eBay

*coins · ‎03-26-2018

I just got an email on all of my selling ids telling me that I have high returns..wth is this about!? One id has only had 2 returns, and both were closed by eBay because of no activity. It says in all of the emails I got that I had 4 returns, which is not true.

Did anybody else get this email? Did it say your returns are more than average too? This is silly!

eBay is encouraging everyone to accept 60 day returns and free returns, then they are telling people they need to cut down on them!?

I'm confused and annoyed by this...

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raquel_bayarea · ‎03-28-2018

@tunicaslot wrote:

Ep - average ecommerce return rate on clothes is 30% - many of us maintain a 3% or less in this category. Many of these returns are due to buyers claiming SNAD rather than the correct reason where they have to pay return shipping. My one SNAD - which I won on Ebay - proving it was buyers remorse - is still categorized under SNAD.

These emails are ridiculous as I know many Big Box have 10 times the rate of return than many here. Is their visibility affected?

Hi @tunicaslot,

The return rate you see is based on the benchmark described above and specified in the email. It only reflects “item not as described” returns. Your return rate you see in your Seller Dashboard is your overall return rate for your transactions.

lovtaco0 · ‎03-28-2018

@raquel_bayareawrote:
Low rates of after-sale requests can help improve your listing’s visibility.

Does that mean you're referring only to multi-quantity and multi-variation listings?

jpcustomsonline · ‎03-28-2018

@raquel_bayareawrote:
@jpcustomsonlinewrote:
Funny, I've asked this of at least 6 reps, and they all claimed that my return rate will have no affect on my visibility. I'm so sick of ebay reps and their lies. Does upper managment tell them to do this? Or are they just ignorant? I don't know which scenerio is worse.
Hi @jpcustomsonline , @tealt , @auctionpop , @Anonymous , @tunicaslot thanks for your questions about how this impacts your visibility. Low rates of after-sale requests can help improve your listing’s visibility. If you receive an “item not as described” claim, your seller performance standard may be affected if you don’t resolve the buyer request in a timely manner.

@raquel_bayareaso what you're saying is, that all those reps lied to me, when they said returns have ZERO impact on my listing visibility.... I have a high rate of returns. 9% actually. I'm in a very technical industry. Buyers don't read. They don't ask questions. I have to fight tooth and nail to prove to buyers and ebay that their SNAD case is in fact a remorse case, which I always prove. And you guys are now going to punish us for that.... How is returns MY fault??? BUYERS REMORSE is as much a sellers fault, as the post office taking a long time. Which is ZERO fault.

auctionpop · ‎03-28-2018

So it looks like Ebay is going to limit search exposure for the majority of it's sellers. Isn't this going to hurt ebay's bottom line? With buyers not being able to find items they might want to buy? Why even let sellers list items on ebay if they can't be found and purchased. What's the point? Listing fees? Sounds like they are shooting themselves in the foot.

Imagine Walmart has a 2% return rate on lets say a toaster oven. Do they cover the store shelf with a sheet so that buyers can't find that item? If Ebay ran Walmart the store would have lots of hidden inventory and declining sales just like ebay.

tunicaslot · ‎03-28-2018

@raquel_bayareawrote:
@tunicaslotwrote:
Ep - average ecommerce return rate on clothes is 30% - many of us maintain a 3% or less in this category. Many of these returns are due to buyers claiming SNAD rather than the correct reason where they have to pay return shipping. My one SNAD - which I won on Ebay - proving it was buyers remorse - is still categorized under SNAD.

These emails are ridiculous as I know many Big Box have 10 times the rate of return than many here. Is their visibility affected?
Hi @tunicaslot,

The return rate you see is based on the benchmark described above and specified in the email. It only reflects “item not as described” returns. Your return rate you see in your Seller Dashboard is your overall return rate for your transactions.

I understand about the benchmark and what it reflects. My concern and the concern of many others is that the benchmark for returns to National chains in the clothing category is approx - 25 to 30% so the miniscule 1.08% I received can't even compare. I don't know where Ebay came up with these benchmarks. The other concern is many of these SNAD claims were false - but sellers like myself didn't even bother to fight them because we've often been told by CS that we can't see what you sent and what the buyer sent back - I get that - but now we are being assessed on false returns that we can do nothing about. And please address why an SNAD return that I did fight and win - was also also used to calculate this SNAD rate - I won the case - the CS ruled in my favor as I had proof in emails that the return was due to remorse - not due to a problem on my end.

I'm usually an Ebay cheerleader but Ebay has upset many sellers here including some of your better ranking sellers who also do classes at Ebay open and they have already started to move sales elsewhere. All you have to do is go to youtube to see the videos they've posted about their dissatisfaction with these return rates and the threat to our visibility.

jordiegreenberg · ‎03-28-2018

@barry810860 wrote:

I had this message yesterday, 2 returns in the last year, one was damaged in transit and the other one was my fault. Both were refunded right away. I hardly would call that a bad practice, i was at 1.2 %.

@barry810860, @*eponymous*

Thank you for your feedback. The email was meant to inform sellers of the types of “items not as described” returns they have received. It’s meant to help sellers better understand their returns history and manage various reasons for “item not as described returns.”

raquel_bayarea · ‎03-28-2018

@jpcustomsonline wrote:

@raquel_bayareawrote:

@jpcustomsonlinewrote:

Funny, I've asked this of at least 6 reps, and they all claimed that my return rate will have no affect on my visibility. I'm so sick of ebay reps and their lies. Does upper managment tell them to do this? Or are they just ignorant? I don't know which scenerio is worse.

Hi @jpcustomsonline , @tealt , @auctionpop , @Anonymous , @tunicaslot thanks for your questions about how this impacts your visibility. Low rates of after-sale requests can help improve your listing’s visibility. If you receive an “item not as described” claim, your seller performance standard may be affected if you don’t resolve the buyer request in a timely manner.

@raquel_bayareaso what you're saying is, that all those reps lied to me, when they said returns have ZERO impact on my listing visibility.... I have a high rate of returns. 9% actually. I'm in a very technical industry. Buyers don't read. They don't ask questions. I have to fight tooth and nail to prove to buyers and ebay that their SNAD case is in fact a remorse case, which I always prove. And you guys are now going to punish us for that.... How is returns MY fault??? BUYERS REMORSE is as much a sellers fault, as the post office taking a long time. Which is ZERO fault.

Hi @jpcustomsonline ,

Thanks for the feedback. In response to your questions:

1. Buyer remorse does not count.

2. If your industry has a high rate of return and you are at that industry average for returns, this will be reflected in the peer average you received in the email.

3. The email was meant to inform sellers of the types of “items not as described” returns they have received. This is information only.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎03-28-2018

@raquel_bayarea I would suggest addressing the impact on search visibility that is mentioned in the emails. I think that is what is fueling much of the angst here. For sellers (like me) of non-multi-quantity listings, the info you are providing is of little real use. I can see where it might be useful for multi-quantity item sellers, but it is of little use for us.

But really, what people are worried about is that they are going to be demoted in search. If this were purely informational, people would be less concerned, but the email indicates a search demotion. Can you address the actual impact on search?

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎03-28-2018

@raquel_bayarea ,
also, you say Buyer remorse does not count. Right. We all get that if the buyer makes a buyers remorse claim i doesn't count. The problem is , as we all know,some buyers file INAD claims to avoid paying return shipping. These are ACTUALLY buyers remorse claims DISGUISED as INAD claims. But, even when the seller goes to the trouble of fighting and winning, proving to ebay's satisfaction that the claim was buyers remorse and NOT a valid INAD claim, you are only looking at the initial claim, not the result. How is that fair to the seller?

sin-n-dex · ‎03-28-2018

@raquel_bayareawrote:
@jpcustomsonlinewrote:
Funny, I've asked this of at least 6 reps, and they all claimed that my return rate will have no affect on my visibility. I'm so sick of ebay reps and their lies. Does upper managment tell them to do this? Or are they just ignorant? I don't know which scenerio is worse.
Hi @jpcustomsonline , @tealt , @auctionpop , @Anonymous , @tunicaslot thanks for your questions about how this impacts your visibility. Low rates of after-sale requests can help improve your listing’s visibility. If you receive an “item not as described” claim, your seller performance standard may be affected if you don’t resolve the buyer request in a timely manner.

Please define "after sale request". Are you speaking in terms of a return request? Or any type of communication post sale?

For instance, when I sell something and my buyer sends me an inmail message that says "thank you so much for fast shipping", is that going to be considered an "after sale request"?

When you discuss visibility, are you meaning the listing in question with the request (if multiples are available?) or are all of the seller's listings affected?

In the case of 500+ of my listings where the item is unique on eBay, are you telling me an after sale request means someone can't find the one and only item offered on eBay if they search for it appropriately? Or are you meaning when there are 100's a seller with a high return rate will be placed further in the list which will increase the chance of the buyer finding one they like pages sooner?

More information is needed please.

Thank you, C.

sin-n-dex · ‎03-28-2018

@jordiegreenbergwrote:
Thank you for your feedback. The email was meant to inform sellers of the types of “items not as described” returns they have received. It’s meant to help sellers better understand their returns history and manage various reasons for “item not as described returns.”

I thought that's why there's a dashboard for sellers to refer to? Isn't sending an email a little redundant? And isn't it the seller's responsibility to keep aprised of the activity on their dashboard?

Cheers, C.

raquel_bayarea · ‎03-28-2018

Hi

@sin-n-dex wrote:

@jordiegreenbergwrote:

Thank you for your feedback. The email was meant to inform sellers of the types of “items not as described” returns they have received. It’s meant to help sellers better understand their returns history and manage various reasons for “item not as described returns.”

I thought that's why there's a dashboard for sellers to refer to? Isn't sending an email a little redundant? And isn't it the seller's responsibility to keep aprised of the activity on their dashboard?

Cheers, C.

Hi @sin-n-dex ,

If you are referring to to the Seller Dashboard for the performance standards, it does share your rate of Cases Closed without Seller Resolution and also your total returns. This email is specific to sharing your return rate within a category and similar priced items. Absolutely we encourage all sellers to monitor all activity in the dashboard and follow the tips here: https://pages.ebay.com/returns/tips.html

raquel_bayarea · ‎03-28-2018

@sin-n-dex wrote:

@raquel_bayareawrote:

@jpcustomsonlinewrote:

Funny, I've asked this of at least 6 reps, and they all claimed that my return rate will have no affect on my visibility. I'm so sick of ebay reps and their lies. Does upper managment tell them to do this? Or are they just ignorant? I don't know which scenerio is worse.

Hi @jpcustomsonline , @tealt , @auctionpop , @Anonymous , @tunicaslot thanks for your questions about how this impacts your visibility. Low rates of after-sale requests can help improve your listing’s visibility. If you receive an “item not as described” claim, your seller performance standard may be affected if you don’t resolve the buyer request in a timely manner.

Please define "after sale request". Are you speaking in terms of a return request? Or any type of communication post sale?

For instance, when I sell something and my buyer sends me an inmail message that says "thank you so much for fast shipping", is that going to be considered an "after sale request"?

When you discuss visibility, are you meaning the listing in question with the request (if multiples are available?) or are all of the seller's listings affected?

In the case of 500+ of my listings where the item is unique on eBay, are you telling me an after sale request means someone can't find the one and only item offered on eBay if they search for it appropriately? Or are you meaning when there are 100's a seller with a high return rate will be placed further in the list which will increase the chance of the buyer finding one they like pages sooner?

More information is needed please.

Thank you, C.

@sin-n-dex

After sale request is referring to return requests from the buyer for item not as described only. Your example is great business practice and is not part of the after sale requests.

On search visibility, we are referring to that specific item with item not as described requests. Your item is still searchable.

star.fighter · ‎03-28-2018

Hi Raquel - my husband once had a buyer literally cut up the soles of perfectly good boots--thinking she could claim they were damaged in transit (like that? how?) and be able to get reimbursed for the boots and shipping AND keep the boots (said she would get them resoled later). Once she realized she was going to have to give up the boots, she decided not to file a shipping claim and wanted to keep them, but then get partially reimbursed to cover putting new soles on the boots (that she destroyed). So, i know those kind of people are out there, and my husband was a low-volume seller, so for him to run into one tells me it's not that rare in certain categories.

At the time, there was no defect for SNAD, but based on what people have been posting, i am sure he would have gotten one from her if there had been. The problem i see is that the sellers, here, are not as worried about their search status as they are worried that their search status will be affected for stats/claims that are NOT TRUE. They accept the rules, but feel that ebay is not playing fair and stacking the deck against them. Yes, some sellers may not own up to their faults...but most of the seller complaints you are seeing here are legitimately focused on the fact that buyers are claiming SNAD when that really is not true (it's buyer's remorse/buyer's own mistakes).

Yes, this report only applies to SNADs -- but what the sellers are saying is that they are penalized for a SNAD, when there really was none. It's insult on injury.

I am mostly a buyer, but i do see exactly what they are saying. They take pride in their work and in making their customers happy. It's bad enough they have to deal with a troll-customer once in a while...but then to be penalized for it really hurts.

Do you understand the issue?

Thank you for joining the conversation!

tunicaslot · ‎03-29-2018

@sin-n-dex
After sale request is referring to return requests from the buyer for item not as described only. Your example is great business practice and is not part of the after sale requests.

On search visibility, we are referring to that specific item with item not as described requests. Your item is still searchable.

Rachel - I'm sorry for being so dense - but things really have to be spelled out to me sometimes. From what you are saying or how I interpret it - only that specific item may lose some visibility in search ranking if the req was for SNAD. That would mean that only sellers with variations listings may see reduced visibility on the one listing if there are too many SNADs for that particular listing.

Am I right or not? The gist the sellers are getting is if they primarily sell clothing - that all their clothing items may drop in search rank. We know you can still search for them but how they rank in search is lower.

Also in these results - you included an SNAD return that was not in the clothing $10-$20 - it was in Toys and Hobbies - so that alone should lower my SNAD score for clothes. As stated previously - this SNAD was closed in my favor and should never been included in this to begin with.