Boost buyer trust with new P&A returns policy
Ebay Motors Parts and Accessories is now making sellers offer free returns.
So we as a seller contend with the following expeditures:
Ebay Selling fees
Ebay marketing Fee on Ebay
Ebay marketing fees offsite
Free shipping to buyers
AND NOW-Free Return shipping for buyers who order incorrect parts. (Ebay states they will cover 50%-for how long how knows)
We expect returns to skyrocket, we sell specific fitment sizes and buyers must measure and know their needs.
Now the flood gates will be opened with the "I will just buy it and return it" since they guessed wrong.
Amazon lets us charge buyers return shipping. Just because the parts and Accessories sales are down on Ebay motors sellers should not bear anymore weight in fees.
A month ago Ebay contacted us to offer 20percent off and split the discount.
Gone are the days of small businesses making money on the marketplaces.
We will be pulling down 50% of our listings on top of raising prices to offset the new "Free Returns"
Just another tarriff/ tax for buyers Ebay!!!!!!
Email from Ebay
We are reaching out to inform you of upcoming updates to the Parts & Accessories (P&A) return policy, beginning July 15, 2025.
We’re on a mission to make eBay the top destination for buying and selling Parts & Accessories (P&A). Based on buyer feedback, easy and free returns play a crucial role when choosing where to shop. To better meet these expectations and give you a competitive edge, we’re updating our return policy for eligible P&A listings by offering free returns for buyers. We’re here to support you, so we’ll automatically subsidize eligible return label costs by 50% going forward.
You can view the detailed conditions and exclusions on our June Seller News update
We encourage you to review and update your applicable P&A listings to ensure compliance with the new policy. Thank you for your cooperation and continued partnership with eBay.
Best regards,
eBay eBay Motors Outreach Team
quicksilverdiecast
·7 months agoAll the policies applied to the "Fitment Guarantee" are invalid as the fitment chart is far from being accurate, and not sourced from the manufacturers, but from the corner parts stores....or a junkyard Hollander Guide, none of which guarantee fitment.
You cannot guarantee fitment on non existent vehicles....example: 1967 Dodge Charger R/T...Chrysler never made one, only a Coronet R/T in 67. (one on many examples)
In ebay efforts to bandaid their charts they wiped out sellers initial check boxes in the select vehicles area, leaving many blank or just gone entirely, which sellers have no idea ebay has damaged the listing...if the check boxes are not checked, ebay's or any other search engine will not find it, and as such sellers will not sell any...
You will also notice the vehicles ebay lists for sellers to select is inaccurate and confusing unless you are very knowledgeable...see pictures for examples...
bding44
·7 months agomy returns have tripled, prior to this i accepted returns but buyer paid return shipping for remorse or if they purchased the wrong item by mistake, now over 2/3 returns are just didnt like it, we are now paying people to rent our parts, and if a person files for a return one day before the 30 days are up ebay gives them an extra 3 weeks, they should get the 30 days to return and that is it,
siamjane8
·11 months agowe haved used the RMA trick for years as well since ebay went to automated returns. Although im not sure how it is effected inthis situation- free returns/P&A- ebay pays 1/2 the label cost and label is provided automatically....... has anyone had a return yet under these circumstances that can let us know how it went?
redlinear
·11 months agoI'm eager to hear about the 1st seller that only has to pay HALF the return cost.
Sellers will pay paying 100% of the return cost unless the buyer chooses "Changed Mind" as the reason.
Of all the returns over the years, I think I've only seen "changed mind" once.
stainlessenginecovers
·7 months ago@siamjane8 @redlinear although this thread and your posts are older (4 months), not sure if you already know but...
Buyer opens return for ANY reason and this is what happens:
Seller can choose USPS, Fedex or 'supply our own' and fees are shown at 1/2 price right away
Seller is charged for that label when it's delivered
Seller can choose to NOT refund original shipping
Seller still has the right (and can) to deduct up to 50% for items returned in 'less than condition'
I use RMA's and when choosing the carrier for the return shipping, that's when you write the RMA.
Someone wrote a thread a while back and said that they were 'out $75 shipping, $50 there and $25 back, and the item was now worth much less due to being used, fingerprints etc ($600 item).
Seller could have NOT refunded the $50, and also deducted as much as $300.
movieman630
·11 months agoThe main issue I have with this is that they removed my ability to just refund and let them keep the item without having to incur that return shipping expense. Most of the time that's what I would do either because the part had a problem or it just wasn't worth the expense and the resell value was gone.
Example being if I sell a part for $15 with free shipping but the shipping cost me $6 and the fees etc only net me a profit of $5, if the buyer chooses to return it costing me $4-6 in return shipping the profit is gone, and now if I want to resell it I have to price it upwards of $25 just to make the same lousy profit. And I can't sell it because all the competition is priced around $15. So mine will never sell and the value is gone. In those cases it's better to just issue a refund and forget about it. Instead not only am I out the original shipping cost, I'm out the return shipping cost only to receive a product back I can't re-sell.
IMO Ebay needs to somehow give us the opportunity to refund instead of paying for the return label. A 24 hour hold or something if the buyer wants to return it. Give the seller a chance to decide which is the better course of action.
The couple returns I've had since July 15th would have been refunds without return mailing. Instead I suffer twice the burden.
glamis-junkie
OP11 months agoAgreed. We did the same thing on lower value items. Cheaper to refund then return. Anything under $12 is a loss. Almost $5 to ship USPS Ground advantage.... Our products require customers to use tape measure and know sizing. Most customers dont know how to measure-or even worse-assume. Get expensive with assumptions and buyers seeing "Free Return Shipping"
redlinear
·11 months ago@movieman630 @glamis-junkie I agree!
There's a work around though! Set your returns up to require an RMA number.
That way, you won't get a Authorized Return message.
You'll get a Return Requested message. And you can then either choose USPS or FedEx, or simply refund.
From your "selling" page (I have an all new and not so improved selling page...ugh).
Upper left, Open up Orders tab. Click on Returns. Then choose Return Preferences. Then switch RMA Number to on.
movieman630
·11 months agoThanks for the tip. I'll give it a shot and see what happens.
redlinear
·11 months agoMany shoppers consider the Search almost useless now for finding what they want.
What they want being the Best Deal.
Search Results hide so many direct matches that buyers don't trust they are seeing what they searched for.
It's the same with the Sorts and Filters.
Now, sellers will be changing their New parts loistings to used in order to circumvent this policy (already are).
Thus rendering Filters even more useless.
They are putting the word New in the pictures and in the Item Specifics. Because ai does not recognize this is a violation.
kitten_kaboodle_co
·11 months agoWorth noting is this policy only applies to US sellers. So if you're a US business you get screwed. If you're in any other country like say, CHINA, no worries, you won't be paying another cent for returns!
glamis-junkie
OP11 months agoYup-
China gets away with everything. They have copied 50% of our products. They list the same product under 10 different business names to clog the first page with their products. They don't pay their 1099K income and switch seller names. They don't have to do a lot of things. We sold on here since 2006, used to be awesome. No with all the additional fees and pay to have your listing visible margins are thin. With the compatibility software flaws and buyers choosing not to read returns will go through the roof. This is the issue on Amazon.
Nickels and dimes falling out every hole in the ships for everyone-but China.
siamjane8
·1 year agoThis policy will at the very least cause prices t be raised 5-10% across the board as sellers need to compensate for the extra cost of frivolous returns. This is bad for sellers. This is bad for buyers. This is bad for ebay ( they just dont understand why because they do not have any business sense obviously)
loothive
·1 year agoParts and Accessories category in relation to eBay Motors only? Or across the board for anything with a Parts category?
yunger3816
·1 year agoSo we have to add 50% onto all shipping costs "just in case" - I mean WE sellers have to cover our costs somehow right Ebay?! What a horrible policy Ebay - you take enough money out of our pockets as it is. Once again this company caters to the buyers, and screws the sellers. The buyers don't even pay attention to what's written in the description as it is, now they don't have to read it at, not their problem. I just had a potential buyer ask for measurements that were clearly stated in the description, "oh I didn't read that part"!!
Okay venting over, time to figure something else out...
powell-collectibles
·1 year agoOf course you wouldn't add 50% to all shipping costs, just in case. I think that sellers are getting worked up over what might amount to a bit nothing. Heck, maybe your sales and profits increase.
Even if sales stay flat, no need to raise shipping by 50%. The math works out that some sellers can actually have a pretty good jump in TOTAL return rates and come out ahead on this one. That all depends on how your INAD's might decrease. Reasonable worst case is that you have to increase shipping rates by 5%.
untod
·1 year agoMaybe. Then again, maybe it will amount to a bit something and your sales & profits will tank. Both are just blind guesses. But a seller is supposed to be able to select his own policies, including returns (or NOT as the case may be).
How did you determine what's reasonable, and how did you determine that's the worst case?
Here's another issue with this "exciting new program". In another thread here, someone linked another change eBay made a few years ago that allowed certain buyers an extra week to buy from the same seller, even if they bought a listing that required immediate payment (for example, if the seller was going out-of-town and wouldn't be able to ship on-time any later than that ending date). And in the FAQ about that change, I found this little nugget:
"Why are we not able to automatically charge a mixed format invoice?
Since we’re not getting consent to automatically charge the buyer for Fixed Price items at this time, we will not be able to automatically charge a mixed format invoice."
🤔
I don't remember giving eBay consent to alter MY return policy, either. But they seem to think it's OK to do that WITHOUT CONSENT. And that's the REAL issue IMO: eBay policy says a seller is responsible for his listing; but eBay is taking away a seller's authority to set up a listing the way that seller chooses.
bad_box1
·11 months agoYou are an "Unofficial Community Mentor" with nothing for sale, from what I can see on this platform. I don't think you should be speaking of things you do not "sell" and don't think you have any idea about the dynamics of what this policy does cost sellers. Does eBay allow sellers to upload their own return label for the "free" shipping? No. Who are the return shipping carriers that eBay uses? That would be FedEx and the USPS. What if a seller has a contract with UPS outside of eBay that is less expensive to ship larger dimensions and weights of packages, such as running boards and we are not afforded the opportunity to utilize a return label that we provide to keep margins? Sellers are not being unreasonable to question this policy and not getting "worked up". Perhaps you should have items for sale in the P&A categories for which this policy applies before making such a statement. The selection of business policies on this platform is useless and they are denied by the defunct systems in place. You feel safe doing that and feel as though you are doing the right thing, but hello eBay comes in and teaches you different.
just-me
·11 months agoSo far my returns have doubled. I have all the info needed for a customer to make the correct choice, I use the compatibility tables, I have photos and concise descriptions. I had 10 returns this month, 8 I get to pay half the return shipping on. One of them was they returned an item for a Toyota because they have a Ford, well then why did you buy the one for Toyota? Luckily they were smaller but expensive items that shipped in a padded flat rate envelope. But I sell some big stuff too, that could cost over two hundred dollars to ship to the other side of the country, and if they want to return it
I get to pay at least half (for now) the return shipping, I have no idea at what point eBay declines to share in the return shipping costs.
hope they packed it the same way using the same materials so it's is not junk when it comes back
if it is damaged, I can deduct up to 50%.
Usually my customers are honest, but two this month were an issue, one made an error in the reason for return and told me so, the other is a thief.
I accept the risk for listing big dollar and heavy items, but man, does eBay really have to add more risk to me? I'm not sure how I am going to proceed with those listings, I have taken them down for now. eBay clearly does not have a great understanding of parts and accessories and it can hurt a lot of sellers. At the very least eBay should require vehicle information to be put in by the buyer prior to purchase for any seller paid remorse returns.
siamjane8
·11 months agoThe intended consequences are rolling out now with this policy! Listing process alone has gotten painfully annoying. Now you must monitor and swap policies every individual listing. If you list a new party with free returns, then list a used part next-the listing tool keeps your return policy at free returns. It takes 4 more clicks of the mouse and 20 second or so to edit the policy each listing. I know it does not sound like that big of a deal but after listing 50 items a day then having to go back and exit ones that you missed, it's just maddening that eBay is forcing us to maintain category specific return policies without automatic policy change parameters in place. If free returns is the only option in p&a for everyone on the platform- who not have the listing tool pre-select it for the required situations like new and new other? Then the tool should revert back to your preferred "global" returns policy if those situations are not met- such as in another category or when "used" is the condition! They no doubt worked on this policy change for 18 months to implement it, why did they not think of how it would effect sellers and productivity? Why is eBay making it harder to list items with every change they make- isn't that opposite of what they should be doing?
loose_goose_garage
·1 year agoeBay should be covering the Return Shipping cost 100% if they want to implement this so badly. To make sellers cover it, even partially, is ridiculous.
untod
·1 year agoI agree 100%. In what other world can the advertising medium (newspaper, TV, billboards...) offer a change in the advertiser's/seller's policy, and then force the seller to pay for it? I've already edited all my (very few) listings so I'm not affected.
getoutdoors7
·1 year agoThis is why I plan on removing my shop from eBay and only selling on other platforms such as Amazon and Etsy. I sell custom made decals and now a buyer doesn't like the color or size they selected and they can return it for free. Now I'm stuck with the cost of the decal and the shipping. I have no way of re-selling a custom made decal and just have to take the loss. Ebay has gone so far downhill it's not even funny. Why shouldn't the seller be able to decide we would like to offer returns or not????
untod
·1 year agoYou CAN. Read the rules of that new BovineScat, and edit your listings so they're not affected. You're buying raw materials, right? And then you're "remanufacturing" them into labels. So you're selling remanufactured parts - change the condition on them, and take the word "new" out of the title & description. When a customer reads that it's made with his design that he submits, he'll know how old it is. And your listings won't "qualify" for (BE FORCED TO SUBMIT TO) free shipping.
kensgiftshop
·1 year agoYou can't sell those fake stickers on the other sites as easy as you can on Ebay.
antflan77
·1 year agoAs a buyer that would be great, but for a seller that seems sketchy. I fear the level of reading that people do will now drop on the average listing and returns will go up. The best reason to carefully read and verify that the correct part is being ordered just went out the window. So it sounds like basically any reason to return is valid. Is this correct? What determines an eligible listing?
glamis-junkie
OP1 year agoEbay Motors Parts and accessories. Dont count out this rolling out to all Ebay catagories.
subidapter
·1 year agoNot good for all buyers. For honest intelligent buyers who read the description and do their research, it will not be so great, as their cost will be going up. There is no such thing as "free returns". Somebody pays and that cost is passed on.
carlmarxx
·1 year agoI have been eBay with two ID's since 1996 nearly 30 years . I would say around 2010-11 on the selling ,buying and old power seller boards .we talked about number buyers that didn't read descriptions in the item listing's and it did help to Have John D. former CEO ,that was out to ride amazon's coat tail's with crazy bad policy's that did more harm then good . Sad thing is those running eBay are still doing more harm then good with this P&A return policy.