Ebay Spring Seller Updates.....What did I tell ya!
amwldcoin
Posts: 11,269 ✭✭✭✭✭
There is no longer a reason to offer free shipping any longer! I'll be damned if I am going to offer free shipping both ways for a measly 10% discount on final seller fees.
From Ebay:
Top Rated Plus update
30-day free returns is a retail returns standard and a buyer expectation. Starting June 1, 2018, Top Rated Sellers will be required to offer 30-day free returns to be eligible to receive Top Rated Plus benefits. eBay Top Rated Sellers earn those benefits by offering an elevated experience to their buyers. When you offer 30-day free returns, you’re offering a superior retail returns experience.
Exceptions
30-day free returns is required for most categories, but there are exceptions in select categories.
You will be required to offer 30-day returns in the following categories to be eligible to receive Top Rated Plus benefits:
Parts & Accessories
Musical Instruments & Gear
Listings with Freight Shipping Specified
Media
You will be required to offer 14-day free returns in Products in Collectibles & Art categories to be eligible to receive Top Rated Plus benefits.
You are not required to offer free returns in some existing categories to receive Top Rated Plus benefits. We will expand this exception to include the following categories:
Prepaid Phone Cards
Virtual Currency
Comments
especially since some buyers use auction wins as approval service
Let's give ebay an earful. I think I'm going to email the new coin rep. from ebay I met with at FUN a link to this thread if it take off!
At least no pressure now to attain that performance level. They just pretty much just destroyed the value of their own feedback system. No reason now for sellers not to risk a neg with shady listings.
So coins are not considered one of the Collectibles & Art categories for the 14-Day free returns?
Can you tell me what exactly changed that you are upset about? I can't really tell by reading that.
So what if the coin is $3000, are you responsible for insured shipping back or just the basic few bucks for 1st class uninsured, with the balance being on the head of the buyer?
Y'know...I wait for all of these buyer perks to strengthen the selling prices on Ebay. They don't. Sales uptick a bit with the Ebay bucks promotions, but not all that much.
To get Top Rated seller benefits...IE the 10% discount on Final Value Fees you know have to offer free 30 day returns. They are also eliminating the ability to charge restocking fees! That's in another part of the announcement.
This would not bother me at all except for the fact it opens the door for abuse. I can count the returns I've had on ebay in the past 20 years on 2 hands and maybe a couple of toes!
I've offered 30 day returns for awhile now. I guess not free, but most people that want to return a coin usually claim it is not as described so that they get it free anyway. The money saved on the 10% discount more than covers any return costs I have lost. This update doesn't sound as bad as a lot of the past ones have.
This is a non-issue. It is also NOT A CHANGE OPERATIONALLY.
You are offering free returns now - whether you want to or not. All a buyer has to do is claim "Item not as described" and eBay charges you the return shipping anyway.
Treat your customers as you would want to be treated.
THIS!
+1
I have to disagree! I had a buyer try to force a return as you describe! I called ebay and they agreed with me. Then the buyer left me negative feedback which ebay promptly removed after another call. It was obvious the guy was trying to make a quick flip and ebay could see that!
Disagree - most people who buy small value items, if it’s a little other than what they expect, will just keep it rather than go through the hassle of a SNAD return or spend the expense for a real return. Free returns frankly encourages returns to be used more if you simply just don’t like it. In fact, now that I’m never going to get top-rated status going forward I might as well go with no returns.
I work a lot in the sub-$15 range and thin margins. A return not only wipes out any potential profit from that item but probably 1-2 others. Free returns does not work for my business model. If you’re selling only higher value, certified coins, yea you’re probably not going to be impacted by much.
It still amazes me that no other company has stepped in to fill the true auction for little guys role that eBay originally filled but has long since abandoned.
90% of my business is sub-$15. Every return I've ever gotten (thankfully few) has been as the result of a SNAD. To take advantage of an eBay promotion, I offered free returns in November through January. I saw NO INCREASE in returns during that period - in fact I got a total of ONE return on approximately 500 sales.
I stand by my conclusion: You effectively are offering free returns now because of SNAD. The number of returns will NOT change with the "free shipping" option.
I saw NO INCREASE in returns during that period - in fact I got a total of ONE return on approximately 500 sales.
Bet you start to see an uptick moving forward as more sellers are “forced” to do it and more buyers become aware of it.
Do buyers get their original shipping back also, or just a free return label?
I think you're all missing the most truly bizarre part of the changes they're making. Apparently when you list something now, you will be forced to select the matching item that you're listing. This works fine for run of the mill items, but I for one can't wrap my mind around how that will apply to coins. I found the comment below on ecommercebytes:
Ebay's response to a question about Vintage and Handmade:
''Although we are currently focusing on commodity goods, we will expand Product-based Commerce to all eBay categories. Since everything sold on eBay can be described as a product, we will enable all sellers to add their products to our catalog directly, including products for unique or long-tail items. We will make sure that those items are discoverable. We will also do our best to reduce the friction during the product creation experience where it shouldn’t be more burdensome than the listing creation experience today. We're committed to ensuring search results appear in an intuitive way that enables buyers to compare and contrast items when making their purchase selection. ''
In other words, they're trying to be Amazon. For example, on Amazon, you search for a product and find every seller that's selling that product on the listing page.
What on Earth does that even mean? Will we no longer be able to browse categories in the way we do now as buyers?
Early American Copper, Bust and Seated.
I have noticed a number of sellers shipping $1300 plus gold items via first class with little if any insurance--that is one effect of ebay's one size fits all system. Makes absolutely no sense in numismatics to do sales they way they do them in most other categories.
It seems like they're going to want people to list coins in the same way as they would used phones, new shoes, or sunglasses. Totally baffling.
Early American Copper, Bust and Seated.
Look past the coins.I bought some blade spindles for a zero turn lawnmower using the factory part numbers. They were all incorrect from a very large parts dealer.Not only did I have to spend $$$ to send back but also had to pay a restocking fee of 30%. All for his mistake.If the new rules can put a stop to those sellers, I am all in.
P.S. I used to sell on EBAY but the fees got ridiculous.I now only buy.
Kind of off topic but I sold a 110 volt industrial strobe light (free shipping which amounted to $35.00) to some guy and he tried to hook it up to his 12 volt car battery. He claimed "item not as described" and Ebay wanted me to accept the return shipping and pay another $35.00.
My best option was to let the idiot keep it and write it off as a loss.
This could be BIG to me. For example, if I sell a set of V8 exhaust manifolds for $45 and the shipping is $22, a free return is a real killer, $22 out, and $22 back, basically means I would have been ahead just to through it in the trash.
Bigger things like a car door, it can be easily $150 for the door, and $250 to freight it. Which means, I cannot do a free return, I would just wind up abandoning it, losing my door and paying $250 for the privilege of doing so.
Between FedEx and USPS, last year, it accounted for about 23.5% of the total amount I collected from ebay sales.
A lot of my stuff is big and heavy.
It’s not EBay trying to be Amazon - it’s Ebay trying to BEAT Amazon - and place all the additional cost and risk securely on the sellers.
Even Amazon doesn’t offer free refunds.
They get their original shipping back AND a free return label...as they do now on a SNAD.
Actually, Amazon does. If you abuse it, however, they throw you off.
Unfortunately, that happens with half of my returns. I'm not paying $3 shipping to get back a $3 item.
They may have a private insurance plan. If you are a volume shipper, it is also more cost effective to self-insure since the number of lost packages is small.
Would YOU buy coins on a site that offered NO RETURNS?
The problem with eBay goes far beyond the issue of "no returns" and far beyond the problems related to selling coins.
While there will be no more restocking fees, the partial refund part seems interesting. I wonder if actual people will be reviewing these cases and if the decisions will start leaning towards sellers or continue to heavily favor buyers?
Edit: it appears the Coins and Paper Money category isn't part of the partial returns policy.
eBay loves me and is helping me keep a trim waist.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
Most figured it out several years ago. Ebay is not a good place to sell but it is a great place to buy.....assuming you can avoid all the counterfeits. lol
Perhaps, but the issue here is "returns".
I've been on eBay since 1997. Do I love every policy of theirs? Absolutely not. But people who think there is an obvious better alternative aren't really considering the entire package. There IS a reason that they are still the King of this particular block. It's not like there haven't been hundreds of challengers over the last 20 years.
And anyone who thinks eBay is a pain should try selling on Amazon. If you refuse a return on Amazon, Amazon will suspend your account.
Yes but customers are rarely so bold as to used the not as described invitation. 30 days with seller covering shipping both ways is more fitting for Brooks Brothers shirts, not professionally graded coins.
A continuation of the years long pattern of ever increasing hostility towards sellers.
This is the problem when a business has no real competition.
The old PowerSeller program was far better.
I wanna be a coin dealer. I will just go on ebay and pick out my inventory each month. What I can't sell at the end of 30 days I will just return at the sellers expense! Cost me nothing to have a pretty good sized inventory!
eBay would catch you.
Don't quote me on that.
When it happens I'll just build that into my price. The thing I don't like about 30 days is that's money that I can't use until it clears...if they leave you positive feedback does that stop the 30 day clock?
D2
Don't quote me on that.
Ya think! I have 2 accounts and could expand from there!
You'd have to be a whole lot smarter than just creating additional accounts....so much information follows you around the internet no matter who you claim to be....
Don't quote me on that.
bullion is exempt from the return requirement. Just list your coins in a bullion category, after all many coins do contain precious metal.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
Whatever...people do it all the time!
No, feedback does not change the clock. In fact, just a few weeks ago I had a buyer leave a positive, and then a few days later open a return stating "I thought it had a higher quality. In hand it does not look so good." When I made it clear that the 2-way shipping wasn't refundable, he didn't reply. As far as I know, it hasn't been sent back, and the case is about to close due to inactivity. But all the while, it's wasting my time.
Quite the opposite. If a buyer sends back an item for any reason other than buyer's remorse, even if they choose how to send it and package it terribly, you're responsible for it getting back to you safely. I've discussed this with eBay on many occasions, and they're really consistent with this.
There's a big difference. Right now, a buyer has to claim SNAD to get a free return. Now, some don't have a problem doing this, but the honest ones might think twice, and even the dishonest ones at least have to answer to questioning. I've successfully challenged many SNAD cases (particularly when buyers who don't read the description complain about things I've stated verbatim in the description), meaning that regardless of the claim, the buyer still ends up paying for the return. Now that's changed. A dishonest buyer certainly doesn't need to make up any reasons to get a free return, and even an honest buyer who may have had unreasonably high expectation has no reason not to return the coin. Other than the time required to ship the package, there is now no disincentive to return an item. This isn't to say I'm trying to stick bad coins on buyers, but it means that no matter how much I do right, there is no barrier to a buyer still finding something wrong (or maybe nothing wrong at all) and having the cost come onto me.
I believe I treat my customers more than fairly. That doesn't mean they always reciprocate. There's nothing I can do about having to deal with bad buyers. I can't make all those non-paying buyers pay me. I can't stop them from having unreasonable expectations. But now I can pay for them.
Ok, I re-read the exceptions:
Coins & Paper Money is a category within Collectibles & Art. So it appears to me that coin listings only need 14-Day returns (which don't have to be free) to qualify for Top Rated Plus.
If you read your own text, the 14-Day returns DO have to be free.
This is simply not completely true. Tracking MUST show the item returned to you. If damaged, you would have to prove it. But if it does not get back to you, Seller protection applies. I HAVE HAD THIS HAPPEN AND SEEN IT EXECUTED.
EVERY return I've ever gotten is SNAD. Only once did someone return a coin at their own expense - and he was another dealer. I HAVE OFFERED FREE RETURNS AND NOT SEEN AN UPTICK IN RETURNS. So, your speculation aside, I've actually done the experiment.
Crap! Well 14 is better than 30. The other excepted categories do not have to be free (but need to be 30 days).
I contacted a couple of them on this and neither had private insurance.
When I brought up the issue on ebay forums I got responses that the Hope diamond was shipped first class, lol.
eBay must get down on its knees every half hour to give thanks that no one has figured out how to use Collective Coin to its fullest potential.
