Ridiculous increase in Return requests and Cancellations

[goldrushfinds]

Can't make any money anymore. Everytime I make a number of sales, I view my messages and surprise, "you have a cancellation request'. I have had way too many buyers cancel an order just hours after purchase. Me, trying to give good service, have already bought the label and packaged the item. All lost time, and now I have to wait for the label refund. On top of this, more return requests lately. Buyers seem very demanding and suffering from impulse buying, where they cancel shortly after purchase.  Anyone else experiencing this, or is it just a bad streak for me. 

[Anonymous]

That's better than changing their mind AFTER mailing the package.  Ugh.  I HATE throwing away money on postage, but I guess that is part of selling.

[chapeau-noir]

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@goldrushfinds wrote:

Can't make any money anymore. Everytime I make a number of sales, I view my messages and surprise, "you have a cancellation request'. I have had way too many buyers cancel an order just hours after purchase. Me, trying to give good service, have already bought the label and packaged the item. All lost time, and now I have to wait for the label refund. On top of this, more return requests lately. Buyers seem very demanding and suffering from impulse buying, where they cancel shortly after purchase.  Anyone else experiencing this, or is it just a bad streak for me. 

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I don't ship the same day of sales for exactly that reason, after getting bitten a few times.  I think the sudden rise in people shopping online and getting Amazon buyers over here has caused more cancellations. 

[oldold-timer]

Plus, eb keeps the 30 cent processing fee to add insult to injury.  I just raise the price 50 cents on the relisted items to make myself feel better.

[katzrul15]

Not having that issue, so sorry you are.  We have 2 today (just turned our store back on at midnight last night, so order had to land after midnight) pay for an order, we print the label and took parcels at noon and this afternoon, want to ADD to the order.  Um....it has shipped and tracking shows it has shipped with USPS already.

The one gal is really unhappy.  Except they all have free shipping, so the only one that should be unhappy should be us as we missed out on combined shipping.  *sigh*

Sorry about your nutty buyers.  Buyers being demanding does not seem to be a new thing, but lately, yes, there seems to be an uptick.

[chapeau-noir]

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@oldold-timer wrote:

Plus, eb keeps the 30 cent processing fee to add insult to injury.  I just raise the price 50 cents on the relisted items to make myself feel better.

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When Paypal began keeping their entire fee for cancellations, I took quite a whack.  I almost stopped selling electronics because that was my highest cancellation market.  Really frustrating.

[skinney15]

I have only had it happen once.  After sending the refund, blocked the buyer.

I suspect he found it cheaper somewhere else by a few pennies.

No love lost on my part.

[jonathankirkland]

Are the items all from the same category or various categories that you are getting so many cancellations/returns from? And what percentage of sales are being cancelled/returned?

Is it clothing? Because my understanding, although I have no direct knowledge of this, is that clothing is a very difficult market on ebay - super competitive, often thin profit margins and MANY returns due to people being careless about not reading the sizing correctly or inquiring about an item before buying it.

[reallynicestamps]

You have a fascinatingly eclectic product mix. Neat!

Is there any one type of product that gets cancellation requests? Is there something about that product that might make a difference?

I noticed on a Puma jacket that you had both size and measurements, but on the Eddy jacket the measurements were in the pictures, not the description and were not your own but the manufacturer's.  Could this be part of the problem?  (I don't trust manufacturer's measurements because so few of them have a 'zero-defects' policy with their suppliers.)

I agree that delaying purchasing labels might be a good idea.

If the percentage of cancellations is consistently high (which I would put at over 5%) perhaps a boilerplate message to customers before printing the label might help. "I have your address as 123 Any Street. Is there a unit number?"  for example. Or "Thank you for your order. It is packed and will be in the mail before noon tomorrow." 

[lamber9347]

Sounds like you are having a bad steak. I haven't had a return since end of 2019. As in gambling, streaks never last long so this will get better. Hang in there and concentrate on the good buyers. Best of luck to you....

[justafemster]

I'm getting some of those too.  I sell mostly new old-stock.  I state that it's discontinued and that it's new old-stock.  I mention shelf wear when applicable and outer package damage when appropriate.  

I get so many grateful people, who've been looking for 'their" product, then there's the ones that don't understand new old-stock, they are the problem, the whining, the complaining, the they overpaid.  

Yeah, I've been getting too many of those too!

[jonathankirkland]

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@lamber9347 wrote:

Sounds like you are having a bad steak. I haven't had a return since end of 2019. As in gambling, streaks never last long so this will get better. Hang in there and concentrate on the good buyers. Best of luck to you....

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I hate when I get a bad steak! You just have to send it back and wait again for a new steak to be prepared. So frustrating!

😆

[chapeau-noir]

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@jonathankirkland wrote:

Are the items all from the same category or various categories that you are getting so many cancellations/returns from? And what percentage of sales are being cancelled/returned?

Is it clothing? Because my understanding, although I have no direct knowledge of this, is that clothing is a very difficult market on ebay - super competitive, often thin profit margins and MANY returns due to people being careless about not reading the sizing correctly or inquiring about an item before buying it.

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FWIW, I have worse time with electronics than clothing.  Yeah, clothing is a tough market and supersaturated, but the old tech I sell can get even more frustrating.  I agree that the market one sells in has a bearing on this, though.