Ebay new policies are a poorly disguised attempt at forcing higher fees on sellers

[carpe_diem_jedi]

So nowadays eBay forces seller to have more than generous free return policies.

In turn buyers, know they can return anything anytime for any reason and will abuse the protection program and return items after 29 days because they know they can return it for free and get a full refund. In other words you have buyers who simply use eBay as a 30-day free rental service.

Since eBay has implemented their new policy where you have to offer free 30-day returns on your listings to remain a top rated plus seller, my return rate has more than doubled.

In turns eBay now threatens sellers with higher selling fees if your return rate is above a certain threshold.

And voila!

By forcing seller to offer free returns for 30-days eBay has intrinsically doubled the number of returns. By increasing the number of returns, they not only made it harder for seller to turn on profit on the sales themselves but they also artificially increased the fees on these same sellers due to no fault of their own.

eBay has self engineered a crisis for their sellers.

There is nothing ethical about this company, their only goal is to generate maximum revenues for themselves regardless of what happens to the sellers.

I think my days selling on eBay are counted. It has become more trouble than it is worth.

[tunicaslot]

You have the option to offer free returns and want to for the 10% discount and TRS Plus  designation. A good per centage of buyers buy due to the low price and not because you are a TRS plus. Being many of your items are unbranded - I'm assuming they are made by the Chinese and there are often problems with these items as many times the quality is not there. The 10% gets you very little off your final value fees and you'd probably be better off dropping the TRS + and have buyer pay returns. 

[nickelsanddimes2015]

I tried the free returns too and wow was I suprised at how many returns I got. I average maybe 1-2 a month but for the 2 months I did free returns I had 14 one month and 16 the next. So all the listings got turned back to buyer pays. Sales have been going up and down but I am down 50% and I'm not the only one. Ebay is going to a fee based company. 

[carpe_diem_sooner]

Top Rated Plus status helps your listings display very high in the ebay search engine. If you are not in the first page then you won't sell much.
Your sales will literally explode when you get TRP status. I agree the 10% is not much of an incentive but the increased sales definitely are an enormous incentive.

In addition, the buyer pays return only forces the buyer to pay for the return if they have a change of heart. If the buyer claim that the item is defective or not as describe, wether it is a false claim or not, the SELLER THEN HAS TO PAY for the return shipping.

My items are made in China but the quality is actually very good, the factory tests them and so do I. The failure rate is less than 0.5%. More than adequate.

[carpe_diem_sooner]

Yes, the number of returns is much higher since eBay decided we had to offer 30-day free returns.

However, if you don't offer the free return then you won't qualify for Top Rated and your listings will be virtually invisible and you won't make that many sales.

I'm also finding out that many people open return but fail to return the items in time or often don't return at all.

The buyers who open returns have 5 days to return. If they haven't returned by the due date, you can call eBay have the returns close in your favor. Not only will you not have to refund the buyer but you won't have to pay for the shipping label. Also if eBay closes the return in your favor, the buyer will not be able to leave you a negative feedback.

So basically you need to figure out what percentage of your buyers will actually return something and how much that will cost you. Then increase your prices slightly to make up the difference. In my case, a $0.20 increase is enough to offset the difference.

The problem is that when people open a return, wether it's justified or not, wether they lie or not, wether they return or now, wether ebay closes the case in your favor or now, it will always be counted as a return and a "not as describe or defective" defect in your account. In turns eBay will increase your FVF on your listing if you have too high a defect rate.

[castlemagicmemories]

You can choose no returns as your option.  You just lose the TRS. 

[carpe_diem_sooner]

You will still have to pay when buyers claim the item is not as described or defective.

No return only applies if it is buyer's remorse.

Off course buyers never admit it is buyer's remorse, they always claim it's defective and you are stuck having to pay for the return shipping.

[juststuffisell]

It's the proverbial catch 22. No visibility and a 50% drop In sales forcing you to use promoted listings for visibility...costing you more money...or more visibility, more returns on your dime and potentially higher fees to sell as a TRS eventually costing you more money on your sales.

Yes. it has become quite clear to more and more sellers that you are being set up to pay eBay more money one way or the other. Those that haven't figured it out yet, will figure it out when they are hit with this year.


Bloody crazy.


Cheers

[mam98031]

---

@castlemagicmemories wrote:

You can choose no returns as your option.  You just lose the TRS. 

---

No you don't!

[mam98031]

So nowadays eBay forces seller to have more than generous free return policies.

No they don't.  Sellers have a choice.  I don't offer Free Returns and I know plenty of sellers that also don't offer Free returns.  It is a choice for each seller to make.  It is fine for some and not so much for others.

In turn buyers, know they can return anything anytime for any reason and will abuse the protection program and return items after 29 days because they know they can return it for free and get a full refund. In other words you have buyers who simply use eBay as a 30-day free rental service.

This is certainly a concern that many of us have even without having Free Returns as our stated return policy.

Since eBay has implemented their new policy where you have to offer free 30-day returns on your listings to remain a top rated plus seller, my return rate has more than doubled.

Then if it is costing you too much money, why are you insisting on keeping Free returns as your policy?  This would be why some sellers don't offer it.  The savings you get with the 10% FVF discount on FVFs just isn't enough to offset the increase in returns.  It is important to remember that the TRS discount isn't what it use to be and you are only saving about $10 bucks per $1000 worth of gross product sales.

That may or may not be worth it to keep the FVF discount.  That is for each seller to decide for themselves.  

In turns eBay now threatens sellers with higher selling fees if your return rate is above a certain threshold.

OMG the darn Service Metrics.  I hate everything about that policy.

By forcing seller to offer free returns for 30-days eBay has intrinsically doubled the number of returns. By increasing the number of returns, they not only made it harder for seller to turn on profit on the sales themselves but they also artificially increased the fees on these same sellers due to no fault of their own.

They aren't "forcing" you.  You have chosen to do Free Returns because you see benefit in the TRS+ status on your listing that ONLY gains you a 10% discount on your FVFs for domestic sales only.    The question you should be asking is that discount big enough to make it worth it?

Now I don't know if this is true for you, but some sellers don't realize that if you decide you want to do a different return policy you can and you can still be a TRS seller.  You would lose TRS+, but the ONLY benefit for that ribbon is the discount.  All other TRS benefits are because you are a TRS seller.  You can drop every single listing you have to be a listing without the TRS+ badge and STILL be a TRS seller.  

As many other sellers have found, offering free returns is not worth it to retain that little discount.

[mam98031]

You get NO search boost for having a TRS + badge on your listing.  The ONLY benefit the TRS+ badge offers a seller is the 10% FVF discount for domestic sales.

ALL other TRS benefits are because you are a TRS seller.  You could have zero listings qualify for TRS+ and still be a TRS sseller.

True about offering a return policy w/ buyer pays shipping, but sometimes buyers don't realize that when they see the return policy.  I think it gives some enough hesitation that it reduces the amoung to returns we get.  Free Returns on the other hand, a buyer knows no matter what, they can return the item and the seller will foot the bill.  I really believe that cause for pause does us a bit of good.

[mam98031]

Top Rated Seller requirements

To become a Top Rated Seller your eBay account must have been active for at least 90 days. You must also meet sales and tracking requirements and performance standards.

Sales requirements:

• You have at least 100 transactions with US buyers over the most recent 12-month period.

• You have at least $1,000 in sales with US buyers over the most recent 12-month period.

Tracking requirements:

You've uploaded valid shipment tracking to My eBay within your promised handling time for at least 90% of transactions with US buyers in the last 3 months.

• 1 business day handling time: If a buyer pays on Tuesday, you need to upload tracking by 11:59:59 pm Pacific Time on Wednesday.

• Same business day handling time: If you offer same business day handling, you also have 1 business day to upload valid tracking information. For example, if a buyer pays on Tuesday at 10:00 am Pacific Time, you need to upload tracking by 11:59:59 pm Pacific Time on Wednesday. The tracking number must have at least one carrier scan recorded within your promised handling time.

• Handling time is measured in business days. Weekends and holidaysaren't counted. For example, if you specify 1-day handling time and a buyer pays on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, you need to upload tracking by 11:59:59 pm Pacific Time on Monday.

• If a buyer purchases items from multiple listings, each listing (or transaction) must have a tracking number, even if all the items have been combined into a single order for shipping.

Exceptions: You're not required to upload tracking for:

• Unpaid items

• Canceled transactions

• Listings where the buyer selects freight or local pick-up

• Classified Ads

Learn more about uploading shipment tracking.

Transaction defect rate:

The defect rate is the percentage of a seller's transactions that have any of the following transaction-related defects :

• eBay Money Back Guarantee and PayPal Purchase Protection cases closed without seller resolution

• Seller-initiated transaction cancellation

To meet eBay's minimum standard, sellers can only have up to 2% of transactions with one or more transaction over the most recent evaluation period. To qualify as a Top Rated Seller, sellers can only have a maximum 0.5% of transactions with one or more defects over the most recent evaluation period. Only transactions with US buyers count toward your seller performance on eBay.com.

The defect rate won't affect your status until you have transactions with defects with at least 5 different buyers, at least 4 different buyers to impact Top Rated status, within your evaluation period.

Sellers can have a maximum of 0.3% of eBay Money Back Guarantee or PayPal Purchase Protection closed cases without seller resolution over the most recent evaluation period. That means the buyer opened the case, you weren't able to resolve it, the buyer reached out to eBay or PayPal to review it, and eBay found you responsible.

Sellers with 400 or more transactions over the past 3 months are evaluated based on the past 3 months and sellers with fewer than 400 transactions are evaluated based on the past 12 months.

Learn more about fair performance evaluation.

You meet the following eBay Money Back Guarantee and PayPal Purchase Protection case requirements:

Case requirements

  Percentage of cases

Cases closed without seller resolution

0.30%

Learn more about fair performance evaluation.

Late shipment rate

In order to be a Top Rated Seller you must have less than 3% of transactions with late shipping.

The late shipment rate is the percentage of your transactions that weren’t shipped on time. We’ll track how often your items were either shipped within the stated handling time or delivered after the estimated delivery date.

If the shipment receives a carrier scan within your handling time, it will count as being shipped on time. We won’t check whether the carrier delivered the shipment after the estimated delivery date.

If the shipment doesn’t receive a carrier scan within your handling time and the shipment was late according to the tracking details, it will count as a late shipment.

If the shipment doesn’t receive a carrier scan within your handling time and there's no tracking info available, we'll check with the buyer. If the buyer says the carrier delivered the shipment late, it will count as a late shipment.

[go-bad-chicken]

---

@carpe_diem_jedi wrote:

So nowadays eBay forces seller to have more than generous free return policies.

In turn buyers, know they can return anything anytime for any reason and will abuse the protection program and return items after 29 days because they know they can return it for free and get a full refund. In other words you have buyers who simply use eBay as a 30-day free rental service.

Since eBay has implemented their new policy where you have to offer free 30-day returns on your listings to remain a top rated plus seller, my return rate has more than doubled.

In turns eBay now threatens sellers with higher selling fees if your return rate is above a certain threshold.

And voila!

By forcing seller to offer free returns for 30-days eBay has intrinsically doubled the number of returns. By increasing the number of returns, they not only made it harder for seller to turn on profit on the sales themselves but they also artificially increased the fees on these same sellers due to no fault of their own.

eBay has self engineered a crisis for their sellers.

There is nothing ethical about this company, their only goal is to generate maximum revenues for themselves regardless of what happens to the sellers.

I think my days selling on eBay are counted. It has become more trouble than it is worth.

---

"eBay has self engineered a crisis for their sellers."

This is the best and most succinct statement that I have seen yet, which uses 10 words or less, to summarize eBay's latest Bernie Madoff like profit making scheme. 

100 Thumbs Up! 

[carpe_diem_sooner]

If you don't offer free returns then buyers will open a "item not as described" or "defective" case and you will have to pay for the return shipping anyways.

The free returns policy only applies if the buyer is having buyer's remorse, in which case your "free return" policy means that you agree to pay for the return shipping label.

If the buyer claims the item is defective, wether it's true or not, you are always stuck with having to pay for the return shipping label.

So wether you offer free returns or not, you basically always have to pay for the return shipping because buyer will always claim that the item is not as describe. The worst part is that now you are also stuck with a high rate of "item not as descibed".

It's not a catch 22, it a complete scam whereby eBay maximizes their profits while screwing over the sellers.

[18704d]

"By forcing seller to offer free returns for 30-days eBay has intrinsically doubled the number of returns."

---------

My listings offer a full 60 day, free returns,

and I haven't got a single return on them.

I guess it depends on what you sell,

and how happy the people are with the price they paid.

fwiw,

Lynn