Stop Selling on eBay. Return Policy. Double Listing Fees.

[kyuzo42]

I've been selling items on eBay stochastically for 10 years now. Recent selling experience has caused me to pull all of my listings.

eBay's new Buying system encourages customers to return items. Instead of having buyers simply push the "Leave Feedback" button, eBay has made it super easy for customers to return items - without paying for the return shipping. The "Leave Feedback" button has changed to "Return Item." An obvious way eBay can help sellers is by making it a little harder for Buying Customers to go through the process of returning an item. Instead, returning an item is clear as day for Buying Customers and the first button available after a sale.

Additionally as many Sellers know, eBay takes a transaction sum immediately after the sale AND a final value sum after the end of the month. This is ridiculous.

[rixstuff]

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@kyuzo42 wrote:

I've been selling items on eBay stochastically for 10 years now. Recent selling experience has caused me to pull all of my listings.

eBay's new Buying system encourages customers to return items. Instead of having buyers simply push the "Leave Feedback" button, eBay has made it super easy for customers to return items - without paying for the return shipping. The "Leave Feedback" button has changed to "Return Item." An obvious way eBay can help sellers is by making it a little harder for Buying Customers to go through the process of returning an item. Instead, returning an item is clear as day for Buying Customers and the first button available after a sale.

Additionally as many Sellers know, eBay takes a transaction sum immediately after the sale AND a final value sum after the end of the month. This is ridiculous.

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Sorry but this last sentence is COMPLETELY untrue.  You pay any listing fees (which can be avoided if you use the 50 free and any listing offers) and 10% FVF (ONCE).  Paypal may take 2.3% but even paying 12.3% you STILL get 88% of the money.

[kensgiftshop]

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@daneiac wrote:

a person can really cut down on returns (at least with used items) by writing a complete description pointing out the tiniest blemishes, tiniest hairline cracks, tiniest amount of odors, this might take an hour or two to make one listing, but cuts chances down significantly of a return

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I agree. When I get ready to list used items, I'll use a magnifying glass if I have to, to see any problems with an item. If I see a dot that I don't think belongs there, it goes in the listing.

The more information you give about an item, the less returns you will have.

I have a few returns a year, but it's usually new items that end up not working. Since I've been selling on Ebay, I've had one used item returned, a shirt, and it was a fit issue and the buyer paid return shipping.

[ripcityresell]

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@kyuzo42 wrote:

Additionally as many Sellers know, eBay takes a transaction sum immediately after the sale AND a final value sum after the end of the month. This is ridiculous.

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You are charged the FVF right away, but it isn't taken until the end of the month. If you think you're paying it twice, you are mistaken. The only part that is taken right away is when PayPal takes their part of the payment, but that isn't on eBay (any more).

[m60driver]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

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@m60driver wrote:

Well, the primary online competitor (not to mention Costco and Walmart) allows returns with  few questions asked so it should not be surprising that Ebay follows suit in order to attempt to remain competitive.  But people do not see the glaring difference.  Ebay profits from the postage in both directions, less so the competiton.  So you now have to have either high gross profit margins or high volume or something inbetween to make a net profit over time.

And "selling stochastically"??  I would venture to bet there is a pattern.  My pattern varies with the seasons.

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Explain to me (in detail) how eBay profits from returns?

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Someone has to pay for the return shipping.  If you provide the return shipping label through Ebay then Ebay profits from the difference between what they charge you, or perhaps the customer, for postage and their actual discount. They of course also profit from the difference in the original postage as well.  This assumes that a company the size of Ebay has the ability to get discounted shipping from USPS, which I belive they do.  Now I doubt that Ebay gets the same discount as their perceived primary competitor, but I do believe it is significantly greater than any discount I see on my Ebay shipping receipts.  When I had my store most of my vendors, all much smaller than Ebay, would have discounts above 50%.  And yet many would charge me the rack rate.  That is why I joined a buying group and got my UPS account through the group and had everything shipped to me on my account.  My small store was able to get a 40% discount from UPS, still a tad less than the gross discount to the buying group, which got a small kickback as well.  That is just the way the business world works.  I do not know Ebay's discount with USPS, but I would be gobsmacked if it was less than 50%.

[divwido]

I noticed that on leaving feedback.  What used to default to leave feedback now defaults to filing a claim.

[slippinjimmy]

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@m60driver wrote:

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

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@m60driver wrote:

Well, the primary online competitor (not to mention Costco and Walmart) allows returns with  few questions asked so it should not be surprising that Ebay follows suit in order to attempt to remain competitive.  But people do not see the glaring difference.  Ebay profits from the postage in both directions, less so the competiton.  So you now have to have either high gross profit margins or high volume or something inbetween to make a net profit over time.

And "selling stochastically"??  I would venture to bet there is a pattern.  My pattern varies with the seasons.

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Explain to me (in detail) how eBay profits from returns?

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Someone has to pay for the return shipping.  If you provide the return shipping label through Ebay then Ebay profits from the difference between what they charge you, or perhaps the customer, for postage and their actual discount. They of course also profit from the difference in the original postage as well.  This assumes that a company the size of Ebay has the ability to get discounted shipping from USPS, which I belive they do.  Now I doubt that Ebay gets the same discount as their perceived primary competitor, but I do believe it is significantly greater than any discount I see on my Ebay shipping receipts.  When I had my store most of my vendors, all much smaller than Ebay, would have discounts above 50%.  And yet many would charge me the rack rate.  That is why I joined a buying group and got my UPS account through the group and had everything shipped to me on my account.  My small store was able to get a 40% discount from UPS, still a tad less than the gross discount to the buying group, which got a small kickback as well.  That is just the way the business world works.  I do not know Ebay's discount with USPS, but I would be gobsmacked if it was less than 50%.

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NOBODY is getting 50% discounts off Commercial from USPS, at least not those that don't actually ship anything themselves but rather are just resellers of postage, do no aggregation, pre-sort, drop-ship or any of the other things you need to do to get the top discounts.

Regardless of what "profit" eBay might make on return postage, and keep in mind they use USPS return service which means they may at times pay MORE than what they recover from the seller, they give up the fvf's so unless you are talking about dirt cheap items returns are a net loss for everyone (except the shipping company of course).

That's not to mention that returns cost money to process as they can require csr intervention, even 5 minutes of time for a rep to take a call or review an issue costs money. Then there is the customer retention issue, buyers have different levels of tolerance for returns but it's safe to say that if they happen frequently and/or are a hassle to do buyers will be inclined to shop elsewhere, that not good for eBay or for sellers.

[m60driver]

That Ebay gives us a discount at all indicates they do get a discount. We will not know what that discount is, but I assume that it is greater than what is forwarded to the seller as that has been my business experience over the past many decades.  As for customer service costs, apart from all the whining here, I think the majority of sellers are like myself and just accept returns without calling customer service.  Over the past 19 years of selling on Ebay, I have contacted customer service perhaps four times.  Heck for most of my small items I just refund and tell the customer to donate the item to charity.

And I would still be gobsmacked that Ebay got less than a 50% discount.  But even if, for the sake of argument, we say they get a 25% discount, that is mostly net profit that would add up quickly given the volume of sales.

[ted_200]

That's not to mention that returns cost money to process as they can require csr intervention, even 5 minutes of time for a rep to take a call or review an issue costs money. Then there is the customer retention issue, buyers have different levels of tolerance for returns but it's safe to say that if they happen frequently and/or are a hassle to do buyers will be inclined to shop elsewhere, that not good for eBay or for sellers.

There is absolutely no need for even one second of eBay CSR time to facilitate a return of anything I've sold.  So that's on them, not me or any other seller. 

And returns (as the buyer, or the seller) were never any sort of hassle, at least not until eBay got in the middle of it with a lot of automated hoops to jump through and other nonsense. 

[coolections]

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@kyuzo42 wrote:

eBay can help sellers by making it a little harder for Buying Customers to go through the process of returning an item.

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That sounds a little strange to me. If I get an item I want/need to return you think it should be very difficult to do so ? OK

[jonathankirkland]

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@m60driver wrote:

 I just refund and tell the customer to donate the item to charity.

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Sorry but IMHO you are part of the problem here then. I would never refund someone and let them keep the item. EVER. You are harboring and encouraging the seedy types that I think most sellers here despise.

[coolections]

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@jonathankirkland wrote:

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@m60driver wrote:

 I just refund and tell the customer to donate the item to charity.

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Sorry but IMHO you are part of the problem here then. I would never refund someone and let them keep the item. EVER. You are harboring and encouraging the seedy types that I think most sellers here despise.

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Depending on the price of the item sellers should do that. To make a buyer waste their time returning something that should be in the garbage is one of the problems with Ebay sellers. The best way to avoid situations like that is don't list garbage in the first place.

[jonathankirkland]

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@coolections wrote:

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@jonathankirkland wrote:

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@m60driver wrote:

 I just refund and tell the customer to donate the item to charity.

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Sorry but IMHO you are part of the problem here then. I would never refund someone and let them keep the item. EVER. You are harboring and encouraging the seedy types that I think most sellers here despise.

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Depending on the price of the item sellers should do that. To make a buyer waste their time returning something that should be in the garbage is one of the problems with Ebay sellers. The best way to avoid situations like that is don't list garbage in the first place.

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Well I at least agree with that part. If it's not worth returning it's not worth selling.

[zirkni]

About a week ago I purchased an item from an Amazon seller. It turned out I did not need it so I went to return the item. I expected to have to pay return shipping and maybe a restocking fee. I was suprised after I clicked return Amazon said "your account has been refunded no return is necessary." I had selected "I bought the item by mistake..." interesting business model.... The reality is that returns are a basic cost of doing business in the retail space. If you want to sell something without any risk of return then sell local for cash, e.g. craigslist. Ebay gives access to a great market place. Greater than 99% of my buyers never seek a return. If I can not deal with the 1 or 2 out of a hundred who feel they want to return an item maybe I should look for some other venture...an offline store is worse...it is easy for some one to bring their item they don't want to the Walmart customer service desk. Returning an item to an eBay seller typically involves packing the item and going to the post office. Sell things that people don't want to return and accept the returns you do get as the cost of participation in eBay's huge marketplace of buyers. Yes, there may be less risk to sellers dealing locally, but their are also many fewer people seeking their items.

[zirkni]

Maybe why he does not fit in here...lol?

[zirkni]

I never understand why people don't incorparate postage into the price of their item. Why complicate things and break it out and then fret about eBay taking a cut of what you should have included in your price originally? I suppose it makes more sense if you are selling heavy items.