's going to work any differently when ebay rolls out their payment processor?