eBay have announced that they are updating eBay Money Back Guarantee and other policies to clarify existing enforcement measures against buyers who violate the eBay abusive Buyer policy.
“Buyers may not misuse our feedback, returns, or buyer protection programmes. Engaging in activity as described in this policy may result in a range of actions, including the loss of eBay Money Back Guarantee coverage, issuing warnings to buyers, blocking buyers from requesting returns or refunds on eBay, and account suspension.”
– eBay
Naturally some of the most pertinent parts of the eBay Money Back Guarantee policy address the recent Enhanced eBay Seller Protection for Top Rated Sellers. Specifically spelled out are:
Don’t make false claims – Not allowed:
- Claiming an item was not received when there is proof of delivery to the address on the Order details page
- Falsely claiming an item was not as described
Don’t misuse returns – Not allowed
- Returning an item other than the original item received
- Using or damaging an item and then returning it
- Returning an item with the reason that it was not as described when it was described accurately
You can read the full eBay abusive buyer policy here
14 Responses
“Claiming an item was not received when there is proof of delivery to the address on the Order details page”
So if there’s no tracking info, then it’s fine to steal it under ebay’s new policy wording?
It’s seems really odd to me that eBay have done this.
On one hand – Opening a not received case when the tracking shows the item has been delivered seems obvious and I think eBay always leaned towards the sender in these cases but this puts the emphasis the infallibility of the delivery service. Is it inconceivable that an item was delivered to wrong address? I think we all know the answer.
Other things they mention in the ‘abuse’ policy are subjective. “Not as described” has always had a subjective element. Unless eBay check each description against each actual item how can they say either way? Even clothing manufacturers can’t agree on sizing – shoe sizes differ between manufacturers …
I think eBay have gone to quite a bit of effort to make it look like something has changed to protect sellers, but I can’t see what has actually changed.
“ ‘Claiming an item was not received when there is proof of delivery to the address on the Order details page’
So if there’s no tracking info, then it’s fine to steal it under ebay’s new policy wording?”
That is nothing new: if a seller has not used a trackable service, eBay will not protect them. However, a fraud is still a fraud, but the victim, the seller, has to take it up with the Police . That seems fair: tracking is worth paying for if an item is worth anything.
Nothing will change.
The same mantra will apply from eBay “dear seller, we can’t see what you sent and have no way of verifying what was received so please refund the buyer in full”.
“Dear seller, we couldn’t verify that you received an empty box return so please refund the buyer in full”
@Toby no worries ?
I fully agree, eBay have never found in our favour with these scam returns. We do expect returns online- it’s the nature of the beast. However what we don’t expect are empty box returns- even when we can prove the return parcel weight was substantially different from that sent out. We even heard of eBay refunding the entire cost of a bedroom suite when the “buyer” claimed they had returned the “faulty” goods by post- by second class signed for letter rate!! That’s unforgivable
In most cases you are better off calling Ebay and talking to someone as more often than not you get a positive outcome if you are in the right.
Whilst Ebay policy hasn’t changed much here they are using more language associated with ‘scamming’. Even if Ebay put off 10% of scammers from committing fruad in the first place then it’s a step in the right direction.
More is needed to better protect the seller but at least this is a start.
My sales are down 75% this year vs last year which was already down 30% from previous. Of the sales I’ve made this year, 10% are fraudulent buyers. It may have to do with the type of goods that I sell but it has creeped up because fraudsters know they can get away. I think anyone with under 30 feedbacks could be a fraud. Now there are 2 kinds of frauds. Those that use stolen credit cards are the most common and then the last is someone who buys and immediately files for return and sends back something else. I’ve taken down many items because I can’t handle the losses anymore and sell strictly items that are hard to find and not high priced.