The mayority of buyers is easygoing, they receive and are happy with item.
Some however are "return ladies" and "con men", "scammers".
If they see a chance they will say not received, or initiate a return, not caring about the seller at all. Antisocial.
Regularily ask to track a $2 item international, always writing detailed response how expensive it would be.
The best recently was a buyer who all together wrote 50 messages for $2 item! He couldnt get it anywhere else so asked to ship again and pay the high DHL costs.
When I had the tracking number, this went on for a while, because it didnt turn live immediately.
From a cost perspective, if you pay staff for this, it costs you almost 100, for a $2 item.
You can only count on the fact about 99% of buyers dont cause trouble, receive, leave good FB, have no problems with item.
If you sell problematic items such as used, certain "womens" items, perishables, worn clothing or expensive gears. naturally youd rather have 5% to 10% problem purchases, either you need a lot of communications, or you can count on some 5% to 10% of your money to be lost, adding to the total cost of sales.
There should be certain kinds of items with "no return possible", or "buyer risk".
There will be buyers still if it is the only avenue where they can get these items.
ebay is over protecting its buyers, and as such, returns and any kinds of claims are regularly abused.
I often read the bad FB of large chinese sellers. 1% or more items never arrive!
If you can check the total of which ebay is trading, and then look how many shipments is 1% of that? How many millions? Where are all these packages ending up? Who has these items?
It is the con sellers who never send them for sure.
Really I think "no return possible" should be an option a seller could choose.
For inexpensive items it can never be a "return" nothing will ever be returned, the costs for the buyer would exceed the total paid !
Its a no brainer. The buyer can not use bulk shipping and also needs to pay tracked shipping via retail. This is immensely expensive international. It doesnt even make much sense for $20 or $30, plus to look after it. Only to receive an empty envelope + pay for tracked shipping of same.
returns add to the costs of sales and often as such are faulty, so prices for all are higher. It is other buyers who pay for these returns, sellers having no money for several days in some cases, and having to survive on cheap foods, perhaps having less than welfare. And buyer enjoys free item!
In germany private sales by law are without any option for return and without any warranty. They are pretty good at common sense. only commercial retailers could really maintain return services.
on ebay, as usual, the seller is wrong and the buyer is right, seller has to fully refund the buyer. Otherwise the buyer may have a negative buying experience.
Id say if they can not get the items at other places, they keep buying. If they can get it elsewhere for lower prices they dont care and walk away.
Exclusive items and good prices are the key.
If you resell, buy on ebay and pay 30% more to double price? Hows that working out? Its not! Plus pay the fees two times. If I can get it for good price on ebay, I source it on ebay, if not, I simply could not, if the price is not good. And as such, typically it is 30% higher. Only some, its same price or lower, or exclusive to ebay. Often I just do because I can use USD and dont need to enter card number again every time.
So this is the "free shipping" on most ebay items, and all these returns and claims and two different fees to be paid, resulting in 30% higher price. Speaking from experience of maybe almost 1000 purchases. There is no "free shipping" sold anywhere or traded anywhere globally, and there is no "free shipping" available for chinese to order.
0.99 free tracked international shipping + item, guess who pays? You. Other buyers. It is not only a marketing trick, but increasing prices for others + the logistics network. Postal prices doubled since I started selling because the $1 bulk rate they pay to the national networks.
Same for free returns, no questions asked returns, and faulty returns. Other buyers pay for them, sellers could have hardships in some cases, work, never have any real money.
I dont think returns are neccessary on low price items, as a buyer I certainly can take a risk for a small amount of money, I will not be in danger and will keep buying if I can not get the items at other places.
If we had them all here in a mall for half the price, would I bother to shop online, only see pictures and wait a long time? I guess not.
So OP, theres things buyers better buy in a mall or shopping centre, if you decide you want to sell them, certainly you take a higher than usual risk for a return.
