Buyers should be required to wait at least 10 business days to file for money back

[john_wade]

It looks like eBay allows them to file for money back from the seller after only 5 full business days. That's ridiculous. One time I sold a book that took over two months to finally arrive after being shipped all over the U.S.

Some of my items are so light and so inexpensive that I can't afford to pay $3 to $5 to ship with a tracking number with free shipping. So many of them get their merchandise when it finally arrives plus eBay takes money out of may account and gives it to them after they waited 5 full business days which is nothing when it comes to the slowness of the post office. I offer free shipping on everything. 

[heckofagame]

If you are shipping without tracking, you are setting yourself up for buyers filing "item not received". There are many buyers that will see the opportunity to get free stuff and will exploit that opportunity. And once they open that complaint, you have no recourse but to refund. 

[kensgiftshop]

@john_wade 

The buyer can open a case one day after the estimated delivery date.

[downunder-61]

You really need tracking to fix this issue as stated above, that way if you voluntarily refund the buyer before an INR is escalated to eBay and the item is delivered within 30 days of the case being closed, you are eligible for reimbursement from eBay on appeal.

More details on how eBay is currently handling INR’s, including extensive details and documentation, can be found here

[lonebuck-books]

and the minute they change it to 10 days, someone will be here wanting it changed to 15 days, then 30 days.  

5 days after the latest shipping date is a fair timeframe for a buyer to file an INR case.  Buyers get pretty concerned (and rightfully so) that they aren't going to get what they paid for if it is more than 5 days late AND you don't have tracking for them to appease their concerns.  If you don't use tracking, you are just asking for this kind of thing as you have absolutely no proof that you even sent the item in eBay's eyes or in the buyers eyes for that matter.  

[fern*wood]

It’s all in the numbers. Since you know how it works as far as refunds go, if this is hurting the bottom line more than shipping without tracking helps, I would switch up how I do things.  That’s a far easier solution than hoping for eBay to change.

[frommichel]

Well, your message seems to cover 2 main topics, buyer time-frame to request a refund and shipping costs. Shipping costs are what they are and we sellers must account for them in our prices, whether we include tracking or not. I sell and buy here on EB. I have never seen EB demand that I or my customers wait any number of days post-receipt b/f being able to request a refund. As far as I know, the clock does not start ticking until the buyer receives the item. When I am the buyer, on those rare occasions in which I buy an item that requires a return, I feel that I should not have to wait at all to request a return. In case you are talking about the maximum number of days a buyer has to request a return, I think this is a setting you can change in your store policies.

[albertabrightalberta]

@john_wade 

Wow! As someone with nearly 12K feedbacks as a seller, I'm surprised this is the first time you're running across a buyer who takes advantage of you. 

Raise your prices enough to ship with tracking, charge for shipping with tracking (or add $5 to your BIN prices) and you won't have this problem. 

[southern*sweet*tea]

You're a paper seller like I am.

I charge $3.95 to ship a piece of paper.  For that $3.95 that piece of paper gets sandwiched between heavy cardboard, overwrapped in plastic and sent with tracking.  The people that buy from me know that and understand that. They know that shipping isn't cheap and it certainly isn't free. 

I may not sell as much as you, but the money I make I keep.

[katzrul15]

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@john_wade wrote:

It looks like eBay allows them to file for money back from the seller after only 5 full business days. That's ridiculous. One time I sold a book that took over two months to finally arrive after being shipped all over the U.S.

Some of my items are so light and so inexpensive that I can't afford to pay $3 to $5 to ship with a tracking number with free shipping. So many of them get their merchandise when it finally arrives plus eBay takes money out of may account and gives it to them after they waited 5 full business days which is nothing when it comes to the slowness of the post office. I offer free shipping on everything. 

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Then build "in" the actual "shipping" cost to your Free shipping and ship with Tracking.

Free shipping should not be "free" to the Buyer......