eBay Tony is back with a vengeance, there’s hardly a page on eBay today that he’s not been lurking.
We wanted to find out more and we managed to track Tony down. He’s a real guy and works for eBay over in Ireland in eBay customer support and has worked for both seller protection and buyer protection. We managed to persuade him into a quick photo shoot between phone calls.
So apart from being the face of trust and safety, why are we seeing Tony all over eBay? Well if you check the messaging there’s a clue in there. “eBay Buyer Protection” is being phased out in favour of the “eBay Money Back Guarantee”. eBay will gradually introduce more retail like terminology such “14 Days Refund” and “Returns Accepted”.
One of the reasons for the change is “Buyer Protection” is quite frankly a bit negative. It implies that we sellers are a dodgy crowd that buyers need protecting from. The vast majority of sellers give fantastic service and that’s what eBay say they want to highlight.
There are no changes to the actual processes and standards but eBay’s research suggests that buyers are still wary and don’t know that they’ve covered with 14 day returns and no quibble refunds from business sellers. This puts them off, especially when thinking about buying high ticket items.
Think back, what’s the most expensive item you’ve purchased on eBay? £100? £500? £1000, £5000? How high would you go? Tony’s there to encourage you (or more importantly encourage your customers) not to think twice but to just go ahead and purchase knowing that you’re covered. If you do ever have to ring eBay support you never know, it might just turn out to be Tony on the end of the phone.
20 Responses
Great stuff.
This kind of approach has worked wonders for the likes of John Lewis etc
Looks good but I wonder for sellers of small ticket items like us if it will increase items ‘not arriving’ as they know they will get their money back.
Fortunately most buyers are as honest as the sellers, and it is good to have a professional approach. What is more concerning is that ebay say they will be issuing a standard returns policy which will be compulsory. The free text element will be removed from the site. This is problematic. Already you have to select either buyer or seller pays, but I use the free text to let my customer know if there is a fault it is a no quibble return/refund at my cost, but if they simply change their mind they must cover postage. In other words who pays depends on the issue. Incidentally many returns are not worthwhile for either buyer or seller because of the astronomical over the counter packet prices now charged by Royal Mail.
According to e-Commerce bytes participaton in ebay’s Managed Returns policy is moving to compulsory participation in the USA. This would be an issue in the UK. Collect Plus have very poor coverage compared with either Royal Mail or MyHermes(also not good in some parts) and in any case sellers may well be already operating a more cost effective returns process.
we recently had a buyer claim an item not as described, opened a case demanding a 40%partial refund, leaving and instant neutral they,quite clear in stating via ebay messages ,they would change it to positive when the refund was made, we of course refused and insisted they return the item for a full refund, the buyer escalated the case weeks later, ebay refunded their payment from their own pocket and allowed them to keep the item?
WHAT SORT OF MESSAGE. DOES THAT GIVE?
I spoke to a Tony in Dublin CS a couple of months ago and he was abrupt, kept talking over me and shouting me down and was most unhelpful.
I realise there may be more than one Tony, but if this is the guy, he needs training in basic customer service skills if he’s being presented as the face of eBay.
I wonder if Tony would be looking so cheerful if it was his money that ebay were promising to refund on any buyer’s whim?
It just puts the idea that something will go wrong in the buyer’s head before they’ve even bought anything.
Most people can read feedback. Is that not powerful enough?
what is worrying Tony is sitting at his Desk with the Paypal log in page ready and Waiting for the refund Lol
I think the growths gone out of ebay. Auctions tend to end at stupidly low prices now. Some the price customers demand are unsustainable if you ask me.
Tony is here to do what ?
Get you a refund on your 2.99 + Free delivery PU Iphone case that split after 40 days…
thanks tony !
I thought it would be much better quality !
Like my mates 29.99 one he got from some posh shop in london. But this should of been the same quality cause everything on ebay is like 1000% off RRP. So i was clearly ripped off !
Isn’t that a typo in the new add? Should it not read ‘We guarantee you get the item you ordered and your money back’. Nothing new then.
The problem for me is that some buyers read this literally, ie, money back guarantee.!
Is already costing me money. I wanted to launch a free post range for a tenner which means a much reduced profit margin. Not sure I can do this with so much fraud around.
Unintended Consequences.
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Re; ‘eBay Money Back Guarantee protects you in case you do not receive your item or if the item is not as described in the listing. If this happens, you need to tell your seller within 45 days’.
We seem to be getting a few of these ‘extended period’ claims lately….
Frankly 45 days ‘after dispatch email’ is simple to long for INR claims. Just to long after dispatch to check anything…..SNAD claims should be notified on receipt.
dont kid yourself that 45 days is set in stone we have had inr claims via ebay 50 days plus ,
we have even had closed cases reopened