returns abuses

[americana-jewels]

Buyer buys a $550 item, costs about $60 to ship. Buyer then opens a not as described case. To my surprise, ebay did not grant an immediate authorization to return.  So I messaged the buyer, asked what was not as described. The buyer then explained that it had a lighter sound than what he thought it would have. And that's not an item not as described, it is perfectly as described, precisely what he ordered. So basically, he has had this item delivered to his doorstep so he can see if he likes it or not, at my expense. 

My own website now has been selling more than ebay for about the last 6 months. ebay is pushing sellers away because they don't think that being just is important. They just guess at what will increase profit, unjust or not.  it's immoral and foolish. 

[americana-jewels]

Right. exactly.

I picture it this way, in a case like my case:

Buyer is lounging on his couch, browsing and he sees an interesting item, and he'd like to see how it is. He orders it, and he sees how it is. Then sends it back. And I pay $61 shipping each way to provide him the front door window shopping service. and hopefully, I get it back in the same condition, and if I don't too bad for me.

Way to go  ebay. You are compelling people to find other platforms or start their own. 

[glasser]

INAD is an eBay construct not a widely used concept across retail and commerce. While some places might ask you why you want to return something, that is more for data collection then to assess the legitimacy of a return. I suspect the buyer in this case got the item, didn't like the way it performed, and like they would almost everywhere else asked for a return.  I wonder how many buyers even understand what an INAD case is and only use that because that's basically the option they are given. 

Sellers, at least the ones that raise concerns about INAD on these boards and in other forums, seem to be under the illusion that even if they have described the item to the last detail, that the buyer can never claim INAD. They can and they will.  I have seen this time and time again. Recently on a FB discussion a seller claimed they buyer couldn't claim INAD because they had provided exact measurements. Let alone those think they don't take returns and then get one.

In this case, maybe not technically as described but did not meet the buyer's expectations. Any of us who buys something that doesn't meet our expectations would want to make a return.

eBay needs to really revisit the whole returns question.  It is out of synch with the rest of online commerce. This makes it hard for buyers and sellers.

[americana-jewels]

Well, they don't try where they could try. 

They could also take into account the record of a seller. If a seller has been on here -- for example, on my other eBay ID, I've been selling heavy since 2008 and my total sales are something like 1.4 million. a guy who has been selling on ebay for 15 or 20 years with that many sales isn't very dang likely to claim that he received a return that contained a piece of candy and a $1 bill on a $26 sale, which happened to me a few weeks ago. But the guy who has been on ebay for 6 months-- ebay chooses to side with that guy. 

[americana-jewels]

Yeah. 

In my case though, it's now been about 6 months straight of my own website performing better than eBay. That surprises me because the whole world sees ebay, but my little website, they have to find. I think what's happening is that we have a niche, and people are learning that we have the stuff on our website and it's picking up some inertia.  I have another ebay ID that is NOT niche, and the only way to move that stuff is on eBay for me. But it's industrial stuff mostly, not the kind of stuff that thieves and liars seek out. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

The amazing part about this that nobody seems to want to talk about..

If a customer does a return for refund; ebay gives all the fees back to the seller. So, they have to do 2 transactions, and make $0.00. 

And the whole 'Tool' and 'Clothing' and 'Shoe' thing, customers using and returning, has been happening at B&M Stores for decades. 

[jrgrant]

In my case, the buyer returned with a NAD. I had already communicated with the buyer, offered him a partial goodwill refund, explained to him that the device is not designed to do what he thought it would do, offered him technical help, etc. The guy wore me out and then pulled the NAD. I contacted eBay seller support, explained the situation and asked for my seller protection. They told me I had to accept the return before the protections would take effect, so I did as instructed. They said if the buyer’s claim was specious that he would be punished and I could keep the payment. They also said, “don’t worry, we don’t tolerate abusive buyers”. What a load of bologna — they automatically refunded the guy and refused to allow my appeal. Case closed, decision final. I am fuming, not so much at the idiot buyer but with eBay support for telling me lies. I sell on eBay only occasionally, buy a lot, after this experience I may be done with them after 24 years as a customer and infrequent seller.

[vintagecraze50]

Correct. A seller on their own website is not protected anymore than here from a credit card chargeback case if the merchant refuses to do a refund with return of merchandise. 

[vintagecraze50]

Also a merchant running their own business will encounter problems wit their payment processor if they get too many chargebacks and they will revoke your privileges to use their processor.

[paraquip]

A buyer can open an INAD for any reason whatsoever......ebay forces you to generate a return label no matter what and also forces you to provide a full refund to the customer regardless of condition returned in.

The killer here is that is you get enough of these....ebay charges you a 5% additional selling fee.  

Any INAD counts against you regardless of return status, buyer just has a question or anything else.  There is no arguing this fact regardless if you report a buyer or not.

Many returns incorrectly filed are generated from the mobile app that pushes you to open up a return even if the buyer has a simple question.

About 50% of my opened returns never come back....they close after a certain amount of time by themselves but ebay still counts that against you.

There is no appeal you can make to get this removed.

HK

[jrgrant]

I knew before I offered an item for sale that the place was hostile toward sellers and coddled the buyers, but this is just absurd. My buyer had no idea of how to use the item he bought, but I wasted a lot of time packing, shipping, answering his dumb questions, answering his hostile return questions -- all for a small potential profit on something I no longer needed or wanted.

I don't know if I want to deal with this nonsense again. The local Facebook Marketplace is worse with bozos not showing up, wasting your time, etc. It's sad, but I guess the answer is just to add to the growing pile of e-waste because so many adults are still behaving as irresponsible children.

EDIT: oops, I shouldn't insult Bozo T. Clown like that -- I have much more respect for him than the buyers I've dealt with lately....

[the_fancy_fox]

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@bill.purvis2012 wrote:

Try selling nice jewelry. Buyer gets it, wears it for special occasion and then asks to return it. Happens. Just have to keep a tight lip, process the return and refund knowing it was used for a special occasion and then buyer was done and wanted their money back. 

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If that’s happening with your items it’s an opportunity to open a rental web store.