eBay

raphael@ebay.com · ‎08-13-2014

Hello Canadian eBayers,

This week, on the heels of the 2014 Fall Seller Update announcement, Rodney, Ryanne and I will be joined by Sonu, from the Post Transaction team out of the San Jose headquarters. Please go ahead and start posting your questions and comments, we will start answering at 1 pm Eastern.

See you then!

pierrelebel · ‎08-13-2014

Yesterday afternoon, eBay.com announced several changes to the User Agreement to incorporate the policy changes announced with the Fall 2014 Update:

http://announcements.ebay.com/2014/08/updates-to-the-ebay-user-agreement-user-privacy-notice-and-mon...

No such similar announcement has been made yet on eBay.ca.

First question: Will there be similar changes to the eBay.ca User Agreement?

Second question: When will they be announced?

Third question: How are Canadian sellers (including legacy users) affected by the changes of the User Agreement on eBay.com?

Fourth question: Are Canadian sellers affected in any way by the changes on eBay.com when they list on eBay.com and sell to residents of the USA?

pierrelebel · ‎08-13-2014

On the 2014 Fall Update thread, Raphael wrote earlier today:

"Sellers are still going to be able to dictate their own return policy and won't be required to pay for return shipping unless the item they sent was significantly not as described. "

Currently, if a buyer files a complaint that the goods are not as described, the buyer will be required by eBay/PayPal (depending on site of transaction) to return the item to the seller with tracking, paying for the return postage.

If I understand your post correctly, with the changes, Canadian sellers (regardless of their policy) will be obligated to pay for return postage - with tracking - should eBay/PayPal agree with the buyer that the "goods are not as described".

Is that correct?

Next question: If an overseas buyer receives a $12 item and claims (with eBay/PayPal agreeing) that the item is not as described, will eBay force the Canadian seller to pay huge amount of money (up to $30/$40 in some instances) to cover the cost of returning - with tracking - such $12 item to the Canadian seller?

Will someone, somewhere, use common sense?

This leads to the final question: does that make any sense to you?

pierrelebel · ‎08-13-2014

Reading information on eBay.com, it seems that the requirement for sellers to pay for return postage - with tracking - only applies to "domestic" transactions (both sellers and buyers located in USA)...

... while the information on eBay.ca states that all transactions, including international, will require payment of return postage - with tracking - by seller should eBay/PayPal find the "goods not as described".

Is the difference between eBay.ca and eBay.com correct?

Does that make sense to you?

rose-dee · ‎08-13-2014

Good morning! I may not be at my computer later, so wanted to post these questions now.

a) With regard to the changes that will be phased in for "hassle-free returns", are there any accommodations being made for Canadian sellers dealing with buyers outside Canada who ask for returns?

b) Specifically, if I understand the new policy, once a buyer requests a return, the cost of the return shipping label will be charged to the seller's eBay account. I assume "return shipping" will always mean tracked shipping? Is that correct? Such shipping will be far more costly for Canadian sellers than for their U.S. counterparts dealing with U.S. customers. Is anything being done to mitigate this for Canadian sellers?

c) How will eBay determine whether a buyer's reason for a return is bona fide, or won't it matter anymore? In other words, is this truly a "no questions asked" return policy, making buyer remorse an acceptable reason for returns?

d) Lastly, I understand buyers will be able to cancel a transaction within an hour of purchase. Is this correct? If so, how does eBay reconcile this with its warning to buyers that committing to buy is a contract? Or isn't it anymore?

My concern is that these policies, once fully in place, will become ruinous for smaller Canadian sellers faced with U.S. or international buyers who can automatically request a return or back out of a transaction for basically any reason. Can your representative from San Jose give us any reason to hope for consideration for our particular situation?

canuckchick · ‎08-13-2014

I'm looking for the clothing fitting charts that used to be on ebay.ca. Can you tell me where they went? Search finds nothing, even the a-z site finds nothing. Thank you

Val K. in Oakville, Ont.

pierrelebel · ‎08-13-2014

"Sellers are still going to be able to dictate their own return policy and won't be required to pay for return shipping unless the item they sent was significantly not as described. "

I forgot the obvious question:

Since sellers are able to dictate their own return policy, what happens when a Canadian seller states in the listing that "no return will be accepted" but eBay/Pay find in favour of an overseas buyer claiming "goods not as described" for an item sold for $12 plus $6 shipping (Light packet).

Will eBay/PayPal remove $18 from the seller's PayPal account?

Will the seller be refunded eBay FVF and PayPal fees?

Will eBay/PayPal issue a postage label to the buyer and charge the seller's account, regardless of the fact the seller's policy is not to accept return?

Or will eBay/PayPal simply take the money from the seller ($18) and tell the overseas buyer to keep the "not as described" goods?

Final question: will changing their return policy to "no return accepted" somehow affect Canadian sellers in default search results on eBay.com? on eBay.ca? on other eBay international sites?

00nevermind00 · ‎08-13-2014

Regarding this link that was posted to the boards yesterday:

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/fallupdate2014/selling-across-borders-details.html

What does this mean for Canadian buyers? There doesn't seem to be much love for the GSP around here and buyer after buyer after buyer have come to the two tacked Buyer Central threads to state that they will never buy or never buy again from a GSP seller. Is eBay trying to force the use of the GSP upon us?

rose-dee · ‎08-13-2014

Two final questions about the new returns policy:

1) If a buyer claims an item is not as described, defective or damaged, and processes a return request, what process will the seller have available to him/her to verify the buyer's claim before being charged for return shipping?

2) If a seller in such an instance requests a photo and damage is obvious, what happens if the seller decides he/she has no use for the item and doesn't want it returned? Will the seller be able to block the shipping charge process, or will there be a procedure to claim a refund later? If so, how does the seller show the label was never used? Or, if the buyer uses the label anyway, regardless of what the seller wants, will the seller still be able to get a refund for the unwanted return? This whole procedure isn't making sense to me.

gctks · ‎08-13-2014

We are concerned that the new policy , which requires sellers pay return shipping costs, offers a large potential for abuse and would like to take all steps required to ensure we will not be subject to the cost of paying postage to the customer's location , and for return postage , if a buyer deems an item is not as described. To that end, unless these cases are simply decided in favour of the buyer , please provide us with the process that ebay goes through to determine whether an item is as described when an "Item Not As Described" case is opened. We need to ensure that , should an "Item Not As Described" be opened on one of our sales , our listings are accurate and complete in order for ebay to have the required information to be able to properly adjudicate the case.
Although we are interested in other ebay users thoughts and opinions, we need to have a response from ebay on this question .

pierrelebel · ‎08-13-2014

Last week the following question was raised:

Why is it that so many sellers (myself included) regularly claim not to have received the invitation by email and/or through "My Messages" although they were eligible to the invitational promotion. Where is the problem?

Why can't eBay send email and a message through "my messages" to those invited sellers?

The reply received was:

"For your second question, as far as I know when invitation-based promos are run, an eligible seller is defined as one who received the invitation email. Thus, if a seller didn't received the invitation, they aren't eligible for the promo."

That is incorrect and does NOT answer the question.

I have NOT received an email message from eBay inviting me to the promotion, I did NOT receive a message from eBay through "my messages" inviting me to the promotion, yet I was eligible to the promotion as evidenced by the promotional offer available in "Selling Manager". As stated last week, many other sellers have experienced the same problem.

It is a recurring problem, on and off.

Why is that? Are you aware of the problem? What is being done to solve it? Is it related to being "legacy users" (Canadians registered long ago on eBay.com)?

pocomocomputing · ‎08-13-2014

Restocking fees are currently allowed according to these eBay pages

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/selling-practices.html

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-practices.html

Can a seller specify restocking fees to minimize the return shipping cost if paid by the seller? Will restocking fees still be allowed after the changes?

Restocking fees are not buyer friendly but paying for buyer return shipping costs are not seller friendly.

As mentioned, return shipping with tracking is so expensive for Canadian sellers if they had to pay for this. Even domestic shipping within Canada is expensive.

gctks · ‎08-13-2014

Will sellers have access to the number of returns a buyer has made and be able to cancel a transaction if they feel that a buyer has made too many returns? Ebay may have a process in place to monitor unusaally high return rates by buyers but because of the new policy change , which requires sellers pay return shipping costs, coupled with the high cost of Canadian postage, sellers should be able to determine whether to deal with a buyer and have the ability to cancel a transaction if they feel the buyer initiates too many returns. By the time Ebay identifies a buyer with too many returns, that buyer may have cost a seller, or sellers, a significant amount of money.
Although we are interested in other ebay users thoughts and opinions, we need to have a response from ebay on this question .

lukey9 · ‎08-13-2014

It is going to force Sellers in Canada to stop shipping to outside of North America because of the high Tracking rates charged by Canada Post for returns.

I am going to start selling for cheaper items so if there is a problem it will be cheaper just to give them a Refund with out the Auction being returned.

Even Walmart the largest Retailer in the world makes the Buyer to bring the item back before they give them a Refund

bookelph · ‎08-13-2014

“Buyers can request a cancellation if they change their mind within an hour after the sale (as long as you haven’t already shipped the item). This will help reduce the hassle of unpaid items and help you get your merchandise back up for sale faster."

Question: Will this apply to auction listings, or only to fixed price listings? If it applies to AUCTION listings, I can foresee problems.

--->Someone puts in ridiculously HIGH proxy bid, just to see if winning bid is what he wants to pay, then cancels when it turns out to be higher than he wanted. Plus, he can see other bids, and when it’s relisted gets a deal.

Ripe for abuse, wouldn't you agree?

greenmangoes · ‎08-13-2014

SHOPPING CART:

The eBay shopping cart is not available on ebay.ca to ebay.com buyers.

When will this be available? Why is it taking so long?

Thanks!

You only fail when you don't try!

lady.stark · ‎08-13-2014

From the 2014 seller updates: •Sellers will be responsible for return shipping when there’s an issue with the item or the item wasn’t as described. Wow, so no one will want to ship to Canada or elsewhere for that matter. USA sellers will keep their items to USA only. Thank you eBay for this idiot policy!

lady.stark · ‎08-13-2014

Technical problem: as soon as I'm logged in in the forum, I can't log out of them. The link has completely disappeared. Also, as I am writing this message, even if I chose "Rich text", I can't add bold or italic, because all those options are gone. The "Quote" or "Options" functions don't work either. When I click on them, they bring me back at the top of the page.

pocomocomputing · ‎08-13-2014

Ebay is using the new return policy to force more USA sellers to use GSP for international shipping. Those sellers are not responsible for returns on GSP shipments. GSP will issue refunds and no return required.