Why does eBay insist on 'Return Item' as the first option on a buyers drop down menu ??

[dontmissthese]

Why not 'Contact Seller'. This would make sense as the fastest resolution would be achieved
by communicating with the seller ( THEN to open a case if that fails ).

On the surface it would appear that putting a ding in your service metrics is eBay's goal.

[danieh_6]

Yeah, Across all our stores (not this one) on an bad day we get around 100 transactions

Granted we have had like 20 this month due to surge in orders with covid. Another thing too is that we don't really sell many items that might come back as change of mind or don't fit or SNAD.

[digital*ghost]

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@dontmissthese wrote:

IMHO there is absolutely no good reason for making the Return Item button

the first option visible to a buyer. If there is an argument that the same goal is

achieved then making 'Contact Seller' the first visible option can do no harm. 

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I'm not exactly trying to defend ebay here (despite appearances to the contrary, lol). Encouraging communication between buyers and sellers would tend to solve more problems than it causes, but the whole point is that if a seller is experiencing a high rate of returns, get that seller to re-evaluate what (if anything) they can do to reduce those instances - eBay favours the stick over the carrot 99% of the time, and crunch masses of data that we could only speculate on in order to come up with the shape of said sticks, so it's imperfect, sure, (people aren't hive minds driven by majority statistics - eg buyers just don't come on ebay after buying things, see a return button and go, "yes, should have thought of that earlier" ).

But, like I said, if eBay find themselves paying for more return postage than anticipated (if Plus takes off and return postage is going to be free for the buyer either way, they have no incentive to choose a SNAD reason for a request), I'm certain the button's prominence is going to be re-evaluated.

[dontmissthese]

Yes, given that ebay will foot the return bill I don't doubt that a buyer will be honest.

It's just a matter of how long ebay will keep footing the bill.

The worst thing that can happen is that ebay may stick 'Contact Seller' up top

and most sellers will foot the bill rather than score a metric ding.

It's such a shame that some buyers automatically click 'Return Item' when they have

a grievance rather than contacting the seller.

Now something else has popped into my head.

If a seller has bits and pieces of everything in their store like clothing, toys, smart phones,

groceries and adult toys, would they apply this metric thing to each category or show no metric ?????

[tazzieterror]

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@dontmissthese wrote:

Why not 'Contact Seller'. This would make sense as the fastest resolution would be achieved
by communicating with the seller...

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@dontmissthese wrote:

...

The worst thing that can happen is that ebay may stick 'Contact Seller' up top

...

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I like how this conversation has progressed!

[dontmissthese]

Ever heard of the term 'out of context' ?

[tazzieterror]

Ever heard of the movie 'Out of Africa' ?

[countessalmirena]

For buyers whose items are beyond the timeframe of a dispute, what about a nice blue button saying "Out of time"?

[sandypebbles]

Or a blue box to go back in time

[*tippy*toes*]

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@countessalmirena wrote:

For buyers whose items are beyond the timeframe of a dispute, what about a nice blue button saying "Out of time"?

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Countess, have you been hacked?

[dontmissthese]

It would have been just too optomistic of me to expect a sensible sesponse. Oh well.