SELLERS BEWARE

[thebarterersdog]

Now what do we do.  I have discovered that buyers are breaking their items in order to get the seller to pay for return shipping. At first, we just thought it a coincidence that items were supposedly arriving in a broken state, but then another came to our attention recently and that's when we realized what's going on. After all, things break, we get that. But after the last two, one after the other, we were extremely careful with packaging for the next, making sure the item was impossible to break by increasing packing (we already used a lot), shipped in "hard" cardboard boxes, also reinforced with packing.

The items in question are jewelry...

When I shipped the tri-string of pearls, I very carefully packed the item, almost to the point of overkill. Yet, in came the notice from Ebay, this buyer claims it came in broken. Policy dictates that the BUYER is responsible for returning items. Yet, eBay is insisting I pay because the item is broken. Seems to be the latest loophole. So sellers beware! Now, not only do you lose out on sales, but now shady buyers know how to get you to lose out on product return shipping.

[2014sportsterguy]

Don't sell what you can not afford to loose. We can not control buyers simply block them, cost of mail order.

[rose-dee]

This is no doubt one of the results sellers will see from the Money Back Guarantee programme.  If a buyer is simply unhappy with an item (say, not quite the colour they expected), rather than paying to return it with tracking, as would be the case, if they can claim it's broken then the seller is responsible for a refund -- and return shipping, if the item is still worth returning. 

I think these sort of problems will be inevitable now.  All you can do is try to keep your overall volume up enough to absorb occasional losses like this.  Avoiding selling breakables may not even help, since buyers can still claim that there is some other defect in an item.  

This is another example of how things are becoming tougher for sellers with modest means and smaller volumes. There really isn't anything we can do but grit our teeth and deal with it, sorry to say. 

[73rhc]

"Don't sell what you can not afford to loose. We can not control buyers simply block them, cost of mail order."

Utterly ridiculous. How does this help the OP? Why bother posting this?

[2014sportsterguy]

Do you actually know how mail order works, you can not controll how people behave, you do not list what you can not afford to loose, what part of this do you not understand?

[mr.elmwood]

We are being alerted to the danger of customer returning items. Apparently this is new to selling.

[2014sportsterguy]

🙂

[mdf_jersey]

Well obviously this is another difficulty that we seller will have to endure. Im sure it wont be the last. I cant remember the last time Ebay made an announcement or policy change where I actually jumped up and cheered . Yes , occasionally they save us a few pennys, or should I say nickels with free or lower priced listing, ye pee. I do have too laugh at Ebay though. When they make announcements when you know we sellers will face more challenges, they always say it will be a better experience for sellers. Are you having a better experience?

It has been said quite often that Ebay isnt for everyone. All I can say is Damb right. 

[73rhc]

Your reply has nothing to do with the OP's post. The OP is not claiming the returns are a new thing. Please read it.

[pierrelebel]

"Policy dictates that the BUYER is responsible for returning items."

That was the old policy.  Things are changing. The new policy will require the seller to pay for return postage in cases where eBay/PayPal agree with the buyer claiming the item is "substantially not as described".

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/item-not-as-described.html

Refund the buyer

If a buyer wants a refund for an item that didn't match the listing description:

• We ask the buyer to ship the item back to you—with tracking information—within 5 business days.

• Your refund to the buyer is the total purchase price plus the original shipping charge.

You're also required to pay for the return shipping charges and you can't charge a restocking fee.

Why did eBay and PayPal modify their policy?  To offer better protection to buyers who often received "garbage" from sellers knowing the buyers could not afford to "return with tracking".  Unfortunately, by helping fix one side of the problem, it will negatively affect many sellers. 

The new policy is more in line with the trend in ecommerce where buyers are offered unconditional guarantee by a growing number of businesses.

[rose-dee]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

The new policy is more in line with the trend in ecommerce where buyers are offered unconditional guarantee by a growing number of businesses. 

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Which is why smaller sellers are unfortunately just going to have to adapt (yet again).  I feel as if I've done nothing but adapt -- mostly bending backwards -- to eBay policy over the past 3 years.  

I wouldn't mind a moratorium from such policy changes for a while, but that's a hopeless wish I think.  Who knows what the Spring Seller Update will bring? 

As you point out, and just to clarify for those who think the OP was complaining about something that was old hat:

There is nothing new about returns, but everything new about how eBay is now obliging us to deal with them. The possibility for fraud (or at least misrepresentation by buyers) and added loss/cost for sellers has increased as a result of the MBG programme.  

I agree with you that in attempting to deal with one problem eBay has swung the pendulum the other way.  And I also agree that they more or less had to do this due to market pressures and doubtless also in an attempt to woo back buyers who might have been spooked by the 2014 hacker incident.  There's nothing like the word "guarantee" to reassure a buyer.

[gifts_of_elegance]

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@rose-dee wrote:

Which is why smaller sellers are unfortunately just going to have to adapt (yet again).  I feel as if I've done nothing but adapt -- mostly bending backwards -- to eBay policy over the past 3 years.  

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Perhaps we should not have.  Then they would not have rolled out changes so freely.

[recped]

Which is why smaller sellers are unfortunately just going to have to adapt (yet again).

should be

Which is why smaller sellers are unfortunately just going to have to adapt (yet again).

It's got nothing to do with "small" unless you consider ANYONE other than the pet Diamonds to be small (that would include sellers doing more than a Million Dollars per month).

Sellers doing hundreds or thousands of transactions per day are subject to the same policy changes that a one transaction per day seller is subject to.