June Seller Update Forces Free Returns for Motors Parts Accessories
It looks like they haven't posted the announcement here yet, but the June Seller Update just dropped and there is a big change for Motors P&A sellers:
https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/news/2025-june
https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/news/2025-june/parts-accessories-return-policy
What you need to know
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. We’re here to support you, so we’ll automatically subsidize these return label costs by 50% going forward.
Driving growth and buyer satisfaction
Starting July 15, P&A sellers will be required to offer a minimum of free 30-day returns, creating a smoother and more consistent shopping journey. This streamlined policy helps eliminate confusion so buyers can have a hassle-free returns experience, strengthening their trust both in your business and in eBay.
Concerned about offering free returns? We’ve got you covered
While offering free returns can help boost your sales and have a positive impact on your business, we understand that you may have concerns. That’s why we’re taking these steps to support you:
- Subsidized eBay return labels: Enjoy a 50% reduction in label costs, applied automatically to ease return shipping expenses when you use eBay Labels.
- Continued seller protections: We’re continuously monitoring buyer fraud to ensure we have stronger safeguards in place to protect your business.
- Targeted marketing campaigns: We’re promoting free returns to help attract more buyers to your P&A listings.
P&A listings required to offer free returns
If your P&A listings meet the following criteria, you’ll be required to offer free returns:
- The item is listed on eBay.com and located in the US
- The item is being shipped to a buyer in the US
- The price of the item is more than $10
- The item is new or new other
- It’s a fixed-price Buy It Now listing
Next steps
Starting July 15, you’ll need to update your applicable P&A listings to offer free returns. Going forward you’ll benefit from the 50% subsidized eBay return labels. Additionally, we’ll begin automatically updating eligible P&A listings that are live to reflect this new return policy.
gregmm
·1 year agoHow can eBay do this. As eBay goes out of it's way to say they are just a facilitator when a issue comes up with the buyer. They now want to force you to take it back? This may sound off the wall be it almost sounds like a rico thing. (Extortion) take it back for any reason or you can not sell it. You still have to pay 50% shipping. and knowing eBay that will increase to 100% after they get you accustomed to it. I have new in the box vintage car parts that some are 60 to 70 pounds I do not list them on eBay just for the reason many do not know what they are looking at and when it does not fit they say it was damaged or not as described. To send it back for free. I really would like to see eBay stop helping me so much.
redlinear
·1 year agoI sort of checked out the walmart thing. The monster sellers here, are already there.
Sort of looks like all the same hoops to jump through in order to list an item.
Maybe I need to check it out more closely
carlmarxx
·1 year agoYea I will checking it out closely .
siamjane8
·1 year agovery interesting- just looked it up...Walmart marketplace is aggressively trying to get marketshare! I am going to look into it. Ebay is still the best place to buy and sell vintage and NOS car parts- its what ebay is known for so its sad to see them loose their only advantage because of lack of ingenuity and poor management.
Sellers in P&A have been saying this for years- hoping for a another platform to give ebay real competition so that maybe they will start listening to the sellers and have real protections and such.
I am not a fan of walmart- i hate shopping in their stores and have rarely ever bought anything on their website- but i welcome the competition if it gives ebay the kick in the butt it needs.
With vintage and NOS car parts- Its ebay's market to lose- Ebay is the household name and destination for unique and rare parts- if they lose it walmart- it is 100% their fault with these anti seller policies.
siamjane8
·1 year agoAmazon has more and more requirements to access free returns. Also they track the returns of buyer and will freeze your account if you abuse the free returns. I actually know two people that lost their amazon accounts because they made too many returns. Ebay is adopting the exact opposite gameplan lol......
Of course i guess its no big deal when they are using sellers money - no loss for ebay ( short term-obviously this will be damaging overall)
blacktopautoparts
·1 year agoTotally agreed. I sell on there too and while eBay is still the best place to sell online for what we sell, but they place way too much back on the seller to pay vs. where if you buy from Amazon most of these items are coming from Amazon unless it is a 3rd party seller. Reselling used to be so much fun, but it has turned into a real grind and I am one of those that has been doing this for well over 25 years and has adapted to all of the changes to continue to sell. Short term it will be damaging to sellers, but long term it will be even more damaging to the overall platform because they continue to do these moves where they can't walk back on continues to hurt the identity of the platform.
carlmarxx
·1 year agoAmazon keep's track of money amount total of returns by their buyers also .
siamjane8
·1 year ago@blacktopautoparts Thanks for telling about your real experience. It only confirms what most other sellers are reporting- the switch to free returns does NOT bring in more/better customers, it just brings in more returns- of which we are on the hook for after tomorrow. We had the exact same experience a few years ago when we tried it out of desperation to improve sales- it was a terrible idea and cost far more money that new sales it brought in.
@devon@ebay please share this with the responsible teams and management- blacktopautoparts' example and experience above is EXTREMELY telling of what is going to happen. They already offer free returns so technically they stand to benefit fromt he 50% off return labels BUT they still think it is a bad idea- They have already noted that is does not bring in more buyers. I cant speak for them but i would assume from their post they expect MORE fivoulous returns to result from ebay Advertising FREE RETURNS like its going out of style.
PLEASE EBAY- start listening to your customers/sellers that have real world experience.
blacktopautoparts
·1 year agoReturns in general in this category are out of control. You have to just keep up with them and know how to deal with the customers to make any headway. I don't care at this point, I will accept returns, but it would have been nice that eBay would have placed some onus on the buyer also. What they are doing with this as of 7/15 is just another dangling carrot like they did with the 50% deduction tool on free 30 day returns that was introduced almost 2 years ago. We do not need anymore dangling carrots, but what is needed is a way to grow this platform organically so more people can come through the door. The whole service metrics and returns process is so outdated, especially service metrics. It literally takes 4-5 sellers to report 1 buyer for the same type of return behavior before they even remove a strike from your service metrics on a return. By now in 2025, there should be software built into the platform to know who are the bad sellers and who are the good sellers and same goes with the buyers.
The other problem is that if you do not use the eBay provided return labels, you do not get the 50% off on the labels. Right there is yet another dangling carrot. We use all of our own labels through shipstation as we sell on multiple platforms and it is much easier to track all of your shipping through 1 platform. Things like this are not helping the platform for sellers.
I am at this point where we just need sales to be turned back on again in general. The past 1.5 years have been like a rollercoaster in Motors. I know economically things have been trending in a downward trend since 2023 and it has continued into 2025. Speaking to other eBay sellers selling auto parts on eBay, on some days their sales are so abysmal. At least we are still getting sales, which I am thankful, but they have been cut a good 50-60% YOY and we are TR+ and Service Metrics sitting at Average, Promoting listings (General + Offsite), and Promotions. Guess go figure.
For the most part we have tried to follow the eBay policies to the tee so we can continue to make sales and run our business to make some profit, but they are making things much harder for their sellers. Then add yet another USPS price increase, where does it leave you.
I'm not sure if @zamo-zuan has responded to this thread, but he sells brand new auto parts so this will be interesting on how it impacts things on his side.
siamjane8
·1 year agoAs i search for NOS car parts- I have started seeing them listed as used even thought hey are new parts..... So it has already started- sellers are trying to mitgate their losses by going around the Free Retruns policy change. I dont blame, I may join them- we will see what happens.
Funny thing is that when ebay released the news- the huge banner at teh top of the page says they are doing this to:
Boost buyer trust with new P&A returns policy
Now buyers cant even trust if an item is new ore used!!! LOL-- ebay really screwed up again on this one
siamjane8
·1 year ago@valeri@ebay As manager of seller advocacy, could you please advocate for sellers find answers to the questions posed above in this thread. We are 2 days away and sellers have been left in the dark. I'm sure these kinds of policy changes are frustrating for you guys as well but we are just good people trying to run businesses and take care of our families- this policy is bound to make that more difficult as it will take more profittibility out of selling ebay. We just would like to understand the finer points of how this will work so we can adapt and plan for the damages.
siamjane8
·1 year agowe are just going to let it ride until we get our first return under the new policy- im curious more than anything. Also anytime ebay changes anything the site goes buggy and glitchy for months- I dont want to change anything that i dont have to just in case it triggers more problems- stability is not something ebay is known for
siamjane8
·1 year ago@brian@ebay can anyone confirm how this is going to work yet? Will a buyer that opens a return instantly be provided a return label and that label be charged to the seller without them having an opportunity to offer a solution or a partial or a full refund without having to actually return the item? Often a sheet does not want the used or broken or non valuable item back at the expense of paying the return shipping.
Will we be charged the label immediately and if they do not use the label, will it be refunded instantly or will we have to wait 30 days? Please let us know the process so we can figure out what to do.
Also.... The release says the 50%only applies is we use that return labels.... So how do we have the option to provide our own label if eBay automatically send the b buyer one? This need to be explained better.
Thanks
redlinear
·1 year agoSellers need the "chioce" of Refund Now.... OR.... Send a Return Label.
As it stands now. A return label is generated automatically. Of course, you "can" refund now....but that label is already in the hands of the buyer. They don't have to send the item back, but they don't know that. And many do go ahead and ship the item back. (at sellers expense).
On the "no returns" setting. I refunded a Doesn't Fit return today. I had the choice and chose Refund Now because the item was not worth the return shipping cost.
siamjane8
·1 year ago@redlinear On the return you just mentioned- i guess since it was "no returns" it falls under the old ebay return policy way and it still gives you the oppurtunity to accept the return- it was not automated? I think moving forward with free returns, we will not get option to refund all immedietely before they send the label to buyer like you mentioned- once the label is in their hands, they stop reading and will send the item back reguardless, costing the seller money
redlinear
·1 year agoThat's what I think.
And claiming to have our back by paying half themselves on Change Mind? On Changed Mind??
........"I'll pay for half your gas if you buy and drive an EV".......
untod
·1 year agoIn addition to re-classifying all my previously-new listings to something ELSE, I'm also adding a note that says my listings are NOT part of eBay's free returns nonsense, so my (FEW) customers won't have any misconceptions. If I were busy enough to use listing templates, it would be in all of them.
fivetoner
·1 year agoTotal **bleep** from eBay. BOT enabled INAD auto approvals from eBay already takes care of the dishonest sellers. HONEST sellers shouldn't have to punished for incompetent buyers who buy the wrong parts because they are too lazy to look up a parts list. Apparently the participation trophy employees at eBay now want to ensure stupidity is not an accountable attribute of the buyer
carlmarxx
·1 year agoYou know very well there are dishonest buyers besides the dishonest sellers also . Check out the FBI online fraud reports ,These buyers out number the sellers . This policy is folks running eBay responses to Amazon stepping their toes to sell auto parts . I have seen one commercial from Amazon several months ago on auto parts .And have seen thing since nor have seen any auto parts dealer 's section on their site . Why eBay panicked and did this policy makes no since.
siamjane8
·1 year ago@mr_lincoln Free shipping is another joke that ebay pushed on us for years- we did away with it and only do buyer pays shipping ( either flat rate or calculated). BUyers of car parts do not have the expectation of free shipping (especially used items) and the industry as a whole has tried it and moved away from it.
When we offered free shipping we saw absolutely no appreciable improvement in sales- it just did not matter. I am sure that in other categories on ebay - it does make a difference because of the buyer clientele. It just does not matter for what we sell,
The biggest reason we also went with calculated shipping was to protect us from losses when buyers returned items- we never refunded original shipping ( again this is an industry standard). If you sell an item with free shipping- obviously built into the price- you have no way to recover the original shipping on a return.
This apparently will no longer matter with ebays new free returns policy- they seem to be doubling down on their two worst ideas as a company- free shipping and free returns! - all in one seller screwing policy
siamjane8
·1 year ago@mr_lincoln I agree with you about the potential loss of sales because of the confusion about new/used but this is what ebay has us scrambling to do- figure out how to lose less money on selling on this platform. We are gambling that less buyers use the left side filters than you would think... A bigger concern is how will the ebay search algorithms handle the change. I have seen over the years how a simple algorithm change can destroy sales and a businesses on ebay
We will be experimenting with various ways to mitigate the problem. That account has a high volume predictable sales statistics and will be very easy to track
A bigger concern overall is the confusion that ebay is piling on the buyers with this mixed message and the unintended consequences that are bound to surface- they are just underling the platform in their own ignorance of how businesses are run.
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@siamjane8
Obviously, selling auto parts is not one of my strong suits, only the VERY occasional old car part I acquire at an auction. So for smaller items (2 lbs or less), is it better to sell them with Free shipping (shipping built in ot the price) and the Shipping section having the bare minimum weight and package dimensions to minimize the return label cost eBay would generate?
loose_goose_garage
·1 year agoWith Free Shipping, which I offer, any returns where I would have to cover the cost is billed at the amount I paid for the Shipping Label to send to the buyer.
untod
·1 year agoNot after the 15th on new parts! 😉
siamjane8
·1 year ago@loose_goose_garage looks like the majority of you listings offer no returns. this new mandatory free returns should have a big effect on you too i would think
loose_goose_garage
·1 year agoYes, I was replying to the other comment regarding return shipping costs.
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@loose_goose_garage
Okay, when buying labels through eBay that makes sense since they would have record of what you paid, a discounted price. So I assume you mean the return label would be charged at the discounted rate that you paid for it in the first place?
golfingaddict
·1 year agoThe 50% subsidized label is only offered if you use eBay shipping. I wonder how many large P&A sellers do not use those labels and will be on the hook for the full return label.
I'm sure eBay knows the numbers before they offered the discount.
And without a doubt, some time down the road they will pull the 50% off offer and sellers will be on the hook for free returns.
loose_goose_garage
·1 year agoAgreed, they are just easing the transition by doing 50%, but I believe there will be a push by eBay down the road to make the seller cover the return shipping 100%.
siamjane8
·1 year ago@loose_goose_garage In further talking to my son- i misunderstood him... that particular return fell under the existing guaranteed fit program so ebay pays the return label in full- but seller cannot deduct the original shipping so the lost to seller is the original shipping or 50% of the total round trip shipping cost.
My son finally started reading up on this change to see how it will effect him and he was horrified! He assumed it would be like guaranteed fit and ebay was paying the whole return label not just half of it!!- SO moving forward the seller is responsible for 75% of the round trip shipping cost with ebay only paying half of the return label. Our other account has on average 8-10 active returns per week ( 98% buyer mistake or remorse from not reading description or trusting ebay fitment guide blindly). Not a huge deal- just par for the course, but if we now lose 7-10 dollars per return on a 15-20 dollar center cap 8x a week------ITS NOT A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODEL- why does ebay not understand that.
My son said he will changing all the new and new/other listings over to USED.
I have heard personally from 460-70 sellers that i know that they will be doing the same---------this is going to reek havoc with the ebay search filters as well as its infantile AI as people search for new car parts and none are showing up but they eventually find them in the used category----the learning AI is going to be confused and the repercussion for the whole search is going to be dismal.
How is all of this so blatantly obvious to us sellers but ebay is completely unaware. Its a reckless move on ebays part
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@siamjane8
Just curious about changing New items to Used ... wouldn't that cause sales to drop because Buyers want New items for their cars instead of Used?
estate_echoes
·1 year agoMaybe... if people filter results by new items. But I feel like most don't and it's relatively easy to communicate to potential buyers that they are getting g a new item. The end goal is losing less.... than would be caused by the change.
untod
·1 year agoI'm too small of a seller to take even 1 of these losses; my margins aren't that high to begin with. So I'm about to go edit all my "new" parts listings... I hope all sellers do the same, or just stop selling, so that eBay MIGHT get the message in a format that makes it past their AI wall: a smaller/redder bottom line.
siamjane8
·1 year agoJust had a return on our other account that specializes in hubcaps.....because we input the year make and model of the vehicle that a center cap fits- ebay includes it in its guaranteed fit program. Buyer bought it because ebay said it fit his car. The listing said in bold all caps bracketed with !!- This center cap will only fit the wheel pictured. A giant picture of the wheel included. Buyer said he never looked at the pictures OR read the description. He had a different wheel-often there are several wheel options every year so ebays fitment guide could never be correct all the time... even if you used the vin #, the wheels could have been changed or swapped out.
This return that was 100% the buyers fault instantly became an ebay guaranteed fit protection so we had to pay half the return label. This is basically what we expect to happen across the board with this new forced free returns policy- cost sellers money for all the wrong reasons!
I have not heard ebay use the "were partners" line in a few years... i guess they are living up to that with these anti seller policies
loose_goose_garage
·1 year agoIf I'm reading this correctly, they made you cover half of the return cost already? I thought that didn't take effect until July 15th?
subidapter
·1 year agoTerrible idea that will basically end up penalizing honest intelligent buyers who read the description, and reward bad buyers, return-reason liars, and tire-kickers. Also would help if ebay had real/decent seller protections.
There is no such thing as free shipping or free returns. Somebody pays, and that cost is passed on.
I've left ebay twice (totally deleted accounts), and have been kicked off once, since 1998. I have a strong feeling one of those things is about happen again.
siamjane8
·1 year agowhat i find interesting is that ebay polls buyers after they return an item and ask wat would have made the experience better- then gives them a checklist of things like "free return shipping"..... duh - that would make it a better experience from that standpoint. BUT where is the poll of people that have not returned an item- ones that say would you be more likely to make a purchase on ebay if it was free returns?. Even then it is theoretical because someone who makes a purchase based solely on the free returns is already purchasing with the intent to return! This is a small percentage of buyers (hopefully) and who really wants their business?
richard95h
·1 year agoI received an email with subject "Boost buyer trust with new P&A returns policy". The email gave the same information as listed above. The email says it applies to "Parts and Accessories", but it never mentions "Ebay Motors". The email can be interpreted to apply to nearly everything for sale on Ebay. I want to know whether this applies to all of Ebay, or only Ebay Motors. Thank you.
siamjane8
·1 year agoI guess sellers will just have to wait and see lol ... All I know is that if returns start pouring in for no reason...im going to make drastic changes to it inventory. We tried free returns the first time what promised that it would boost sales a few years ago and it was a disaster!!- hundreds of dollars wasted in return labels and next to no genuine extra sales that stick.... It was a giant try it before you buy trial. People who who make purchases with the intent to return are not good customers- they are careless customers.
siamjane8
·1 year agoThe topic has been quiet for awhile now.... I think most sellers have caught on that there is no reason to reach out to reason with ebay once they "think" they have a good idea. It always falls on deaf ears- From what i have been hearing on all the "off ebay "communities and forums and chats.... large scale and medium sized full time sellers are either just looking to substantially reduce their ebay exposure and seek other venues or develop work arounds for the unreasonable policy
dhbookds
·1 year ago@mr_lincoln
According to the copy of the email posted in Msg 78
the entire eBay Motors category is required to offer free returns, this policy generally applies to the entire category unless the item falls under one of the excluded categories
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@dhbookds
My sincere thanks ... I "think" I might have posted that exclusion list up thread somewhere ...
Thanks for the post reference but unless the reference is newest post first I won't find it LOL!
siamjane8
·1 year ago@mr_lincoln lol... eBay may need 6 months of data to see if this is beneficial or not..... But the rest of us don't need more data.. Common sense says this will lower profit margins and encourage more try it before you buy it mentality and returns. This one is a no-brainer.
So again what is forcing sellers into the damage control mode and how to circumvent this policy and keep profit margins intact. This kind of forced policy forces sellers to lower quality control and customer service.... Great move ebay
westmichiganpropeller
·1 year agoso i just heard back from my rep. this supposedly covers the ENTIRE ebay motors parts and accessories category, and all its sub categories. so the boating guys, aviation, in car gps, apparel, golf, ATV, Motorcycle, snowmobile, etc, we all have to offer 30 day free returns on our new stuff now. the only exclusions are the very small list that ebay supplied for the automotive subcategory. wonderful....
"
Hi ---,
Thank you for reaching out to eBay Customer Service. I hope you're doing well today. My name is ----, and I'm here to assist you. It's fantastic to see that you've been a loyal eBay member for --- years—thank you for your loyalty!
Regarding your inquiry about whether the entire eBay Motors category is required to offer free returns, this policy generally applies to the entire category unless the item falls under one of the excluded categories or does not meet certain requirements. To qualify, items must be purchased on the US site, have a location in the US, have a value over $10, and be new items.
Here is a list of categories excluded from the free returns policy:
- Wheels (179679)
- Tires (179680)
- Tire & Wheel packages (179681)
- Other Wheel & Tire Parts (179684)
- Auto Transmissions (171115)
- Manual Transmissions (171117)
- Complete Engines (33615)
- Door Panels (33696)
- Hood Panels (33646)
- Airbags (177710)
- Listings with local pick-up only
- Listings where shipping uses freight services
Thank you again for reaching out to eBay Customer Service and for being a valued member of eBay. Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns. I hope you have an amazing day. Take care!
Kind regards,"
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@westmichiganpropeller community staff say they have confirmed this only applies to Car and Truck parts.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Returns/Anyone-else-outraged-by-the-new-quot-free-quot-return-policy-for/m-p/35173006/highlight/true#M56855
@devon@ebay I know this post is over a month old at this point, but could you please have this support experience reviewed?
devon@ebay
Hey @valueaddedresource! We will have this shared to be reviewed by the proper team.
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@westmichiganpropeller never mind....see that other thread for further updates.
carlmarxx
·1 year agoSome posters here need to remind that some of us use a Posting ID on these boards !
sreu3058
·1 year ago“Selling is an honorable profession and Sellers are on the front lines and typically know what does and doesn't work.â€
In the real world (not e-commerce) my experience as a top seller: we were treated like movie stars. Flown to Vegas for a formal event to collect a trophy like the Oscars, the top cream of the crop paid for trips to Aruba, etc. with pow wow sessions to brainstorm, professional speakers to learn more, we were enriched and rewarded, and extremely motivated.
To the OP, or whomever (sorry I forget) who said they were now letting go 3 employees:
With that kind of value in your inventory, I cannot understand not having your own website as backup.
Hope it all works out—
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@sreu3058
Yep, I get that completely because I saw it in the real world. What is interesting is that Sellers are some of the most intelligent and highest paid people in the world. Why? Well, they may not design the #1 Widget in the world and they may not Manufacturer the #1 Widget in the world but they darn well know exactly how it is made, how it works and how potential customers can benefit from Buying it. You can replace that #1 Widget with anything one sells and the same applies ... and of course selling usually comes with incentives ... the more one sells the more earnings one can attain. Success is rewarded and always should be.
affordableappliancesandparts
·1 year agoCan anybody verify if this is just for Auto parts? I sell appliance parts and are categorized as major appliance parts and accessories. I know that the gave exclusions to certain auto parts, put it is not clearly stated as just auto parts. I would appreciate any feedback.
westmichiganpropeller
·1 year agoapparently i have ebay concierge service now, so i just sent them an email on that.
i sell in the ebay motors/ parts and accessories / boating tab, which falls under the "all ebay motors parts and accessories" branch in the newsletter. but under their exclusions list it also only shows some call outs for the car&truck sub category. so ya, im at a complete loss right now if im being affected by this or not.
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@affordableappliancesandparts
Only Auto Parts at present. I am sure like most new changes eBay will monitor all aspects of those selling P & A automotive parts with the new feature. I am thinking they will need at least 6 months of data on transaction with the new return policy to see how beneficial or not it is.
quicksilverdiecast
·1 year agoThis is not going to be valid as ebay's Compat Fitment chart is very inaccurate, and it assumes both buyer and seller have knowledge of exactly the issue. And will cause Returns due to incorrect info provided....the Comp Chart is also failing as somehow it is changing selections on its own, and dropping entire lines (one had Dodge and Plymouth selected and all the Dodge selections were gone, so far I have corrected 8 out of 8 back to how I initially had it selected. You can't keep throwing policies into a mix where the information is flawed to start with...it conflicts
siamjane8
·1 year ago@bad_box1 makes a great point.... there are lots of great sellers on this platform...so why on earth doesn't ebay tap into that wealth of knowledge and experience and have some sort of program where sellers of all different levels can participate and be surveyed or have zoom meetings with- real life focus groups with actual sellers that make this platform work on a daily basis?
Sellers are invested in ebay far more any any of ebays employees- our livelihood depends on success on the platform while ebay employees collect a salary and bonusses regardless of outcome. Nothingn wrong with a steady job but these drastic policy changes do not effect anyone at ebay but will effect sellers negatively
I am quite sure that just about all sellers no matter what level of sales they have would have all agreed that this forced free returns policy is not going to benefit anyone.
mr_lincoln
·1 year agoMost savvy companies in many industries do just that. Selling is an honorable profession and Sellers are on the front lines and typically know what does and doesn't work. I went through that years ago in industry. Annual Sales meetings and Sales people at our trade shows would yield a ton of valuable information on marketing, servicing and selling the machinery we offered ... and management LISTENED. It is Business 101. We also observed companies that did not listen to their sales people run into dropped sales issues and we knew their time was limited once they started to shed some of their high paid sales force ... that's the kiss of death for a company. NO business is ever done until a sale is made. Internet sales are no different ... if not a single item on eBay sells this week then no business was done and nobody makes any money. We often see the "You spoke, we listened" lead in statement on a new feature ... not sure who they are talking too but EVERY Seller should have an opportunity to give input. Can you imagine what would happen if every single Seller took a one week vacation at the exact same time and put ALL of their listings on Time Away???
redlinear
·1 year agoI think eBay makes their money on advertising.
They don't seem to care if anybody buys, sells, returns, etc....as long as somebody is simply spending time on the site.
Everything they change is to get people to spend more time on the site.
Used to be, changes were touted as "less clicks".
Now, everything requires more clicks, more time.
redlinear
·1 year ago@siamjane8
@bad_box1
eBay is listening to sellers. Just certain sellers though.
A long time ago, I bucked the system. I flat out left an industry, or rather, I quit playing by industry standard paractices.
They said THIS is how it's done. This is how the industry does it. So, that's what I learned and that's what I did for 10 years.
One day I decided there was a better way, so I stopped everything, changed everything, and went straight to eBay. Success was off the charts.
BUT, this industry saw eBay as a venue also, slowly but surely. Now they are here IN FORCE. Without great success though. So, they are doing what they can to conform eBay to THEIR standards. And eBay is listening.
They are here and eBay cannot afford to lose them.
siamjane8
·1 year agosreu3058
·1 year ago(((I am only replying because I read a seller is now laying off 3 employed workers, which strikes me)))
“I wish I had somewhere else to go..............
BUT, the reality is: If you can't easily find "it" elsewhere? You can probably find "it" on eBay.
Until "it" can't be found on eBay, and CAN be found somewhere else? Nothing's going to change for the better here.â€
Could you not create your own website on Shopify, and take the earnings you were giving to EBay and spend it on Google Ads until your website gets rolling?
redlinear
·1 year ago@sreu3058
I'm not laying off employees.
The rest of that is mine though.
I no longer have the inventory for a website. I'm actually trying to wind down and be done with a salvage yard. Have a few more years to go it seems.
movieman630
·1 year agoAt this point nothing surprises me. Just more taken from sellers. What choice do we have? Pay and play or don't.
This makes losing the vintage automotive parts category all the worse. What about those of us selling NOS parts from the 1930s?
redlinear
·1 year ago@hbktech_69
When eBay rolled out Compatibilty (Fitment / Interchange). I can only assume that was due to a few large entities having the clout needed to get eBay to make that happen.
I don't mean users with $1.5 million in parts listed.
I mean users with 4+ million "parts" listed.
As a %, these users don't tend to sell much due to the method in which they list parts. They use software that allows them to list thousands of parts per day, but NO descriptions, Generic Pics. Nothing but a page of disclaimers.
They thought if eBay added Interchange, it would help them sell. Since thier listing software created their interchange automatically (no extra listing time needed).
If it helped, it didn't help much.
What it did, was cause the lower 98% of sellers to conform. Enter the wrong information while increasing listing time drastically.
THEN, for the same reason, FOR the same big entities, they rolled out FREE RETURNS (again, in order to help the big boys sell more). BUT, these FREE RETURNS came with constraints that most buyers didn't, and still aren't aware of. All the buyers saw was FREE RETURNS, buy without fear of reprisal.
And then these buyers found out the hard way, not all returns were free. Thus causing a major headache for eBay.
I assumed it would be THE disaster that it's turned out to be.
I assumed it wouldn't be long before eBay ended this.
BUT, I assumed wrong.
Now, they are going the other direction and reducing the stipulations for Free Returns. Making it mandatory. (simply to reduce the headache involved for eBay).
It's just one bad policy after another.
I wish I had somewhere else to go..............
BUT, the reality is: If you can't easily find "it" elsewhere? You can probably find "it" on eBay.
Until "it" can't be found on eBay, and CAN be found somewhere else? Nothing's going to change for the better here.
hbktech_69
·1 year agoDo you have any idea what "software that is"
I have a warehouse that I call my death pile, right now it has about 1.2 million in OEM parts from 4 dealerships I bought out in the past year. I could use this software to scan as much if It as I could in the next month to dump off as much of it as possible before selling it elsewhere, I was considering doing this.
redlinear
·1 year agoHas something to do with Hollander Inventory and Yard Management Software.
It's different than it used to be.
BUT, back in the day: I would print up 20+ page worksheet for a certain vehicle. Take it outside to the vehicle, and start at the top Choosing what parts were there, what was good, issues, options, etc.
Basically, all parts and options were on this worksheet, and I just checked off boxes.
Go back inside, pull the same thing up and computer. And do the same thing on the computer, looking at my paper worksheet. And adding prices.
When I was done. That car was in the system, all it's parts were in the system.
At night, that info would transfer to thousands of other salvage yards that had the same system. And their info would transfer to me.
BUT now, I'm told it's the same but different. You take pics of the vehicle. Entering parts from that TO eBay is not much more than choosing what parts.
FOR a pile of misc individual stuff? This isn't going to help.
lackeykay
·1 year agoAre the excluded categories only for the 'Car & Truck Parts & Accessories' categories?
For example 'Tires 179680' is the category under car & truck and 'Tires 124313' is under motorcycles & scooters. There are also separate categories for ATVs, RVs, Racing etc.
I assume they would also be excluded but you never know if eBay overlooked that...
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@lackeykay that's a good question! I was also wondering about other categories too - for example subcategories for boat parts and airplane parts are technically under Motors>Parts & Accessories as well.
As far as I know, boat parts and airplane parts aren't included in the Guaranteed Fit program, but I'd hesitate to assume that means they also aren't included in this new returns policy requirement.
@devon@ebay @kyle@ebay @elizabeth@ebay can you clarify please?
siamjane8
·1 year agoDriving growth and buyer satisfaction
Starting July 15, P&A sellers will be required to offer a minimum of free 30-day returns, creating a smoother and more consistent shopping journey. This streamlined policy helps eliminate confusion so buyers can have a hassle-free returns experience, strengthening their trust both in your business and in eBay.
EXCEPT........ this will add MORE confusion as it only applies to new and new other parts and has excluded categories?!?
siamjane8
·1 year ago@rebecca@ebay @valeri@ebay @devon@ebay @griff@ebay.com @kyle@ebay
Hey guys- can anyone on the ebay team weigh in here on this upcoming change- this is a major setback for sellers and it is going to cause huge issues- it would be nice to take a minute and catch your breath and reconsider this bad policy of forced free returns before things get to crazy.
On one of our accounts- we get 10 returns a week do to incorrect ebay fitment guide or buyers not reading description (or even the title). Up until now 95% of these returns are completed as remorse so it is what it is, but if we have to start paying return shipping on these buyer/ebay mistakes we will be forced to make dramatic changes to compensate for that account ( the user name associated with this account does not however get many returns so it is not really going to effect us but the other account sells $20,000-28,000 a month gross on ebay alone-all in "parts and accessories (new/new other)". This new forced policy is aggressive and over-reaching to sellers and is being considered by most as hostile- not as a way to help sellers get more visibility as stated by ebay.
Please get this to the correct teams AND their bosses- its not to late to reconsider this policy!
stainlessenginecovers
·1 year ago@siamjane8 can you give me an item number of one of these items? I would like to see this 'fitment' guide.
siamjane8
·1 year agoAnd just in case you were wondering.....we just got a return yesterday that this applied to so they are rolling it out early- before the July 15th date....and the toggle that allows a seller to not reimburse the original shipping is grayed out and does not work so ebay is now making the seller foot the original shipping and the 50% of return label!!!!!!!! That is a 75% loss on shipping for a remorse return!!!!!!
Ebay- this idea is a disaster in the making! - you are destroying any reason for good sellers to list on ebay
hondaguy249
·1 year agoThis is disappointing to say the least. As a large P&A seller myself, this is just a bad move on eBay's part when so many other things need improvement. Improve your support team, fitment info to be more accurate, show fitment in the app, improve search result relevancy, etc. But no, instead we will change our policy to something no one asked for, and have our sellers carry the weight of it.
hbktech_69
·1 year agoI am one of the top 1% in the ebay motors category, on July 15th I will be removing all my inventory, which is currently $1,168,677.75 and will be moving it to Ebay's competitors' websites. Since ebay has charged me for an anchor store for 1 and 1/2 years, and has breached their own contract by not providing the dedicated support they promise, I will be cancelling anchor store and putting a block payment on ebay from my bank account. If they try to put it on my credit, I will bury them in court, they breached their own terms of the agreement by failing to provide dedicated support after charging me over $5400 for a service they didn't provide.
My business policy is that the buyer pays for return shipping. Some parts, especially something like a radiator, can cost over $100 to ship depending on where it's going. I'm not taking a $50 loss because someone didn't verify fitment before they ordered something. Ebay's fitment is an absolute joke, it doesn't use a VIN Number, and is often wrong, it doesn't even show you fitment on a phone unless you click on it, on a desktop it shows in the description. Take for example a 2025 suburban, can come with a diesel duramax engine, or a vortec 5.3 or 6.2 imagine ordering spark plugs for a Diesel engine, or glow plugs for a gasoline engine, it can happen if you don't check the fine print on ebay, and guess who pays for it? The seller, 100% of the time.
I also do not trust ebay, ebay continually lies about policy, and I can prove it easily. 90% of the negative feedback I have on my account is from fitment issues, Ebay says that you are protected from negative feedback that a buyer leaves if an item doesn't fit, that is a lie 90% of the time.
Ebay also lies and tells you if a buyer files an incorrect item not described return, that they'll reimburse you $6 and remove negative feedback, this is also a lie. I find that even when a buyer sends me a message saying "yup i intentionally filed the wrong return reason to avoid paying for return shipping" that ebay will still refuse to remove the negative feedback.
It's easy to tell when Ebay is lying to you, it's anytime their mouth is moving, or any times their fingers are typing on a keyboard. They are concerned about amazon, they just lost over 1.1 mil to them from me alone.
People that don't know what it's like selling on motors, look crazyny driver up on youtube, he can tell you some wonderful horror stories about how poor of a job ebay does on motors.
Bye Bye Ebay, I make more money on other websites anyways, I was just looking for a reason to fire my ebay staff, and you just gave it to me, now I can blame it on you, I feel bad that I have to notify a group of hard working people tomorrow that their last day is July 14th, but you know what, It's my business, it's my policies, it's my inventory, Ebay will not force me to do something I disagree with. Forcing a buyer to pay for return shipping sometimes makes them more cautious.
Now it's time to lay some people off, and make ebays competitors 100's of thousands in fees each year. Toodles grifterbay.
carlmarxx
·1 year agoI have read lot horror story's on eBay motors board . I have watched crazyny driver YouTube.
esg-enterprises
·1 year agoOdd thing about these free returns is in 20+ years selling majority in motors I don't get a ton of returns. I would say average 1.5 per month. While not saying it has never happened, I can't think of a single instance where someone complained or questioned having to purchase a return label.
You struggle to find a thing that matches your search in the results yet this is the change they feel is needed.
siamjane8
·1 year agoSo instead of working with sellers to see what we actually need and care about, or making the site actually stable and function on a daily basis----ebay decides to punish sellers again? on what planet does this make sense to anyone?
ebay motors/ P&A is and was the backbone that built ebay- it is what ebay is most widely known for and its because of the great vintage and NOS car parts and unique items that sellers bring to the platform. Why would you punish and discourage the sellers that bring in the buyers with these great products?
redlinear
·1 year agoeBay already has a Free Return Policy for motors (BUT, buyers AND sellers BOTH must enter the right info and follow certain steps in order for this policy to apply)
The issue right now is that most buyers don't know this. They just see FREE RETURNS and buy without caution. Then, when the return turns out NOT to be free. They swamp eBay with messages and calls and figure out how to get ahold of real person to complain (to no avail). Which does not appeas the buyer one bit (eBay has created entitled attitude among buyers. They believe they are not wrong no matter how wrong they are proven)
SO, with this New Policy? eBay is letting them be wrong and be rewarded for it.
All of this is designed to let ai answer the issues rather than the need for paid employees to have to deal with it.
Returns issues are a headache for eBay. So rather than do away with returns, eBay has gone the other way to reduce this issue. Return anything for free and let the seller deal with it so that eBay doesn't have to pay somebody to deal with it.
carlmarxx
·1 year agoNeither Their AI and employee's have clue about what is being listed for sale or got sold . Unless they have been selling or buying for long time if at all.
redlinear
·1 year agoAny employee can look at a listing with 1000 words crammed into Part Number in Item Specifics and tell what's going on.
Ai cannot
loose_goose_garage
·1 year agoThis is comical. Buyers just make false claims and/ or return wrong/ damaged/ old used items and eBay does nothing to help the seller. And now we get to cover 50% of the return shipping for this as well? Can't wait.
Going from having the ability to Deny Remorse returns, to being forced to Accept them AND cover 50% of return shipping is absolutely wild.
siamjane8
·1 year agoits technically not a free return if the seller can still not refund the original shipping so can we get some clarity on that?
siamjane8
·1 year agoOdd thought process...... so practically EVERY other website and retail/and online stopped doing free returns 3 years ago- Free returns are NOT the industry standard in "parts and accessories"
Soooo- ebay is going to advertise free returns to bring in more customers?- do we want buyers that buy with the intent to return?? if that is their motivating factor to purchase- I dont really want that customer
Sellers are savvy and hate getting forced into business decisions that are detrimental to their bottom line so expect:
1. Every return to take advantage of the 50% off returns deduction to cover the costs of the forced return label cost
2. uptick in returns
3. more buyer confusion as this wont cover "used" items but they will have heard and add for P&A free returns
4. Already the first comment i have heard from sellers is that they will just change all their "new" listing to "used listings and put the word "new" in the title-----this will be the next ebay search debacle
5. BTW is it a free return if they dont get the original shipping back or does the seller have to eat the orig shipping as well as half the return label??- this will be a major game changer if that is the case
6. when is the last time you had a buyer actually complain about a return shipping label??
7. Amazon has gone to paid returns under many circumstances the last few years- they realized that paid returns is not that big a deal while ebay is doubling down again-----I dont get it
8. I have a sneaking suspicion that if you survey buyers and ask if they want to keep the item AND get a full refund.... they will say yes- is that what is next?-----time for someone to put on the "big boy" pants and make some actual decision that will help the platform grow organically instead of following return surveys.
just a few thoughts i guess
carlmarxx
·1 year agoThe Folks running eBay keep's up with all of Amazon's policy updates . when did the part doesn't fit Guarantee returns ,that caused big uptick of damage destroyed parts sent back by the buyers . I haven't seen Amazon run any new Commercial car P&A add's since first one back around February . .
bad_box1
·1 year agoWhere are your listings since you are speaking of how eBay keeps (there's no apostrophe in keeps, by the way) up with Amazon policy? And why are you telling us all about the big uptick in "damage destroyed parts sent back by the buyers" when you have zero listings? Because that is what you will do since you, as a buyer, receive zero negative feedback. Ever. Sellers are only allowed to leave positive or nothing. Why are you participating in a conversation where sellers are seriously raising concerns about this policy change when you have no listings? And your name is carlmarxx?
carlmarxx
·1 year agoI had been seller on eBay for many years and I do have another ID I started in 1996 ! This one is my Posting and Buying ID . Never ASSUME!!!!!!
rimtrim
·1 year agoI'm sure this is coming for used parts eventually, because sellers are going to start listing everything as used to get around the requirement. I've already seen a number of bulk China sellers listing new parts as used, to make their listings visible to buyers who filter out "new" in an attempt to get rid of the fake China junk in search results. So I'm sure a lot more of that is coming, which will motivate eBay to force this policy on all parts regardless of condition.
I looked over the update and I didn't see anything about the policy for original shipping. Do we have to refund original shipping in full, in addition to half the return shipping? That's really going to clobber people selling parts that are bulky but relatively inexpensive.
By the way, I thought Guaranteed Fit only applied to returns where the buyer selected a vehicle that matches the seller's Parts Compatibility list. But today's update seems to imply that all "doesn't fit" returns are covered by Guaranteed Fit. That would be news to me.
bigw1231
·1 year agoAnother load of **bleep** that the seller has to swallow. Sorry, but all of my new auto parts will become used- unopened package.
I have had too many buyers abuse returns, and since I have had my store "does not accept returns", my returns dropped by 97%.
Since there really is no ebay seller protection, we as sellers have to protect our own interests. And maybe someday someone at ebay will realize all they are offering is the PLATFORM for us to sell. But I get it..its their sandbox.
carlmarxx
·1 year agoI agree ! It is the folks running eBay that needlessly panic attack ,Over Amazon getting their toes into selling Motor Parts & Accessories which they don't know a lot about ,And nor are they going offer any no question return policy's for these goods. Considering they have tighten down fighting buyer return abuse .
dcrtechandelec
·1 year agoThere is also the aspect of having to hope the buyer selects the correct reason for return. For the % of sellers who may already be dishonest, I can see many ways in which this can theoretically be abused. Without mechanisms in place to deter this, wouldn't this cause confusion to buyers if/when a seller tries to manipulate them into selecting a certain return option?
Edit: Furthermore, what is stopping buyers who are aware of this change from misusing the returns process knowing that if they select a certain option, the seller would not incur the same loss they typically would.
For example: Lets say I buy from a seller. Knowing that certain return options like these exist, what is stopping me selecting those in a hypothetical situation?
Not that I would actually do this, but I struggle to understand how a system that divides the cost between eBay and the seller won't be used to justify returning things in a dishonest manner.
carlmarxx
·1 year agoThere are always buyers that abuse return policy's that merchants setup . The Motors category will be ripped for Buyer Fraud and return abuse with Free returns . Motor listing's will go full time local pick up Only . with out buyers out side of local pickup will arranged shipping it they want the items .
carlmarxx
·1 year agoEbay will see higher up tick of sellers keeping 50% of buyers money over damaged goods returned that are worthless . do to this poor policy .
esg-enterprises
·1 year ago@carlmarxx Bingo! You got it.
carlmarxx
·1 year agoThank you.