Another Competitor Makes Some Big Changes

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

ebay competitor Mercari announced some big changes today. The best summary I've seen is here:

https://www.valueaddedresource.net/mercari-shifts-fees-buyers-returns-any-reason/

Will this impact ebay's strategy going forward, or will it have little or no effect? I don't know, but it will be interesting to see what the next ebay Seller Update contains....

[yuzuha]

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@redlinear wrote:

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Buyers NEED some reason, some incentive...to slow down before buying.  Removing ALL of the consequences has created buyers that don't pay attention. 

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I haven't encountered that at all. Out of nearly 1700 sales, I've had exactly two returns. One was a buyer's remorse return where the buyer admitted they'd just changed their mind and paid to ship it back on their own dime. The other was an item that was genuinely defective.

I was hesitant when I changed my own listings to 30-day returns at first because I was worried that buyers were going to use that as an excuse to return anything for any reason, but that didn't happen.

[vintagecraze50]

22 dollar “service fee”, That’s where they will abandon the cart.  It’s not something any other site has ever done. 

[robbie31415]

Buyers very upset over this change on Mercari. Buyers don't like to see added fees. They don't even like to see shipping charges. Tax at least they have created an acceptance to.

I think Mercari made a mistake with this change.

While Facebook is doubling fee to sellers.

[mr_lincoln]

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@robbie31415 wrote:

Buyers very upset over this change on Mercari. Buyers don't like to see added fees. They don't even like to see shipping charges. Tax at least they have created an acceptance to.

I think Mercari made a mistake with this change.

While Facebook is doubling fee to sellers.

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@robbie31415 

Only on shipped items over $ 8.00 if memory serves.  

[sapphire_studio]

I crosslist some items on mercari if I have a bunch of them to sell. I decided to promote some of my items this morning which lowers the price by a certain percentage and then temporarily pushes your item to the top of search. Mercari said that if you update your items today then they would be moved over to the new fee structure. So I knew the buyers would be paying the fees after I lowered the price. I just sold something that I promoted this morning and to my surprise I still paid the selling fees. I posted about it on Reddit and people are saying that those that have updated their prices on older listings in order to transition their listings to the new system are still having to pay selling fees. That's pretty ridiculous since people are lowering their price specifically because they were told by doing this they would not have to pay the fees.

[robbie31415]

I don't think so, pretty sure it's all.

The minimum fee of 40 cents also doubled to 80.

Of course non shipped have no fee.

[sapphire_studio]

In this person's post on Reddit apparently not only did they have to pay the fees as a seller but Mercari ALSO charged the buyer fees. Some sort of glitch that seems massively illegal.

 

[stainlessenginecovers]

This is NOTHING but a Site REACHING BEYOND xyz to try to GET sellers.

Smartest thing since NEW COKE.

With ALL the competition in the world, the LAST thing a BUYER wants to see, or EVER sees, is FEES added to their purchase. 

I'll take 'websites that didn't make it' for $200 Alex'............

[vintagecraze50]

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@chevymontecarlo88 wrote:

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@yuzuha wrote:

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@redlinear wrote:

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3 days is plenty.  You get the item, check it out,  Like it or Return it.

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It really isn't. What if you buy something for a birthday or Christmas gift but aren't going to actually give it for a week or two? Are you supposed to open up someone else's gift to make sure that it's working/isn't damaged?

It should be a choice in my opinion. If you want to make sure you are covered by a longer return, make sure you buy at a storefront that offers that or an online seller with longer returns. Personally i think returns should be up to the seller but with bank disputes and with buyers finding ways to exploit the system, it is difficult to enforce  3 day returns.  (Of course i am not talking about defective or misleading sales) It may help reduce some of the buyers remorse and free rentals that may occur within a 30 day return.

I am not a crypto currency guy at all and wonder if sales paid by Bitcoin would eliminate bank disputes? Can you dispute a payment via Bitcoin?

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3 days is absolutely not enough time to avoid a possible chargeback. All the chargeback research points to having a very generous timeframe for returns. Mercari and Poshmark together were operating on the NO RETURNS principle for a long time and it makes me wonder just how many chargebacks they had to eat along the way with that practice. Allowing now three days is still not going to save them or the sellers from this. You always increase your risks of chargebacks with either no returns or a tight return window. 

[simply-the-best-for-you]

Interesting, was not aware.  I am only a buyer on Mercari & it is NOT only clothes.  I might do a bit more shopping around, but in general, when I want something, I want it & a few extra bucks are not going to deter me.  That said, the type of thing I buy on there is in very limited supply.   I might feel differently if I were buying envelopes or paper clips. 

[sapphire_studio]

I've read many times on the Mercari subreddit but if you ever do a chargeback on mercari they will permanently ban you from ever using the platform

[toomuchstuffagain35]

I've heard that too but don't know hopw true it is.

Of course it's their sandbox and their right to do so.

One of ebay's issues is the apparent ease with which banned buyers can simply create a new ID.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

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@sapphire_studio wrote:

I've read many times on the Mercari subreddit but if you ever do a chargeback on mercari they will permanently ban you from ever using the platform

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PayPal in its early days tried that, as well as tried to collect from the buyer who won a chargeback in other ways.

Visa and Mastercard advised them that if they wanted to continue to be able to accept the cards, they would have to cease those practices.

If Mercari is getting away with this, they are probably too low volume for the cards to notice.

Of course, second hand information on the internet is not always accurate.

[dare-2046]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

It's just like how most of us know logically that there is no difference between

- a $20 item with $5 shipping and

- a $25 item with free shipping

but in certain situations/categories that "free" word still holds a powerful sway over the mind of the consumer. 

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There is a difference when there was/again we'll have eBay Bucks because eBay

- paid Bucks on the $20 item only, but

- charged the seller FVF for the $5 shipping

so the $25 item with free shipping paid more Bucks.

[oldwestgold]

Most industry auction houses charge a buyer's fee and none to very little to the seller. I bid on many other auction forums and always pay a buyer's premium. 

I would also agree that the length of time allowed for a return must be shortened. 30 days is far too long. even 15 days is a long period for someone to make up their mind on returning an item or not. What I have been finding lately is that people will wait until the last day and then file a return. I believe people get an unexpected bill or forget that they had their credit card coming due then file a return stating "changed mind". On top of that, eBay always allows the buyer too much time to return the item. Buyers should have the same amount of time to return it as the seller had to ship it.