01-13-2020 05:16 PM - edited 01-13-2020 05:21 PM
Someone bought a 1/6 figure outfit from me then an hour later asked me to cancel, then a few minutes after that sent me a message telling me not to cancel. After that he started asking if I had other things I could add to the sale, and I said no. He said fine, go ahead and send it. I had a feeling it would be trouble but did my part as I was supposed to.
Buyer gets the figure and asks to return it, saying there is a stain on the outfit. I told him there was no stain before I shipped, as my listing photos show, and it was sealed in package too, so I asked for a photo. The next day he sent a pic with a tiny dot of lint or something on the unopened outer package. I told him my listings are marked "no returns" but if there is a reason to return it I will anyway. I asked him to please try wiping off the little speck of whatever on the wrapper before we go straight to a return. His response was "No, I'll just wait and have ebay get me my refund.
I told him there was no need to do that, and I accepted the return.
Later that same day I noticed he left me a negative feedback claiming I made up reasons not to take returns and harassed him, which is FAR from true. I hit the report button on that and explained that the feedback statement was not true and the item I sent was as described.
Buyer then waited until the very last possible day to send the item back, and when I got it back, as expected, there was nothing at all on the package or the dress. It was in perfect condition just as I sent it.
When I finished the return with the refund I had the option to report that I didn't agree with his reason for return and attached pics of the outfit I got back with no "stain" or anything else on it, then I called ebay and asked if there was anything else I could do about this abuse of returns. By telling me he'd just wait and have ebay refund him, he knew I had to do what he wanted whether it was right or not, because we all know ebay would just let him have his money back and keep the item. I had to pay his return shipping and got my first and only negative feedback just for trying to work out the problem with the guy then allowing the return despite it being based on an obvious lie. The ebay rep said I did what I should do and they will review it. If they find that he did use a false reason to return, I'd be refunded my return shipping and his account would possibly be banned.
Seriously though... They just tell you what they think you want to hear and nothing will come of this, right? Buyers can just lie and do whatever, forcing a return for no reason but buyers remorse, I wont get that return shipping cost back, and I am stuck with the negative feedback. Do I have that about right?
01-21-2020 03:39 PM - edited 01-21-2020 03:40 PM
Zappos prices are outrageous!!
Seems like people get caught up in "free" .
Of course there is a crazy wide selection.
We live close to the outlet.
Years back used to see people spend 1K & more for resale.
I used to buy so many shoes.
They have a new location. Seems all are returns & many seem really (really, ick sometimes) used.
I pointed out a pair with what looked like dog poo On the sole. I have had a dog & am pretty familiar with it. Sales people disagreed, but took them off the floor.
Ive been to new outlet several times.
Prices are 50% off MSRP.
Not that great a deal for used shoes.
Absolutely no returns..... even if you get 2 different sizes or two right shoes.
They make that "free shipping" back somehow.
If only we could.....
01-21-2020 03:48 PM
Yep, its true. About 30%. Lookup videos on YouTube. There is 1 posted from CNBC that goes through the nitty gritty of their returns. But then that is what happens when companies make it too ez to return. There should be a return fee because after all, even with defective merchandise (item not as described), brick and mortar customers have to drive the item back to the store
01-21-2020 03:54 PM
Yep. I have come to the conclusion that it makes no sense calling about anything. It is a complete and utter waste of time. Have tried to have defects removed that were obvious, too, just like yours. THIS is why eBay continues to lose customers. ALL the answers to these problems are all over these discussion boards. Implement the fixes.. now. But you have to remember the people in san jose have all the answers. ha! I am doing as little as possible with my listings anymore. Then add the presidential election slowdown into the mix and sales will virtually dry up through the end of NEXT year! So... looking at 2022 before any meaningful sales increases happen.
01-21-2020 03:55 PM
Not true. It is not 5%. It is closer to 30%. Check out the CNBC video on YouTube...
01-21-2020 03:57 PM
Sounds about right.. that is simply way too many returns! 25%?? When I watched the CNBC video on Amazon I was astounded. Then eBay has a fit when your returns are more than 3%. That is completely out of line with the industry numbers
01-21-2020 04:04 PM
They wouldn't. They'd shut you down overnight even with probably 1/2 of the returns being "fraudulent". Customers are running out of patience with the lack of real progress on this marketplace. They seem to think that changing the colors of the pages and new graphics are going to suffice for progress. The changes that are needed run way deeper than the superficial. And they are so obvious. Keep dragging your feet and it'll go the way of Sears. Bankrupt.
01-21-2020 11:31 PM
@chadl285 wrote:Geesh - I guess I should have checked the Discussions threads long time ago. When I call customer service, sometimes its like talking to the wall. There are no answers and no one to escalate the call to. A few of the biggest beefs I have are more common than I knew. Luckily, the category I sell in is fairly smooth, very few returns or claims. Although, I did have 1 claim in December for INAD. Fine, so I paid to have the buyer send it back because I figured that they were lying or just simply not aware how to repair their machine. So I get my item back but it was NOT the item that I sent. He sends me back his broken item. RRrrr. I file a dispute and post pictures but of course NO ONE looks at the pictures to compare with the posted pictures in the listing.. so then zip.. $ is withdrawn from my PayPal to the buyer and then I'm told to submit a police report to get my $ back. A police report for $35?? I refused. The police precinct would laugh me right out of their office!! How about getting a Notary Public to vouch? Nope. So.. out the $ AND defected my account as well. For nothing I did wrong!!!!!!
I tried explaining this to an eBay employee, once. Where I'm at, if there is not a significant loss, the Police don't care. If its over 200, but below something like $2K you can go online and file a report. They will catalog it and someone may or may not contact you. If you want a copy of the report, you have to pay $9 for it. They basically tell you something of that value is an insurance issue. Below $200 and you'll get laughed at.
01-21-2020 11:38 PM
@chadl285 wrote:It is really sad that eBay is losing so many buyers and sellers over issues that could be fixed quickly. Many if not most of the reasons people leave are losing $ and not being treated fairly. Its not too hard to do. Jordan better make some fast tracks if he wants to save this company.. Amazon is eating everyone's lunch. Why? Because they RESPOND to problems within days or weeks, NOT YEARS!!! They also are PROACTIVE and have a lot of FORWARD THINKING. These are traits every consumer company should have, but almost NONE of them have!
Time to get off the couch, read the discussion threads, and implement fixes to the gripes PRONTO.
Business at the Speed of Light... maybe eBay needs to read Bill Gate's book, over and over and over.
Its NOT Business at the Speed of Turtles. Changes are measured in days, NOT years!!!!!!!!
I agree with you, and I think eBay has a treasure trove of information about the problems and even suggestions about how to address those problems right here in these boards - something other companies only wish they had direct access to and even PAY to collect. Anyone can spend a couple months reading here and formulate a list of common problems with the platform that need to be addressed.
All they have to do is participate in and respond to the discussions that occur here.
01-21-2020 11:38 PM
01-21-2020 11:48 PM
@lindyslucky wrote:Really amazons returns 30%??
We buy regularly & have rarely retuned.
Of course, it's spices & toilet paper & coffee a lot!!
My son worked at target service desk & he used to say returns were about 10%, but, of course, customers had to bring the item to them!
At our B&M store, refunds were probably 1%.
Defective merch, improper tailoring (we offered it free) about the only reason.
If it was a very short time, we gave store credit.
We had the same customers(families) for decades.
Everyone seemed happy!
Completely different selling face to face vs online.
Online returns are very high, at least in certain categories. I'd have to go look to refresh my memory but I believe I found an article saying that fully 50% of clothing and shoes get returned online, even at top-tier retailers.
IMHO its too easy and generally costs the customer nothing. This has lead to behavior such as "I don't know what tie I really want, I guess I'll buy all 3 I'm interested in, try all of them on, and then return the 2 I don't like."... or ... "I want to make a youtube video about a gaming system I don't own. I'll buy one from eBay or Amazon, test it out and make the video, then return it."
Its gotten so bad in clothing, that I know at least one retailer was testing out sending the item the customer ordered, the size above, and the size below to every order along with a pre-labeled return packet for the items that did not fit. I haven't heard about them in a while, wonder how they're doing?
01-21-2020 11:50 PM
@lindyslucky wrote:Zappos prices are outrageous!!
Seems like people get caught up in "free" .
Of course there is a crazy wide selection.
We live close to the outlet.
Years back used to see people spend 1K & more for resale.
I used to buy so many shoes.
They have a new location. Seems all are returns & many seem really (really, ick sometimes) used.
I pointed out a pair with what looked like dog poo On the sole. I have had a dog & am pretty familiar with it. Sales people disagreed, but took them off the floor.
Ive been to new outlet several times.
Prices are 50% off MSRP.
Not that great a deal for used shoes.
Absolutely no returns..... even if you get 2 different sizes or two right shoes.
They make that "free shipping" back somehow.
If only we could.....
Amazon owns Zappos. I think they bought them to shut them down but for some reason, haven't really done it, yet.
01-22-2020 12:00 AM
@chadl285 wrote:Sounds about right.. that is simply way too many returns! 25%?? When I watched the CNBC video on Amazon I was astounded. Then eBay has a fit when your returns are more than 3%. That is completely out of line with the industry numbers
I've been saying that on here since they first concocted the whole scheme. eBay has a long track record of implementing "one size fits all" policies and there are such drastic variations in industry standards amongst the categories such policies will never work.
I've seen a few threads on here where people were talking about the seller performance stats and in pretty much all of the cases those threshold stats seemed shockingly low.
01-22-2020 12:00 AM
01-22-2020 12:02 AM
01-22-2020 04:06 AM
@chadl285 wrote:It is really sad that eBay is losing so many buyers and sellers over issues that could be fixed quickly. Many if not most of the reasons people leave are losing $ and not being treated fairly. Its not too hard to do. Jordan better make some fast tracks if he wants to save this company.. Amazon is eating everyone's lunch. Why? Because they RESPOND to problems within days or weeks, NOT YEARS!!! They also are PROACTIVE and have a lot of FORWARD THINKING. These are traits every consumer company should have, but almost NONE of them have!
Time to get off the couch, read the discussion threads, and implement fixes to the gripes PRONTO.
Business at the Speed of Light... maybe eBay needs to read Bill Gate's book, over and over and over.
Its NOT Business at the Speed of Turtles. Changes are measured in days, NOT years!!!!!!!!
At the Speed of Turtles is called 'job security'.