Outrageous ebat 's new return policy and insane sale cancellation rule, really bad and stupid

[ozsse]

2 really bad things happened overnight whic reflect the how brainless ebay is and how the new changes in ebay rip off sellers so much easier:

1. a buyer opened a case on ebay (without contacting me first) because the item was not received. I tried response to it immediately but in less than 1 minute another email received from ebay telling me the case was closed n buyer's favor and it has refunded the money to her.

This is just crazy because even paypal would have given seller a few days to respond but ebay is now making a final decision instantly as long as the buyer escalate the claim immediately.

If this is not bad enough, I tried to cancel this transaction because payment was already refunded. Apprently "You can't cancel this transaction because the buyer opened a case about it in the Resolution Centre, and the case was closed and has been decided in the buyer's favour.  In the future, please resolve cases with your buyers as quickly as possible so that you can get a credit on your Final Value Fee."

how can I respond to the case fast enough if it is closed within a minute??? Now I can't get hte transaction fees reimbursed.

2. another buyer contacted me and said the item received was not what she thought. After some discussion we settled on a 90% refund without asking her to return the item. Normally I would cancel the transaction after the refund so as to get my ebay fees back. BUT now I can't - because no sale can be cancelled unless a 100% refund is issued. All other old options were removed so I can't cancel the sale unless a 100% refund can be issued.

In my case, a partial 90% refund was not good enough and I can't get my ebay fees back. This is just insane, why don't ebay refund the ebay fees in proportion of the refund amount? This is just a hugh rip off to the innocent sellers who tried their best to settle things with buyers

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I am deeply disappointed with ebay's changes and it is now squashing small sellers to the extreme.

[digital*ghost]

Regarding issue number 1 - call eBay, you are supposed to get 3 days to respond to a request, so it seems they've been a bit trigger happy on that one and I would give them some grief for it.

Regarding issue number 2 - I think eBay must still be working out some kinks on the cancellation process. I refunded all but shipping for a recent change of mind return, and it appeared I could still send a cancellation request (no options were greyed out, anyway, but I didn't go ahead and submit the request because I honestly didn't know whether I'd get a defect for it or not. By which I mean I shouldn't have been given one, but I don't trust eBay not to 😞 ). The best way to deal with that, I guess, is to factor it into your refund offers. I suppose more and more sellers will be introducing restocking fees if this keeps up - more fantastic work by eBay for improving buyer - seller relations. 😉

[character_parties_aus]

I dont have a lot of experience of refunds. The goods we sell are disposable party items so refunds are rare and are not given for change of mind or not being used at a party ever. We touch wood have very few issues with INAD as our products are simple and thankfully not clothing!

However I have a question. If a buyer flags a dispute and you agree to simply refund them by paypal by simply sending them some money via paypal and this is documented is that an acceptable resolutions given it wont probably incur a defect unless you get negative or neutral feedback?

In addition if a buyer simply wants to send the item back due to change of mind we dont accept that which is compliant with ACCC legislation. If we refuse due to that requirement which we almost certainly would can we get defected ( obviously we could get negatives etc)

[ozsse]

re first question - you can't do that. You used to be able to send payment separately as a proofed refund, but not under the new policy, you must refund through the same transaction flow and not outside the process.

re 2nd question, when you are on ebay you must accept return for whatever reason, ebay is on buyer's side even if you don't accept return. You can complain whatever you like but at the end if the buyer return it to you with a dispute case, you have no option apart seeing ebay/paypal draws money out of you account

[ozsse]

re #1, I didn't bother calling ebay, I know how these people do things, they will just muck you around and you will get no where at the end.

re #2, I only noticed the change yesterday so you have not yet experienced the new reduced options. If you still think of restocking fees, or partial refund, etc, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT unless you are prepared to give up the chance to claim your ebay fees back. You may only get your fees back when it's 100% refunded on invoiced amount. No exception.

E.g. if you refunded 99% of the invoiced amount, you are not able to claim your ebay fees back.

[digital*ghost]

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@character_parties_aus wrote:

However I have a question. If a buyer flags a dispute and you agree to simply refund them by paypal by simply sending them some money via paypal and this is documented is that an acceptable resolutions given it wont probably incur a defect unless you get negative or neutral feedback?

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I think it will depend on a few factors, first and foremost on the reason the buyer has selected for requesting a refund. If it's a change of mind reason (I think the options they get for that are don't want it anymore, found a better price elsewhere and doesn't fit), it can't result in a defect (unless the buyer gives one via feedback). The other reasons count as not as described, and that will result in a defect no matter how you resolve.

If you organise a refund with a buyer and just send a refund rather than issuing one from the original payment, my guess is you won't be able to cancel the transaction, and the other issue would be that the buyer could potentially dispute the transaction and receive a refund, so you would have to trust that they wouldn't try to double-dip, as it were (you may be able to show eBay or PayPal that money was sent, but whether or not they would accept that as a refund issued is anyone's guess, unfortunately). 

[character_parties_aus]

That's pretty much what I figured. Thank-you for your confirmation. You really need to get a job with eBay!

[digital*ghost]

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@ozsse wrote:


re 2nd question, when you are on ebay you must accept return for whatever reason, ebay is on buyer's side even if you don't accept return. You can complain whatever you like but at the end if the buyer return it to you with a dispute case, you have no option apart seeing ebay/paypal draws money out of you account

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You don't have to accept change of mind returns at all. Buyers can still send return requests whether you accept them or not, but you don't have to agree - I do realise it puts sellers in a precarious position, by highlighting the return option and allowing a change of mind request to be sent if the seller doesn't accept them, it's basically forcing the seller to decline an offer that looks like it's available, which then adds a bunch of new worms to eBay's big, open can. 

[digital*ghost]

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@character_parties_aus wrote:
You really need to get a job with eBay!

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They would need to pay me a helluva lot of danger money. 

[lane-ends]

At the end of the day I guess Ebay have facilitated the sale, and as such have a fee owing., If there is a problem with the item and you have to refund why should ebay have to forgo all or part of their transaction fee as a result. i know that is the way it was, and the way we would like it to stay.

Ethically a cancelled transaction due to no fault of Ebay is not their problem and so it could be said they shouldn't need to refund..I think this is what they are getting at. If its your fault they want you to wear a defect for the privalige of getting FVF back. Hence you will either not claim it or rarely do it.

i wait to see if buyer leaves a low DSR for as described, which they are likely to do. If so then claim cancellation as you can't be defected twice for same item