L.L. Bean dropping its unlimited returns policy

[lloydsteventaylor]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/whats-hot/ll-bean-dropping-its-unlimited-returns-policy/ar-BBIV1...

[ted_200]

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wrote:

"Maybe it is a good way to go... buy ONLY on eBay and sell elsewhere."

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You mean .. sell elsewhere on sites that don't take Paypal.

Because even if eBay didn't offer the protections you desire...

Paypal would still allow the same 180 Not As Described protections..

Lynn

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That's technically true... but I can't ignore the reality that something has gone on here that results in the frequency of "issues" being much higher than on other venues I use where PayPal is part of the landscape. 

[godzilla_goose]

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wrote:

And when LL Bean makes these changes, which kind of customers will no longer buy at L.L Bean?  The ones who want to abuse their generous return policies.  The good honest buyers who know and like their high quality, well-made merchandise, who expect to return only under honest circumstances, who are not looking to cheat,  or get something for nothing... they will stay around and continue to buy from LL Bean.  The type of customers who will leave are those that LL Bean will lose money on and which LL Bean has to stick their good customers with prices increases to cover for the losses of the bad ones.  Overall good and honest buyers will benefit from LL Bean protecting itself from abusive buyers.

eBay has no skin in the game so it has no motivation to make any changes.  We, the sellers simply have to get out and go onto new enterprises.  I don't forsee eBay changing.   Good sellers are also good buyers.  Slowly the good buyers and sellers are leaving and eBay will become even worse of a disrespected, low-class, scamming, opportunistic, retailing platform.   MBA programs of the future will then study what went wrong with the eBay business model.

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va4vi,

For a very long time, ripped off eBay buyers (before 2007) thought the same.  After eBay made changes and more policy changes over the years, more and more eBay sellers thought the same.

Me?  I think eBay is what President Trump called some countries . . . .

[nawlinsron2]

Meanwhile...

https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ebay/insideractions

[slippinjimmy]

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wrote:
Meanwhile...

https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ebay/insideractions

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What's your point? Most people who get hired and are paid mostly with stock options want to cash in those options so they can buy food and shelter (and other fancy stuff).

Wenig just like JD before him generally sell their stock from compensation stock options the moment they get vested. Just the same as virtually every other company who operates stock option plans as part of the compensation package.

[godzilla_goose]

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wrote:
Meanwhile...

https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ebay/insideractions

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nawlinsron2,

To me, as a 35+ year stock market investor and NEVER once an eBay shareholder, all of that stuff in that page you provided a link to tells me how much certain eBay insiders are enriching themselves at the expense of the regular or ordinary or non-insider eBay shareholders.

[slippinjimmy]

Since you have experience then you must know that eBay has been very actively buying back shares which generally enrich ALL other shareholders big or small, insiders or regular investors.

In the past 10 years they have bought back about 30 million shares.

[godzilla_goose]

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wrote:

Since you have experience then you must know that eBay has been very actively buying back shares which generally enrich ALL other shareholders big or small, insiders or regular investors.

In the past 10 years they have bought back about 30 million shares.

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slippinjimmy,

It is certainly true that share buybacks benefit all shareholders. But, it is undeniable that executive compensation for many publicly traded companies are "obscene" to a lot of people, investors or regular folk.

From a financial perspective, to me, it ONLY makes real sense to do share buybacks IF and ONLY if the company can get its own stock as close to "book value" as it can. To me, companies buying back their stock at (high) multiples of BV is incredibly STUPID.

Think of it this way:

If you were a company and wanted to raise capital, do you want to raise it when your paper is "cheap" over "overvalued"?

If you wanted to do share buybacks (to "return money to shareholders"), do you want to do them when your stock is "overvalued" or "undervalued"?

To me, it's "financial engineering" to manipulate EPS (Earnings Per Share) and other related fundamental financial data.

I do own stock in companies that do share buybacks BUT, they also pay nice quarterly dividends too. eBay doesn't pay any cash dividends to shareholders and they have been public for 20 years.

[godzilla_goose]

slippinjimmy,

One other thing I failed to mention to you with respect to eBay share buybacks.

When the eBay insiders are exercising their vested stock options and selling their stock into the market for money, this raises the number of shares outstanding and reduces the corresponding number of stock options exercisable by the insiders. Increasing the number of shares outstanding depresses EPS.

To counter the dilutive effects of option exercises by insiders, the company does periodic share buybacks to "correct" the dilutive effects and thereby try and maintain EPS or increase it.

As I wrote earlier, it's "financial engineering".

[vintagecraze50]

If you are taking risks here or anywhere else selling, and if you anticipate loss due to theft anywhere then YES you raise prices on select items based on the loss , you also write off loss on your taxes.  If it gets to some point where you are loosing more than what you are making then you have to decide whether you want to sell here, or another website. If you are getting a lot of theft in a brick and mortar then maybe you need to change locations, invest in a security system etc. 

[godzilla_goose]

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wrote:

If you are taking risks here or anywhere else selling, and if you anticipate loss due to theft anywhere then YES you raise prices on select items based on the loss , you also write off loss on your taxes.  If it gets to some point where you are loosing more than what you are making then you have to decide whether you want to sell here, or another website. If you are getting a lot of theft in a brick and mortar then maybe you need to change locations, invest in a security system etc. 

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vintagecraze50,

All for-profit businesses have to do some "risk-management" AND make adjustments as they feel necessary.

Take insurance companies for instance. They sell insurance to policyholders and the insurance companies take in the policyholders' money and invest it for the insurance companies OWNERS and to pay out policyholders' (legitimate) claims.

When the insurance company has few payouts, the insurance company makes a good profit and can keep investing the premiums taken in. When the insurance company pays out a lot of (legitimate) claims due to a terrible disaster, the insurance company can suffer tremendous financial losses. Due to what results the insurance company realizes, say this year, it very likely will raise insurance premium rates for the upcoming year. Also, the insurance company may do it's own "fraud investigations" to fight bogus insurance claims.

So, as with a retail business like L.L. Bean, it has to make adjustments. IMO, eBay sellers have to as well. IMO, eBay sellers can't realistically expect eBay to do ANYTHING FOR the sellers since eBay, IMO, is ultimately accountable to its OWNERS, meaning its shareholders.

You, as an eBay seller, have to do whatever you can to look out for your OWN interests and I am being brutally honest here. I foresee A LOT of eBay sellers having to raise their prices across the board in order to try to maintain some level of profitability. Some sellers say that they will lose sales if they raise prices.   Well, what will happen if ALL eBay sellers (and ALL sellers selling online) are raising their prices? You are no more competitive or "uncompetitive" than anyone else in this scenario.

Let me present another scenario in that a business owner runs a brick-and-mortar business and has paid employees (at minimum wage). His competitor on the other side of the city has a similar business operation. The government mandates workers, in your state, are going to get a higher minimum wage, no exceptions whatsoever. Both of these brick-and-mortar businesses are facing higher employee wages expense. What is the business owner to do? What is the competitor to do?   Fight the government?  Cut an employees hours?  Or, raise prices?