ebay Favors Buyers Over Proven Sellers
So tired of trying our hardest to offer high quality products in fully tested & clean condition only to have false claims of "Not As Described" made and us being FORCED to take back or GIVEAWAY perfectly good items.
Latest one is buyer message me after receiving a very good quality Denon CD changer only to accuse me of not mentioning in my listing that the included Denon factory remote control does not have a power on/off button. So now it is my responsibility to educate buyers to do research on a product before they buy? 24 pictures and a video of the machine in use including several closeups of the remote control were in the listing - isn't that enough?
So he claims Not As Described because I failed to disclose the fact the remote did not have a power on/off button.
So what are my options -either let him keep it for free or have it shipped back to me at my shipping expense PLUS I eat the original shipping cost to him. I know for a fact if had it shipped back to me it would not be in the same near MINT condition it was in when I sent it out as he had the machine for 4 weeks. So unfair -
ebay needs to wake up and protect their sellers that pay all the fees and makes them millions. I could not even get a customer service rep on the phone to explain the situation. Had to settle for Report A Buyer form which I am sure never got read.
meme6253
·7 months agoThey don't want to lose customers period end of story, Sellers come & go & are more expendable than customers, No business wants to lose customers, Do they go to far at times & the seller is wrongfully ripped off, Yes!
bonanza125
·7 months agoListen you agreed to terms when you listed your item. Ebay allows buyers a 30 day moneyback guarantee. If the buyer feels that the item is not as described they are allowed to return the item. Yes you will have to eat the expense of shipping cost up and back. I understand it's frustrating especially you know that the item is in the condition you feel you described. Buyers has rights. Just accept the return and issue the buyer a full refund upon return. Contacting Ebay customer service will do nothing. It will be a waste of time. They will just state you are running a business and are responsible. If you personally don't want to eat the cost of shipping then yes issue a refund and have them keep the item. One way to prevent this especially on items which cost a lot to ship is to not list high end stuff on Ebay at all. Sell local.
bashort
·7 months agoI would absolutely make the buyer return the item, i do not care if it makes financial sense or not, no partial refund either, I would just accept the return.
luckythewinner
·7 months agoSo what are my options -either let him keep it for free or have it shipped back to me at my shipping expense PLUS I eat the original shipping cost to him.
Well, there is a third option. You could fail to repond to the dispute at all, and also lose the fees you paid in addition to the item and the shipping.
ebay needs to wake up and protect their sellers that pay all the fees and makes them millions.
The Money Back Gaurantee has been in place since 2008. That's 17+ years. And yet there are still 1.5 billion items listed here. I think sellers have made it pretty clear they are not going to abandon eBay over this.
lakefor94
·7 months ago@atari_king
You already know this is online selling in the 2020's with a venue that uses a payment processor.
If for any reason the buyers do not get their refunds thru eBay, they just go to their Credit Card issuer and file a dispute and we will be debited that way. Buyers are protected by Consumer Protection Laws.
eBay policies will only progress to even more buyer friendly in the coming years.
You do sell in a tough category. I know it ain't easy.
You should still file the reports on these buyers. Some get booted off eBay after continuing abuse.
christworks
·7 months ago@atari_king Do you really have to be so dramatic? Seriously.
Nobody forces you to give away things. Apparently, for some unknown reason, you do that on your own accord. You appear to indicate you do this because "you know for a fact" returned items won't be in the "near mint" condition you send them in.
You are prime for picking with that no-return policy. If your stuff is as good as you say it is, you know, "fully tested," "clean," and "near mint," why not offer 30-day returns? If things are not working out how you'd like and you are losing money, you have only a few choices. Keep doing what you have been doing, leave eBay altogether, or switch things up.
I offer free returns on everything but items that do not work and are sold for parts. Do you know how many clean, working VCRs, combo units, and tape decks I've received back? Zero. No requests for partial refunds either. Not saying it can't happen. It certainly can, even with free returns. I do think a no-return policy screams, "Hey, take advantage of me!" It works for certain things, but not used, vintage electronics, because buyers who want these items know something can work today, but not in 3 weeks. Buyers want the comfort of knowing they can return it should that happen. The no-return policy scares many of those buyers off, leaving you with a crop of buyers who are out to take advantage.
You will attract a far better class of buyers by giving them a security blanket on your used electronics. Yes, occasionally one may change their mind. Occasionally, an old VCR that worked may stop working after 6 hours of use, and you'll have to deal with a return here and there. It really isn't that bad. The good thing is that you send the scammers elsewhere because you won't be an easy mark for them.
I know you probably won't like my comments because I'm not agreeing with you or telling you what you want to hear. I'm genuinely trying to help you, though.
Life is often unfair, my friend. If you have been selling for 25 years, then presumably you are around my age or older. I'm 45. I learned things don't always go my way when I was, like, 10? I don't need everything to go my way to be successful. You don't either. You just need a better business model that works with what you are selling. I appreciate you taking time to make videos so buyers can see something works. Most sellers don't do that, so I applaud you there. Good buyers need you. Switch up that return policy and you won't have nearly as many problems.
mtgraves7984
·7 months ago"... and us being FORCED to take back or GIVEAWAY perfectly good items."
@atari_king
I'll address this. No... eBay does not force a seller to react at all... 'take back or give away'.
If a seller wants the item back to reprice, relist and resell... they're offered the option to accept a Return. The eBay MBG requires that the item sent back before refunding... no buyer return, no refund due. And eBay doesn't even suggest that sellers give away perfectly good items. But that happens if the seller doesn't react or refunds without requiring a return.
pickapaper
·7 months ago@atari_king wrote: "I could not even get a customer service rep on the phone to explain the situation. Had to settle for Report A Buyer form which I am sure never got read."
You would be wasting your time trying to talk to a CS agent on the phone. They are third-party employees who have neither the knowledge nor the authority to do anything about most problems. Plus, it is common knowledge that CS phone reps will tell callers what they want to hear instead of the actual facts, just to get them off the phone.
You have been on eBay for 25 years and have sold 1.3K items. Just curious, out of all of that, how many times have you had to accept returns of this nature (or "give them a free item") or is this INAD "pickiness" something new for you?
stainlessenginecovers
·7 months agoYes, because this is a selling entity.
This site could lose 10,000,000 sellers and this site will STILL sell/make almost the same $$ as there would still be 100's of MILLIONS of listings to choose from
There is no 'waking up' necessary because your account could be taken over by someone that decides to be a thief, or you could decide you have to become a thief...so buyers will ALWAYS be protected over Sellers.
Sure, there are some 'thieving' buyers, but overall, a small percentage and I'll bet most sellers losses are still MUCH smaller than the typical Brick/Mortar store experiences.
atari_king
OP7 months agoThanks for all the feedback - I do a no return policy so it keeps people away that think they can return anything like if they bought it from Amazon - Im not Walmart or Amazon which I think have ridiculous policies. Retired and tired of POS people. Thanks again to all.
bashort
·7 months agoso do you think that possibly if you had a return policy the buyer may of just returned it because they just did not like it and saved you the metrics ding
kensgiftshop
·7 months agoHave you thought about accepting returns so buyers wouldn't have to lie to return an item?
pickapaper
·7 months ago@atari_king wrote" I do a no return policy so it keeps people away that think they can return anything like if they bought it from Amazon - Im not Walmart or Amazon which I think have ridiculous policies."
Well, according to this post you wrote, that no return policy is not quite working for you, is it? Please go back and read post #5 from @christworks to see why you should have an open mind about offering returns. I have seen many posts on this board from sellers who changed from no returns to offering returns and their return rate actually went down after they did so. And your sales could also improve if buyers see you offer returns.
Even if you have no returns, if a buyer files an Item Not as Described claim, you have to accept the return for refund or refund without return. It has also been stated many times on here that sometimes buyers lie about something so they can return the item, sometimes they damage an item on purpose so they can claim INAD, and so on. And if worse comes to worse, they can go straight to their payment source and file a chargeback. But I'm sure you already know all this.
But it sounds like you are going to continue with the way you have been doing things, i.e. a no return policy. And that's fine because it is your choice. All we can do is read what you have written and give our opinions and those you are free to take and chew on or toss in the out basket.
christworks
·7 months agoAre you saying you accepted returns in the past and got burned? In 25 years, how many times has someone bought something, then returned something else to you, whether from Walmart, Amazon, or Grandma's basement?
What about having a no-return policy stops someone from doing just that? I could buy your VCR. I could open an INAD on it for any reason I want. I then could send you back a toaster. You'd still have to refund me in full. You could (and should) report me to eBay, but your no-return policy does not stop me or anybody else from doing that. I agree 1000% that the person who would do something like that is straight-up garbage, scum, whatever you want to call them. They are a thief. They should go to prison. This stuff needs to be taken more seriously. My point is your logic for the no-return policy, while it may make sense in your mind, does not bear out in reality. You are actually causing yourself more headaches, which is fine if that is what you want.
I think the actual issue is that you are tired of reselling.
stainlessenginecovers
·7 months agoI know you think selling to the general public is simply all about you; but MOST people will either
a.) think you are NOT legit or selling things that are not legit by having a 'no return' policy
b.) know the system and will just open a 'Not As Described'
Without that being in place (the NAD system that overrides a sellers 'no returns policy') people would be shipping rocks instead of stereos all day long by the Millions!
fern*wood
·7 months agoI'm sure you can't really believe that. As others have mentioned, having a return policy gives honest buyers a way to return without causing you harm. Some aren't honest, but most of my returns each year (usually about 8 to 10 a year) are for remorse and don't hurt nearly as much.
Since you are a top rated seller, another very good reason to have a 30 day return policy will qualify you for ebay's limited protections for faulty returns, where you can issue less than a full refund.