Home › Forums › Buying and Selling › Selling on eBay › Where is Return percentage data?
- This topic has 30 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 6 months ago by
Jay.
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03/03/2018 at 8:18 am #34280
I know I’ve seen ti before somewhere in our Seller Hub, but where does eBay tell us our return rate compared to sales?
I’ve seen some people quote their return rate with confidence so assume it’s somewhere obvious.
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03/03/2018 at 8:29 am #34282
Check on the Seller Dashboard.
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03/03/2018 at 8:34 am #34284
You mean in this link?
https://www.ebay.com/sh/ovwIf so, what part of the page has the link?
Im probably blind, but there’s a lot of info.-
03/03/2018 at 8:55 am #34288
That is the main Seller Hub. From there, there should be a section titled Seller Level. Click where it says Seller Level, and it will take you to the Seller Dashboard. Scroll down and you will see your Return Percentage.
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03/03/2018 at 9:22 am #34294
Ah cool. It’s here: https://sellerstandards.ebay.com/dashboard?region=US
We have a rate of 3.81% returns. I bet most of that is just in the last two months where we’ve just had a slew of strange returns. Lots of buyers remorse recently.
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03/03/2018 at 9:35 am #34298
Wow, I only have 0.52%! I wonder if I’m doing something right or if I just don’t do the volume. Probably more the latter.
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03/03/2018 at 9:49 am #34303
That is incredible. We have 23 returns in the last three months.
–2/3rd’s are for clothes where the buyer just didn’t like the item. These returns are automatic where buyer pays return shipping.
–Several were totally our fault. Easy to deal with.
–Then we’ve had a handful of difficult, angry buyers. We always accept the return and then dispute the reason.So 23 returns in 3 months. Let’s say its an average of $7 return shipping cost on each one. With the new “Free Returns”, we’d be eating $161 in new costs.
Not the end of the world, but that assumes that returns wont rise since its free to buyers. Plus, the currently unrealized promise is that sales will rise.
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03/04/2018 at 6:19 am #34350
Jay, you say “$7 return shipping cost” for a free return.
But don’t you also have to refund the initial shipping cost as well – making it a total of $14? Otherwise it’s not really a free return. No?In other words, I thought free return meant that at the end of the transaction, the buyer is not out any money. I’ve looked through some ebay pages trying to find a definitive answer, but I can’t find one.
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03/04/2018 at 8:03 am #34352
Sonia: no. If you were offering free shipping on the original transaction then yes, you are eating the shipping both ways. If you charge for shipping on the original transaction, you only pay for return shipping.
That is something I mentioned in my earlier analysis. If you are offering free shipping, you have to factor in that cost into your numbers to see what the impact of free returns would be.
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03/04/2018 at 9:01 am #34353
Tsatt is correct. The seller is just responsible for the return shipping (unless the buyer claims its a INAD case).
In my opinion, eBay realizes its “free shipping” push failed to convince most sellers to ship for free. So this this their way to sneak in another way of free shipping.
Again, this is not the “retail standard”. Amazon certainly doesnt do free return shipping if you just decide you dont want the item. But I guess its eBay’s plan to stand out. We’re the guinea pigs.
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03/04/2018 at 9:12 am #34354
I think most of this is in how we view it.
We all got used to a 20% discount for being TRS. They didn’t have to provide that discount, but it was a carrot for being the best style of seller (in their view).
Now, to be the best style of seller means to offer free return shipping. In return, they offer a 10% discount on FVF fees to offset the cost.
If we came from a past of no discount, and they offered 10% discount to offer free return shipping, some people would view this differently. It might not change their decision, but what is being offered would be seen in a different lens.
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03/04/2018 at 9:20 am #34356
Very true. eBay is really making it less interesting to be a Top Rated Seller.
They used to give 20% off Final Value Fees for being a good seller and keeping up to their standard. Now it’s just 10%, and the expectation is that you eat extra costs.I totally agree that if we were coming from a place of no discount..and then they now offered a discount, then it would feel like eBay was sharing in the pain.
All eBay is doing now is saying: eat this cost. trust us. you’ll get more sales.
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03/04/2018 at 2:23 pm #34369
And so we can choose to experiment and see how it fits our business.
I am interested in how Mike does with his Shopify store, where he is going to offer these same shipping policies.
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03/04/2018 at 3:39 pm #34375
As I buyer, it seems really weird to me to have free return shipping but not get refunded for original shipping. Does any other ecommerce site do that?
As a seller, I can work with it – just seems illogical. Seems more logical to refund all shipping or none.
I just sent in a return to williams sonoma. They sent me a shipping label, but it wasn’t clear whether the cost would come out of my refund or not. And I also have no idea (but am not optimistic) whether I’l get refunded for original shipping. After this exchange here, I’m now VERY curious to see what happens when they get my package back and process the refund!
Fun fun fun
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03/04/2018 at 3:44 pm #34377
Why would it make sense to let someone have total free shipping, just because they changed their mind? Zappos can do it because they’re a huge Amazon owned company and deal in VOLUME.
But there’s no way I could run a business where we sell 250 items a month, and allow buyers to send stuff back for no reason and we eat $20 in shipping.
Does this make sense to you?
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03/04/2018 at 4:03 pm #34379
It can make sense if that is the buyer experience you want to have. There isn’t an easy right or wrong answer, but what works for each seller financially.
Some stores want to say that they offer free shipping and free returns, no questions asked. If the return rate and costs of shipping are low enough, those costs are spread out over the entire month. So like your numbers revealed, you would be in the roughly $160/mo cost to do free returns. Is that an acceptable marketing cost that you think will help your sales and make happy buyers? That is your call.
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03/04/2018 at 7:58 pm #34387
What T-Satt said.
Just make all your prices higher to pay for this customer experience. Or, as said in the ebay video ChristineR posted, self-insure.
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03/04/2018 at 8:27 pm #34392
This just seems like a gross way of doing business. Charge higher prices for everyone to subsidize the buyers who are wishy-washy.
I understand the math, but would make me angry as a buyer if I was paying extra for a service I didnt need.
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03/04/2018 at 8:43 pm #34393
Jay: Just remember, every transaction is voluntary. You have a willing seller setting a price, and a willing buyer accepting that price. If we have a lower shipping cost than what the buyer paid (through shipping discounts), does that matter? No. The buyer knew the final cost, and they willingly paid it.
All companies are pricing their products to cover their costs and to make a profit. Regardless of what those costs are, they are costs of the business. We are all covering our costs through our pricing, regardless of what those costs are. We are all spreading the costs of our business through every transaction. Whether that is labor, health care, shipping, inventory, shrinkage (employee theft), return shipping, etc., it does not matter. The buyer saw the price, and accepted that price. Deal is over.
This is what happens when changes are made. If labor costs go up, retail prices go up. If taxes go up, retail prices go up. If fuel costs increase, retail prices go up. When costs change, they flow directly to the customer. Same thing happens when costs drop. To stay competitive, companies will drop pricing when costs decline. That is a free market.
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03/04/2018 at 9:20 pm #34395
Yep. Totally understood. Numbers: understood. Free market: understood.
Philosophically, I still say: “Free shipping” is a lie. There is no reason for eBay to push sellers to offer free shipping other than a snazzy one-liner to put on a commercial. Ironically as you are saying, prices will just go up for buyers. Very strange.
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03/04/2018 at 10:14 pm #34396
Everyone knows it’s technically a lie and that it just means “shipping included.”
Customers LOVE shipping included. That’s the reason for the commercial. -
03/04/2018 at 10:56 pm #34399
When I get a chance I’m going to do some more of these, but for now, and with no claim that this is a large enough sample to mean much, a few numbers:
Searched : “vintage trucker cap snapback hat” in all cats 17,798 listed, 5937 with free ship (FS). 5854 solds, 1831 FS.
Vintage real photo postcard in all cats: 32.958 listed, 7758 FS. Solds: 7304, 1639 FS.
Polo Ralph Lauren Shirt in Mens Clothing: Preowned: 70,859, 22,976 FS. Solds 48,714 13,831 FS
Same search, but “new with Tags”: 58,749, 34,237 FS, Solds 29,815, 14,333 FS
Thought the numbers were interesting.
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03/05/2018 at 12:26 pm #34441
These are interesting numbers. Someone said that eBay has over 60% of items under free shipping. I bet the majority are in certain categories (like new commodity items with heavy competition). According to these stats, free shipping is offered in much lower numbers.
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03/05/2018 at 12:55 pm #34443
Jay, that’s correct, something like 60+% of ebay items are sold with free shipping. I agree, the free shipping is probably concentrated in certain categories and primarily new items. But then, ebay has said many times ( statements usually ignored by , say, Ina Steiner of ecommercebytes), that free and fast shipping are not as important for things like antiques and collectibles. So the numbers I provided don’t surprise me. As I said, when I get time I’ll run them for some other searches. I’m also going to run some searches for free return shipping numbers (which I would expect to be pretty low in almost all cats)….but I’ll run them and post them here so we can compare them in a year—should provide some idea of how successful ebay’s efforts to encourage free returns will be.
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03/05/2018 at 12:25 pm #34440
“Everyone knows it’s technically a lie and that it just means “shipping included.”
Customers LOVE shipping included. That’s the reason for the commercial.”Using this logic, I’ll predict the eBay Seller Update in 2019:
“Sellers love to get good deals! So now to qualify for TRS, all sellers must apply a 50% sale to their items at all times. We call it the ‘Nifty Fifty eBay Extravganza”!
Action: Sellers just raise their price by 50% and then discount by 50%.
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03/05/2018 at 5:07 pm #34463
Jay,
There’s a significant difference between having shipping pre-added into the final purchase price and a permanent 50% off sale. The first actually does something useful – allows shoppers to just compare a single number when evaluating different items. It removes the task of managing and adding numerous pairs of numbers from the buyer, making things easier for the buyer. The second is just mind games. Mind games which many ebay sellers already play, which is their/our right. Many sellers run regular sales, or even have their entire store on sale all the time. Another mind game is to have all your prices in the format $X.99.But, lucky for you, you don’t have to implement either of these tricks/lies.
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03/05/2018 at 5:28 pm #34464
Thats a good argument. Fair enough.
So as a buyer, you’re willing to pay more up front for an item for the ability to ship it back if you happen to not like it. And not get that money back if you keep it. And this is better because it keeps you from having to tally up shipping costs on purchase. Is that a good summary of the “free shipping” mindset? I guess I really am not my target audience 🙂
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03/05/2018 at 5:58 pm #34468
“So as a buyer, you’re willing to pay more up front for an item for the ability to ship it back if you happen to not like it. And not get that money back if you keep it.”
Two points:
1) For Free Shipping/Shipping Included, you shouldn’t have to pay more up front. All you need is a shopping platform that pre-computes the total cost for you at browsing time, rather than at paying time. That’s not the way ebay has implemented it, of course, but the “Free SHipping/SHipping Included” concept itself is not to blame for that.2) Given the reality of ebay’s implementation of FS/SI, there’s a higher up-front cost for buyers who are closer to the seller and a LOWER total cost for cross-country buyers. If your purchases are randomly spread across buyers across various regions in the country, it should all balance itself out with the additional cost of FS/SI being minimal to zero.
I think your statement/question would be better applied to the Free Returns scenario, where there absolutely is a higher up front cost in order to maybe someday benefit from a Free Return. The answer is that it depends on how much the up front cost is. In an earlier comment, you said that for the past 3 months, Free Returns would have cost you $160. You sell about 40 items a week (conservatively). Times 12 weeks = 480 items. $160/480 = 33 cents. So, YES, as a buyer I would absolutely positively pay an additional 33 cents per item for “free return insurance/service plan.” And as a seller, I would even MORE absolutely not sweat it at all. But i haven’t done my numbers yet on this for my store – I have a feeling that mine might be higher, so we’ll see.
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03/05/2018 at 7:00 pm #34474
Agreed. But when sellers start realizing they need to add the cost of more expenses into their price, they always overestimate. In these threads, there are already buyers who say they’re going to add a $1 handling charge onto all their items to subsidize the buyers who choose to return for free.
Look, I hear you. It’s not that big a deal as far as cost. That point is well taken.
But my point is simply philosophy. It seems like a bunch of rigmarole and cost are being added to a transparent transaction (price + shipping)….all because there’s a marketing perception that a buyer doesn’t want to see the price of the item and shipping separate.
That’s all I’m saying here. Appreciate the back and forth. I have no other points to grind out. We’ll try it out and see what happens.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by
Jay.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by
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03/03/2018 at 10:13 am #34306
Jay, I did mine using math and afterwards, my better half said : Well, why didn’t you just look in Seller Hub? LOL —At least it confirmed that my math was right. I’m a little less than .5 % for the last 12 months. I think that’s due to the fact that I’m a low volume seller and don’t sell in a lot of the high return categories. I do sell some clothing, but mostly mens, which I suspect is a lower return rate than women’s. Also, I just got lucky.
From the Seller Release: “Sellers will see new information about transactions where buyers contacted them about items not received, and requested returns for items not as described. Sellers will see their own rates as well as peer benchmarks to compare with other sellers on eBay.”
So, apparently ebay will be providing a way to compare one’s return rate (at least for INADs) to other “comparable” sellers….not sure how accurate or helpful that will be, but it’s something. I’d like to see some category benchmarks from ebay: average clothing returns, electronics, etc. Maybe some day….
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03/05/2018 at 8:13 am #34406
Interesting, I only have .74% but over 6% in the clothes category. I haven’t sold much clothing in the past and this is one of the reasons. But I do have a box of my kids’ better brand clothes in the queue and was considering cleaning out my closet. Maybe I should get that stuff up before June.
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