recommend adding a buyer return rate

[proudpurpose]

Due to the high quantity of return packages, some customers Abuse the free return policy. 

The return rate only the seller can see. So we can stop this abuse of the free return policy customers.

Reduce the misuse of human resources.

[Anonymous]

"only the seller can see" meaning that it would be too late to block them anyway...

[femmefan1946]

Most sellers report less than one percent failed transactions, and that included Unpaid Items.

If you are getting more than one percent of your items returned for refund, perhaps you should look at your returned listings to see if there is a consistent problem.

[onefootflipper]

Most people never or rarely return anything. You can safely assume statistically that anyone who does return something does it all the time and block them after the very first return. 

[katzrul15]

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@proudpurpose wrote:

Due to the high quantity of return packages, some customers Abuse the free return policy. 

The return rate only the seller can see. So we can stop this abuse of the free return policy customers.

Reduce the misuse of human resources.

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1.  Put them in your BBL.

2.  Report each Buyer from the Transaction view for Return Abuse.

3.  Notate the return loss dollars for when you file your taxes in 2023 for the 2022 sales year.  Good luck.

[toysaver]

The free returns policy is voluntary.  I don't subscribe.  I have few returns but would likely have more if FREE RETURNS was in glaring letters on each listing.   

I don't get how it would work....  We can't even see feedback until after the purchase.  As it is the only way to prejudge a buyer is if they ask a question before purchase.

[stainlessenginecovers]

There is no point in doing 'free returns' if you are concerned you are having too many returns because of it. The amount has nothing to do with nothing and does not help a buyer make a determination on whether they want to return something or not. 

If you sell clothing, Free Returns is almost an industry (again, clothing) standard. Almost everything else, it is not and I wouldn't personally entertain 'free returns'. 

[chevymontecarlo88 · Accepted solution]

For sellers, maybe Ebay could put in some parameters that would allow more control of our buying audience.  

Example. Have an area where sellers can accept offers and bidders if these parameters were met.

Return rate % - Allow sellers to accept bidders with a minimum return percentage rate

Feedback - Allow sellers to accept bidders with minimum amount of feedback left or percentage

Cancelled Purchases - Allow sellers to accept bidders with minimum number of non paying bids

Also in my opinion, the buyers or bidders should have 24 hours to pay for an item. If consumers can not pay for items recently purchased (within 24 hours) , the sellers should be able to cancel and relist after that. If you want to give them more time, that would be up to you. 

And since we are on a roll, bring back sellers allowing to leave negative feedback on buyers. 

[proudpurpose]

A free return policy can help you have a high value for your listing and it is voluntary. If Adding a buyer return rate to the listing can protect the seller, After selling an item, We can distinguish it is a good buyer and increase our repeat customers. then we can move the abuse(free return) policy customers to ban listing.

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@proudpurpose wrote:

A free return policy can help you have a high value for your listing and it is voluntary. If Adding a buyer return rate to the listing can protect the seller, After selling an item, We can distinguish it is a good buyer and increase our repeat customers. then we can move the abuse(free return) policy customers to ban listing.

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Again, this makes little sense. You either have free returns or you don't. What even IS A BUYER RETURN rate? Some get it for FREE and others DON'T?? 

Then you don't have 'FREE' returns. Period. 

I see you sell inexpensive sunglasses and hats, $2, $5, $8- and therefore you should NOT be offering FREE RETURNS. It is NOT adding any VALUE to your listings. If someone wants a return, it would be best for you to just 'refund' and not incur the return shipping cost. 

[mam98031]

We aren't that helpless as sellers @proudpurpose .  This is exactly why Ebay created the function to report a buyer.  If more sellers would just use this simple function to report buyers for abusing the system, then Ebay can collect this data and tell if a buyer has a tendency to misbehave.  Ebay can't know that a buyer abused your return policy unless you tell them.  So why not tell them.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/resolving-buyer-issues/reporting-issue-buyer?id=4084

[toysaver]

"I see you sell inexpensive sunglasses and hats, $2, $5, $8- and therefore you should NOT be offering FREE RETURNS. It is NOT adding any VALUE to your listings. If someone wants a return, it would be best for you to just 'refund' and not incur the return shipping cost." 

Their return policy is likely set just to refund without having it shipped back.

[mam98031]

I agree that it is not likely cost effective to actually have a buyer return low priced items, but changing their return policy isn't necessary.  The seller just needs to have that policy themselves and if they get a SNAD, just refund it without requiring a return.

It wouldn't be something you'd want to state in your listings [not that you suggested that] as all it would do is invite people to file for a return knowing they would just get a refund and free merchandise.