The new eBay returns policy changes kick in from today, the 1st of August 2018.
eBay say that they see a significant number of buyers return items and then have to chase their refund and often this puts the seller’s metrics at risk if the case is escalated to eBay. To counteract this, under the new eBay returns policy sellers will have two days to perform the refund or eBay will step in an automatically refund the buyer in cases where the item as tracked and eBay can see it was returned. Once the buyer is refunded, eBay will close the refund request to protect the seller from escalations and having their performance dinged unnecessarily.
- From August 1st, 2018, business and consumer sellers have 2 business days to issue a refund for any new return requests, once eBay see you’ve received a returned item.
- From August 1st 2018, eBay will start automatically issuing refunds on behalf of the seller, if they see that a tracked item has been delivered, and 2 business days have elapsed.
This is intended to be a positive step by eBay to protect sellers but you’ll also want to remember the changes to minimum 30 or 60 day returns policies which now apply to some categories:
Mandatory 30 or 60-day returns policies
From August, in some categories, 14-day returns will no longer allowed – you’ll have to offer 30 or 60 day returns. If you haven’t updated your returns period for existing listings in these categories, eBay say that they will automatically update the returns period to 30-days on your listings
Categories where 14-day returns will no longer be available
- Fashion
- Health & Beauty
- Home & Garden
- Sports, Hobbies & Leisure
- Media
- Vehicle Parts & Accessories
4 returns policy options available within these categories
- 30-day buyer pays return postage
- 30-day free returns
- 60-day buyer pays return postage
- 60-day free returns
31 Responses
But still no information on when we can have different domestic and international return policies? It was promised a few months ago now.
This seems harsh for sellers as a buyer can return a brick if it’s tracked and the seller loses their money, also 60 days is longer than shops policies and when do sellers get to count an item as a successful sale for their accounts??
You try pulling up 60 day old listings on eBay,,,,,,,, really difficult as a seller. How can I possibly help with a return if links don’t work and information is not at hand to access? Furthermore, some correspondence after 30 days from a sale is classified by eBay as “offsite communication” which is banned.
All it takes is for the buyer to ask “can I have the return address please”?
Again in favor of eBay scammers.
More fraud than what’s already happening.
Ebays expensive fees..nothing for sellers
Sellers might as well list for free..
Most retail stores it’s 28days..so god knows where 60 comes from…I see big problems. I hope ebay goes bust..due to its greed
If parts or goods are not as described or faulty .
Who pays the return postage ?
This should be the seller
Again my issues with this is sellers are not give a choice and forced upon them. In the seller release they say it is industry standard in the categories affected and its what buyers want. I looked across all my listings as sell lots of different brands, look on each and every website. Out of 45 companies 23 off 28 days returns or more and 9 of them offer free returns. The other 22 offer 14 days returns and 4 offer free returns.
Like most things at the minute sellers are forced to adopt ebay way or no way. If sellers sell things with big profit margins then they can probably afford free postage, free returns etc. Yet others who have lower profit margins don’t want the hassle of longer return windows.
Also these shops work in calendar days unlike ebay who work in business days giving them even longer. Got a return opened today where they get till the 21st to send it back to me.
All I ask is to be given the choice how to run my business.
what happens when you get a return as often happens that has been used,tea party face mask that is covered on the white backing with make up,has food on it,and the ribbons which tie the mark around the head are still knotted and tied,obvious the mask has been worn for party and then returned,eBay pays the return at the sellers expense even though the buyer has used the goods for purpose and returned to get their money back.this happens quite often with goods sold.quite often this happens and the reason for sending back is given as does not look like picture although it clearly does,but has been used,willebay compensate the seller if they have paid the buyer the money back.even large shops sell dresses that are used for a wedding and returned after used the people ask for their money back although they have used the dress.arthur lewthwaite
what happens when you get a return as often happens that has been used,tea party face mask that is covered on the white backing with make up,has food on it,and the ribbons which tie the mark around the head are still knotted and tied,obvious the mask has been worn for party and then returned,eBay pays the return at the sellers expense even though the buyer has used the goods for purpose and returned to get their money back.this happens quite often with goods sold.quite often this happens and the reason for sending back is given as does not look like picture although it clearly does,but has been used,willebay compensate the seller if they have paid the buyer the money back.even large shops sell dresses that are used for a wedding and returned after used the people ask for their money back although they have used the dress
Ebay is nothing more then a joke I’m a seller & I do hope it goes bust and a more better site comes in play like shpock. Now that’s moving alot of my stock that ebay is losing out on. Evil Bay are just for buyers mainly scammers.
If an item is faulty seller HAS to pay for return postage, as per consumer acts.
As a buyer the idea of being refunded in 2 days is a step in the right direction. Personally it should be as soon as tracking is uploaded. I bought 2 iPhones in a week and both were returned due to being blacklisted, so I am waiting weeks to get almost £1500 back from scammers
We had a male masturbator returned because they changed there mind. On inspection of the item it had hairs all over it. I did not realise we other a try then return service. We cannot resell this item so had to throw it away. We spoke to eBay they said we should allow for this in our costing. I don’t think they understand how after postage eBay fees, PayPal fees and tax, plus having to compete with other sellers they expect anyone to make money. But I quess the plus side is you get there crappy 25 free boxes when you pay £85 a month to have a crappy shop
Ebay is playing a dangerous game. Soon they will have no Sellers to keep there organisation going, I am fed up of the lack of support towards us Sellers and this is the last straw me. Definitly looking at other alternatives.
nice to see ebay leading the way in the £60 billion uk returns bill. Keeping things sold is about communicating with customers; Just love the way ebay hate sellers doing this. Ebay of course, have monitised returns; you can also see the smile on the Suits faces when they have thier meeting. talk about short sighted stupidy.
nice to see ebay leading the way in the £60 billion uk returns bill. Keeping things sold is about communicating with customers; Just love the way ebay hate sellers doing this. Ebay of course, have monitised returns; you can also see the smile on the Suits faces when they have thier meeting. talk about short sighted .
nice to see ebay leading the way in the £60 billion uk returns bill. Keeping things sold is about communicating with customers; Just love the way ebay hate sellers doing this.
Ebay are always for the buyer. I sold two chairs, one was smashed in transit. Buyer told me that ebay have said that i have to arrange a courier to pick up which is wrong but to save hassle i did this. Ebay told me i need to sort out the prepaid return postage within 4 days otherwise the buyer gets full refund. I did this straight away and uploaded it to show i did this, then the next day get a message on ebay to say they gave her a full refund. I was on phone to ebay for 40 minutes passed to different departments, said they WOULD ring me back but didnt. Get message from buyer to say she got full refund, when courier arrived to pick up chairs the buyer said she couldn’t print label out and that ebay told her to keep chairs, buyer is laughing as they got full refund and kept chairs, i eventually got my £120 back but was out of pocket of £25 for return postage label. I think its wrong that they give refund back without me getting chairs back. I had to fight for my £120 back and haven’t got time for the hassle. Buyer know this, anything i sell now big.or electrical is cash on collection but buyers pay by paypal use the item then get refund, also when people want to pay cash on collection paypal sent them messages all the time to pay paypal which is wrong. Ebay need to sort this out as a lot of sellers will go elsewhere. Also another thing i dont like is when buyers muck you about they can leave you neg feedback but you cannot which again is wrong. please sort these things out Ebay.
We have been offering 60 day returns for ages now, 30 before that and so on. We have had a slight increase over last year but that is just the type of people you get these days. Am afraid a deal is never a deal these days.
It is all marketing, again trying to chase Amazon.
It is the returns abuse that is the issue and the fact eBay won’t have any monitoring and NOW wish to charge you extra for delivering the service.
The platform seems to be going back in time with its aggressive defects policy, but this time it is all designed for corporate profit. That is the actual issue. Again playing straight into F B A s hands.
All short term profiteering , they have such poor management and lack of vision these days, so they engineer a scheme just to essentially pick your pockets for doing returns.
Really hope there is a change at the top soon, the marketplace is just a corporate outlet, its become totally awful in the last couple of years.
A seller can inspect all they like the item returned will be refunded by ebay and you will lose out every time. BUT!!!!
Trading standards say that any item returned beyond the 14 day mandatory law of EU and UK does not have to be honoured by a seller. So if an item is damaged and worth the cost of submitting a small claim then do so it costs £60 and the case will be issued against eBay as they instructed the buyer of incorrect rights under trading laws.
The reason for this is ebay supply the label to the customer and therefore they are responsible for whatever is put into the parcel with the carrier. The contract of an item in transit is between the purchaser of the label and the carrier company so damage has to be sorted by eBay and the contents of the parcel.
If the product not fit for resale or used again you can take ebay to task for the product. How long does it take a buyer to know a coat does not fit or a dog collar or a pair of shoes or they dont like the colour.
ebay you are crackers and driving more and more sellers to other platforms that do not think they control everything about a sellers business
Bob said it right above ” Ebay is nothing more then a joke ”
Their stock price yesterday reached the lowest ever in 52 weeks.
Ebay = Dead Man Walking
“the case will be issued against eBay as they instructed the buyer of incorrect rights under trading laws.”
This is fanciful nonsense Mark.
eBay’s policies are what they are, you have to agree to them to sell there. The buyer has their legal rights and also any additional rights that eBay grant to them.
If a customer commits fraud, then you’re free to take them to court. Trying to take eBay to court for things you agreed to isn’t going anywhere.
To be honest this doesn’t suprise me. Ebay wants to encourage scammers as they cost ebay nothing but force sellers to put up prices and increase ebay profits! Watch how they class any day as part of the 2 day refund.. Plus, we have had items where royal mail has tried to deliver on saturday ( we are closed), it goes back to the depot, where we will have to go get it after we close on Monday (we can’t arrange redelivery as by then its monday anyway!)…. hmm 3 days! What is the bet that it gets refunded on Monday before we even get a chance to see it.
Why is it that Ebay has to crack every nut with a sledge hammer? If this is an issue, deal with those concerned. If they have buyers raising cases for non refund… then punish them. Why punish the rest of us?
I had a return opened because an item was faulty… it was a pool filter. I asked why, they said it was the wrong size. As in they had bought the wrong size! Another left me negative feedback because they bought a pool cover from me and it wouldn’t fit the pool they had bought ( they selected the wrong size)…. the worst bit, was that they blamed me for the pool not turning up too. It was bought from someone else. All in the same negative. I asked them to revise the feedback… they refused. Ebay wouldn’t remove as it was the buyers impression of the sale! So now we get blamed for others mistakes as well as the buyers ones.
So with this 2 day thing, i see scammers seeing this as another opportunity to milk due to the tight deadline. Especially if something needs to be tested, or if something is wrong with the return and you need to contact the buyer. There should be a ‘contest return’ button.
Ebay is a joke with the new policy. 60 days! Sadly I already have people sending things back just because the colour shoe was not quite the right shade for wedding dress and returned at my expence ( using the does not match description) ” but could I please send blah blah blah shoes to try on as I can send them back free too…hope Ebay wakes up as I am looking at selling elsewhere as cannot afford to keep doing this
eBay is slowly morphing into an online version of the collapasing Sears and K-Mart with about the same growth and lackluster earnings. eBay has basically had ZERO revenue growth since 2014, up around 7% over 4 years.
So they keep tweaking around with these changes trying to boost sales anyway possible without spending a dime on personnel or putting value into the site. The affiliate program is dying each month and sellers have left in droves who can longer deal with eBay’s bending over backward for corrupt buyers.
I’ve been an eBay seller for 20 years, (much of that time as a Platinum Seller) we’ve cut our use of the site by 90% in the last 5 years, just not worth it anymore.
They need to replace all of their management..from the top down. Then bring in some folks with guts and brains.
I’m an eBay seller and have tried keeping up with their endless (buyer) improvements and industry standards. I recently came to the conclusion it isn’t worth it, there’s more to life than eBay and there’s other ways to make money, money that I can keep instead of killing myself to further line the pockets of millionaires.
What bothers me the most is, if buyers want a certain level of service as eBay claim then they can find it on eBay from sellers who offer it and discard sellers who fall short. Instead eBay are forcing sellers to keep up in the name of industry standards instead of letting sellers do their own thing and buyers making their own choice. I’ve never been hounded to this level on Amazon, they pretty much let me do my own thing.
I’ve never been under 100% feedback in 4 years, nothing but happy customers, speedy delivery, great customer service and all that, but eBay decide regularly that apparently what I’m doing isn’t enough, even though the feedback says quite the opposite. It’s all a load of rubbish and they talk complete crap to further whatever agenda they have at the expense of us. I’m scaling down my eBay business and moving on, eBay can do what they want but I’m not going to kill myself to be a part of it anymore.
I’ve been speaking with eBay Customer Services about misuse of returns, as I see it is an important point re. return cases. I wanted to know if they record these misuses, on eBay’s system, against individual returns. It seems they do not.
I would expect eBay to exclude such misuse returns from the return rate calculation, used for the Service Metrics penalty fee. But, if they do not record them, there is no way they can be excluded.
Apparently, someone has to read through the messages, concerning a return case, in order to determine if it as a misuse or not. If a second person needs to answer the same question, they too have to read through it all.
This leaves me wondering if the abscence of such a field is due to poor design or “by design”. I suspect the latter.
I’ve just spoken with CS about a return that I have open with another seller (I’ve yet to receive my refund, tracking shows delivered back on the 9th) and it turns out that the new returns procedure roll out was delayed!
Apparently the new returns procedure only applied to returns opened on the 13th onwards, so two weeks later than advertised.
It even states in the return I have open:
‘Your item is on its way back to the seller. Your seller should send you a refund within 2 business days of delivery.’
Guess I shouldn’t be suprised. Here’s the line from eBay CS:
‘We have recently changed our timelines with the refund of our buyers. The 2 business days of delivery would start on all returns that was created August 13, 2018 onwards.’