eBay

lasantino · ‎07-30-2018

oh my gosh,, I have had more return requests in the last two weeks than i've had in the last 4 months!.. this is ridiculous,, this is exactly why I had a restocking fee on remorse returns. !

I have no problem accepting returns if something doesnt' fit, or the buyer doesn't like it. However, I did not want to have buyers purchasing things to try on ,, or check it out..!,, The returns in the last two weeks are all legitimate. But the reasons for return are ,, i just didn't like the color or bought three dresses and this was not my favorite!

This is exactly what I wanted to avoid.. Buyers starting to expect that they can buy something as a try it option!,, that's not in my business model! If a buyer wants retail service and otions... (returns , just becuase, etc).. they should have to pay retail! .. so basically,.. Ive had over a thousand dollars of return requests in the past two weeks!.. High dollar items(as compared to my average inventory item price).

uggggg

zamo-zuan · ‎07-30-2018

I'm not quite sure why they thought free returns was a great idea.

Other marketplaces traditionally only offer free returns if they are distributed by the marketplace directly. And in that case, they cover the fees.

It doesn't make much sense that eBay's method is forcing sellers to pay for the free returns.

Makes even less sense that sellers who offer free returns won't be able to offer prices as cheap as sellers who don't offer free returns, because eBay's search favors cheaper price and does not factor free returns. (This is based on Terapeak data).

Even if you are getting the same item at the same exact net price as a competitor, if you do free returns, you'll have higher prices, and worse placement in search... makes no sense.

The search changes, lack of store visibility, and the new return policies, are destroying eBay's opportunities. A marketplace is only as successful as their sellers. And sellers are struggling now.

And they are still harming visibility with last weeks further changes to search...

couldabeenworse · ‎07-30-2018

However, I did not want to have buyers purchasing things to try on ,, or check it out..!,,

That describes a No Returns policy. You're kinda tryin to have your cake and eat it too: you're getting extra sales because buyers want the security of being able to return stuff, but you don't want to let them return stuff.

zamo-zuan · ‎07-30-2018

@couldabeenworse wrote:
However, I did not want to have buyers purchasing things to try on ,, or check it out..!,,

That describes a No Returns policy. You're kinda tryin to have your cake and eat it too: you're getting extra sales because buyers want the security of being able to return stuff, but you don't want to let them return stuff.

Don't take my word on it, but check Terapeak out in your category.

Free returns is not earning the extra sales, because eBay changed the search so much this year that it does not favor free returns.

Look at those in your category that have had the highest gains from last year to this year in Terapeak.

Do they offer free returns?

Look at the top seller in your category that does offer free returns. How has their sales done over the last year?

That's the big problem. EBay's policies are pulling people in one direction, but their search is pulling them in another direction. People are suffering, and there has been an overall drop for top sellers, but an overall gain for the markets as a whole.

It is extremely obvious that those in charge of these changes, are not sellers with any major stores that are top of their category.

2015mhfashions · ‎07-30-2018

I posted about this a few weeks ago, when you list in the clothing category why wouldn't you buy numerous sizes, colors to see what you like the best and return what you do not want, if the seller is offering free shipping either way / Both ways it's a win win for the buyer, that is why i do not do free anything, I am still searching for the Postal Service that offers the free shipping that the buyers keep telling me about.

keziak · ‎07-30-2018

Today I got a remorse request and approved it with the information that since it was not my fault I would deduct my original shipping expense [I do not use free returns]. Two hostile messages later and a big fat neg which basically stated that I refused the return which since it was a lie ebay promptly removed it and I blocked the bidder. It's a shame, they are a newbie and I would like to give newbies a good experience. But I will not be walked all over.

castlemagicmemories · ‎07-30-2018

@couldabeenworse wrote:
However, I did not want to have buyers purchasing things to try on ,, or check it out..!,,

That describes a No Returns policy. You're kinda tryin to have your cake and eat it too: you're getting extra sales because buyers want the security of being able to return stuff, but you don't want to let them return stuff.

And that is not uncommon.

zamo-zuan · ‎07-30-2018

@couldabeenworse wrote:
However, I did not want to have buyers purchasing things to try on ,, or check it out..!,,

That describes a No Returns policy. You're kinda tryin to have your cake and eat it too: you're getting extra sales because buyers want the security of being able to return stuff, but you don't want to let them return stuff.

What he/she was describing is not a "no returns" policy. They want customers to be able to try things, and according to the own comments, just does not want to have to pay for additional fees if they want to return the item.

That is more along the lines of "buyer pays" return policy. But that aligns less and less with something officially supported by eBay.

There's a reason the other major marketplaces don't do this. Especially for high-risk categories.

suznn2010 · ‎07-30-2018

having the same problem, and we still get charged a fee for the shipping cost, it's out of pocket for these buyers that just want to try it on

lasantino · ‎07-30-2018

no, actually,.. I disagree..

i want buyers to be able to return something, but there is a cost to returning, that's why i had a restocking fee.. now that ebay has disallowed that.. im getting buyers that shop from multiple sellers,, for an item, with the intention of only keeping their favorite...

I know that some businesses allow for that kind of thing.. A friend of mine regularly shops at neimanmarcus.com and purchases 5 or 6 dresses, with the intention of only actually keeping one,, she then returns the ones that didn't work. Neiman Marcus prices are inflated to cover this kind of thing..

If she's buying a 2000 dress .. it's not a big deal for neiman's to provide free shipping free returns..

but sellers that are selling 100 dress.. or 50 dress are losing out on the shipping.

I spend more on shipping than inventory!. seriously!. so losing shipping fees is a serious concern.

lasantino · ‎07-30-2018

@zamo-zuan you mentioned that search has changed again in the last week.. ??? I too realized something was up this past week.. Does terapeak provide information regarding when ebay is rolling out changes in search?? or are you just using deductive reasoning??

do you have any idea, what the changes the made in the past week were??

silly-shoes · ‎07-30-2018

ebay implemented it to get rid of the sellers who were still clinging on to the incredible 10% discount!

zamo-zuan · ‎07-30-2018

@lasantino wrote:
@zamo-zuan you mentioned that search has changed again in the last week.. ??? I too realized something was up this past week.. Does terapeak provide information regarding when ebay is rolling out changes in search?? or are you just using deductive reasoning??

do you have any idea, what the changes the made in the past week were??

Terapeak only gives sales statistics, not any information on what eBay is doing.

The changes I've noted are ones that were brought to my attention by our marketing team as they attempt to search for our own items.

To give some background to explain what we noticed, in auto parts, there's OEM, and aftermarket parts. The items you get with your new vehicle are OEM, which are usually very high priced and you have to get from specific dealers. Aftermarket parts are manufactured by other companies in attempts to meet OEM specifications, obviously varying in quality depending on where you get manufactured.

This means you have a certain code for OEM parts, as an example, the format might be: 12345-67890. This was the original part you might have received from Honda, for example. This item is usually much higher priced than the competition, and there's usually heavy restrictions on lowering the price.

Then, there's usually a couple popular aftermarket manufacturers of this item. Lets say companies A and B are two different aftermarket manufacturers.

Company A might use the product code: BR1234.

Company B might use product code: B1111.

Since those are the 2 more common manufacturers in this catergory, many people use those codes as "reference" numbers, or "interchange numbers".

So the same item, might be referred to as 12345-67890, or BR1234, or B1111. All these are the same exact part, just different manufacturers.

Now, let's say you are a company that manufactures this item. As you are planning your products that will be designed, you note that Company A is the most common items that are sold. So you code your items similar - your business now uses the code "1234". To align similarly with "BR1234" that Company A uses.

In the past, it has always been recommended to use Product Identifiers for these alternative reference/interchange codes. They instructed us to use Other Part # for the 2nd most important code, and put the rest in Interchange Part Number.

An example of eBays recommendations for product identifiers would be:

Manufacturer Part Number: 1234 (the code we use internally, matching the item).

Other Part Number: BR1234 (the most popular interchange code you see when you search your category).

Interchange Part Number: B1111, 12345-67890 (the OEM code is usually searched less since so expensive, and put any other codes here).

This system has always worked well for us, customers were always able to find our items, and we were always able to find our own items, by using any of these codes. As long as we put them in product identifiers, our item showed up.

What eBay has changed:

As of last week, using the above example, if we search "BR1234", we do NOT show up. If we sort it by best match, we do not show up. If we sort it by price and look up our price, we do not show up.

If we search "B1111", we do not show up.

If we search "12345-67890", we do not show up.

If we search "1234", we show up.

The only way for us to actually show up, is if we hit the text that says "show items that match less", then suddenly, all of our items appear.

It seems product identifiers are only coming up as a partial match, and partial matches are hidden by default. Searches only come up with a full match, and full match are the only ones visible by default.

This is ridiculously huge of a problem for categories like our own! As mentioned, people will almost always search with "BR1234" or "B1111". Not because those are the item they are looking for, or because those brands are known for the best quality. Simply because those were the most established brands in the aftermarket.

Our visibility is now - again - suffering. Our brand has been #1 selling in our category for 4-5 years. Yet eBay's new catalog has not even added our brands yet, after repeated attempts at requesting to add it. We have provided them what they asked, and still no response.

And now as if not getting the exposure in the new catalog - when we're a company who has earned our spot on eBay, customers can't even search for any items except for the 2 common interchanges in our category??? Which, by the way, one of those brands is well known but very poor quality, and the other brand is good quality but almost as expensive as OEM.

I'm not sure what they are thinking. Giving sellers less and less exposure is going to do no good!

aruyt75 · ‎07-30-2018

@2015mhfashions wrote:
I posted about this a few weeks ago, when you list in the clothing category why wouldn't you buy numerous sizes, colors to see what you like the best and return what you do not want, if the seller is offering free shipping either way / Both ways it's a win win for the buyer, that is why i do not do free anything, I am still searching for the Postal Service that offers the free shipping that the buyers keep telling me about.

I agree with this comment, specifically regarding items of clothing. Especially new items with multiple sizes offered. If a seller is ok with a return because "the item did not fit", then how is it any different to buy 2 sizes in one transaction, try on both, and keep the one that fits? Seems to me this also benefits the seller, as they don't have to pay to ship the first item out, pay to have it shipped back, then pay to ship out the second item. If a seller does not offer free returns on clothing items, I may not even risk buying from them at all. So, free returns does bring in more sales, dealing with returns is an inevitable side effect.