What are your thoughts on refunding due to change of mind? New ebay 'rules'

[currarongpete]

Well, this could be a bit of a mine field.

[currarongpete]

Particularly for us hobby selllers who often sell vintage and retro 'age wear and tear' items

[character_parties_aus]

I think a lot of it depends on the nature of the product sold. We won't be refunding if paid due to change of mind never have never will and happy to kop negs and defects as necessary as ACCC legislation puts us in the right.

Buyers have plenty of time to do the necessary research and read what is presented to them before buying and paying for an item.

Might be an idea to implement a restocking fee as well!

[clarry100]

I see they are now sending out emails to every ID on the planet to tell everyone how to go about getting a free item from any seller.

We are just going to keep on selling, at least for a while, to see if it gets too much for us to handle.

If it does, then we will simply have to close up shop and exit stage left.

We can't even pass the first gateway as we use large letter for 99.9% of our items. So we will simply fail any buyer request and be forced to refund simply because of this and regardless of any other thing the buyer says. We virtually have no right of reply and just lose our money.

I hope they will be keeping some kind of record on buyers who habitually abuse this new feature so it can be seen that they usurping the system. But I'm sure that would even be ignored as they are a protected species as a buyer.

This makes me feel very flat this morning.

[gec2002]

You might as well agree to it, and hope you get your item back unused.  If you say no, the next day you will likely receive INAD, which are almost impossible to fight, and eBay will likely tell the buyer don't worry about returning it (What do they care its not their money), pay the buyer, deduct the cost from your account and hit you with an open case.  Its a completely one sided competition.

[currarongpete]

I feel yet another giant hurdle for the sellers, another win/win for the buyers. I have a friend who sells at very reasonable prices 2nd hand good quality clothes and shoes as a hobby and just to have a few extra $ and she and others who sell such items may find this very frustrating. She will need to put a message on each listing that she won't refund due to change of mind.

[clarry100]

Regardless of what words a seller puts in his/her descriptions it is a widely know fact that very few buyers read the descriptions.

They buy off the main picture and rarley even look at the other pictures.

We get lots of questions that can be answered by either reading the descriptions or looking at all the pics we put up.

[horizon1907]

Yeah, just got my special email from ebay telling all how easy it is all going to be in the future. Blah Blah IMO I think it's going to be a nightmare. They ( ebay ) are just so cunning, when it comes to wording paragraphs. They make it sound so bright & bubbly, when in fact it's not. It's going to be a Dodgey Buyers Dream and a Sellers Worst Nightmare.

[dotm2004]

I too sell second hand kiddies clothes and have been for many years.

Every year seems to get harder.   I purchase the items I sell, and have just started free postage.

If you add up the item you buy, free postage, listing fees ... my sales are going down, and so it goes on.

So now any dishonest buyer, can decide they don't want/like an item and we have to take it back 😞

I am not a complainer, but feel that something which was once an advantage to me and the buyer has become a 'slog'. 

I have always done the right thing ... and refund without question ..... hoping that the buyer gets a bargain, and I make a bit of money.

I think it's about time eBay came up with some bright ideas to make it easier for sellers .... 🙂   (but I'm not holding my breath).

I don't think it's just me, and sellers seem to be leaving eBay in drones ..... without sellers, the buyers will have to look elsewhere .... and then where will eBay be ................

[digital*ghost]

Refunding due to change of mind is not a requirement. If you have your listings set to not accept returns, while you can still be obliged to refund in the case of items not received or not as described, you can't be obliged to accept a change of mind return.

The buyer will still be able to access the "return this item" option, though, when a listing has no returns accepted. Technically, asking to return the item for a change of mind reason means that the buyer sends a request, then it's still up to the seller to accept or decline.

The problem with that is when an option is offered by eBay on behalf of the seller, it very quickly goes from 

"I can send a message to the seller and ask if I can return this item" to

"I can send a message to the seller and ask if I can return this item"

In other words, the option facilitates an expectation of entitlement, just like how - because a seller can't do anything about non-payment for minimum 4-8 days - you see people say things like "eBay gives buyers 8 days to pay", which is just bogus, eBay don't give buyers any timeframe, that's all part of a seller's TOS. 

So, while it's still entirely up to the seller whether or not to accept change of mind returns, I think it's going to be a bit harder to decline them, as people will start to think it's a right rather than an optional privilege that the seller may or may not provide.