If you have parcels returned using the mandatory Managed Returns Process for the return of faulty or not as described it’ll soon cost you slightly more if items come back via Collect Plus.
From the 1st of September Collect Plus returns charges will rise from £4.50 to £4.60 for items up to 2kg; from £5.90 to £6.00 for items up to 5kg; and from £7.90 to £8.00 for items weighing up to 10kg.
It’s only a 10p price increase which doesn’t sound like much and in reality it’s unlikely to affect most sellers. Don’t forget that if an item is being returned because it wasn’t as described, eBay will default the buyer to the cheapest option available for the package weight. In most cases that’ll be Royal Mail or ParcelForce, it’s only in the 2-5kg weight range that Collect Plus will be the cheapest option.
If of course it’s buyer remorse, then the customer picks up the return postage tab and if they want to select Collect Plus for convenience that’s their choice and they’ll be paying the increased cost.
9 Responses
Or if a customer says the item is broken then returns it and it’s not broken and you have to still pick up the tab.
I spent 45 minutes on the phone with ebay over it and I was told it was my legal responsibility to pay for the return, but I explain that the customer had misused the system to not pay for the return and was told that was still my problem.
I don’t mind returns but if it’s misused that’s ebay’s fault and not mine.
Ah yes… CollectPlus. Great if you can use it.
Which you can’t if you live in Didcot (a town of c. 30k people) or any of the neighbouring villages – as there isn’t a CollectPlus point unless you are prepared to drive c. 20mins there and back to another town (e.g. Abingdon, Wantage, Wallingford)
They’ve closed all the pick-up points.
That’s handy. You can’t default to a return method that isn’t there/practical for an entire town, which will cost them more in petrol and time than it does to actually post the item! I don’t mind them dictating which service to use to keep costs down, but there has to BE a service in the first place!
You have to ask why is managed returns so expensive in the first place? I can go on parcel2go, and book a Myhermes drop off for under £3. I e-mail the label to the customer, it is tracked, and Myhermes tend to have very good coverage. If I go to Royal Mail it can be sent back first class for just £3.20 with proof of posting. My customers who wish to return love the MyHermes option.
Another case of ebay just not getting it, executing badly, and not serving the seller well.
Ebay are actually incorrect to say misuse of Managed Returns is still the seller’s problem and is their legal responsibility. It says that nowhere in the EU Distance Selling Regs.
Strangely, very few buyers seem to use Managed Returns and contact me with their problem first. At that point I always follow the Parcel2go/Myhermes route.
I was informed that eBay are working towards setting up their own logistics, possibly by way of purchasing collect +. But then collect + was running at a loss so not attractive to buy.
Anyway I thought what a genius idea, eBay simply own and operate the delivery/return process and this could be genius.