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Ok, I went through all of my returns in the past 365 days. In total I had 99 returns ( I sell a lot of clothes and shoes). I would’ve paid $662 in returns if they had been “free returns”, which is about $55 a month. My 10% TRS+ FVF gave me about $60 a month off my bill. So a wash if I go ahead and offer free returns IF my returns don’t skyrocket due to the rise of returns. My solution? I am going to add $1 to each and every order on the shipping side. I sell 250-300 items a month and this will be my “insurance” to cover possible skyrocketing returns if that were to happen.
As an Anchor Store subscriber and TRS+ seller, I am not going to participate in free returns. It just won’t work for anything over a pound in weight. And when I ship heavy items from the East Coast to the West Coast, it’s often times $20+ to ship priority mail items. I can’t eat $40 in shipping for something that might cost $40. It just doesn’t make sense. I make between 6-8K a month as a TRS+ seller. I’m worried how much it will drop when I lose the TRS badge.
And another good point brought up…
What if they buyer gets the shipping refund if the package is late and then goes through Paypal for a claim? People on the eBay forum are saying that this is a way they will double dip and earn money from returns. Something to think about.
Here is their clarification response to questions posed:
Hello Community,
Thanks for all your questions. They are appreciated. Here are the answers as best as I can give them. Where something is not clear I will be sure to try help out further.
I want more info and updates. Where do I get this?
If you want to be kept up to date on this feature as we roll-out more information please register at this info page – http://www.ebay.com/guaranteeddelivery – this feature becomes available later in summer so we’ll be keeping sellers updated on what they might need to do to enroll.How does a seller make a guaranteed delivery promise?
There are 2 ways1/ some sellers want to make the full door-to-door delivery promise (no eBay estimates used here) because they have a strong understanding of how long their carrier takes to delivery to certain regions and know that its fast – meaning more sales. And sellers don’t have to cover the whole US, just those areas they know the carrier is solid.
2/ other sellers not wanting to put trust in carriers can decide to just control their handling time. They would just guarantee (ie over 90% of orders handled on time) a 0 or 1 day handling, and use a tracked delivery service. Ebay would then make a delivery prediction now more accurate, ie faster because we know these sellers are handling on time, meaning more sales. In both cases what the BUYER sees is the same ie. faster and accurate delivery promises.
Exactly how will buyer recompense work?
What is the buyer recompense? – As has been mentioned there are 2 ways that buyers get “made whole” if a delivery is late. 1/ free return of the item 2/reimbursement of ship cost.Now to who pays buyer – as long as the seller does what they promise (ie meet their handling time for example) then eBay covers the cost to the buyer. If the seller doesn’t do what they promise and the delivery is late then the seller pays the buyer. On top of this, in all cases eBay will manage the buyer so that seller doesn’t have to do more work to deal with this process.
Does shipping same day or within your one day handling time mean nothing?
If you are a seller who just wishes to guarantee your handling time then 0 / 1 day handling is everything! Handling time is the main thing that many sellers fail on which leads to failed delivery. So if you make that promise and you actual hit your promise, ebay can then make shorter and more accurate predictions, it means shorter delivery promises to buyers and therefore more sales.Will a seller be able to opt in for some items and not others?
Absolutely. Some items are easier to handle and ship. So you can choose to only opt-in those items – meaning either guaranteeing door-to-door delivery promise or just the handling time on items you are comfortable with.Will the guarantee work for all sales within a listing? A buyer may be in a few hundred miles away or a few thousand. How will this work?
The guarantee is dependent on buyer location. So for sellers making their own door to door delivery promises they will use a tool (rate table) in which they can specify their delivery promise by region. Buyers outside the specified regions (seller can choose to guarantee only certain regions if they wish) won’t see the guarantee – so the listing wont sell as “guaranteed” to those buyers. For sellers just guaranteeing handling time, eBay’s delivery estimate (now more accurate as long as sellers consistently hit their HT promise) will also account for buyer location.How can eBay make such a guarantee when the folks doing the actual delivery can’t even do so??
Parcel delivery isn’t 100% fool-proof and issues do happen, we are aware of that. So we’d give control to “door to door guarantee” sellers they make their best delivery promise (by region / item) where they feel most confident in the carrier based on all the info they have / past performance etc to a high degree of accuracy. Of course, they still don’t “control” the carrier but they have enough knowledge on which to make reliable promises. For handling time guarantee sellers, as long as they handle on time eBay will manage the carriers, and on top of this, we do have significant data from carriers that help us very accurately predict delivery. And where errors happen eBay will make buyers whole where the seller did what they promised.Why would anyone shorten their handling times at the risk of missing some unrealistc, uncontrollable, “guaranteed” delivery date?
You shouldn’t. Sellers should promise what they can realistically do. Addressing specifically guaranteed handling time for this answer – as long as sellers who are opted in meet their guaranteed 0-1 day handling time do what they promise, and use a trackable service eBay will do the rest – meaning making the prediction and cover the buyer if something goes wrong.Program is optional, right? By choosing not to opt in, those sellers, including most likely myself, would be put at a disadvantage in terms of search and visibility??
Yes, using Guaranteed Delivery. A key part of this feature allows buyers to search for items by delivery speed using a very easy filter. While this isn’t a big deal for some items (eg rare collectibles) / sellers / buyers there are many occasions where being able to do so is critical (holidays, birthdays, need a part for the broken down car, etc) and not doing so sends buyers to others sellers or off to buy somewhere else. We’ve spoken to buyers, and the ability to search by speed is very well received.Will the buyer see the guarantee based on the shipping option they choose if the seller offers multiple shipping options?
Yes – again sellers wanting to make door to door promises can offer multiple ship options to certain regions (economy in 4 days, standard in 3 days, expedited in 2 days) then all will show to the buyer as guaranteed delivery options (as long as the seller has opted-in that listing, and wants all options to be guaranteed). For guaranteed handling time sellers – if you offered 3 ship options all with 0/1 day handling then all 3 would show as guaranteed, as long as ebay’s delivery estimate was 4 days or shorter to buyer based on their location.How will weekends be treated in counting the delivery days? For example, an item shipped on Friday… When do you start the clock? Will there be any change now that you have a tool that allows sellers to say that they ship on Saturday?
For sellers who work on Saturdays (meaning they take orders, handle and ship orders on Saturday) the delivery guarantee shown to buyers would be one day shorter, meaning more appealing to buyers needing faster delivery.How could this be cost effective for me as a seller? Because right now it doesn’t sound like it’s a viable program at all.
Shorter delivery estimates, the buyer guarantee, being able to search by shorter estimates will mean more buyers interest in listings that offer these, which ultimately will mean more sales. If sellers are able to do what they promise then there is only upside. To be more realistic though, handling / deliveries sometimes go wrong when seller wasn’t able to meet their promise which could result in sellers having to pay-out to the buyer. Then sellers will need to weigh-up for themselves the benefits versus their confidence in being able to do what they promise.So, if I charge .01 for shipping and the item is late, do I only refund .01 if they request to have there shipping refunded?
Technically yes, but there’s more to come on this that sellers will find beneficial. As further info is provided through the http://www.ebay.com/guaranteeddelivery site this question will be answered. Please register here for more info.What if it is late and the buyer wants a shipping refund? Then I refund original shipping. Then the buyer decides to open a case as not as described sometime within the 30 days and wants to return for refund, then do I pay a third time for return shipping?
No. These cases will be mutually exclusive. Buyers will only be able to claim for one.Please confirm that eBay will refund the shipping NOT the Seller and that eBay will supply any coupons that apply OUT of THEIR pocket and NOT the Sellers toward their next purchase.
If a seller does what they promise (whether its full door to door promise or just handling time) then yes eBay pays. As alluded to above there is more to come on coupons that sellers will find appealing, and unfortunately, I cant say more. As further info is provided through the http://www.ebay.com/guaranteeddelivery site this question will be answered. Please register here for more info.How will weather delays be treated?
eBay already monitors weather and adjusts delivery predictions to affected areas. With Guaranteed Delivery, eBay will protect sellers when delays result from major weather events and take over to “make it right” to buyers who experience delays and who then request compensation.If I opt in would eBay be asking me to guarantee delivery (or pay a penalty) for 1st class, priority, parcel select, or media mail when the USPS won’t make such a guarantee?
This question answered above in various places. But I will add 1/ that if you opt-in eBay will only ask that you guarantee what you can (door to door if that’s your comfort, or just handling time) 2/ that sellers will need to use a trackable delivery service.Where can we see the expected delivery date of a package when we are the seller? Is this information on your new seller hub?
Yes, this will be in a dashboard in SellerHub.What is the benefit of this program to sellers who already meet or exceed the requirements but who choose not to opt in? If I do NOT opt in to the program, does this mean my listings will be less visible (or invisible?) to buyers who demand super-fast delivery?
Firstly buyers have told us that more accurate delivery predictions (Ie “you said 4 days and it arrived in 4 days) are better than “exceeding expectations” (ie “you said 6 days but it arrived in 4”). So for example, your 6-day promise may have exceeded expectations for those who bought – but what about buyers who went elsewhere because they needed delivery in 4 days? So if you are able to promise shorter delivery (either through door to door or just through handling time) then you can turn your great delivery service into an advantage by reflecting your actual performance before the sale (to win the sale), not after the sale. Also Yes, if you have not opted in the buyers won’t be able to search your inventory by delivery date.Will the eBay shipping calculator “algorythm” be adjusted such that sellers offering such a GUARANTEE can thus CHARGE an additional fee beyond what carriers like the USPS charge for only EXPECTED delivery date??
No, but you will be able to configure your own additional charges (based on buyer location) using the new rate table tool coming out in May.Thanks again for all of your questions, we’ll check back tomorrow and answer any additional questions that come up in the meantime.
Have a good evening.
I read this and it has me scratching my head a bit. It’s hard to guarantee delivery when the USPS does not do that themselves. I think this is a disaster in the making for both eBay and the sellers. At least this explains where the 10% final value fees are going to be spent, in shipping reimbursements. If we don’t participate, we won’t show up higher in search. So I guess I’ll be reluctantly participating. And while eBay for Business states it won’t effect search, it most certainly will as there will be a filter function for sellers offering it. I guess we’ll have to see what happens. I wish eBay would stick to being eBay and not try so hard to be Amazon.
I have always been a roll with the changes kind of person. And even in this case, I still have to be in order to continue making a living. But I have to say that eBay is taking away the incentive to be a TRS+ seller. For what benefit? All this talk about making things better for sellers and all I see are benefits being stripped away. No talk about more stringent policies on fraudulent returns or restrictions on Chinese sellers. Just penalties for those of us who work so hard each day to be productive honest sellers. It’s discouraging. I’m sure I’ll get over it by tomorrow, but MAN why can’t eBay do something good for us for a change.
The problem with the promoted listings credit is that it does nothing for the one of a kind sellers. It’s only for multiple quantity listings.
What would be great is if they created a store between premium and anchor. It’s such a huge jump between levels. Seems like it would be a huge moneymaker for them to offer another tier.
I know they can do this, but they are removing the carrot to entice people to be Top Rated Sellers. There is little point in jumping through the hoops for so little benefit. Reducing the discount by half is huge.
Store Week Dec 11-17
Total Items in Store: 963
Items Sold: 47
Cost of Items Sold: $115
Total Sales: $1103.82
Highest Price Sold: $193.70 leather jacket
Average Price Sold: $23.46
Returns: 2
International Sales via GSP: 2
Money Spent on New Inventory: $220
Number of items listed this week: 84Chiming in on the free shipping. I tried for awhile and I saw no difference. Back to charging for me unless it’s something super common which I avoid anyway!
@BrianTreasures Fairly rare. The thing is that I had a lot of them and sold them in multiples.
Last week was my best week of all time which is good because this week is slooooowww. My biggest sale was some cassette tapes for $675. I went to an auction last year and found some vintage still sealed audio cassettes and I bought the lot of them for $5 because nobody wanted them. They’ve netted me over 2K. Best investment ever. Also sold $225 in flatware that I paid $30 for. Good ROI.
Total items in store: 740
Items sold: 54
Cost of Items Sold: $145
Total Sales: $1639
Avg. price: $30.35
Highest price item: $675 vintage cassette tapes (lot of them)
International sales: 8
Money spent on new inventory: $50 ish
Number of items listed: 60
