Return policy "deprecated" and "unsupported." Does anyone understand what this means?

[darrellschweitzer_pa]

I am getting little flags at relisting time which say that on ALL of my listings (all 1400 of them) the returns policy is "deprecated." Does anyone know what this means? It does not seem to have any effect as I relist things. I also have a message that some 85 of my listings have  an "unsupported" returns policy. Opening one up, I see that it has my standard domestic return period of 14 days and the seller pays for the return. (I very, very rarely get returns. A couple times a year. If this happens, I work it out with the customer. If I sent them the wrong thing, I first send them what they actually ordered, then try to arrange for the resturn of the wrong one.) I could not find anything that seemed to require a change. No idea what "unsupported" means. The link provided in the message contained no useful information. It did say that any "unsupported" items will not be automatically relisted.  I guess that means that the listing of "until cancelled" doesn't apply anymore and what few of those I have will have to be changed to 30-day listings, which I will then manually relist every month. Otherwise I can only ignore all this.

[mwal0120]

Yes, why is 14 day still there. I had to Google this answer to know what the hell they were after this time. Why do they always try and "sell" changes as some sort of benefit to us and our "experieince"?

[greendragoncompany]

LOL when I read your comment!

I looked in the dictionary earlier for a definition of 'deprecated' - there isn't one - only for 'deprecate'.

The definition was 'to endeavour to prevent by prayer'.

Strange.

[greendragoncompany]

Wordy gobbledygook for a word that means, to use the dictionary definition: "to endeavour to avert by prayer".
Just how to get the job done, is what's needed here, not an appeal to the Almighty.

[mr_lincoln]

@delmax

---

@delmax wrote:

If 30 return policy is now a must, why am I still able to selct 14 day return?

---

I think sometimes it takes eBay's computers a while to update all accounts ... I've seen some things kick in here on one ID and take a little longer on another ID ... I will have to check next time I Relist but I am not sure that I have seen the 14 day choice for a while ... maybe its there and I just ignore it now, not sure.

[castlemagicmemories]

https://techterms.com/definition/deprecated

Deprecated

In the world of software development, "deprecated" refers to functions or elements that are in the process of being replaced by newer ones. The term comes from the word "deprecate," which means to disapprove of something. While deprecated items may work in the current version of a programming language, they may not function in future updates. Therefore, software developers are advised to replace deprecated items with other options.

As programming languages evolve, functions are sometimes replaced with newer, more efficient options. For example, in PHP, the ereg() function, which is used to search for matching strings was deprecated in favor of the preg_match() function, which is faster and more flexible. While the ereg() function may work with current PHP installations, it may not be supported in future versions of PHP. Therefore, developers are discouraged to rely on the ereg() function and are encouraged to updated their source code to use to preg_match() function instead.

In HTML, elements such as tags and attributes may be deprecated from one version to the next. For example, in HTML 5, several common tags used in HTML 4 have been deprecated. These include <center>, <font>, <tt>, and several others. While modern browsers may still interpret these tags correctly, they are not guaranteed to work, and therefore should be avoided.

The process of deprecating functions and elements in a programming language is called "deprecation." Typically, this process lasts for several versions of the language, which gives developers ample time to update their code. Most software development environments (IDEs) also alert programmers when deprecated items are being used. These warnings help developers remove deprecated items before they cause syntaxerrors or other problems in a program.

[castlemagicmemories]

---

@greendragoncompany wrote:
Wordy gobbledygook for a word that means, to use the dictionary definition: "to endeavour to avert by prayer".
Just how to get the job done, is what's needed here, not an appeal to the Almighty.

---

An appeal to the Almighty is always a good idea but that is not what deprecated means in this context.

https://techterms.com/definition/deprecated

Deprecated

In the world of software development, "deprecated" refers to functions or elements that are in the process of being replaced by newer ones. The term comes from the word "deprecate," which means to disapprove of something. While deprecated items may work in the current version of a programming language, they may not function in future updates. Therefore, software developers are advised to replace deprecated items with other options.

As programming languages evolve, functions are sometimes replaced with newer, more efficient options. For example, in PHP, the ereg() function, which is used to search for matching strings was deprecated in favor of the preg_match() function, which is faster and more flexible. While the ereg() function may work with current PHP installations, it may not be supported in future versions of PHP. Therefore, developers are discouraged to rely on the ereg() function and are encouraged to updated their source code to use to preg_match() function instead.

In HTML, elements such as tags and attributes may be deprecated from one version to the next. For example, in HTML 5, several common tags used in HTML 4 have been deprecated. These include <center>, <font>, <tt>, and several others. While modern browsers may still interpret these tags correctly, they are not guaranteed to work, and therefore should be avoided.

The process of deprecating functions and elements in a programming language is called "deprecation." Typically, this process lasts for several versions of the language, which gives developers ample time to update their code. Most software development environments (IDEs) also alert programmers when deprecated items are being used. These warnings help developers remove deprecated items before they cause syntaxerrors or other problems in a program.

[penguins_dont_fly]

---

@darrellschweitzer_pa wrote:

So, I have 1400 listings with 14-day returns on them. Now what? It might be possible to make global changes while relisting them in batches. I will try that. Meanwhile, I leave them as is. As often happens, the eBay policy bears no relationship to reality. I almost never get returns. Maybe a couple times a year, and even then it is done informally.  If a customer is dissatisfied, he or she is going to get in touch with me in far fewer than 14 days and we will work something out. If I sent the wrong item, I immediately send the correct item and offer to pay the postage on the return of the incorrect one. If someone thinks a description wasn't accurate, I usually offer a partial discount.

---

@darrellschweitzer_pa

You can Bulk Edit your items to change the return policy.

Go into your active listings, select 100 at a time and edit ... the bulk editor tends to choke on more than that in one session.

Do that 12 times ... should take you less than an hour (5 minutes x 12)

If you rarely get returns, the Return period won't make any difference.

I went to 60 day Free Returns last year ... and my return rate has not increased at all.

[goldguy22k]

---

@gkyn29 wrote:

You basically answered your own question. 14 day returns are no longer offered and must be changed to either 30 or 60.

---

Sorry, this statement seems to be 180-degrees different than my experience!  I can still list with a 14-day return period.  It appears as though the only "ding" is nasty emails from ebay and they won't automatically relist items.

all fwiw