Our First Return Request

[clarry100]

We have just received our first formal return request under these confounded new rules.

The buyer says that her baby came out wearing premmie size and as a result the newborn size she bought prior to the birth does not fit and will be no good for use in a photo shoot.

Of course, if we get them back in original condition we are happy to refund her original cost, but not inclined to also pay for the return postage as there is nothing actually wrong with the item per se. If the item was faulty by our doing then we would pay return postage.

Now that the buyer has made a formal request rather than sending us a message first is she obliged to use trackable postage for the return?

Otherwise she could just say she sent it and we will never receive it back. In this situation I would prefer use of trackable means. That way both of us are covered.

Any thoughts on this please?

[fmurphy2005]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the eBay customer service officer told me eBay is rolling out a new feature called something like a Restock Fee, to help sellers keep some of the money that would be otherwise lost to buyers claiming a return request/refund.  It's already available to American eBay sellers.

It's under Site Preferences > Return Preferences.  Switch it on and apparently a new editing field appears in the item editor to add a restock fee for that item, so it comes off the refund amount given back to the customer under the recently introduced new policy.

It's not officially available for Australian eBay sellers yet but we found it in my account much to his surprise.

[digital*ghost]

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@tall_bearded01 wrote:

The eBay Guarantee clearly states only return of items which are not as described are covered under the Guarantee.  The policy also clearly states that return for other reasons, such as return vide the sellers returns policy remain an issue between the buyer and seller. That is eBay willnot get involve.

I would get a hold of eBay and tell them that this is clearly not a return for the purposes the Guarantee, and as such they ought to bud out,

If they don’t, bud out that is, and you want to push it further then lodge a complaint which you can lodge with both Consumer Affairs and the ACCC.

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Yes and no...

Requests technically (or at least theoretically) aren't supposed to have anything to do with eBay whether they are for INR, SNAD or a change of mind return, they just facilitate the process of contact / communication in a certain way, unless a further problem arises and that's when the MBG kicks in. That is, they're not supposed to get involved unless it's escalated to a case.

(Just by the by, I think the "hassle free returns" process is being rolled out from the 10th, and that's where the buyer can print out a shipping label via eBay to send back, and who's charged depends on the reason for the return and the seller's return policy. I recommend any sellers out there preferring to work out returns with buyers outside of that process, double check your settings by going to My eBay > Account > Site Preferences and see if the managed returns feature is set to 'Yes' or 'No' - no should be default).

A change of mind request can be escalated to a case if the buyer returns the item but doesn't receive a refund / replacement, but until then, it shouldn't have anything to do with the MBG.

[clarry100]

Wow! Thank you all so very much for all the valuable insight into this.
We have made a formal acceptance of the return. Contacted the buyer and in the most polite way told them that upon receipt of the item in it's original condition we will issue the requested refund.
I also asked her if she would be prepared to accept a transaction cancellation after we issue the refund so we can recover our fees. So far no response on that question.
It all seems very amicable so far. No alarm bells are ringing at this stage of the process.

[roseworthy11]

it does matter which box the buyer ticked as to why they are returning an item because 2 choices earn the seller a defect. Even if as a seller, you have always accepted returns, you will now be defected if the buyer chooses that the item was NAD or broken - therefore - if Aust Post damaged the item - you, the seller will earn the defect. So it does matter why the buyer changed their mind - 2 choices earn you a defect.

[sewandsew1111]

even if you set the managed returns to no - if a buyer opens a return request the seller is drawn into the managed returns system. The seller earns the defect straight to their seller dashboard immediately a buyer selects NAD or broken for he return request. And this is before you agree or disagree.I take it that you are assuming that the seller does not get a defect until ebay decide in the buyers favour. But, the ebay new return process is not like the paypal return process - you get the defect as soon as the buyer clicks that button, not when ebay decide if the buyer is right or not. Buyers can see that selecting a NAD or broken means the seller has to pay return post - selecting buyer remorse options means the buyer has to pay return post. I have had a couple of returns over my several selling IDs and this is my experience of how the new return process works. You are offering a different take on it - I would like to know if the way you are experiencing the return system is different than mine. Have you had a NAD or broken return yet under the new system and checked your defect report to see if you earned a defect?

[digital*ghost]

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@sewandsew1111 wrote:
even if you set the managed returns to no - if a buyer opens a return request the seller is drawn into the managed returns system. The seller earns the defect straight to their seller dashboard immediately a buyer selects NAD or broken for he return request. And this is before you agree or disagree.I take it that you are assuming that the seller does not get a defect until ebay decide in the buyers favour. But, the ebay new return process is not like the paypal return process - you get the defect as soon as the buyer clicks that button, not when ebay decide if the buyer is right or not. Buyers can see that selecting a NAD or broken means the seller has to pay return post - selecting buyer remorse options means the buyer has to pay return post. I have had a couple of returns over my several selling IDs and this is my experience of how the new return process works. You are offering a different take on it - I would like to know if the way you are experiencing the return system is different than mine. Have you had a NAD or broken return yet under the new system and checked your defect report to see if you earned a defect?

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No, I understand all that, the managed returns is strictly what the "streamlined" process is all about, and is what provides the option for a buyer to print postage labels via eBay. I honestly don't know the nuts and bolts of the process because it's still being rolled out, and there have been issues with aspects of the currently available returns request system, too, but my understanding of the eBay managed returned process is that unless the item requires a freight service or some such, the buyer can get the option to print a label on eBay once a return has been accepted, and who pays for that label depends on the seller's return policy (and/or possibly what the return is for, i.e. SNAD or change of mind) whereas if a seller opts out, the return postage is organised independent of the eBay system.

I think....  

[clarry100]

I just went and looked again at my seller dashboard.

There are no new defects recorded after having accepted the return and contacted the buyer.

We are still cruising at 0.16% as we have been now for a while.

As soon as the one bogus NAD star-ding drops off the radar next month we hope to be back to ZERO defects.

Fingers crossed nobody else decides to NEG us or something without contacting us first.

[bigbrickshop]

Buyers can select from a list of reasons when opening a Return Request.

The first 3 (buyer mistake/remorse) do not result in a Defect.

[sewandsew1111]

thank you for that bigbrickshop !!- your simple provision of the table is easier to understand than what I was trying to write!