How do you calculate your optimal return policy?
I'm curious to know how other sellers assess what return policy is optimal for them. I've not seen this discussed much so I thought that, in the interest of stimulating discussion, I'd share my own experience.
(I know I can always do better, so I'd welcome critiques and observations, and would enjoy hearing the experiences of others.)
When I started on eBay in 1999 I was quite casual about selling (worked full time, family responsibilities, etc.). Made some pocket change every month selling stuff I'd collected in my 20s and 30s.
I retired about 6 years ago and with my new found free time decided to branch out into different categories.
I also decided to offer same day / 24 hour shipping.
eBay noticed and I received a call from a rep who suggested I offer paid returns for 30 days, so I did.
Sales started to accelerate.
About two years or so ago I switched to a 60 day paid return policy largely because of a nice seller protection proviso (related to INADs after 30 days if I recall correctly -- please correct me if I am wrong about that) that is offered as part of that package.
When I switched to 60 days, I observed a further uptick in sales, which has continued fairly steadily to this day.
I know that eBay is aggressively promoting my listings in exchange for my customer service, but I believe that the most important reason for more sales is the reverse psychology that is at work when a buyer sees 60 days for a return. And so far, at least, I've had no returns since making the 30-day switch.
There are, I reckon, at least a few factors at work here:
- I sell mostly (but not exclusively) in categories that appeal to older, solvent buyers; these buyers take time to leave detailed feedback, and they pay close attention to feedback that has been left for me.
- The only items I sell are those that are in my personal possession.
- I use my phone to take sharp photos of my items (inside and in natural light) from every conceivable angle and will often use the 24 photos that are available to me in a listing. I sometimes supply a video.
- I make crystal clear that the item that the buyer sees in the photos is the one they will receive. (Some buyers are actually surprised when this happens, believe it or not -- testimony I suppose to the average eBay shopping experience.)
- I ship delicate items with great care, and people do not mind paying an extra dollar or two for added weight if it means the item will arrive safely.
- Finally, I do believe that the little blue "TR Plus" badge that appears next to a listing makes a difference, especially in certain categories.
I realize of course that not everyone believes (for whatever reason) that they can afford to to be flexible, and that for some categories, "no returns" is a sound policy and one that works -- as long as the buyers are honest and opt to not file an INAD.
Any other experiences out there? Regards
redlinear
·1 year ago30 days: It's the eBay minimum and 30 days is plenty of time.
Free returns: If a buyer wants to return it, I hope to get the real reason for the return so that I know if I can resell the item. Rather than the buyer making the item fit the warranty in order to return it for free.
gloryglorygifts
·1 year agoWe have always accepted returns and currently have it at 30-days. We pay for the return, which works for us because we rarely get them.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoI have been selling online for a long time.
I, like most sellers, do not like getting returns. But returns are a normal part of a retail business.
While you as an online seller have increased the categories you sell in, I have reduced the number of categories I sell in over the years.
Starting at about the 2008 recession when Amazon became my primary marketplace, I have eliminated all of my categories which draw high maintenance buyers. I have eliminated all of my categories which appeal to the "easy money" scammers. I have eliminated all of my products which rely solely on subjective interpretation of condition and history.
I have been able to do this because I have limited revenue and profit goals, am not overly ambitious at theis time in my life, and am more motivating by buying things that interest me than I am of listing, selling and packaging my items.
I get have few returns, accept all returns if the buyer asks nicely, and the returns I get are from nice people, usually ignorant of what they are buying - trying to buy for someone else who is knowledgeable.
I am running a small business, on a large internet marketplace with a significant number of buyers who recognize that they are dealing with a small business who cares about the merchandise in the same why that they do.
I am one lucky S.O.B.
fbusoni
OP1 year ago@tobaccocardyahoo
Great post and lots of interesting perspectives, thanks. I am in a very similar situation... I do not need to sell here, but I really get a kick out of sending nice things to others.
I live in an area where there is a lot of old money. And there are lots of treasures in storage lockers that end up in thrift shops because young people who come from old money have no idea how valuable old things can be.
The fact that I can make a few bucks is fun. And making money here is not difficult: my average expense is about $3 and my average sale nets about $38, which adds up if you sell every day.
But what is even more fun -- for me -- is when someone writes me a polite message to ask if I might consider selling her something at a reduced price.
I got one such message this morning. "Hi, my name is so and so, I am trying to gather up some discontinued champagne glasses for my daughter's wedding."
I sent her an offer and she bought the glasses. She saved $50, and I netted $145 after fees. A win-win.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year ago@fbusoni
Back in the 1980's and 1990's the term "lifestyle business" was commonly used.
I cannot think of any references to that term in any internet forum that I have participated in. Though there is a wikipedia article for the term.
It is a business driven by the owner's personal interests and intended to generate the money to maintain the owner's style of living.
All of my businesses have been lifestyle businesses although some have exceeded my needs and goals.
Online there is a tendency to denigrate such businesses as hobby businesses, but they may use the best business practices and operate highly professionally.
All too often we encounter sellers who have no interests and are trying to make their fortune without any form of product knowledge or sensitivity. It is hard to explain to them how your business benefits from your knowledge and soul.
I am not a religious person, so my soul needs to be nurtured by what I expend my time on in this life.
fbusoni
OP1 year ago@tobaccocardyahoo
Agree fully. I think the attitude difference is largely generational.
I've noticed that for those who have come of age behind a computer screen, most everything in life is transactional. Nothing really has any inherent value beyond what it can fetch online.
I used to know a guy who did ugly clandestine work for a certain three letter agency.
After he retired (at age 48 -- that's one of the "benefits" of that particular line of work) he studied medicine and became a physician with his own practice.
He charges a fraction -- next to nothing really -- of what others in his field charge. I asked him about it a few years ago.
He told me that he learned a bit late in life that being of service to others was really the highest calling for any human being, no matter what one did with one's life.
chapeau-noir
·1 year ago30-day returns, buyer pays unless it's SNAD (which I try to avoid). Seems to be a good balance. My customers are all over the demographic map.
tealt
·1 year agoI have 30 day free returns because...
As a buyer this is what I want to see when I am considering a purchase.
As a seller this policy has not been a burden. In 25 years I've had one remorse return and 3 INAD's. Three of the INAD's were deserved (my mistakes), and one was The Mysterious Case of the 17C Nuremberg Chest--which was an INAD with unique features.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@fbusoni I have had 30 day free returns for a long time, since before ebay provided any ebay policy benefit or requirement to use it. I did it because, back then, in my categories, very few sellers were offering it, and so it did give me (I suspect) a small competitive advantage. I actually had messages from buyers thanking me for offering it and pleased to purchase from someone who stood behind his merchandise. I think it is now more common, and , combined with ebay's Moneyback Guarantee for INAD, the competitive advantage is likely less.
One reason I chose 30 days was that studies (back then) indicated that , on average, online returns were initiated within, I think 3 days. So, simply adding more time to the return period wasn't likely to actually increase the rate of returns. (I should add that I have a low return rate, in part I'm sure due to my inventory types) . I am not aware of any ebay seller protection advantage for 60 day returns (I believe there is an advantage for 30 day or more returns). I haven't double checked this though.
As we head into the Holiday Shopping Season (which is starting earlier and earlier, so much so that some pundits are now talking about Black Fall rather than Black Friday LOL), I am going to give 60 day free returns a try. In part, because people who buy Christmas gifts will buy more than 30 days before Christmas, and may only find out on Christmas Day that the gift they gave someone was not suitable for some reason.
And in part because you have suggested that there is a search placement advantage to this. It might be hard to see a clear visibility benefit because we are also (hopefully) moving out of the Summer Slump and into a historically better sales period (for my kind of stuff), so any increase in sales might be more attributable to other factors. But I think the risk in going from 30 days to 60 days is small enough that it's worth a try.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@fbusoni And I'll add here---although not strictly related to your question about returns---that I will also be trying out same day handling this Holiday Season, per your suggestion. Some years back, I first tried one day handling for the Holidays because I figured it might give me a competitive edge (and back then, fewer sellers were offering it), and was somewhat surprised to find that I could manage it. Hopefully, I will find the same thing if I go to same day handling...and if not, I can always go back to one day. As with the 60 day return test, it will be hard to measure exactly what impact this will have on visibility and sales because I am making the change just as we are heading (hopefully) out of the Summer Slump season and I also expect I will be offering more sales, maybe increase my PLS rate, do more with social media, etc.
Here's wishing a successful Holiday Season to us all!
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@fbusoni I believe ebay used to provide a seller's handling time in the listing. Am I correct that today ebay only provides the estimated delivery time? No mention of handling time?
I don't have a problem with that, just trying to confirm that I'm not missing something here.
valueaddedresource
·1 year ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques they do show the handling time...though now it's in the shipping details pop up which I dislike for other reasons. 😂
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource
Here's my pop up. No handling time info. But maybe that's because I just changed this, and the pop up hasn't caught up to the change yet?
So, I'll give it some time and check again later.
valueaddedresource
·1 year ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques I know you already know this, but just a general note on trying out same day handling - remember that eBay gives you options to set a cut off time and that can make it much easier to "manage it" too.
If you're concerned about timing trips to the post office, you can set up a cutoff time early enough in the day to give yourself plenty of time without having to try to make a last minute dash if another order comes in just before closing.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource thanks. Yes, I've set a cut off time, and it is set for Monday thru Friday, no Saturday.
fbusoni
OP1 year agoThank you, I had no idea. (I knew that starting this discussion would be helpful!)
valueaddedresource
·1 year ago@fbusoni you're welcome! You'll find it under shipping settings:
https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf
So for example if you know you can reliably get to the post office and ship same day for anything before 3 PM on weekdays, you could just set that as your cut off time so any orders that are placed before that would be expected to ship that day but anything that comes in after 3 PM, you could ship the next day without getting dinged for late shipping.
And as @my-cottage-books-and-antiques pointed out, you can also uncheck any days that you can't or don't want to offer it, like weekends, or change it just for specific days like if you know you have to take the kids to soccer practice on Wednesdays, you can make it 2 PM that day to give yourself that extra time.
I don't know what impact it has on sales these days and/or if it might be different for smaller sellers, but a larger company I used to work for in 2020 saw a decent uptick when they switched from 1 day to same day with a 1 PM cutoff (they processed 1,000+ orders a day through their warehouse between multiple direct websites, Amazon and eBay so 1 PM gave plenty of time to make sure orders would be able to be picked, packed and shipped that day without causing an end of day rush).
And it really helped sales when they went to Monday-Saturday warehouse operations as that extra day with same day handling was a good differentiator from competitors who were only doing M-F.
fbusoni
OP1 year agoThanks so much!!
I found the settings -- like everything else here, they were hiding in plain sight.
It's remarkable to me how there are some seller settings here, like this one, that are so incredibly useful and really make a seller's job so much easier and efficient.
And yet, at the same time, there are seller settings that are so hideous, so weird, and harmful to sellers that one has a hard time imagining that a sane human being thought of same.
jg.mason
·1 year agoI'm a retired/ hobby seller. I have no returns, I have thought about changing it to buyer pays returns but since I've been thinking about it for a while now I'll probably leave it as it is.
I'll never be a top rated plus seller because I'm not going to do 1 day shipping so no advantage to offering free returns there.
99% of the items I sell are not worth being returned so no advantage there either.
Would it stop some INAD cases? Possibly but I've only had a few of them since I started selling and I have no idea if by offering returns would have stopped them or not.
Would it help sales? From the buyers aspect (not ebays) possibly but I think also that if a buyer sees the no return policy they may look over the listing a bit closer before deciding to buy or not which I think is a win win.
I see a lot of sellers on here repeating the line, no returns doesn't mean no returns, well yes it does what it doesn't mean is no refunds. At first I used to roll my eyes every time I read that but after being here a while I get it most of us are here to offer advice and try to help sellers with problems especially newer sellers.
I do think every seller has to make their own decision about offering returns and this thread could end up having some good advice in it.
fbusoni
OP1 year agoThanks for your reply, which reminded me of a point I forgot to make initially.
I've read so many posts here from sellers who proclaim "NO RETURNS" and then are forced by a buyer, who spends five minutes learning how to get around remorse returns and files an INAD or worse -- opens a case -- to accept a return and pay for return shipping because the seller did not create a path for a return in the first place.
If a seller is lucky, that's the end of the transaction. But many write to complain of negative feedback that distorts what actually happened -- a nasty coup de grace if you ask me.
THAT is the sort of Pandora's box I am inclined to not want to be forced to open.
So I allow for remorse returns on my dime. Which I have not yet gotten.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@fbusoni That was one of the reasons I had gone to 30 day free returns as well....Absent free returns, buyers have a financial incentive to claim INAD for a remorse return. Free returns does not necessarily reduce the likelihood of a justified INAD (for example, item arrives broken due to carrier's mistreatment of package), but it does reduce the likelihood of false INAD claims. It has worked for me.
fbusoni
OP1 year ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques
Right. Justified INADs happen and it's always a relief when they come from sane buyers who do not seek to punish a seller for things out of seller's control.
jg.mason
·1 year agoEbay has never forced me to pay for return shipping. I do not create a path for returns because I do not accept returns. The no returns doesn't mean no returns line gets repeated so much on here that people start believing it. The better way to say it is no returns doesn't mean no refunds. I think saying it that way would help new sellers understand it better.
fbusoni
OP1 year agoThank you. Just to be clear, you are saying that you will offer a refund without requesting a return.
If so, yes, that would indeed be correct. And I sometimes do the same. regards
luckythewinner
·1 year agoHow do you calculate your optimal return policy?
I am an older, solvent buyer.
I do not buy things on eBay to "try them out" - I buy things I want. So I care very little about a seller's return policy, because I am not already worrying about returning an item while I am buying it. (Because I know that if there is an issue - which is very rare - that I can file a Not As Described dispute.)
So as a seller, I view eBay through this lens. I want buyers who think like me - buyers who know what they want and are not already considering how easy it might be to return it if I decide "I guess I don't want this".
I have offered 30 days returns (not 'free' returns) because I want buyers who think like me. As a result, I get virtually zero 'remorse' returns.
fbusoni
OP1 year agoSo if you buy something because you love it and besides, it will match the color, say, of similar items you already own... and it arrives, and it turns out that the item is in perfect condition, just as the seller described, but the shade of the color is just a tiny bit off, because the color was not properly displayed by eBay's image compression software, through not fault of the seller of course ... you will jump right to an INAD.
This is precisely why I offer free returns.
The last thing I would do would be to hope that I attract only buyers who "think like me." Hope, in my opinion, is not really an adequate substitute rational planning.
Also, curious about "virtually zero remorse returns." What sort of returns DO you get? INADs, for which you have to pay return shipping?
Fortunately, most buyers are in fact rational, normal consumers who simply want the assurance that they will face no hassle if something does not work out. I do not anticipate premeditation or ill-intent.
Remorse returns from sincere buyers happen, and in my opinion buyers are entitled to same.
regards
mcdonal-927
·1 year agoI did not get the same impression from luckythewinner's post. I read their post as if there was an ISSUE such as broken, chipped, non functional etc would be the reason they would file an INAD not a remorse return.
My return policy is 30 days. I do not offer free returns, but I have no issue with most returns, it will go right back out the door soon enough. I have had a number of INADs that were customer error or misunderstanding. Most are resolved with message and closed by the buyer.
I also want buyers that think like luckythewinner, buyers who know what they want and aren't worried about returning it before even receiving it. I do not want buyers that purchase without being sure that is what they want/need or changing their mind for whatever reason.
luckythewinner
·1 year agoSo if you buy something because you love it and besides, it will match the color, say, of similar items you already own... and it arrives, and it turns out that the item is in perfect condition, just as the seller described, but the shade of the color is just a tiny bit off, because the color was not properly displayed by eBay's image compression software, through not fault of the seller of course ... you will jump right to an INAD.
1) I have never needed to make a remorse return on eBay. Ever. So you are projecting a hypothetical situation onto me that simply does not happen. (And incidentally, in the hypothetical scenario you describe, the picture on eBay is part of the description - so if the color in the image was wrong, that would be an INAD and not remorse).
2) But in that hypothetical situation, I would not "jump right to an INAD" any more than I would "jump right to a remorse return". I would contact the seller and ask for his take on the issue, just as any buyer who thinks like me would.
Also, curious about "virtually zero remorse returns." What sort of returns DO you get? INADs, for which you have to pay return shipping?
"Virtually zero" would mean a handful of remorse return requests in 25 years. I have only paid for return shipping once in my life, where the value of the item was enough that I was willing to pay to get it back. In all other cases I simply refunded in full - as I also do with INADs (which are also quite rare for me).
toysaver
·1 year agoA great return policy starts with making an accurate listing showcasing the item with an impartial eye. As buyers may now purchase without reading the description it's imperative any defects are in the title. Pictures need to show different angles and any defects.
Using AI is in opposition to providing a realistic opinion of the item and may increase returns.
fbusoni
OP1 year agoThanks, just the sort of insight I was hoping to hear, and I agree... my descriptions are short and sweet. regards