Is eBay informing buyers to make a claim for items not recieved

[celebrarty]

OMG 7 more yesterday!!!

Is anyone who has bought anything from ebay the last month being emailed from ebay notifying them if their item hasn't arrived and can't be verified by tracking to put in a claim regardless if they actually have the item or not?

Over the last 5 years or so of me selling on ebay with over 7,200 sales all over the world, I have had maybe 10 claims from buyers saying their item hasn't arrived. They would message me first too. Not now!

The last couple of weeks, 16 from 18 sales have now gone straight to put in a claim!!

**bleep** is going on ebay?!?!?

[thecatspjs]

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@jensmanchester-australia wrote:

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Today I received 2 emails from ebay telling me that if I want to return a purchase for any reason whatever ebay will pay for the return if it is done through ParcelPoint.

I feel so sorry for all the sellers here.....ebay is virtually telling buyers they can buy whatever they like and return it if they don't want it.

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Lydnal - the way I see it is that buyers buy something because they want it - they don't usually buy something just to have it delivered and to then have to go to the trouble of returning it to the seller even if ebay are offering free return post.

If a buyer received what they ordered and in their opinion it is as described there is usually no reason for a buyer to want to return an item.

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Depends on your market...

The fashion market experiences notoriously high returns from particular segments

[lyndal1838]

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@jensmanchester-australia wrote:

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Today I received 2 emails from ebay telling me that if I want to return a purchase for any reason whatever ebay will pay for the return if it is done through ParcelPoint.

I feel so sorry for all the sellers here.....ebay is virtually telling buyers they can buy whatever they like and return it if they don't want it.

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Lydnal - the way I see it is that buyers buy something because they want it - they don't usually buy something just to have it delivered and to then have to go to the trouble of returning it to the seller even if ebay are offering free return post.

If a buyer received what they ordered and in their opinion it is as described there is usually no reason for a buyer to want to return an item.

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Jen, I see where you are coming from and it is probably true for the items you are selling and it is certainly true for me as a buyer but unfortunately it is not the case for many buyers and sellers here.

The thread is about ebay encouraging buyers to make claims and generally give sellers a hard time.

In the last 2 days I have had 3 emails from ebay encouraging me to buy whatever I want and feel safe in the knowledge that not only can I return it but ebay will pay for it.....no matter whether it is as described or is just a change of mind.

There are plenty of buyers out there who are happy to do this without needing any encouragement from ebay.

I feel for clothing sellers....how many are going to be sending out dresses for the party season only to have them returned once worn.

As we all know, if it arrived in time it was sure to have been damaged wasn't it?

[digital*ghost]

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@jensmanchester-australia wrote:

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Lydnal - the way I see it is that buyers buy something because they want it - they don't usually buy something just to have it delivered and to then have to go to the trouble of returning it to the seller even if ebay are offering free return post.

If a buyer received what they ordered and in their opinion it is as described there is usually no reason for a buyer to want to return an item.

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Just to stick my 2c in.... 

Making returns not only easier, but actually beneficial (to the buyer), is exactly how certain buyer behaviours are cultivated (behaviours that are, just speaking personally, undesirable, and ones I don't particularly want supported by third parties who are not involved in my business, nor do I want to have those kinds of business policies taken out of my hands - hence why I also took issue with PayPal introducing their refunded postage scheme). 

You only have to look at regular buyer behaviours on other sites where free returns are standard - eg purchasing serveral variations of the same item, testing out which one they like, of fits, best, and returning the rest.

A seller may not have to pay for the postage on such returns with this ParcelPoint scheme, but it will cost them, which means it will cost buyers in the long run. 

[celebrarty]

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@jensmanchester-australia wrote:

When a buyer opens a request saying they didn't receive an item it doesn't impact the seller at that stage. This is how buyers communicate with sellers these days and is basically the same as sending a message to the seller.

The seller is given three days to respond to the buyer. If the buyer is not satisfied with the sellers response after three days the buyer can ask ebay to step. It is at this stage a seller may be impacted depending on what happens once ebay are asked to step in.

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As soon as a buyer makes a claim, the paypal funds are immediately taken from the sellers account and held in limbo until it is either returned to the buyer or back to the seller if it can be prooven the item was shipped.

My issue is not with returns but with claims that the item never arrived.

Even if the buyer has the item, there is no way I can proove shipping so they get to keep the item for free

[5kazam]

I just received the same email from eBay.

I note that it says 'Remorse returns only'.  'Purchase an eligible item from a participating store by 24 December'......'and return it for free within 30 days of receiving it'.

The email does not specify which are the participating stores.  (Probably all the big boys.)

So it doesn't seem it will be carte blanche on ALL sellers.  

At least it means those stores will get their item back, rather than buyer get refund and keep the goods as well....or does that scenario only apply to the average seller - store holder or not.

A thought - is this just a ploy to keep the big boys on eBay by picking up the tab for return post, instead of the BB's footing the bill?

[digital*ghost]

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@5kazam wrote:

I just received the same email from eBay.

I note that it says 'Remorse returns only'.  'Purchase an eligible item from a participating store by 24 December'......'and return it for free within 30 days of receiving it'.

The email does not specify which are the participating stores.  (Probably all the big boys.)

So it doesn't seem it will be carte blanche on ALL sellers.  

At least it means those stores will get their item back, rather than buyer get refund and keep the goods as well....or does that scenario only apply to the average seller - store holder or not.

A thought - is this just a ploy to keep the big boys on eBay by picking up the tab for return post, instead of the BB's footing the bill?

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Good to know, thanks. 

It must be a Christmas promo, probably to try and keep buyers online (and on eBay) rather than in stores - I know eBay tries to encourage sellers to implement a longer return timeframe over the Christmas period (I'm not sure if it's still the case, but in the US you couldn't qualify for their TRS discounts without having 60 [or could have been 90] day returns from Nov-Jan). 

If it's participating stores only, it could be a co-funded scheme since the larger stores probably see a lot of Christmas returns.