Bad faith Seller protection by Ebay.

[canparts4u]

After 14 years of selling on eBay, I've become well-versed in the ins and outs of the platform, especially when it comes to returns and navigating buyer-seller interactions. I take pride in being an honest seller and have always enjoyed the thrill of finding great deals on eBay myself.

However, lately, I've been facing a frustrating trend with returns that's seriously impacting my bottom line. It's not just the usual part of doing business; it's becoming financially unsustainable. I'm based in Canada, so when buyers return items incorrectly or incompletely, it's not just a matter of inconvenience; it's costly. Paying for express shipping both ways and then getting hit with customs fees because of incorrectly filled documents—it's a nightmare scenario.

I've tried reaching out to eBay customer service, but it feels like banging my head against a brick wall. The offshore agents often seem disengaged, and no matter how much detail I provide, it's like they're not really listening. These returns are clearly buyer's remorse situations, and according to eBay's policies, they should be the buyer's responsibility to handle properly.

But here's the kicker: the tracking shows the item as delivered by USPS, yet when I check with Canada Post, it's a different story—it's held until I pay additional fees. This has happened a staggering 10 times just this year alone.

I'm at my wit's end. If things don't change soon—if I can't get some real assistance from eBay—I'm seriously considering closing my account. It's not a decision I take lightly, but the way things are going, I can't afford to keep absorbing these losses and dealing with the stress and frustration.

[byto253]

I am in your area and use https://myusaddress.ca/ in Ogdensburg for returns and some US purchases.  They charge $5US to hold an item for a full year.   Then returns are within the US, which is much cheaper with no customs risk.  

Of course, you cannot check what was shipped back to you until you pick it up, and you need to make an hour return trip at some point.   You need to determine if that risk and hassle is worth removing the return shipping to Canada risk.   It also allows me to require the return of less valuable items that if I had to ship to Canada I would just write off - it has happened that requiring the buyer to do a return results in them forgetting about it as they just wanted a refund. 

I end up travvleing that way at least once per year so that works out.  I have also been forunate to have very few returns but it does happen on occasion.  That included a very heavy set of Manga books, which I had returned to Ogdensburg as shipping to Canada would have been crazy.  

[pjcdn2005]

I would be frustrated too in your situation.  From what I've read, the auto parts category has a fairly high return rate.  eBay does not look at each situation individually. Once a buyer says that an item is not as described, damaged etc., they expect the seller to issue a return label and  refund once they get the item back. They assume the buyer is telling the truth.  In some cases the seller can recoup some of their losses if a nad claim was opened and it was a buyer's remorse return but the seller has to first meet specific criteria and you don't appear to meet them at this time.

A couple of suggestions that may or may not help. When people see that a seller does not accept returns, many feel that their only option is to open an item not as described return.  If your policy was 'buyer paid returns it's possible that not as described returns would decrease as buyers would feel confident that they could send the item back without having to claim NAD.

I realize that you are probably trying to compete with US sellers and give free shipping to US buyers. But, if you did accept returns and an item was returned to you as buyer's remorse, you would not have to refund shipping IF the buyer had paid the original shipping cost.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

The nature of the platform is that returns are a major liability for international sales or heavier items. 

If you sell heavy items that have a high rate of possible buyer error, like parts, I would take the liability of returns (in bad faith or not) very seriously when crafting your business plan.

You can input a handling fee in your shipping policies that is specific to US buyers. Rather than exiting the US market entirely, maybe consider charging a handling fee with all US orders that is large enough that it would cover you for your average rate of returns. As in, if you have one return every ten orders, and a return costs you $100 in unrecoverable costs (shipping, etc) - charge a $10 handling fee for self-insurance. There is a possibility that the total cost of your item might drive away some US buyers, but it would be better than exiting the market entirely. 

As far as the import costs you receive on return, you should be able to dispute those directly with the CSBA. I am not entirely familiar with the process. When you create a return label, it's always a good idea to write return merchandise on the customs form and instruct the buyer to include the original invoice. You may still get tacked with an import fee. 

Lastly, you could consider using a service like Shippsy to handle your returns. They are a forwarding company that accepts shipped in the US at USA rates and forwards them to you in Canada for a small fee. If they have a location in your city, it is usually cheaper than paying for it to be shipped directly to you in Canada. One aspect of this to consider is that using a forwarding service may affect your seller protection if the buyer does a switcheroo or returns the wrong item. You also might have to refund before you receive the item, since it will be marked as delivered to the US Shippsy location before you have it in hand. You would have to weigh these risks with the savings.