Returns have become epidemic- is this Ebays Plan?

[colonelmarlowe]

Had only gotten a handful of returns in 17 years, but have been averaging 3 a week since Ebay's new return policy.

Buyer reasons are generally, "just didn't like it", but file as SNAD!

And now Ebay is simply authorizing the return immediately.

Not one return has been an actual SNAD.

The only defence is to raise prices?

[grapplingmonkey]

Just do internet search on , average return rate for online sales there are a few diffrent 

[coolections]

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@grapplingmonkey wrote:

Just do internet search on , average return rate for online sales there are a few diffrent  

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@grapplingmonkey

NO, you are the one saying returns are 30% of all purchases. You should provide the link since you are giving everyone the impression it is true and all sellers should expect to have 30% of their items returned.

[annasunicorns]

I will say 30% seems high. It was 30% after christmas one year for me, but, I only sold 8 things that month and had zero returns the rest of that year, for me its less than 3%.
and I sell in high return categories. Maybe amazons return rate or the overall markets after christmas return rate is 30%?

[goldrushfinds]

Coolections -

Said the person once again showing zero active listings (I realize you may have other stores, but that is the case with the one you show here).

[coolections]

@goldrushfinds

It doesn't matter what you see and that has NOTHING to do with me wanting a link showing proof that sellers have 30% return rates. Since you are so keen in wanting to know my experience, my return rate is approximately 0.01 % in the last 10 years or so. You happen to be in the most saturated underperformng category there is. You also happen to be in the category with the highest return rate. (sorry for you). What is your return rate ? Do you get 30 returns for every 100 items of clothing you sale ?

[ted_200]

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@coolections wrote:

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@grapplingmonkey wrote:

Just do internet search on , average return rate for online sales there are a few diffrent  

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@grapplingmonkey

NO, you are the one saying returns are 30% of all purchases. You should provide the link since you are giving everyone the impression it is true and all sellers should expect to have 30% of their items returned.

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There is no link that is going to have meaningful data for any single given seller.  Return rate is all over the map, it depends on a lot of things... what general category the item is in, what the specific item is, what sort of buyer demographic the item attracts, does the seller "over-sell" items (higher) or "under-sell" items (lower), what is the actual quality of the item, what is the sale price, what is the quality of the photos/description, how much effort and expense (or is it "Free") is required to return, does eBay show the buyer the same item at half the price after the sale, and so on...

If yours is really 0.01% (that's 1 in 10,000), that's astoundingly low.  Mine is about 0.03%.  But I'm on the "lower returns" end of every single one of those variables I mentioned.  Selling clothes is more perilous with color variations, fit issues, potential quality defects, buyers using you as a dressing room, single use / single occasion "renters"... and then you get in deeper with used clothing and condition.  If the return rate for anything is 30%, some re-evaluation is in order.  I can't imagine how anyone could get there, even on eBay!  Maybe selling used VHS tapes without testing them?  Selling returns that were returned for non-op? 

[mr_lincoln]

@hioctane62

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@hioctane62 wrote:

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

@oaklandmaryland

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@oaklandmaryland wrote:

Why?  I think it is very simple. With Ebay's NEW plan to increase seller fees to 14% once the seller has a certain percentage of returns it's easy to see it as a money grabbing plan Ebay is encouraging.

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That only makes sense if those same Sellers don't lose visibility on their items ... otherwise charging high FVFs on things that aren't visible and thus won't sell is counterproductive.  Do you recall in that memo if they said that with the high Fee visibility might be affected too?

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I feel VERY confident that once a seller is deemed "worthy" of paying the 14% fee, their listings will miraculously become more visible than they have been at any time in the last 5 years or so.

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That makes sense ...

[tunicaslot]

I wouldn't agree to that because as a buyer - I still look at feedback - those 14% will probably have feedback to show the problems. People love to complain when something is bad - but few want to spend the time to write about a good transaction in feedback.

No different than the boards - we see mostly complaints while millions of transactions go on daily and there aren't any problems. How often do positive threads start up here?

[tamaralea]

Here's your link and it's even worse for clothing sellers, at 40%;

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/16/a-260-billion-ticking-time-bomb-the-costly-business-of-retail-return...

[coolections]

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@ted_200 wrote:

There is no link that is going to have meaningful data for any single given seller.  Return rate  the seller "over-sell" items (higher) or "under-sell" items (lower), what is the actual quality of the item, what is the sale price, what is the quality of the photos/description, how much effort and expense (or is it "Free") is required to return,

 If yours is really 0.01% (that's 1 in 10,000), that's astoundingly low.  

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@ted_200

That's 1/100 not 1/10,000. Also my returns have been around 1/400   0.04. I took out all the other non factors other than for clothes sellers. The returns are normally from what I highlighted in what you wrote. That's the main problem with  those with high returns, they do not want to hear that stuff. Easier to blame Ebay.

[coolections]

@tamaralea

8% of ALL purchases. Also that is for STORES and weather you agree or not, there is a big difference.

[tamaralea]

Taken from the second or third paragraph:

"The surge in digital shopping is only compounding the pain, as record online sales means record online returns. It's not uncommon to see return rates of 30 percent or more for merchandise that's bought online. Clothing returns can be closer to 40 percent."

[grapplingmonkey]

https://www.business2community.com/infographics/e-commerce-product-return-statistics-trends-infograp...

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@coolections wrote:

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@grapplingmonkey wrote:

Just do internet search on , average return rate for online sales there are a few diffrent  

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@grapplingmonkey

NO, you are the one saying returns are 30% of all purchases. You should provide the link since you are giving everyone the impression it is true and all sellers should expect to have 30% of their items returned.

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[grapplingmonkey]

Not saying you should expect 30% return rate , in my experince on ebay its 1.7 % , and probaly close to same in my thrift store and other venues I use.  

[jason_incognito]

I'm looking for drapes. Already bought and returned 2 sets of 6 panels.

The first was $60 a panel and I was fine with that. What I got was 6 panels that together might be worth $60. I returned them. The fabric was very lightweight and see thru. 

The second set was so poorly made. The length on them was all over the place and one was 2" shorter than the next. They all went back.

It just seems that too many sellers are trying to make money, and don't realize that buyers aren't stupid. They don't understand the market they're selling in and then get upset when a buyer expects 6 of the same item should be 6 all the same....

Sellers that sell used dvds, and when they don't play, basically say "what did you expect? It's used"