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Jay, The Summer Seller Update has scant information on this, but here is what it says:
Starting this fall, sellers who offer free returns can decide if they want to offer less than a full refund in cases where an item is returned that is not in the same condition that it was in when you shipped it (e.g., a damaged item or an open-box return).
Until ebay provides more details, the main thing I would note is that ONLY sellers who offer FREE returns will be eligible for this, (It is NOT really clear whether those sellers must offer free returns with no restocking fee or not) But there’s a distinction between this and a restocking fee: A restocking fee can be applied to ANY return, this only applies to items returned in a condition other than the shipped condition. So this isn’t really a substitute for a restocking fee. Also, note that the seller can OFFER less than a full refund….it’s not clear what happens of the buyer rejects the offer….there are a lot of details ebay still must provide…
Since this doesn’t take effect until the Fall, I see no reason to drop a restocking fee if a seller is using one now. (Unless one is concerned about the new free return filter)
LAWoman,
I don’t think a restocking fee is going to hurt you in general search results. It’s only IF the buyer uses the new search filter to limit the search to free return shipping listings that it will only effect you.
This is what the Announcement says:
To help you grow your sales and attract buyers, starting this summer we will increase exposure of free returns and 30-day or 60-day returns without restocking fees by:
Giving buyers options to search for and filter by these returns policies
Highlighting these returns policies when buyers visit your listings
Featuring listings with these returns policies in eBay marketing campaignsecommerce, do you use the simple listing form to list? Do you sell only about 25 items or less a year?
If not, this is basically irrelevant. It will directly effect only a small number of sellers.
Jay,
Your skepticism is well warranted. There is NO requirement to use “Business Policies” in the new update. I do not use them. What ebay IS saying (and not yet requiring, although I think we might want to consider this “foreshadowing” of a future requirement) is that information about shipping, returns, etc should NOT be in the listing’s item description area at all. Going forward, I’m no longer going to mention my return policy in the description area. But when I create a listing, I fill out the shipping and return information sections of the listing form (SixBit, in my case) which populates the tabbed Shipping and Returns portion of my listing…
The point ebay is making is simply that as long as you have filled out those areas, you don’t need to….and you really shouldn’t….duplicate or expand upon that in your description section. The real target here are those listings which still contain an old fashioned “TOS” (Terms of Service) , you know the kind of thing, varied fonts and colors, lengthy terms about feedback, returns , shipping….but as I say, I suspect eventually ebay will actually require that we stick to description only in the listing….so I’m going to start preparing for that now.
At least that’s my reading of the Summer Release.
“Following its proposal in 1958, the dam was built by the Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters. The state park was opened to the public in December 1973.”
That’s why it says used in the “planning” of the lake…it is a man made lake, not a natural lake. Very neat find, but I’m afraid I’ve no clue about pricing it, otherwise than to echo Jay’s “high” advice….
does it have a sheen to it, kind of a shiny surface? I’m no expert, but if it does, I’m thinking it’s a chromo.
I leave feedback after I’ve shipped the item, usually within a few hours at most.
Karen, That’s so true—you can find stuff anywhere—I suspect most of us are scavengers instead of retail arbitragers because we love the thrill of the hunt. (Not knocking retail arbitrage…I do it when the opportunity falls in my lap, and it’s worth doing, but for me, the real fun is digging through an antique shop or thrift store, yard sale or auction…
I think that’s a smart way of looking at it. This is not a big enough incentive for me to add free shipping to everything I sell, but I can see where it could help me feel better about offering free shipping on , for example, first class items. But it wouldn’t be the only reason to offer it….it would still have to make sense for the type of item and the type of shipping.
The post I made up there is quoting my question to ebay, and ebay’s answer, during the Weekly Chat ebay held about Guaranteeed Delivery. So, unless ebay misunderstood my question, ebay is picking up the coupon cost for late delivery with free shipping, period.
Does this create an incentive to use Free Shipping? Yes. Does it create a major incentive to use Free Shipping? No, not for me.
So, whether I choose end to end or handling time option, if the item is late, and even if I missed my handling deadline, eBay will pay for the coupon IF I use free shipping, is that correct? So there is a built-in incentive to offer free shipping?
Yes, if a guaranteed item arrives late, eBay will provide the buyer a coupon if the seller offered free shipping.
