I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN WITH FREE RETURNS FORCED ON US AND TAKING AWAY TOP RATED DISCOUNTS

[bonus-deal]

I posted this months ago, that they would force us ebay sellers to do free returns!  this is wrong.  No other marketplace does this, and ebay is trying to claim that all marketplaces do this.  Also do NOT LET THEM TELL YOU AT EBAY, That it will increase your sales!  THIS IS 1000% FALSE AND JUST FOR THEM TO PUSH THIS.  They tie you up and force you to do something. 

Ebay is the worst company now.  I can bet 10000%  that ebay stocks will drop drastically.  Does ebay not know of the Fraud that just happened with Walmart and Amazon.  These people are doing $2 million in returns fraud, and now ebay is going to facilitate this for these fraud people.

Get this, ebay 3 months ago, tried to state free returns will increase your sales 300%.  THIS IS 1000% FALSE ADVERTISMENT.  DO NOT LISTEN TO EBAY REPS.  YOUR RETURNS WILL GO THRU THE ROOF, AND CUSTOMERS WILL STILL SELECT DEFECTIVE, THEN STILL CAUSING MORE WORK FOR SELLERS TO SORT THRU THESE STUPID FRAUD RETURNS!

I told ebay 3 months ago, i can see what there doing.  They lied to me.  I told them i see that you took away 10% top rated discount, and they stated because they are going to help sellers with returns and such and make it better, but that was 100% lie.  They are trying to remove the Discount completely!

I can bet 10000%  that by end of year, there will be no more Top Rated discounts.  No more Top rated badge.  And watch how all the fraud guys on amazon and walmart come to ebay and fraud the ssystem.  and then watch sellers dissappear AGAIN! and then ebay stocks will definitly fall drastically.  Only reason why ebay is still up and running is because they are the place to shop for generic items.  Ebay doesn't get it yet, but what there doing is forcing all the good sellers to move away from ebay, and all that's left is the generic **bleep** sellers, who screw everyone, and all the negative **bleep** that comes from them, falls on us good sellers.  I have to say ebay your a piece of work for lying to me on the phone, for trying to lie 3 months previously when i called you out on forcing 30 day free returns!  

EBAY - SOON, YOU'LL BE NOTHING.  your stock shares is going to drop by half.  I can guarantee you that. 

[orangehound]

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@bonus-deal wrote:

I posted this months ago, that they would force us ebay sellers to do free returns! 

(I believe you know what I'm about to write, and simply left out a couple of words of clarification ... but just in case others are reading ...)

eBay is not forcing sellers to have free returns.  It is optional.  However, in order to have the shiny TRS+ badge on the listing, one must offer 30-day free returns (or longer).

[triodiode]

Im sorry but they are forcing us to do free returns. There doing this by taking away something we have already earned and many have had for years. When you want someone to do something you give them an incentive to do so you dont take away what you have already earned and had for years.

Its just like they did with free shipping they wanted everyone to do free shipping so they now charge you fees on what you charge for shipping so you might a well do free shipping. I know they said it was because sellers were selling a 50.00 item for a 1.00 and charged 49.00 for shipping to avoid the fees but that was **bleep** they knew who those sellers were and could have stopped it but it was better for ebay just to charge fees on the shipping because ebay makes more money. I have been selling on here almost 20 years like a lot of others I have seen changes that were actually good for everyone and other  changes that were strictly for ebay stockholders to make more money while making it impossible for the smaller sellers (the back bone of ebay) to make a profit. I know some will say just raise your price to make more money but there is a limit on what people will pay and with the copy cat sellers copying other sellers  auctions and cutting prices it makes it even more difficult. Just my opinion as a long time seller. 

[orangehound]

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I just have three comments ...

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@triodiode wrote:
I have been selling on here almost 20 years  ... Just my opinion as a long time seller. 

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Though I don't know your intent in making these statements, I see these statements (or similar ones) used frequently by sellers that just want things to be like the "good old days" ... that's a terrible retail posture.  Success in competitive retail markets has been, and always will be, about a seller's ability to change, adapt, and better compete.  Doing things like 2016 or 2006 or earlier is a formula for failure.

(PS I've been selling on eBay since 1999 on multiple accounts, and all those years of experience mean very little to my success in 2018 ... they can actually be a hindrance if I am unable to let go of the past).

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@triodiode wrote:

Im sorry but they are forcing us to do free returns. There doing this by taking away something we have already earned and many have had for years. When you want someone to do something you give them an incentive to do so you dont take away what you have already earned and had for years.

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No.  eBay is not forcing us to do anything.  They are a sales channel just like Walmart, flea markets, Amazon, Poshmark, Etsy, etc., and to view eBay as anything more will be a formula for disappointment.

• First, they are not our boss to praise us and give us rewards, raises, bonuses, or attaboy certificates to hang on the wall.
• Second, we do not work for eBay and thus we are not "earning" anything from eBay.  We pay eBay, not the other way around.

eBay, from time to time, may offer incentives to get our business, but that's all.  Incentives come and go, and change.  Kellogg's may no longer offer coupons to buy your favorite cereal, or United may change the frequent flyer mileage program ...  but, none of us have some lifetime privilege to get discounts on Fruit Loops just because we've been buying them with coupons since 1998.

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I'm not writing this to be critical of you or anyone else, but simply to encourage you to embrace the new realities of the on-line marketplace (it has changed greatly in the last 3 years).  It is HIGHLY competitive with new sales channels popping up each year (who heard of Poshmark or Offer Up in 2016?), and success means that your products will need to stand out ... eBay has a clearly stated direction, and it is guiding all sellers to embrace certain practices to help us be successful in that direction.

It is not because they don't value you, but because they don't want you to remain stagnant in this marketplace and fail.

[lightningboltelectronics]

THIS IS HORRIBLE!

[laurabeardsley]

Hmm, I cannot see where taking away benefits the sellers have earned is moving forward in the marketplace.

[plumbingspecials]

I was the fool and took up eBay's promotion that they would pay for return shipping on items with the free returns option (June 1 through June 15). Well, guess what? I have a buyer's remorse return that I am paying the return shipping on, and waiting for an answer of why my promotion isn't covering this. I had 400 or so listings under that promotion. I am so screwed.

[luxgoods]

This is typical Ebay.  Everytime they decide to roll out some promotion, they adopt a wait and see what happens attitude.  I am amazed at the number of glitches we are experiencing on a daily basis.  I have said it before, this ridiculous free returns policy is a diaster in the making.  The number of scammers on ebay has increased greatly and will now more than ever grow with free returns.  

[dianelovesdogs]

I noticed that my badge was gone from my listings and called ebay. I have 1 day shipping and 30 day returns but in order to have my badge shown on listings I have to offer free returns. I don't want to risk losing money just for someone to send something back that there is nothing wrong with. I'm afraid the returns will cut too deep into any profit. And yes I have seen my sales drop since losing my badge but I might lose more with free returns. I feel it is unfair. I have worked hard for my top rated statis, even going to the post office sometimes 2 times a day.

[orangehound]

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@plumbingspecials wrote:
I was the fool and took up eBay's promotion that they would pay for return shipping on items with the free returns option (June 1 through June 15). Well, guess what? I have a buyer's remorse return that I am paying the return shipping on, and waiting for an answer of why my promotion isn't covering this. I had 400 or so listings under that promotion. I am so screwed.

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Seriously?   That's unexpected ... I would be interested to know if their plan is to credit your account.

[waterbed_bigfoot]

@plumbingspecialsYou didn't read it too good then.  It stated you pay for the returns and we will reimburse you up to $200.00 in your return shipping cost in September or October.  We opted in for 2 weeks but decided not to keep it since most of our packages are big and shipping is very expensive.  We don't want to raise the prices to cover free returns so we went back to 30 days buyer pays for remorse returns.  We did not keep the free shipping beyond the 2 weeks that eBay would reimburse.  We wanted to see if we got more sales.  But since this is a slow time anyway our sales stayed about the same.

[waterbed_bigfoot]

@orangehoundI read the promo pretty closely and that is exactly what they are going to do up to $200.00 in September or October.  We put our listings back on 30 days buyer pay on the 15th.  One of the reasons is not all catagories get the reimbursement until the end of August and we didn't really want to offer free returns we just wanted to see if our sales really increased or not.  They didn't but it was only on for 2 weeks during a slow time.  Our competitors in waterbeds don't seem to be offering them since shipping each way can run 35.00 on a 100.00 item it is cost prohibitive to offer free returns for remorse returns.  

[orangehound]

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@laurabeardsley wrote:

Hmm, I cannot see where taking away benefits the sellers have earned is moving forward in the marketplace.

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eBay changes programs every year ... every year we lose some benefits, and every year we get some benefits.

In 2017, we lost 10% of our TRS+ benefits ... we gained (a)  $30 per quarter Promoted Listings credit for TRS, (b) the ability to have US-based shipping rate tables ... which has saved my business hundreds of dollars, (c) a much improved mark-down manager, (d) internal promoted listings to replace eBay's in-line off-site promotions, and (e) several good sales and traffic analysis tools.

In 2018, we lost the remainder of our 10% TRS+ benefits (unless we offer free return shipping), the ability to have 14-day returns, and restocking fees ... we gained (a) two new store levels, (b) a new store design that is MUCH more mobile friendly and puts our categories in URL titles that should help with search engines, (c) the ability to withhold 50% of refunds for free returns to combat buyer-abuse ... I hate this program, by the way, but some might like it; and (d) it looks like we are finally getting some pricing tools from the Terapeak acquisition ... though nothing is out yet.

[dugoldstuff]

> Hmm, I cannot see where taking away benefits the sellers have earned is moving forward in the marketplace.

Exactly.

   Think what would happen if years later, teachers went back into your high school or college transcript and changed all your As to Cs because NOW the standards are different.

[laurabeardsley]

Well for me since I do not have a store it has only been losses to my benefits and no listing promotions for 18 months now. I am a long time seller and over the years have done everything ebay has asked to earn the benefits but doing free returns was the breaking point for me. I guess everyone has their limits.Just kind of discouraged that after working this hard and long at something I feel I have gone backwards in standing instead of gaining respect from a company that has made quite a lot of money from me. This is certainly not how I would treat my customers!