@replacementradios wrote:
While I think that advice might help the OP ( @usedanything223 ) in some cases, I don't think it will solve the problem overall. I say that because I actually came to the Community board today to see if others were reporting an increase in return requests for the wrong reason. Low and behold, the first post in the Selling section is on that very issue...
Unlike the OP, we allow returns on the vast majority of our items and have seen an 'uptick' in returns, even for those items... But the buyers still have the the wrong reason selected, even though they are not 'required' to, simply to get a return exception.
We are guessing that, in these troubled economic times, buyers do not want to 'eat' any costs. Even those that should rightfully be theirs to bear. (Shipping, for something Ordered By Mistake.) Better to pass them on to someone else. Anyone else... So they select "Wrong Item Sent" or "Doesn't Work Or Defective", even though they often admit in the case, or subsequently in an eBay message (after we reach out to try and trouble-shoot), that they have simply purchased the wrong thing.
Sometimes the buyer closes the return (and we then handle it manually through Messages) after we point out that returns with the wrong reason affect our metrics, etc. (And that they would appreciate the same courtesy if the roles were reversed.) But here's the kicker... eBay still counts those return requests as defects, closed or not. (For buyer closures and for eBay closures when the item is never actually returned.) So that merely adds insult to injury.
Simply put, eBay is incentivized to turn somewhat of a blind eye to this. 'Bad' metrics for sellers means no discount on fees. Which means more money for eBay. An eBay rep would likely never say that out loud or in a message, but let's be honest here: eBay could follow the lead of AMZ and protect their sellers a little more by allowing buyers to change their return reason after opening a return case. They could then proactively remove the defect created by the incorrect initial reason. Heavy emphasis on could, because I doubt it will happen any time soon. (Although we have specifically asked for that enhancement multiple times. Maybe others should start asking too...)
Those returns count on your metrics the second they are open and stay there regardless of the outcome. Case In your favor? Still on the metrics. Buyer close’s return? Still on the metrics. They don’t return it? Still on the metrics. Thats ebay being ___holes. Service Metrics was poorly conceived, implemented, and continues to be the most disgusting anti-seller thing they have ever done. Its from that ____ball CEO from like three CEOs ago and Im surprised that garbage hasn’t been modified yet or canned all together.
I don’t participate in any ebay seller events because of it. I have been angry about it since it started.
For everything that happens conditions exist such that nothing else could have happened.
