eBay

jt-libra · ‎09-11-2014

Quite often I learn about eBay announcements in the ecommercebytes newsletter which many of you may read. I'm never sure whether they apply to eBay.com only because I don't always see the same announcements addressed to Canadian sellers.

Yesterday, there was an article about eBay "encouraging sellers to enroll in its holiday returns program. Items that offer Extended Holiday Returns will display a message to shoppers in November and December explaining they will have until January 31st to return the item."

"To push sellers into offering extended holiday returns, eBay is tying the program to Top Rated Seller discounts, which provide TRS sellers 20 percent off their Final Value Fees. From November 1st through December 31st, Top Rated Sellers will only receive discounts on those listings offering extended returns during those two months."

The full article is here:

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y14/m09/i11/s03

Has anyone heard further about this new policy?

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-11-2014

That program was announced in the spring update

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/springupdate2014/holidayreturns.html

It will only affect sellers who have the TRSplus seal on .com. During that time, if they do not have the extended return stated on an item, they do not receive the 20% fvf discount when that item sells.

It won't affect those of us who do not have the .com TRSplus designation.

jt-libra · ‎09-11-2014

Thanks pj.

I haven't re-read the spring update in a while, thinking I was familiar with everything that was in it. But I was wrong!

I had a feeling this wasn't something new or explosive; otherwise this board would have heated up.

Thanks again for the info.

theundercutter · ‎09-12-2014

Is there a way to apply this to all of my listings besides updating each one individually?

rose-dee · ‎09-12-2014

Yes, what 'pj' has said, was my understanding of this as well.

Since I knew I'd be losing my TRS Plus on .com soon anyway, I didn't pay it any further mind, but for those Canadian sellers who really do want to hang on to their TRS Plus designation on eBay.com, it's going to be an important consideration. Otherwise, if they've had TRS Plus for at least 3 months prior to November, the grace period may save them.

jt-libra · ‎09-12-2014

@rose-dee wrote:

.... but for those Canadian sellers who really do want to hang on to their TRS Plus designation on eBay.com, it's going to be an important consideration.

And for the rest of us, it means we don't have to worry about jumping through any more hoops 🙂 That is, until the next seller update comes along.

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-12-2014

@theundercutter wrote:
Is there a way to apply this to all of my listings besides updating each one individually?

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/holiday2014/extholidayreturns.html

Click on enroll

pjcdn2005 · ‎09-12-2014

@rose-dee wrote:
Yes, what 'pj' has said, was my understanding of this as well.

Since I knew I'd be losing my TRS Plus on .com soon anyway, I didn't pay it any further mind, but for those Canadian sellers who really do want to hang on to their TRS Plus designation on eBay.com, it's going to be an important consideration. Otherwise, if they've had TRS Plus for at least 3 months prior to November, the grace period may save them.

Sellers who don't opt in to the longer return period won't actually lose their TRS plus designation but they won't receive the discount or show the badge on those items that are opted out.

How would the grace period would affect anything in this circumstance?

rose-dee · ‎09-13-2014

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Sellers who don't opt in to the longer return period won't actually lose their TRS plus designation but they won't receive the discount or show the badge on those items that are opted out.

How would the grace period would affect anything in this circumstance?

I see what you mean -- I mis-read the initial announcement about this. I'm posting the following here for those who may still be in a position to care about their TRS Plus status on .com (from the announcement details on this programme). I wonder whether this also affects placement of listings, i.e. if a seller decides not to offer the extended holiday returns on certain listings, those listings drop down on the TRS placement/search ladder?

eBay Top Rated Seller requirements

Are my Top Rated Plus benefits impacted if I don’t offer holiday returns?
Your overall Top Rated Seller standing is not affected if you don’t offer extended holiday returns. But you won’t receive the 20% Top Rated Plus discount on final value fees, or a Top Rated Plus badge, on eligible listings that offer a return policy but don’t feature extended holiday returns.