Business Policies bug: No Returns policy cannot be selected or assigned to listings
Summary: tazvolution described a technical issue with eBay’s Business Policies, where their 'No Returns' policy cannot be selected or assigned to new listings, defaulting instead to a 30-day returns policy. Despite attempting different methods, including bulk edits and private browser sessions, they could not resolve the problem. soh.maryl misunderstood the issue, focusing instead on eBay's overall return policy requirements, which led to some frustration. eastlaneave and christworks tried to provide technical guidance, suggesting steps to access a dropdown menu for policy selection. Ultimately, tazvolution resolved the issue with further exploration, finding the needed setup with advice from soh.maryl and eastlaneave. bad_box1 criticized soh.maryl for not being helpful.
Business Policies bug: No Returns policy cannot be selected or assigned to listings
I need help with what appears to be a Business Policies glitch on my eBay.com seller account.
I have two saved return policies:
• Returns allowed within 30 days — buyer pays return shipping; currently assigned to 2 listings.
• Fragile/Crafts - No Returns — domestic returns OFF and international returns OFF; currently assigned to 0 listings.
The problem is that eBay automatically assigns the 30-day policy to new listings on my Mac. The listing editor does not give me a choice of my saved return policies. The Preferences section is not editable; the pencil only opens my general return settings and does not let me select my other saved policy.
I have already tested this in a Firefox Private Window with exactly the same result.
I also tested Bulk Edit on an existing listing. I selected the listing, chose Preferences → Return Policy → “Fragile/Crafts - No Returns,” and saved it. eBay reported “Business policies updated in the listing,” but the listing remained on the 30-day return policy and the No Returns policy still showed 0 listings.
I also tried copying the No Returns policy. eBay refused and displayed:
“This policy is the same as your existing policy. You can either use your existing policy or make changes to this one.”
I have found a recent 2026 eBay technical-issues report describing the same type of Business Policies problem, where eBay acknowledged a glitch and the policy association had to be repaired.
I need this investigated as a Business Policies/account-level technical problem, not instructions for creating a return policy. The policies already exist and are configured correctly.
Please check whether there is a duplicate/ghost policy record or corrupted policy association on my account and repair the association so that Fragile/Crafts - No Returns can be selected and saved on new listings from the desktop/Mac listing editor.
Please do not change my two existing 30-day-return listings.
bad_box1
·5 days ago@soh.maryl
Your comments were far from helpful. That is exactly the kind of behavior on here that makes everyone hesitate to post anything. OP was not asking for a snarky lecture regarding the MBG but was seeking technical help from anyone who could offer such in regards to her account's business policy settings.
eastlaneave
·Aug 11, 2026 at 2:00 PM@tazvolution
I haven't heard back from you, look carefully at this image
In a listing, click on the pencil in preferences, then
Click in THIS spot to get the drop down. The yellow space inside the red circle
eastlaneave
·1 month ago@tazvolution
To select the policy, you have to click in the empty space I highlighted with yellow. This should allow you to pick you other return policy.
Please let me know if this works.
tazvolution
OP1 month agoIf you are talking about doing this after I click on start a new listing, the page I get does not give me a Returns section with a drop-down menu that looks like this. When I create a new listing, no matter which method I use to create a new listing, I'm getting a form that already has the section I took a screen shot of with Your settings Return policy: Returns allowed within 30 days. That is preset and it's not changeable. Nothing is clickable and no drop down menus appear.
If you're talking about doing this from another location, I'm not sure exactly how you're getting to the location you have taken a screen shot of.
tazvolution
OP1 month agoThank you. I understand what you're showing in the screenshot, but that is exactly the problem I'm having. When I create or edit a listing on my Mac, I do not get that return-policy selector or the screen shown in your screenshot. Under Preferences, I only get the fixed 30-day return policy; clicking the pencil only allows me to edit the 30-day policy itself. I have an existing “Fragile/Crafts - No Returns” policy, but it does not appear as an option. That's why I posted this as a technical issue.
eastlaneave
·1 month ago · Edited@tazvolution
I have a Windows machine but be sure you are clicking in the blank space.
In a listing, click on the pencil in preferences, then
Click in THIS spot to get the drop down. The yellow space inside the red circle
christworks
·1 month ago@tazvolution Can you post screen shots of what you are seeing. Thanks.
tazvolution
OP1 month agotazvolution
OP1 month agoFirst, I have two return policies set up under business policies. I have checked all over and from everything I have found, I have done this correctly.
Second, no matter how I approach starting a listing -- click list another like this, click selling, start it from my seller hub, whatever method I use -- eBay automatically inserts "Return policy: Returns allows within 30 days" under a fixed Preferences heading. If I click on the edit icon, the only thing it allows me to do is edit/change the 30-day return policy. There is no drop down menu that lets me choose between the two different return policies.
Third, if I try making the change to the listing using the bulk edit feature, which is what other people seem to have done successfully to fix this exact same problem, it does not work. I get this message saying that the change has been made in the listing. But, when I go back to my listing, it has not been made. The return policy has not been changed and is still the 30-day policy and it still looks exactly as it did in the second screenshot.
Unless someone knows something I have not been able to ferret out, this is a problem on the eBay end. I've found postings from other eBay sellers who ran into the same issue and it's referenced in community forums and in eBay documentation, but no clear fix is given for it other than the bulk edit method I tried. Several people said it was something eBay had to fix on their end. I have tried for hours to get through to a live person at eBay and all I get is an endless ai run around.
tazvolution
OP1 month agoI spent about 10 hours yesterday running through all kinds of checks, trying all kinds of approaches to edit the listing, entering from different points int he seller hub, based on researching this problem, which it appears a number of other people have had. I tried everything suggested. Nothing worked. I could, theoretically, just opt out of any business policies but that causes a whole bunch of other problems. And, according to eBay's documentation, I should not be having this problem in the first place.
tazvolution
OP1 month agoI did some more poking around and figured out to get to the screen you're referencing. IT WORKED!!! Yay! Thank you so much! I appreciate your taking the time to work with me.
dporschepartsman
·4 days agoHow did you end up fixing this issue? We are now having a similar issue.
soh.maryl
·1 month agoIt seems like you may have misinterpreted the way returns work on eBay. First of all, eBay's return policies supersede the seller's return policies. If/when a buyer opens an NAD case, the seller is required to send a prepaid return label if he wants the item back and to refund upon receipt of the return. You might want to read the MBG to refresh your knowledge here. Your message is somewhat surprising given the amount of FB you have.
tazvolution
OP1 month agoThere's no case. ???? I'm trying to create listings. I created two different business policies for returns. One is you can return in 30 days. One is no returns accepted. I cannot use both of them. The only one that's available to me when I create listings is the 30-day return policy. According to eBay's documentation, it should work to have different business policies and you should be given the option to choose which one you're using each time you create a listing. I'm not. The 30-day policy is preselected and no matter what method I try -- and I've tried for hours -- the 30-day policy is firmly fixed, there are no drop-down menus or choices where there are supposed to be.
There's no question of being in conflict with eBay return policies here at all. There's no complaining customer. This is strictly a technical issue of trying to use eBay's software to create listings and use the tools eBay says I have available. I don't have those tools available. Please go back and reread my post. I don't think you're getting what I'm having trouble with.
I checked eBay's current return-shipping policy, and buyer-paid return shipping is allowed when a buyer returns an item for a reason such as changing their mind or ordering the wrong item. eBay's policy specifically says that who pays depends on the reason for the return and the seller's stated return policy. Seller-paid return shipping applies to issues such as damaged, faulty, or not-as-described items.
So the “Returns allowed within 30 days” policy with the buyer paying return shipping is a legitimate eBay policy configuration. That is not the technical problem I am reporting.
The problem is that I have a separate, correctly configured “Fragile/Crafts - No Returns” policy that eBay will not allow me to select for new listings. Bulk Edit also reported that it changed a listing to that policy, but the change did not actually occur.
I am trying to determine why my existing No Returns policy cannot be selected or assigned to a listing.
soh.maryl
·1 month agoAgain, no matter what your return policy is, no matter what category the return request falls under, if/when any buyer opens an NAD case, you, the seller, are required to follow eBay's policy of sending a prepaid return label and refunding when the returned item gets back to the seller. Have you read the MBG?
tazvolution
OP1 month agoAgain, how is that relevant to the problem I need help with here?
soh.maryl
·1 month agoSorry that you've not found my message useful. Maybe I've misinterpreted your post about setting seller policies,. To the best of my knowledge, as mentioned, eBay has return policies and have always assumed that buyers cannot set their own . For instance, your "No Returns" policy regarding crafts items -- if a buyer opens an item not as described case, the seller is required to send the buyer a prepaid return label if he wants the item back and to refund when he gets the return. Your policy about no returns on craft items is in direct contradiction to that, and thus won't fly. Where am I wrong here?
soh.maryl
·1 month agoLet me assure that this was my last reply to you. Feel free to continue to try to set up a return/refund policy for one category -- Crafts. M\
tazvolution
OP1 month agoI'm copying you return policies I have looked up and found all over eBay:
"30 days returns. Buyer pays for return shipping. If you use an eBay shipping label, it will be deducted from your refund amount."
This is not my return policy. This is a return policy exactly as it appears on dozens, hundreds, probably thousands, of active eBay listings currently active on eBay.
I do not understand your point in your original response at all. It was incorrect, had nothing to do with my original question or the problem I was having, was hostile, attacked me, and sneered about my eBay record, which is a perfect seller score with more than 2,000 customer reviews. What is the purpose of that? I was in no way disrespectful or out of line. I was asking for help with a legitimate problem. This is so not the kind of response I'd expect from a member of the eBay community. I've been a seller on eBay almost since it's beginning year. Things have changed a lot of eBay since I began but I do expect members of the community to behave with courtesy. Acting as though you've been helpful and I'm being a pain is ridiculous. You've done nothing to help and you're wasting my time and being snarly for no reason. Please find better things to do with you time.