Is it worth challenging INADs?

[Julie B]

Once in a blue moon an ebay customer will open a return and claim INAD. When I get the item back I generally refund & click the “Report Buyer” button although I’m skeptical that the “Report Buyer” option actually does anything at ebay even though it makes me feel better. A few years ago I would have challenged false INADs because back than I think we had a limit of 2 per year. I don’t think that is the case any longer and to me it’s just a pain in the ass to call ebay to challenge a false INAD. Other than being out the money for paying for the shipping both ways, am I shooting myself in the foot for not challenging INADs?

[bcfol440]

I am interested as well. I am confused about the new policies:
I have heard “accept it and then appeal later”
OR, accept the return, get it back, but before refunding the buyer, call ebay to dispute.
OR, I have heard INADS don’t matter as much if you are in Free Returns
AND I have heard if you have too many INADS you will be penalized with higher Final Value Fees.

HELP

[Inglewood]

For me, it is all just a financial decision.

-if it is worth paying to have the item back, send a return label and relist and take the shipping losses.
-if it is not worth shipping the item back, just refund and move on.
-to challenge an INAD, think about what your time is worth – it may take a lot of time, and is it worth it to you to spend that time and aggravation?

I’ve given up on some categories because all my INADs have been electronics. Just not worth my time. I also don’t ship some items internationally to avoid international INADs that are really painful. This has really lowered my returns and INADs.

Just remember at the end of the day, the CSR at eBay you are emailing/talking to doesn’t know you, doesn’t know the buyer, and has a set procedure to follow. Also, your perception of a INAD may differ from that of the buyer.

If you are getting INADs constantly, you may want to re-think what you are selling or how it is presented.

Returns are a part of any business that sells anything – it is something that you need to be prepared to deal with at a certain level.

[Jay]

This. eBay stats gives us enough breathing room to handle a certain amount of INADs, late shipping, etc. They dont expect any seller to be perfect.

But if we find we’re getting consistent issues, we look to what we’re selling and how we’re selling those items. The issue could be us and we need to change our way of doing things. Are we confusing buyers with our description? Are we shipping late for some reason? Are our photos confusing?

But it could also just be a string of grumpy buyers. If so, we will call eBay to dispute because too many grumpy buyers in a short period can affect our eBay standing.

[Julie B]

Thank you for responding Inglewood. Fortunately INADs are about a once a year occurrence for me (let’s hope I didn’t just jinx it by saying that). I always accept a return, no matter what. And I’ve held the position that it’s not worth my time to challenge for a few bucks of shipping. But I wonder if the INAD is going to hurt me with eBay somehow – that is the only reason I would challenge it. Ebay policies seem unclear about it lately.

[Retro Treasures WV]

The last one I had I challenged I did everything right. It was a camera I marked as for parts only in the title, the condition, and the description.

Customer FIled an INAD because it didn’t work. To make things worse, they returned it without the lens cover or the brand new battery. The CSR agreed with me and “refunded” me $16.15 for the return shipping plus damages for the cap and battery missing.

I use quotes because the refund never showed in 24 hours like she promised. I called back and of course, the CSR had not documented things properly – a regular occurrence with ebay. They said they would review my case and get back to me in 48 hours or less. That was on December 30th.

I heard nothing until I got an email on FEBRUARY 16th.
It was a simple denial of my appeal with this verbage:
“After reviewing this case again we decided to keep the original outcome because we determined that the original decision was correct.”

So after all that time, they denied the already approved refund of $16.15.

I’ve recapped a previous INSANE INAD case I fought and eventually won in another thread on this site, so I won’t rehash it here (I don’t want to either).

There has been a heavy toll exacted here though from these two cases – I no longer wish to deal with ebay phone support in the least. Yes, I would absolutely take the loss now because the mere thought of calling that sorry excuse for customer service makes my stomach upset.

I might contact ebay for business if anything.

[Temudgin]

@Julie Aside from the actual loss from the specific transaction, there are two possible seller account impacts with INAD returns. The first is to your Transaction Defect Rate, visible on Your Seller Level page in the Seller Dashboard. INADs have no impact on your Transaction Defect Rate so long as they are not “closed without seller resolution”. Ebay says: “A case closed without seller resolution is any case the seller is unable to resolve with the buyer prior to the buyer asking us to step in and help with a request, or escalating a case to PayPal for review, and eBay or PayPal determines the seller is responsible.” The Transaction Defect Rate is used to assess your Seller Level, such as Top Rated. Obviously the Transaction Defect Rate is under your control and that is not a reason to contest an INAD so long as you take care of business.

The second possible impact with INAD returns is to your Service Metrics, and this I think is what you’re driving at because ALL INADs (and Item Not Received cases) – whether you resolve them or not – count towards your Service Metrics. Service Metrics are determined by comparison with your peers in specific categories. On the 20th of each month eBay calculates the Service Metrics, counting your INADS/INRs for the past 3 months for sellers with 400 or more transactions in that time, or the past 12 months for sellers with fewer than 400 transactions during the last 3 months.

If you have a “very high” percentage of INAD/INR transactions compared to your peers (whether or not you resolve them), you “might be subject to” an additional 4% FVF for listings in the categories where you’re very high. This is where the mere fact of an INAD can hurt you, if you get many of them.

See https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-performance-policy/service-metrics-policy?id=4769 for the policy and https://www.ebay.com/sh/prf/service-metrics in order to see your current service metrics.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Temudgin.

[Jay]

Agreed. We uust check our metrics. As long as we’re within tolerances, we dont sweat it.

[Julie B]

Thank Temudgin, You even included links in your reply – awesome! I checked and at one INAD, i’m below peers…for now. Not worth it to me to deal with eBay customer support.

On an unrelated note – I see you live in DC. I used to live in NW DC. It was right before I started reselling (although I did sell my own belongings on ebay at times). Now I kick myself because for awhile I lived in an apartment that was only a few blocks away from a church that ran a thrift store near the National Cathedral. I’d check out the thrift store for books for myself. It was a nice area with million dollar homes sandwiched between Georgetown and Chevy Chase. To think of all of the 1,000s of dollars of reselling profits I must have passed up by not looking at other things in that thrift store – it just kills me now.

[Temudgin]

You’re welcome! Your post reminded me that it was something I wanted to look at myself and I was compelled to find the fine print, from the source.

Parts of NW are very nice. We’re in SE, on the Washington Navy Yard. Not as nice around the base as NW of course but definitely up and coming; an amazing difference from not too long ago when it was combat zone down here.

[sonia]

Keep in mind that even if you successfully challenge an INAD, it will still count as an INAD in your service metrics. So the best you can achieve by challenging an INAD is to not be out shipping costs.

[Author]

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