I know this MBG ad campaign and its consequences rankle a lot of sellers, but the way I see it is that eBay had to do something to get its buyers to come 'through the doors' (or to come back) by reassuring them that there will never be a problem if they aren't completely happy with an item.
Aside from the stupid guy grinning broadly in my face out of every one of these ads -- which I am getting sick of seeing -- the principle is the same one many big retailers use. Think of the last time you had to return an item to Sears (or years before, to Eaton's). Companies like Eaton's built their reputation on a no-questions-asked full refund guarantee. Buyers have come to expect it.
Now the problem, as I see it from eBay's viewpoint is that they need to attract buyers, they want to act like any other big commercial online retailer, but they're obviously not in that category. They are still a collection of millions of individual sellers, with a few hundred big retailers at the top of the pyramid. EBay likely had no choice but to impose the same MBG across the board, yet it does favour the large volume commercial sellers because they already have systems and costing in place to handle returns. It's no skin off their noses to have, say, a 5% MBG return rate.
Once again, as much as I understand the principle and the intent of the MBG, this is a policy that, by its nature, accommodates the biggest sellers and is a disadvantage -- or even hardship -- for millions of little sellers working out of their basements at home. Again, like many other of eBay's "big boy" policies, it will have the effect of weeding out another sector of the very small sellers. Those who come to eBay to sell on an occasional basis and find themselves with a handful of MBG returns (whether legitimate or fraudulent) will soon rack up the defects and be gone.
As I've said many times in the past year, smaller sellers should not expect any favours from eBay from now on. EBay's focus is on its biggest money-makers. Sellers who can't act like major commercial retailers will have a very hard time of it. And this is even before we see what the Spring Seller 2015 Update holds in store.
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