Very High Not as Described Fee 5%

[affordable_gadgets_llc]

Fellow sellers, this 5% fee is killing me. As most of you are aware, ebay charges an additional 5% fee when you have a high % return rate, but we know the metric is faulty because most buyers will lie in their SNADs. In order to soften the blow, I have started accepting free returns, but the metric runs a 12 month look back and according to this I will keep paying the 5% fee for eternity. See, last year my sales were lower, meaning that the return percentage will be higher in the next months.  What do you guys do? Change category? Increase the amount of sales with less expensive items? I sell around 100 phones a month, so no quite meeting the 400 volume rule in the past 90 days. Any help is appreciated it...getting close to $2k in additional fees, on top of $4k in regular closing costs. 

[mam98031]

@affordable_gadgets_llc 

The penalty fees has increased to 6%.  March 1st it went from 5% to 6%.

Are you sure you are in the Penalty box because of your Service Metrics and not Defects you can see on your Seller Dashboard?  I simply ask because it is important for you to know which place the problem is at.

Offering Free Returns is not going to help you with this problem, in fact it could increase it if this is related to your Service Metrics.  It doesn't matter why an INAD gets opened or what the outcome is for purposes of the Service Metrics.  They all get counted against you.  

Properly filed Buyer Remorse claims are the only ones that don't count in the Service Metrics.

The FIRST think you need to do is take a look at the INADs you have received over the past year.  There is likely some common complaints.  Whether they are right or wrong in your opinion, it is highly likely you have some common complaints.  Identify those and do the very best you can to make sure your descriptions cover everything.  Have clear pics and lots of them.  And a carefully and accurately worded title.

Second, list as many things as you can find that are fast moving and unlikely to cause a return claim.  The quickest way to get out of the hole you are in is to dilute the numbers.  And to dilute the numbers, you need more transaction.  So list everything you can.  Lower $$ values are the best so you don't get eaten alive with the fees.  Run sales if you can.  Just do whatever works for you to generate as many transactions as you can.

Watch your Service metrics closely.  You should see little changes as your transaction count climbs and you don't get anymore INADs.  You simply have to do whatever you can to avoid those INADs.

Good Luck.

[affordable_gadgets_llc]

Exactly! Sent revisions and they didnt retract. Ebay would not reinstate the

revision, even if not used by the buyer. SMH

[affordable_gadgets_llc]

This is my take as well. May have to list cheap cell phone accessories that will move fast, and try to dilute the numbers. Thank you!

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@buyologist-3 wrote:

I pointed this out and was totally hassled.  By the way, just where are all the naysayers on this one?  They defend ebay at all costs, right or wrong.  This post made my day!  Thank you!    

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Before the service metrics were started, Ebay just banned the seller outright - no warning.   Should they go back to doing that, or give a seller a chance to improve?  Yes, the penalty is harsh, but it is what it is and in my opinion it's better than an outright ban with no explanation.  If that makes me an Ebay "defender' than so be it. I've been called far worse.

[donsdetour]

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@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

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@buyologist-3 wrote:

I pointed this out and was totally hassled.  By the way, just where are all the naysayers on this one?  They defend ebay at all costs, right or wrong.  This post made my day!  Thank you!    

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Before the service metrics were started, Ebay just banned the seller outright - no warning.   Should they go back to doing that, or give a seller a chance to improve?  Yes, the penalty is harsh, but it is what it is and in my opinion it's better than an outright ban with no explanation.  If that makes me an Ebay "defender' than so be it. I've been called far worse.

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True statement: and I think eBay does not care if the increased fees run the seller off.

If they stay, they pay for what eBay sees as a risk..

If they improve well that is all for the good it seems..

[blingfling123]

@southern*sweet*tea 

Bingo!!  That is what people do not understand, either because it was before their time, or they were just not aware.

There was not a financial penalty in the past because the only option was the nuclear one where you were kicked from the platform permanently. With the higher fees, someone that really wants to stay on eBay will work towards fixing any issues and getting back on track. 

That being said, I do agree that there are some instances where a return should not count, like when someone opens one on accident or opens one for INAD and then realizes they had a setting wrong, and the item actually works fine and closes the return.  Those should not be counted in a metric that may incur a financial penalty on a seller. 

A long time ago CS used to change a false INAD to a regular return as well but that is gone as well. 

No solution will ever be perfect but at least people have the ability to work towards staying if they want to. 

[affordable_gadgets_llc]

95 returns out of 801 sales. Please note that the biggest category is "not working or defective" on phones that I have listed for parts or repair. Drives me crazy, but it is what it is. Yes, I sell $50k a month and close to 100 phones, so the 5% is killing me. I will have to find cheap accessories, list like crazy and hopefully dilute the numbers. Last year, I stopped selling for 1-2 months so the metric is going to be even worse in the following periods unless I surpass 400 items in 90 days. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

You offer returns, so curious since there is little reason for a buyer to open as a NAD.

How many returns have you had the past 30 days?

60 days?

Which item is returning the most (phone? headphones? etc.) 

And, because of what you sell (high scam items)- are you receiving the correct/same item back (vs a box of rocks or different phone etc.?) 

[affordable_gadgets_llc]

I just started accepting returns due to so many claims of items "not working", I figured this should help since the buyer can return hassle free. Out of those 95 returns you see, around 5-6 were bag of rocks. According to ebay those should not affect your metrics if decided in your favor.

[stainlessenginecovers]

You know why the 62 are there; best thing to do is not just find cheaper things to dilute, but to put 

NOT WORKING in the title of all those phones. 

People don't read descriptions and they don't read 'categories'; they just see an 'item' for $XX and buy it before someone else does. 

This is a common problem with people selling anything 'for parts', which basically means 'broken' and they DON'T put that info in the title. 

[affordable_gadgets_llc]

Thank you for the insight. The fee still shows 5% for me as of today (please see pic). 

I figured that offering free return will prevent a buyer who wants to return an item falsely raising a INAD, and just return hassle free. More buyer remorse claims, since at the end of the day most INAD I received I found to be false. For example: Selling as is for repair and getting not as described claims/arrived damaged. 

I usually have max photos on items and try to described them to the best of my ability, sometimes issues arise with phones that I did not know about. Which Im fine with offering full refunds and accepting my errors, and I don't mind if the metrics counts against me if the claim is valid. 

You are correct, this was my first take as well ,I will try to dilute the numbers as much as possible, hopefully get to the 400 in last 90 days and have the metric count for look back for 3 months and not 12. 

Thanks again for you insight. 

[affordable_gadgets_llc]

I hear you, I usually do that but will make sure I try to fit all important information in the tittle. 

[mam98031]

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@affordable_gadgets_llc wrote:

Exactly! Sent revisions and they didnt retract. Ebay would not reinstate the

revision, even if not used by the buyer. SMH

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What do you mean by "sent revisions"?  Do you mean you sent the buyer the Change FB form?  If that is what you are talking about, did the buyer tell you they wanted to do that or did you have conversations with them that they would do that?  If you didn't, you should never send the revision form to a buyer blindly.

Not only do you only have a certain amount of them available to you, they also have a shelf life.  If the buyer doesn't respond to it or even open it and it times out you can't send another one even if the buyer wants you to.  BTW the email comes from Ebay not you, so if they don't know that, they may assume it is just an advertisement and delete it without even opening it, even if they were expecting you to send them the form.  So you should always tell your buyer that the email comes from Ebay and contains a link so they can easily revise their FB.

With all that said, it is likely that if you had contacted Ebay within 60 days, they would have removed that neutral.

[mam98031]

I can only imagine it is next to impossible to stop some of these requests for return as you sell in likely the most difficult category on Ebay.

From your numbers in the Service Metrics, I would UP your process on packaging too in an effort to stop as much damage in shipment as you can.  I know this isn't the biggest category for you, but there are a lot of them too.

You probably do this, but when you sell the phones for parts, make sure you are listing in the correct category for parts and make sure you have in the title NOT WORKING or something.  Not the word "read", that is a waste of space really.  

[inhawaii]

I thought that was only for UNRESOLVED returns?