The New Return Policy and May Ruin Some Sellers

[theseeker_jamrock]

What Ebay should understand that majority of Good and Honest Sellers are not against taking returns from Good and honest Buyers. The Problem is that honest on the buyers part is decided by the click of a button which even if the buyer is not a scammer or thief he maybe a liar who does not want to pay return shipping. The worst part that we as sellers Fear is that we will accepts a return and get something totally differnt from what is sent out. Not all Buyers can absorb free returns because we don't buy in bulk at sweat show prices.

Now sellers

Lets Just say there are certain sellers who will be suffering from returns more than others. If you sell Clothing, Shoes, Hats, Bags, Jewelry, Video games, Movies or anything that can be used for a short term basis or one time event you are going to get returns. I would not be surprised if people will buy food items use some and send it back lol. Seriously though a lot of sellers will be paying people to rent their items. Clothes and other Accessories may be worn to events and then returned. The maybe returned with stains or tears. Video games will played and reurned by shady buyers,Camera equipment or computers maybe rented for events. I think this could be a new service Ebay offers Rental of these items but must comeback in the same condition thats a business idea right there Lol.

Buyers who have small Profit margins will suffer Example if you sell a shirt for $13 pay 3 buck to ship it you make $4 in profit. Buyers returns for whatever reason you pay 3 buck to take it back then that's 6 buck leaves now with a $1 profit to make and if you do relist it again and have to pay another $3 to ship it you are now paying someone to take the shirt with a probiliity of it being returned again. Now if this is a seller who only sell small priced items and this happen a few times in a single week or month we know what will happen.

Things to look for if a buyer buy three shoes are 3 bags from you at once its a very high possibility that one or two may be coming back.

Some sellers on Youtube say they actually decided to test the 30day free returns to see how it will work for them if the actually discided to accept returns. None of them actually got increase sales they only got increased returns. And that was a no brainer right there

Sellers just need to evolve with the times and come up with new strategies as ebay changes some things you should just stay away from or adjust with it the best way you can

[southern*sweet*tea]

Free returns are NOT required to sell on Ebay, only if you want the TRS PLUS (or is it TRS? I forget)  designation on your listings.

[luckythewinner]

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@theseeker_jamrock wrote:
Sellers just need to evolve with the times and come up with new strategies as ebay changes some things you should just stay away from or adjust with it the best way you can

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One strategy sellers could come up with to avoid free returns would be to ... simply not offer free returns.

[nawlinsron2]

Isn't a SNAD an auto free return?

[michael_atw]

There is no "evolution" in waste.  Following the economic "race-to-the-bottom" is a very, very modern tactic.  Shipping costs, fees, returns, etc. are waste.  Eliminating the ability of sellers to recoup this waste in some part (refusing to refund FVFs on partial refunds, allowing buyers to act as they wish - when they wish, removing restocking fees, etc.) will simply lead to more concentration into larger entities.  

There is a reason why, in the macro-realm, nearly every 'industry' is an oligopoly.  

[goodluckselling]

Returns are just part of the business.  Events will happen and it should be part of your business plan.   I get it that you do not want to be taken advanatge of, but it really is just part of doing business.  Same type of things happen at B&M locations as well.

Good Luck Selling!

[pauls-parts]

The problem with not taking returns is eBay put the "Item Not As Described" button right next to the return an item. So if a buyer clicks on item not as described, even if it is buyers remorse and you state in your listing no returns. Guess What? You have to take it back and pay for the shipping in both directions. That is why I am closing my account on June 1st. I opened a account on Amazon. If you sell 40 items or less a month you do not need a tax id or resale license. Worth a look.

[goodluckselling]

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@pauls-parts wrote:

The problem with not taking returns is eBay put the "Item Not As Described" button right next to the return an item. So if a buyer clicks on item not as described, even if it is buyers remorse and you state in your listing no returns. Guess What? You have to take it back and pay for the shipping in both directions. That is why I am closing my account on June 1st. I opened a account on Amazon. If you sell 40 items or less a month you do not need a tax id or resale license. Worth a look.

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Amazon's required return policies are slightly worse than eBay's, You will soon find out.

Good Luck Selling!

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@nawlinsron2 wrote:
Isn't a SNAD an auto free return?

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No, they're automatically accepted for remorse returns.

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2017-fall/returns.html

"Automatic acceptance of returns

Beginning in October 2017, returns requests may automatically be accepted to make the returns process easier for you and your buyers. eBay will automatically accept a return request and provide a return shipping label to the buyer when the buyer pays for return shipping. If you offer free returns or if you’re required to pay for the return shipping label, automatic acceptance will only occur if you have not replied to the buyer return request within three business days."

AFAIK the seller still has three days when a SNAD is filed to either request return for refund or to refund without return.  That said, to be totally honest I'm not really sure.   I went to seller paid ("free") returns sometime ago, but I've never actually had a return so I only know what I read here.

[carlmarxx]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

Returns are just part of the business.  Events will happen and it should be part of your business plan.   I get it that you do not want to be taken advantages of, but it really is just part of doing business.  Same type of things happen at B&M locations as well.

Good Luck Selling!

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Yes  ligament returns are part of doing  business . However  a lot  of the big named companies  that  did  liberal  returns  ended up out  250 Million to 1 billion dollars  month lost to retail buyer fraud  issues  because  those buyers abused the loop holes.       Just  read  a current research  done  on  buyers  are  want  from online   dealers  and at the very  bottom  of list was free return shipping  ! Because  buyers  don't consider it a priority  . The amazing thing is it shows how clueless the folks running  ebay  are on  real Market buyer research .

[vintagecraze50]

The smoother the process for the buyer, the more attractive the listing becomes. Returns are going to happen regardless of what you put on your return policy. Returns, will be paid for by you when buyers claim NAD. Buyer WILL claim Nad when they do not want to pay for a ship back. MOST people buy things without the intent to return them. Some will rent-yes, but percentage wise, if they rent ,add the cost to your other items to recoup the loss. 

[vintagecraze50]

Amazon is a sellers nightmare for forced returns even with tracking showing delivered at times. WATCH OUT. They are HUGE and simply do not care. Read the boards there to find out what sellers deal with there before you go there. I would never consider it.

[stuff4divas]

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@theseeker_jamrock wrote:

What Ebay should understand that majority of Good and Honest Sellers are not against taking returns from Good and honest Buyers. The Problem is that honest on the buyers part is decided by the click of a button which even if the buyer is not a scammer or thief he maybe a liar who does not want to pay return shipping. The worst part that we as sellers Fear is that we will accepts a return and get something totally differnt from what is sent out. Not all Buyers can absorb free returns because we don't buy in bulk at sweat show prices.

Now sellers

Lets Just say there are certain sellers who will be suffering from returns more than others. If you sell Clothing, Shoes, Hats, Bags, Jewelry, Video games, Movies or anything that can be used for a short term basis or one time event you are going to get returns. I would not be surprised if people will buy food items use some and send it back lol. Seriously though a lot of sellers will be paying people to rent their items. Clothes and other Accessories may be worn to events and then returned. The maybe returned with stains or tears. Video games will played and reurned by shady buyers,Camera equipment or computers maybe rented for events. I think this could be a new service Ebay offers Rental of these items but must comeback in the same condition thats a business idea right there Lol.

Buyers who have small Profit margins will suffer Example if you sell a shirt for $13 pay 3 buck to ship it you make $4 in profit. Buyers returns for whatever reason you pay 3 buck to take it back then that's 6 buck leaves now with a $1 profit to make and if you do relist it again and have to pay another $3 to ship it you are now paying someone to take the shirt with a probiliity of it being returned again. Now if this is a seller who only sell small priced items and this happen a few times in a single week or month we know what will happen.

Things to look for if a buyer buy three shoes are 3 bags from you at once its a very high possibility that one or two may be coming back.

Some sellers on Youtube say they actually decided to test the 30day free returns to see how it will work for them if the actually discided to accept returns. None of them actually got increase sales they only got increased returns. And that was a no brainer right there

Sellers just need to evolve with the times and come up with new strategies as ebay changes some things you should just stay away from or adjust with it the best way you can

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You are so cute. I love the way you express yourself. And I agree with all you say 😉

[blu_surfwear]

No to mention the fact that ebay is generally perceived as the lowest cost place to buy _. If widgets go for brand new $100 in a store then you can probably buy them online for $92. You can probably find it on ebay for $80. Small sellers on ebay upfront costs for purchasing it from suppliers are generally much higher as we can't buy in the same volume that large entities can. So between the selling costs being lower and our product cost being higher then we small ebay sellers generally have lower margins.

We are considering doing the free returns. If we do we will have to raise prices. So I'm wondering what that will do to sales. I'm guessing that for our customers, the negatives of higher prices will be pretty much offset by the positives of free returns so it will probably be a push for our business.

Going back to my above example of widgets, if I have to raise my price to $85 then might buyers just say "I'll buy it from a stores website for $92 rather then on ebay for $85 as I feel more comfortable." So I can see a scenario play out where we see sales decline at ebay and see this new policy backfire for not only us sellers but for ebay themselves. I think ebay is trying to rid themselves of the perception of being the lowest cost, no frills place to buy something. But it feels like they are trying to do it on the sellers' dime.

[stuff4divas]

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@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

Free returns are NOT required to sell on Ebay, only if you want the TRS PLUS (or is it TRS? I forget)  designation on your listings.

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TRS+

and we minimally lose the 10% discount and badge. Not sure about how those listings will be shown on searches. Do they get downgraded to the bottom of the list? Or not shown on best match? Or even worse, shown sometimes or not at alI.  Lots of possibilities for not complying to the free returns policy.