eBay

Anonymous · ‎02-12-2019

Join us here on Feb 13th at 1 PM PT for our weekly Chat with the Community Team. We'll be discussing general buying and selling topics and look forward to seeing you here!

Anonymous · ‎02-13-2019

@mam98031 wrote:

More regarding buyers opening claims or Not.

I understand Ebay recommends that we do just as you have previously describe. Since this is being pushed as being boarder line mandatory, are we moving this direction on all things Ebay Recommends? I'm not trying to be silly. I'm trying to understand when a recommendation is a recommendation and when a recommendation is actually mandatory.

Hi @mam98031, sometimes when we use the term recommendation, we are indicating a best practice or something where choice is involved. Other times our recommendation would be synonymous with a requirement - unfortunately in a written format, communication can be lacking context or clarity, and while this is not our intention, The Community Team will work to be more direct where possible. For this, we've clearly outlined the types of requests appropriate for various situations, examples of times where a refund via PayPal would be allowed, and stated that a seller is expected to use the appropriate request. To summarize, a seller is required to refund through a request when this is the most appropriate process for the situation. Refunds via PayPal are only for certain situations, and a defect can be recorded if misused.

Anonymous · ‎02-13-2019

@mam98031 wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@mam98031 wrote:

@papermoneyforme wrote:

@mam98031 wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@goodluckselling wrote:

I am seeking clarification from eBay staff about how refunds and returns should be completed and what happens when the eBay approved protocol is not followed. In this thread we are seeing a couple different understandings.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Where-do-I-find-a-return-label-or-does-a-return-request-need-to/m-p/29491088#M1368775

Starting with post number 7 where a forum user is telling others to just go to paypal and issue a label and refund as a way to handle a return and refund. There are also replies to post 7 in post 8 and specifically post 10 that are suggesting that eBay has told us that this action in post 7 would still reflect bad seller ratings.

To which this reply was offered from the author in post 7

That isn't exactly what Ebay has said. If you don't email your buyer within Ebay and outline what is transpiring, meaning the refund, then yes it is possible for Ebay to give the seller an OOS defect. But not if you are communicating with your buyer along the way on what is happening.

Here are the three questions all related to each other that I need your help with.

Question - Is it okay to just communicate through the ebay message system about refunds and returns and then proceed outside the eBay generated pathway (resolution center). Keep in mind these refunds and or returns could be for anything like out of stock or product damaged, not as described, or sent the wrong item, etc. You would not know unless there was communication from the buyer in the eBay message system about an issue.

Question - Is communications from a buyer and or seller through the eBay message system good enough for sellers to proceed outside the resolution center areas to complete these customer service tasks and also not receive bad ratings to our seller standards and service metrics?

Question - Does eBay want us to use the resolution center pathway for all returns and refunds or is there a high bred area like being talked about above that would be approved by eBay for these kinds of customer service tasks?

As dedicated sellers on eBay we deserve to hear eBay's official position about this. It should not be hard to give a clear and concise answer so every seller who reads this can know without doubt about what eBay intends for it's user to do and what consequence we face when we go outside the boundaries set up for us to use.

Good Luck Selling!

Hi @goodluckselling, happy to address the thread you are referring to and provide some additional context to.

A refund should be sent via the Cancel Transaction, Item Not Received, or Return Request process when possible. The only time that a refund via PayPal would be acceptable is if one of these other options is not appropriate. The most common example is a shipping discount provided post-checkout. This could also arise when a seller wins an eBay Money Back Guarantee claim, but still wishes to refund their customer partially or in full.

In instances where no other eBay process is applicable (those listed above) and the seller needs to refund via PayPal, we ask that the seller communicate with the buyer on eBay about the refund they are issuing and provide context. eBay messages that clarify the purpose of the refund would be acceptable and would serve to prevent an out of stock defect. Additionally, if one of the previously discussed cases has been opened and closed, this would count for the purposes of communication to explain the reason the refund is being issued.

If the buyer is concerned about not receiving their package, a refund should be issued through the Item Not Received Request process. If the buyer wishes to return an item, this return and any associated refund (full or partial) should be issued through the Return Request process. If a buyer wishes to cancel the transaction in full, the Cancel Transaction Process should be used. There are instances where resolving a customer's concerns may not fall into one of these processes, and in those instances a refund through PayPal with communication on eBay would be acceptable. A refund through PayPal without explanation on the eBay platform may result in a Cancel Transaction defect for Out Of Stock.

This topic is touched on in our Knowledge Base article for issuing a partial refund, found here.

This has come up again because of something I said on the thread that was referenced.

I do understand and respect Ebay's position on this. But how or why would I tell a buyer that does not want to file a claim that they have to or I can't help them? Some buyers do not want to mess with the claims process. And I don't think I should tell them that I can't help them unless they do. How would that be better customer service than if I just took care of them without a claim?

I do understand that Ebay wants sellers to support the Service Metrics program. I don't agree with it as I've made abundantly clear before, but I do understand that this is a driving force in having sellers always use the claims system when a refund to a buyer is needed. However this is not a one size fits all. Some buyer just don't want to file claims.

Your buyer could have abused the MBG and may not be eligible, or does not want to be on Ebays radar for returns. If you want to support this, you could be enabling a rotten buyer.

So we are suppose to tell them we can't help them unless they file a claim?

Where does it say in the Ebay rules that it is Manditory? Please provide a link.

Over the years I've had a few buyers that have wanted to return something and not open a claim. Having concerns over if they were abusing me or the system was never even a question or concern. They had an issue that I was willing to take care of, so I did.

Hi @mam98031, we touched on this in the Fall 2015 Seller Update in the FAQ. If a buyer contacts to cancel or request a refund, the correct cancellation reason or request must be used. A refund through PayPal when there was another more appropriate process can be counted as an Out Of Stock defect. We also touch on this in the Knowledge Base article for issuing a partial refund, found here.

I'm not talking about using the cancellation process. I did not bring that up at all. That is not the point.

Hi @mam98031, sorry for the confusion! The reason I referenced the cancelation process and an Out Of Stock defect is because anytime a refund through is issued through PayPal when another process should have been used, an Out Of Stock defect may be recorded. This is how we track refunds issued outside of the appropriate eBay processes - as an Out Of Stock defect. You asked for resources on where we have indicated that this is mandatory and I provided the 2015 Fall Seller Update as a reference, as this is where we cover what can be considered an Out Of Stock defect. While the FAQ is concise, I have elaborated here on the boards to provide updated context.

doug@ebay · ‎02-13-2019

Hi @mendelsons,

When the refund is processed by the seller through the eBay system the tax will also be refund (assuming it was collected on the transaction). The seller will not need to see or know if tax was or was not added or add the tax to the refund. The tax is essentially linked to the item.

We have the following statement at the bottom of this help page: https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/paying-items/paying-tax-ebay-purchases?id=4771

Refunded purchases

If you paid tax on your purchase through eBay and you get a refund for your order, you'll also get a refund for the proportionate amount of tax. For example, if you receive a full refund, you'll get the entire tax back. If you receive a 50% partial refund, you'll get 50% of the tax back. Any refunds processed outside eBay's systems are not eligible for a tax refund.

@mendelsons wrote:

Not sure if you've had one yet on collecting sales tax on out of state transaction but is eBay planning on having an Q&A event geared strictly towards the new tax laws that have been rolled out and will continue to roll out ?

Just wondering how refunding buyers will come into play, if the seller will even see that tax was collected on the transaction since eBay will be collecting it. Ran into a strange situation on another site and prompted me to start looking on eBay but do see to many examples scenarios spelled out that might be helpful. I saw some on it but wasn't well defined yet.

Please advise.

Rick