Home › Forums › Buying and Selling › Selling on eBay › Has eBay changed their return policy?
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03/14/2018 at 8:14 am #35127
BethGreen wrote:
Ughhhh….so did you see today that eBay changed their Returns Process so that ORIGINAL shipping must be reimbursed for returned items…even for buyer’s remorse…as long as you accept returns? I have 30 day returns but have always had the buyer pay original and return shipping for remorse issues.
Here’s the link. Click the + sign next to “You changed your mind about an item”:https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/returns-refunds/returning-item?id=4041
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03/14/2018 at 8:21 am #35131
Hmm….I’m trying to figure out if this really is a policy change. If sellers are now responsible for original shipping because the buyer’s changed their mind, that’s huge. Not sure why they would hide this info, and not mention it in their Spring Seller Update.
When I click on this page, it looks like there still might be room for charging the shipping?
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/returns-refunds/start-return/return-postage?id=4066 -
03/14/2018 at 8:24 am #35135
But this does not sound good:
You changed your mind about an item
Here’s how the seller may respond:
Accept your return request and offer a full refund – You’ll return the item and the seller issues you a full refund, including the original shipping cost. Check the seller’s return policy in the listing to see who is responsible for return shipping costs. -
03/14/2018 at 8:34 am #35136
also here:
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/managing-returns-refunds/handling-return-requests?id=4115
under “Your Options for Responding to a Return Request”>”You accept returns in your policy and the buyer changed their mind about a purchase”
If you stated in your listing’s return policy that you accept returns, your buyer can return the item to you, even if they’ve changed their mind.
Here are your response options:
Accept the return – The buyer will send the item back to you for a full refund, including original shipping costs. If you stated in the listing that you’ll cover return shipping charges, choose how you’ll arrange for the item to be returned.
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03/14/2018 at 9:01 am #35138
One remorse issues, it is suppose to default to your Business Policy on Returns on what you set for “Return shipping will be paid by:” You can Select BUYER or SELLER.
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03/14/2018 at 9:17 am #35139
Yep, but did you read the wording on this eBay page? Difficult to till if this is a future change in return policies. Or just incorrect wording of the current policy.
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03/14/2018 at 10:08 am #35148
Jay, this is not in conjunction with the future changes in the Spring Seller Update. This page is Live. Any buyer can reach it by clicking the Help & Contact at the top…Return an item for Refund is on the top right.
The wording is very clear to me. What I don’t understand is why they make these changes without notifying us sellers.-
03/14/2018 at 11:07 am #35156
I agree that this seems crazy. It would be very weird/bad if eBay just automatically changes the return policy without allowing sellers to opt in/out.
Some sellers may choose “no returns” than to allow buyers to returns items without paying any shipping costs because they “changed mind”.
Even Amazon doesnt have this kind of return policy. Now buyers really could just buy five items from a seller, try them, and return four items for free. The return shipping costs would kill any profit made on the one sale.
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03/14/2018 at 10:37 am #35151
One of those pages references restocking fees, so they are current, and will need to be revised when the new policy goes into effect (no restocking fees).
I, too, thought sellers have an option to refund either the item price or the item price plus original shipping. My partner says No, it has always been that seller is supposed to refund both.
I have to do some running around now, but if I get back in time for ebay’s “Weekly Chat”, I’ll ask about it there.
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03/14/2018 at 11:10 am #35157
If a buyer returns an item because they changed their mind, we have always been able to just refund the price of the item. It’s always been a choice in the “Hassle Free Return” system.
I guess we’ll see the next time a buyer wants a return from us.
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03/14/2018 at 10:52 am #35153
Speaking of Return Shipping … if and when we need to offer “FREE” Returns to keep our TRS+ rating and get the 10% Final Value Fee, what are other’s thinking of doing? My 10% discount is only about $50/month and luckily I don’t get many returns. I can see how sellers might get pretty burned if they get a lot of returns.
Related, as an eBay buyer, I tend to buy from TRS+ sellers, so having that “Badge” I think does likely bring more sales, offsetting the cost of Returns. Opinions?
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03/14/2018 at 11:04 am #35155
We had a whole conversation about this last week:
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03/14/2018 at 11:34 am #35166
Many times I find that the eBay help is outdated or just plain wrong. I’m wondering if this is the case here.
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03/14/2018 at 1:37 pm #35182
Sharyn, this is the recently updated Help Pages. It is not an outdated link. It is the current, live info available to buyers.
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03/14/2018 at 12:51 pm #35174Anonymous
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We need to tweet to eBay and complain
They *do* listen to tweets -
03/14/2018 at 3:15 pm #35190
Everyone needs to check their returns set up page. I think there’s something wonky going on. I just lost $87 to a buyer that didn’t like an item and the return settings automatically accepted the return, gave the buyer their refund on the item AND the $87 shipping, AND they got to keep the item!!!!!! I was never notified by email, messages, tasks, nothing. I’ve called Ebay 4 times now in 4 days and they told me that it’s not their fault, because my return settings had it set up to automatically do that for buyers. Guys I’m telling you, I would never have set my returns for something like that. That’s crazy!
On the same day I had another return that just happened to be the same exact customer complaint and that return was notified to me and I was able to work it out with the buyer.
I told them that I did not set my returns up that way and that the other return I had on the same day wasn’t automatically accepted, so how can one (which was the same reason) be any different?
The only reason I found out about the first return was because I called Ebay about what to do with the other return and the guy on the phone was like, “Which return do you want to talk about?” I then told him I didn’t know I had two, because I was only notified about one.
Here’s what I think…with the return changes they are making, there are glitches going on. Go check your settings! This definitely scares me so much so that I had the last Ebay representative make a note on my account that I was having glitches on the return settings.
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03/14/2018 at 4:22 pm #35193
anniethrifts,
What a frustrating thing to have happen. I would offer that in your most calm professional voice, you call back and speak with a supervisor and then calmly share the facts. Stick to the facts only.
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03/14/2018 at 4:20 pm #35192
I think all sellers would benefit from clicking on Account Settings in the drop down under their name on the left side of the main page. Then go down to Site Preferences and carefully go through each setting. To look at each one, look on the right side where it says Show. Click to open it. Then look over each one and if you wish to change it, click on edit.
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03/14/2018 at 4:42 pm #35197
Just went to check out our business policies as you suggested and we can’t access any of the business policies at all. get an Ooops can’t acess right now message.
So tried your method Adv.E of going to them by way of Preferences under Account Settings and see the old view that I don’t use much any longer because Bznz. Policies is where we make most changes. Well discovered under “returns” that the first 5 or 6 reasons were now checked and the ones we had before are unchecked.May I ask which settings are you checking as reasons to accept the return and which ones not? I do remember long time ago this was discussed but things seem to be new ground rules now and think it is time to decide on a refreshed look at under what conditions a return is acceptable to us. BTW.. these may have changed due to the new returns policy we were playing around with but maybe we should have a change of heart.
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03/14/2018 at 6:01 pm #35200
MDC Galleries,
Let me say that I am a very small-time seller, so what I do may not apply to sellers whose scale is larger than mine. I am learning it is best to keep everything simple although simple may lead to more time investment. The more integrated one becomes into eBay’s or any other company’s programming (such as using anything automatic like Business or Return Policies), the more opportunity exists for small and large scale programming issues to occur which may effect sellers individually or on the whole. There are some things we all must participate in (creating a listing) because it is simply part of the platform but others things are optional and once opted in, the account coding becomes part of a larger set of specified programming coding. When a company’s programming changes or when a company is running a programming test that goes out to all accounts, once the programming test is retracted it is not guaranteed that all accounts will go back to how they were before the programming test. That is simply the nature of programming and coding. There are many codes at play at one time and all it takes is for one code (that is supposed to interact with another code in order to create or undo an action) to be off to change the sequence of events programmed to happen. Remember, it only takes one letter or number error to throw off coding and the subsequent actions.
The other main thing I have learned is that there is no such thing as no returns with eBay unless there are extenuating circumstances. eBay sets up the platform in favor of returns because it is best for their marketplace. Just read their 30-day money back guarantee. In addition, read the wording on this page,
Return an item for a refund
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/returns-refunds/returning-item?id=4041“If the item you received doesn’t match the description in the original listing, or if it arrived faulty or damaged, you’re covered under the eBay Money Back Guarantee. You can return it even if the seller’s returns policy says they don’t accept returns.
If you no longer want an item, you’ll be able to see in the listing if the seller offers returns, how long you have to request a return, and any other conditions. You can check the listing by selecting the item in your Purchase history.”
Personally, I did look over business policies and did not think it was for me. With this discussion, I am going to review my account just to make sure there is nothing active that I do not expect to be active. As for returns, I do not use anything automated. I handle that myself.
I think each seller will have to make the choice as to whether it is best for them and the use of their time to use Business Policies and/or any automated features that are not mandatory.
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03/14/2018 at 4:37 pm #35196
So frustrating! The weirdest part is I recently had gone through my settings. I really think that when they added Business Policies I think mine got automatically changed without me knowing…but it still doesn’t explain why all other returns came through and notified me.
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03/14/2018 at 5:08 pm #35198
I asked about the need to refund original shipping on Weekly Chat. THis is the answer I received from ebay’s Brian Burke:
“If you offer free shipping then there is no ship cost to withhold from the buyer. So you must refund the full amount.
If you did not offer free shipping, and the buyer paid a separate ship cost, you can withhold the original ship cost for buyer remorse.”I did not have time to ask just what we must do to set this up, nor did I get to point out that this seems to conflict with the new “Help Pages”. Maybe I’ll get a chance next week to explose this further.
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03/14/2018 at 7:52 pm #35205
Hi all,
Malinda from eBay here. I did some following up on this and NO – eBay did NOT change it’s policy. The good (and somewhat embarrassing news) is that the content is incorrect. The policy around buyer remorse returns did not change. If a buyer returns something because it doesn’t fit or they’ve changed their mind, you do NOT need to refund original shipping, nor do you need to pay for the return shipping label. I’m working with our Help Content team and our Returns Product Manager to get the content updated this week.Thank you for bringing it to my attention!
Malinda
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03/14/2018 at 8:30 pm #35210
Thanks Malinda, that confirms what Brian Burke told me earlier today, as I mentioned above. My question is: where do we go to set up our policy to either include or exclude the original shipping from our refunds?
And, to reiterate what Brian said, and what maybe should be included in the revised Help pages: If the seller offers free shipping on an item, then the refund must be for that amount, with no deduction made for the shipping cost.
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03/14/2018 at 10:54 pm #35217
Good call out on offering free shipping. It’s why I don’t offer it. To me, it’s too muddy if you don’t separate the item cost from the shipping cost. I’ll make sure I confirm that policy and get it added to the Help page as well! Thanks for the heads up on that.
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03/15/2018 at 6:39 pm #35314
Malinda, Do you have any input on the FedEx SmartPost pricing discussion? That is another big one I am still hoping to get resolution on. Makes no sense that the pricing in the calculator is currently higher than the much faster Home Delivery Service. You can read the thread on the Shipping topic of the Forum.
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03/15/2018 at 6:59 pm #35319
Amen BethGreen.
Malinda, any info would be great. I have a separate thread on my (and Beth) issue with FedEx under the Saga of FedEx SmartPost that details the problems…
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03/16/2018 at 12:18 pm #35366
Hi guys, can you direct me to a thread on the SmartPost stuff? I do use SmartPost occasionally and haven’t noticed any specific issues. I just don’t have enough experience with it to confirm one way or the other whether or not there is a problem with it.
I will say that the content was partially updated yesterday and we have one more update going in today on the “if you offer free shipping, you can’t deduct shipping costs from your refund”. More to come.
Thanks!
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Malinda
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03/16/2018 at 2:59 pm #35383
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03/16/2018 at 4:44 pm #35395
Mallybills, regarding the Help Pages return policy I will say I have one more objection. I have voiced this to eBay for Business and thought the more eBay representatives to hear it the better, so I will post it here as well:
I am happy to see that the Help Pages have been corrected re: the refund of Original Shipping for Buyers’ Remorse Returns. However, I am still concerned to see the 2nd & 3rd paragraphs titled “Issue a full refund/partial refund and let you keep the item”. I realize, as a seller, this sometimes makes sense for a resolution when a buyer changes their mind on an item. However, I don’t believe this should be stated in writing for all buyers to see. It sets an expectation that this is a standard way to handle a return…when in fact it is a rare exception. It is absolutely NOT an industry standard in either online or brick & mortar stores to have a buyer keep the item AND be issued a refund. By stating this, it is only a matter of time before YouTube videos are made letting unscrupulous people know how to get inexpensive stuff for free on eBay. Please, please reconsider your decision to put this in the policy at all. It is really a sellers choice alone whether to offer such a resolution when a buyer has simply changed their mind on an item. It has no place in the policy. -
03/16/2018 at 5:16 pm #35400
BethGreen,
I completely agree with you.
In addition, The verbage below in quotes is very problematic. This puts the onis on the seller to have to engage a possible return even if the window has passed and they have no returns on thier listing. Why, because eventhough ebay indicates their are guidelines for returning items that are no longer wanted, they let buyers know that returning items that are no longer wanted is an option.
“If you no longer want an item, you’ll be able to see in the listing if the seller offers returns, how long you have to request a return, and any other conditions. You can check the listing by selecting the item in your Purchase history – opens in new window or tab.”
This verabage is also problematic
“Misuse of returns or the eBay Money Back Guarantee
The eBay Money Back Guarantee is designed to protect both buyers and sellers. If we decide that a member is misusing returns on eBay, or the eBay Money Back Guarantee, they may be subject to a range of actions, including limits on buying and selling privileges and account suspension. Examples of misuse include:”
“Selecting an inaccurate reason for returns” – This sends the message to the buyer to make sure to choose one of the acceptable reasons for return even if it is not real reasons for return.
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