How does anybody make a profit with all the returns?

[majikbear]

Serious question, how does anybody make money selling on eBay with the rate of returns and eBay's considerable bias toward buyers?

I can't spend any of the money I make for three months after the auction ends because any time during that 90 days the buyer can open a return request through Paypal (outside of eBay) and Paypal will immediately yank the funds out of my bank account without even giving me a chance to respond to the request or open a dispute first.

And I've had that happen before.

Once I was between jobs and needed money to pay rent and buy groceries so I sold my laptop.

89 days and 6 hours later the buyer opened a case and demanded to return the laptop.

The guy wanted to return the laptop because he forgot the BIOS password.

He claimed that the computer never worked in the entire 3 months he had it in his possession.

Paypal immediately yanked out over two grand from my bank account causing an overdraft of over a thousand dollars, resulting in a slew of bank fees and threats of legal action from the bank.

In the end the case was ruled in my favor, but only after I spent over six hours on the phone with Paypal to get them to cancel the return and write a registered letter asking my bank to forgive the overdraft.

I haven't sold much on eBay and I've never had a case ruled in the buyer's favor but every single item I've ever sold there's been a return request and a dispute process over items that were sent to the buyer as described.

Every single time an auction ends I have to fight for the money I'm very well entitled to.

How does anybody find all the time to fight with buyers every single day and still turn a profit?

[southern*sweet*tea]

I've been selling here for almost 15 years and have never had a return, but I don't sell cell phones, computers, clothes, video games or other high scam or high return items. I sell old books and papers, hardly a scammner's haven.

It all depends on what you are selling.  Sellers who do well plan for loss.  They take a percentage of their sales and set it aside as a loss fund (self insurance) to cover any loss due to transit damage or virtual shoplifting.  I've sold online for almost 15 years and have had a loss fund since day one, only had to use it twice - once for a broken item and once for a package that got lost. Of course, this is a cost to be rolled into your item price, just like all costs and fees are.

oh, and it's not 90 days, it's 180 days

[kensgiftshop]

Pay Pal gives a buyer 180 days to file a claim.

Could be the type of items you are selling. Electronics seem to have a lot of problems.

Do away with auctions and require immediate payment, that will fix the nonpayer problem.

As far as returns, we all have to deal with them. Some sellers seem to have more returns then others.

I think I've had maybe 3 or 4 in the last year.

Returns don't take that long to do, approve the return, send a label and refund once you get the item back.

[ed8108]

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wrote:

I haven't sold much on eBay and I've never had a case ruled in the buyer's favor but every single item I've ever sold there's been a return request and a dispute process over items that were sent to the buyer as described

Congratulations on winning cases, hopefully your success will inspire other sellers to follow your example.

Thanks for posting.

[thallidguy]

It very much depends on what you're selling. Another thing you learn as a seller (or should learn as a seller) is how to play the expectations game. Try to mitigate disagreements about condition by being cautious when you describe your item. Do everything you possibly can to make sure you buyer knows what to expect; I suspect that most return requests are not scams, but buyers who simply did not get what they were expecting because the description could have been clearer.

[lja440]

I've been here since 2004. I can count on one hand my returns.

One set of decorative pillows, though I stated a peach background the buyers monitor showed pink. (I solved this issue and have never had a return for color since.

One lot of jeans and shorts. They were in the childrens catagory but the buyer thought they were womens size 12. They were girls size 12 that my daughter outgrew almost before ever wearing them more than once or twice. 

Two horse saddles, I used to sell them a lot with detailed measurements but also with a very simple return for refund if the saddle doesn't fit you or your horse well. I stopped selling my saddles here when eBay went to sellers having to pay for returns because saddles can run $50 or more just to ship.

I sell, records, books, DVD's, CD's, glassware, china, clothing, rural vintage items and smaller horse tack (bits, bridles, halters, and blankets).  I DO NOT sell any electronics, tried it once. A old ISIS cell phone and probably got 30 to 40 scam e-mails within 2 days.

[pin-emporium]

1) never sell expensive electronics unless you can afford to take the loss on them.

2) always say something is worse when it's actually better. ie; "scuffed laptop, screen scratched, as-is" on a laptop that may only have a few scratches on it. 

3) NEVER sell a laptop with a harddrive. take the extra $50 loss on that one because a tech person will get it and know what to do with it, instead of someone who has no idea. 

4) dont offer warranties

5) keep in the "safe" zones. ie; toys, clothing, etc. Things get dangerous when selling things with parts that can go wrong, or fragile things like glassware. 

6) selling broken things is safer and more profitable than selling perfectly fine things. especially with electronics.

[dirk12955]

I've had over 10,000 sales in 19 years and had two returns.

I've refunded buyers for USPS not delivering, But returns have been a non-issue.