Can changing return policy lead to change in search results?

[lupercal]

I just wondered. No point asking ebay reps anything this complicated, but someone here may have an inkling.

I recently chenged my returns policy to 'no returns'. I always used to have a 7 day return policy, but when ebay told me I had to change to a 30 day return policy (on change of mind items), I got jack of it, and changed all my items to no returns. Of course this means I still honour returns for 'not as described', but not for 'nah, had second thoughts' (I don't know how many customers get this, but anyway)

Anyway, I went from selling about 50 things in the preceding three weeks, to none at all since last Sunday. There could be other reasons for this: I perhaps don't have the most exciting items up at the moment, but even these have a steady if slow turnover usually.

I wasn't overly concerned about buyers being scared off by the 'no returns' line (I could explain my policy in the description section, but I figure if they've got that far, they're interested anyway - and besides my 100% feedback ought to counterbalance it).  I'm more concerned that dropping this supposed prerequisite for a power seller has led to ebay deep-sixing my results in their searches.

Incidentally I still have a power seller badge, and according to my dashboard I'd still be 'top rated' if they evaluated me today.

Does this sound credible, or am I just having a flat spot?

Cheers

[the4masters2013]

Apparently eBay is very, very slow at the moment.

Other people are seeing a drop in sales.

Like you, I went from 7 day returns to no returns accepted (will refund/accept returns  as the buyer decides).

My sales have alnost stopped.

I asked the same question some time back. Other sellers assured me that the power sellers status dosen't change and they were still busy selling their items.

From what I can gather from other threads, it's eBay stopping dead not us!!

I just hope it picks up soon....like well before Christmas!!

[digital*ghost]

I would say it does have an effect on rankings, though couldn't say how dramatic it is on average. Accepting returns is one of eBays "best practices", and in categories where product-based search results are implemented they cite it as one of the things that will help a seller win the buy box (i.e. be the main visible result ), so it seems likely it may affect visibility in some way.

It might depend on how competitive the category is as well, some sellers have mentioned it didn't have any effect, while others have said things slowed down for a while but picked back up again.

[lupercal]

Thanks, both of you.

FWIW I did searches on some of my own items, logged out and did them again, and the results were identical. I chose items there were a lot o on ebay, and In both cases my items were listed in the same spot, close to the top based on 'best match' (and right at the top based on 'lowest price plus postage. I always assumed other buyers would use this as their default setting. If they do, I'd have no problems! I've become aware that people don't use this method, and I can only assume it's because they haven't noticed it exists)

Anyway, I don't know what to think about this business. If I don't see a pick up in sales, I'l probably switch back to 30 day returns and see if that changes things. It's not like I've had a lot of problems with people wanting exchanges for change of mind: the main thing I get is people overseas expecting things to arrive by the exact date ebay suggests they should, and wanting refunds - but over time   my overseas sales have shrunk and my local sales have grown*

Whatever the case, I'll wait til after the weekend, since Friday thru Sunday is when I sell probably at least two thirds of my items.

(I did, BTW have a sale this morning, after posting this message - the first since last Sunday, when I had seven)

*when I started there was no Australian ebay; I was on the US site, and probably 80% of my buyers were in the USA. It was also before Paypal, and everyone used to just mail me American banknotes. I'd take them into Thomas Cook and exchange them when they built up to a large enough amount. Man, that seems like the wild west now.

[lupercal]

Well, more than two weeks on, I've sold only three items in about 16 days, including none over the last weekend, compared to booming sales up til pretty much the day that I changed to 'no returns'.  Views per item is also way down and hasn't recovered either.

I think I'm going to change back to 30 day returns and see what happens. It can't be much worse than this. 

Can someone remind me if there is a way of applying this to all listings at once? (I still use the 'classic view' but will swap over if instructions are for new version.  Sorry, it's just not something I've ever had to fiddle with before.) 

[*tippy*toes*]

Tick all the boxes against the items you want to change the return policy on. If it's all your listings, tick the single box at the top or bottom, which will then tick all the boxes. After that, click the edit box. When the new page opens, tick the box above the listings, which tick them all. Then click on edit fields. Select return policy from the list. A pop up will open, where you can select 30 or 60 days. Click save, then sublit changes.

Done and done.

[lupercal]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

Tick all the boxes against the items you want to change the return policy on. If it's all your listings, tick the single box at the top or bottom, which will then tick all the boxes. After that, click the edit box. When the new page opens, tick the box above the listings, which tick them all. Then click on edit fields. Select return policy from the list. A pop up will open, where you can select 30 or 60 days. Click save, then sublit changes.

Done and done.

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- Thanks. This is what I was trying to do, but forgot the last step.

   However, when I tried to do this, 40 of my items showed up with error messages, and couldn't be edited.

  "All of your listings have errors and none of them can be submitted until the errors are fixed."

  The errors are supposedly 'auction has finished' - except none of them are auctions, and none of them are finished 😕

[lupercal]

Well, I reintroduced my returns policy and set it back to 30 days (on most items - some are mysteriously coming up with 14, for no reason I can see) and after a few days my number of hits suddenly skyrocketed, after weeks of barely ticking over. I can't tell you what the average traffic increase is, but it would have to be at least 300-400% more than before, perhaps a lot more than that. A few items had their hitcount go up by a factor of almost 10 overnight.

So far the flow-through to sales has been noticeable but too early to really call yet..

It could be a double coincidence that my hitcount dropped dramatically a day or two after I dropped my 30 day returns policy, and shot back up three weeks later within days of reintroducing it, but for the moment I'm leaving it as is.

Now if I can just stop them with this damn 'best offer' rubbish. It's getting to be every morning I have to fix a new batch of them now.  I guess the reason I haven't actually had someone jump on one is probably because of the pitiful hit-count. Now that it's back up, I really need this to stop. I was assured over the phone that it would, so it's time for another call, and this time I'll fill in the feedback survey afterwards.