Confusion regarding new return policy changes for 2018 - international seller

[cranberrypark]

We are international sellers selling on eBay.com.  When I called eBay yesterday to determine if we had to comply with the new 30 day free return policy I got conflicting answers after talking to 3 different people - they were not prepared for a question from a seller on eBay.com outside of the U.S. The "return specialist" I finally ended speaking to initially said everyone had to comply and was unaware of the exemption category of Art and Collectibles (still can be 14 day returns). I had him open one of our listings and he concluded that we don't have to change anything. 99.9% of our sales are international.

Does anyone out there who are international sellers understand what we have to do if anything?

[momcqueen]

This would be an excellent question to pose at the Weekly Chat with ebay staff, Tyler. It opens tonight for answering tomorrow. 

[pjcdn2005]

As a Canadian seller with global trs you receive the discount and the trs badge on.ca regardless which site you list on.   If you list on .com you will still get a trs discount if you are a Global trs but you only will have the trs badge on .com if you meet the same criteria as US sellers which includes uploading tracking within handling time and free domestic (US) returns.  You don’t have the trs badge on ,com right now so if you don’t have free returns, nothing should change for you when free returns are required.

[cranberrypark]

Thank you momcqueen for the reply! Not sure how to submit the question for the weekly chat...would you be able to forward it?

[kawartha-ephemera]

After looking at a few of your listings it appears to me that yes, you will be required to change from 14 days to 30 days. According to ebay they will eventually auto update listings for sellers that do not make changes on their own.

I'm not sure of the date this comes into effect on .com but the link below states the change comes to .ca in July. So, I would think if the policy change is coming to Canada too we will need to comply even if we list on ebay.com

https://pages.ebay.ca/seller-centre/news/seller-updates/2018-summer/simplified-returns.html#streamli...

[cranberrypark]

Thanks for the reply, but this is really confusing and I think that posing the question to eBay would be really helpful.  As we understand this situation, our items are located in Canada and as almost 100% of our sales are international; i.e., not sold within Canada, the 30 day free return rule seems to apply for items located in the U.S. and for U.S. domestic sales.  One of the several eBay reps I spoke to yesterday indicated that the item location would dictate whether the sales were domestic or international.

The rules imply that we can make other arrangements for international sales and I believe that our sales would be viewed as international and therefore not have to comply.

It would be very helpful to have a clear understanding.

As another poster noted, and I had not really noticed before, the TRS badge only shows up on eBay.com not eBay.ca.  We are also billed in Canadian dollars not U.S. dollars

[cranberrypark]

I tend to agree with you and as stated in another response, had not noticed that the TRS badge only shows on eBay.ca

Please see my response to another poster (below) and thank you for your reply!

[femmefan1946]

Not sure how to submit the question for the weekly chat...would you be able to forward it?

tyler@ebay

Given that most buyers are unaware of the TRS badges, and willingly buy from sellers with 95% FB, in my opinion, the important part of the TRS status is the discount on fees.

When an international /Canadian seller has the Global TRS, does she get the fee discount on ALL sales or only on her non-US sales?

[cranberrypark]

Hi there!

I have never posted on the community boards before, and don't know how to post my question for the weekly responses by Tyler@eBay.  Judging from some of the responses I am not the only one that is confused.  

If you can give me directions as to how to pose this question for the weekly forum I would be most grateful.  I think that I know the answer but the news output memos by eBay certainly don't help clearing up the confusion.

[cranberrypark]

I just posted the question to Tyler@eBay.  Looking forward to the response.

[pjcdn2005]

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@cranberrypark wrote:

Thanks for the reply, but this is really confusing and I think that posing the question to eBay would be really helpful.  As we understand this situation, our items are located in Canada and as almost 100% of our sales are international; i.e., not sold within Canada, the 30 day free return rule seems to apply for items located in the U.S. and for U.S. domestic sales.  One of the several eBay reps I spoke to yesterday indicated that the item location would dictate whether the sales were domestic or international.

The rules imply that we can make other arrangements for international sales and I believe that our sales would be viewed as international and therefore not have to comply.

It would be very helpful to have a clear understanding.

As another poster noted, and I had not really noticed before, the TRS badge only shows up on eBay.com not eBay.ca.  We are also billed in Canadian dollars not U.S. dollars

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Actually, I was saying that the trsPlus badge is only on .com.  eBay.ca  listings have the global trs badge.

When you list on.com and set up shipping, the domestic shipping section is always for shipping costs to the US regardless of your location and shipping to other countries is set up under international shipping so i am sure that your returns are going to be set up the same way.  It would surprise me if it was any different. So if you specify free domestic returns on .com, that will be for US buyers.

However, as I tried to explain in my other post the only sellers that will be required to offer free returns are ones who want the US trs plus badges on their listings.  The US and Canada  (global)  trs programs are slightly different so you can qualify for global trs and/or US trs but  you only get the trs plus on .com listings if you meet specific requirements and one of those will be 30 days free return shipping.  It’s difficult for Canadians to qualify for that badge because of tracking requirements. Unless you plan on meeting all US trs requirements and the requirements for trs plus listings, there is no need to offer free returns. You will still get the discount that you get now as long as you qualify for global trs.

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[cranberrypark]

Thank you for an excellent explanation!  It coincides with the result of my chatting with an eBay "return specialist" although yours was much more succinct and helpful.  As I said before, I don't think that eBay reps are prepared for these type of questions - they always seem to want to look up online "resources" - stock answers to questions as is typical in all call centres.

Thanks again!