eBay Changes Seller Policies in Surprise Summer Update

by: Marie

I have not experienced [and don't want to] an buyer that files a claim in both Ebay and PP.  But according to PP's rules they aren't suppose to be doing that.  If they recover in Ebay, they aren't suppose to be able to file a claim in PP.  So if you give them a partial refund in Ebay, PP would be able to see that.

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-fu
ll#buying

Specifically it states: You have not received a recovery related to such purchase from another source.

Just because a seller on Ebay refuses to take a return on something does not mean that Ebay will rule they can keep the item and get their money back too.  Certainly it happens, but it is NOT on everything.  Depends on some particular set of circumstances and the value of the item.  

Ebay's Money Back Guarantee has exceptions.  It is not 100% guaranteed to a buyer.  You have more wiggle room under MBG than you do during your stated return period.

by: toolguy

"In the 2017 Summer Seller Update, we're making changes to help you increase your sales by creating a better experience for buyers."

How is removing my contact number a better experience if my customer has a problem?

eBay NEVER ceases to amaze sellers with GREEDY STUPIDITY!

by: toolguy

After thinking about this it might be a blessing in disguise.

This will certainly weed out a lot of bad buyers and I DON'T want my items visible to these types of buyers who expect free returns after 30 days.

by: dander

Can ebay for once do something positive for the sellers? the 60 day return are you kidding? Besides test equipment the longest return I allow is 14 days. Saying that I will work with reasonable buyers on most things if they contact us within a week. I do not advertise this to prevent renters from abusing this.  

by: pace306

eBay NEVER does ANYTHING positive for sellers.

New policy updates either 1) further insulate eBay from some legal issue or 2) pads their own wallet.

60 day returns is obscene.

Instead of finding ways to EXCLUDE listings, maybe find a way to INCLUDE listings without causing people (and of course NEVER eBay) the financial burden.

by: Frank Abagnale

Ten years ago I said that ebay will make 20 updates with at least 5 to 10 changes which means at least 100 changes in those ten years. My mistake--make that 21 updates an over 100 changes.

My prediction for the next 10 years on ebay will be another 20 updates and another 100 changes. Enjoy!

by: TrickyMick

From user agreement.

We strive to create a marketplace where buyers find what they are looking for. Therefore, the appearance or placement of listings in search and browse results will depend on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
buyer's location, search query, browsing site, and history;
item's location, listing format, price and shipping cost, terms of service, end time, history, and relevance to the user query;
seller's history, including listing practices, Detailed Seller Ratings, eBay policy compliance, Feedback, and defect rate; and
number of listings matching the buyer's query.  
To drive a positive user experience, a listing may not appear in some search and browse results regardless of the sort order chosen by the buyer.

by: Ming the Merciless

Brian Burke proves once again that he's a snake in the grass sorely in need of a comeuppance.

The ONLY thing these THIEVES and LIARS understand is money.

Deny them money by refusing to participate in free returns and 60 day returns.

AND

Do not accept any returns. If you have make 500 calls to eba's laughable customer service to fight a SNAD case, do it.

Do everything you can think of to make ebay spend more money and get nothing in return. Think of ways to make them spend more money!

STOP using their bells and whistles - enlarged photos, subtitles, scheduled listings, promoted listings (that don't work), reserve fees, et. al.

DENY them revenue!

Gawd, I loathe these vipers.

by: Bird Mad

What, no one talking about eBay using our pictures to populate their catalog?

"By August 2017, sellers will no longer be able to opt out"... of eBay using any pictures you post in your listing to populate their catalog. All that hard work and they just grab it, like they own it.

Imagine that great picture you took to sell your item and now, your competitor can list using the same picture because eBay populated their catalog with your work.  

by: Ming the Merciless

@ Bird Mad

Ebay has claimed ownership of our photos for years. The only thing that's new is that they will be officially stolen and used in their catalog without VOLUNTARY authorization.

by: Rexford

I'll add one more thing to what Ming said, and that is build a presence elsewhere....and keep building.

eBay prove time and time again that they are a horrible business partner, unless of course you are an large enterprise or Chinese seller.

by: Rexford

TrickyMick, your posting made me laugh.  Note that the user agreement starts out with "We strive to create a marketplace where buyers find what they are looking for."

That statement is completely nullified by everything written after it. They might have just as well said "we'll do everything in our power so that buyers DO NOT find what they are looking for".

Search manipulation is what causes buyers to leave and never come back. I've had friends, relatives and acquaintances tell me this over and over again. They always say "I see everything except what I am looking for".  Remember when you used to be able to find "it" on eBay?

eBay, in their ever controlling ways, will manipulate search in an effort to control sellers and attempt to get them to adapt to their favored policies. Note that many sellers do just the opposite and are "supposedly" punished in search.  Who cares. Most sellers have learned that implementing eBay's favored policies don't affect one's visibility in search one iota. eBay search steers buyers right to the enterprise sellers and to the Chinese.

by: Snapped

''.. a better experience for buyers.''

Not really surprising, is it?  Nobody ever seems to call out the entity making such encompassed control 'adjustments', for their arrogant unsupported declarations of these types that it is somehow more appropriately to view it in the best interest of the impacted.  eBay does this every time, two-faced, though they are not alone in this type corporate (and government) spin.  But in this case, exactly who / how many asked for this contact information exclusion?  It is already clear that any 'assistance' eBay condescends to lend doesn't acknowledge non-branded messages.  And any USE of these paths must be initiated by these buyers so claimed as focus.  Or not if it's so much an 'experience' buzz-kill.  

While removal of links may make security sense, it is generally not a 'betterment' to limit or remove options.  Unless doing so benefits the limiter, regardless of opposite impact to the limited.  

Perhaps it's just too much work to focus on what a potentially 'lured away' buyer might REALLY need to make consumating a turnover - VIA eBay - more preferable.  Because it starts with the 'noise'.  Been there awhile now.

Considering BoomerangBay's highlighting returns, the increased sales 'likelihood' spin is simply marginally palatable to mega trinket commodity vendors but excludes those of independent individualized ilk.  Declarations to contrary intent of this oversight to that class are made moot by the reality that even limited unwarranted experiences render this rote practice financially unsustainable.

And gee, lookie here...eBay gets to metricise the sale regardless of it's 'defective' nature and with no accountability for the tangible losses represented and incurred.  Across quarters in some cases too!  They are masters of growth fascade.  

As for the 'buyer', assurance of satisfaction to the resonable is not unreasonable..to a reasonable degree.  But lacking reason (ironically), what could be a better 'benefit' than to remove what would otherwise be reasonable responsibility and consequence from one's ill informed choices?

Speaking of choices....yet another category shuffle.  New and improved.  Forget that previous latest and greatest ever, THIS is the latest and greatest ever.  So, unhook all the shortcuts, tools, interlacements and integrations you laboriously knit the last time eBay's crack code 'innovators' needed to justify their employ.  Be grateful it's not happening in November, right?

It may be eBay's catalog.  But nothing in it is actually eBay's property - or responsibility when it's not a 'benefit' to THEM.  

You all have a choice of course.  Upon which cheek would you prefer to be ''Branded''?

by: 4paws

Ebay has NO right to relist any of my listings. How dare they!! I only list items when I know I'm going to be around to fulfill the order. The problem is no matter how much they change their polices and we all dont agree.. they do it becuz everyone goes back and list. There's another site called webstore auction. They're site is not visually appealing to buyers or sellers. The good part about this site is they dont charge any fee's. They run on donations. If their site looked like ebay I do believe many sellers would go to webstore. I know personally many of my buyers would follow me. One of my buyers went to webstore and made a purchase from me.
I've wrote webstore many times asking for them to change their look. I think if others wrote them they'd do it.  It's the only site I know that will work. I've even stated to webstore I wouldnt mind paying a fee if their site wasn't so dull looking. I'm sick of ebay. I think it's time for us to speak up. If not, they are going to keep doing what they do to screw us.
I'm thinking to put in all my listings on ebay.. this item is listed on another site for cheaper.
If it sells there it will be deleted here.  I'm thinking if a buyers wants to pay less they may write me and I can tell them where it is. I really dont care if ebay bans me. I keep records of all our buyers. I can email them directly and for the new buyers..  I will include a note in their packaging where we are listing.

On another note.. ebay uses international people for customer service. In talking to an American rep they told me that ebay was weeding that out and bringing the jobs back to the US. Obviously that hasnt happened. I've tweeted to trump many times on twitter to go after ebay to stop hiring international people. I suggest others do it too.

Actions speak louder then words. Until WE show ebay we had enough where it hurts their pocket, they're not going to care.

by: eXtinctBay

I was reading the eBay Community comments this morning regarding the Surprise Summer Seller Screwing, and I became ill.

The replies by eBay staff (is that REALLY Brian Burke??) are smarmy and condescending to every small seller on the site.

They state that Wal-Mart, Nordstrom, and Macy's offer 60 or 90 day free returns. And this is the new standard for business. Really?

Wal-Mart does not offer more than 30 day returns on EVERYTHING, and there are limits if certain items are opened / used.

Nordstrom and Macy's are on life support. Also, Zappos nearly went out of business with their liberal return policies until Amazon rescued them. So free returns are not a sustainable business model.

NO WAY will I do free or 60 day returns. Anyone with a small business and a brain will not opt into this program, which eBay touts as ''an opportunity to increase sales''.

And if there are a great deal of sellers who do, the free / 30 / 60 day policies will become mandatory to sell on the site by the next (June? July?? Fall???) Seller Update.

As with this and other harebrained eBay so-called ''enhancements'', there will be a small percentage who will opt into the program. Good for them.

If buyers want to buy my items, they have 30 days to send it back at their cost. And also perhaps pay a restocking fee. I do not sell much merchandise in which someone can legitimately claim SNAD, so this will not be a problem.

As mentioned more than once on this blog, eBay may be doing sellers a favor by filtering those who offer free or extended returns. Let the buyers with less-than-honest intentions go there. The customers who need an item will end up purchasing the one with the best overall deal anyway.

by: mcposty

If a buyer purposefully filters free 30 to 60 day returns that buyer is anot unreasonable probable criminal looking for an easy target. No sensible person will go out of their way to only look for items that can be returned easily unless they are up to something evil.

The free returns thing is quickly going out of style with all the big companies...many are stopping their once liberal returns because of massive abuse.

by: toolguy

When I buy an item on eBay i know within 24 hours if I'm going to keep it or not.

Why would anyone need 60 days?

It's a shame eBay doesn't sell products themselves because I would DEFINITELY return something after 59 days and see how they like it.

by: CypressC

Here is the part that has me worried:

New requirements for secure images, listing templates, and functionality in item descriptions
To align with new industry security standards, eBay will begin exclusively using the HTTPS communications protocol in the coming months to send and receive information between your desktop browser or mobile device and our site. We have used this protocol for many years for transmission of most sensitive information and are expanding its use. Item descriptions that contain externally-hosted cascading style sheets (CSS), images, or HTML5 video may be affected. To ensure that your item descriptions and images display properly, ask your hosting provider or third-party partner to support HTTPS and update listing templates or descriptions accordingly. For optimized display on both web and mobile, we recommend that you upload your images to eBay.


Does this mean I am going to have to go into the templates for 800+ products and add the letter "s" to every "http" that links to an image?!

by: mcposty

Nordstroms does not refund shipping charges.

Looks like ebay staff prove how stupid they are. Or outright liars.

by: Michael in BC

Further to the comment made by "Strife" regarding Canadian sellers.

There is nothing new here, and no, eBay is not charging an Ontario seller a fee of 13% Harmonized Sales Tax.

If you are in business in Canada as an active Canadian seller (not just someone selling a few bits of junk out of your basement), then there is a requirement to register with your province (and usually with the Canada Revenue Agency) as a BUSINESS.

As a registered business, you are required (in the case of Ontario) to REMIT 13% in HST to the appropriate government agency.  This agency doesn't give a hoot whether or not you collect it, just that your remit the amount that applies to the sale.

As a registered business, you just set up the % to be collected from Canadian buyers in each Canadian province and territory, on the sales tax table on eBay.ca. On each listing (on whatever eBay site you use), tick the "apply sales tax table" box on the listing page.

Every sale you make on eBay (irrespective of which eBay venue is used) to a fellow Canadian, results in having the respective invoice to that Canadian buyer show the amount of tax due on the sale. (If you were to sell something on eBay.com, the eBay system will import your eBay.ca tax table percentage, and will apply and include the % applicable on a separate line on the invoice. This amount is not subject to any additional eBay fee.

If you are a Canadian "regular seller", then you are in business, and are liable to remit the sales taxes due.

While there are many potential problems with every update, in this instance, eBay is simply reminding Canadian sellers of their legal requirement to remit appropriate sales taxes.

Canadian sellers who do not followi this procedure are evading taxes, and can be subject to audit, and potentially significant penalties including doubling of amounts assessed, and interest on the cumulative total.

Canada Revenue Agency has the legal right to examine ALL eBay records to identify those who should be remitting, but who have failed to remit, sales taxes on sales to fellow Canadians.

As a registered business, there is a benefit, in that GST/HST paid in the course of business can be offset via "input tax credits" against amounts to be remitted.  (e.g. for any one taxation period, if tax due on your sales totaled $100, and you'd spent $120 in GST/HST on business related purchases, supplies, or operating expenses, then you'd wind up receving $20 from the government).

If in doubt, refer to the appropriate Canadian tax regulations, or phone CRA and ask.........they're really quite helpful.

A couple of years back, a seller in western Canada had not "signed up", was identified in a CRA review, and was told to "come on down, bring your financial records", and wound up with a bill for a couple of hundred thousand dollars.

This is not professional accounting advice, .... though I was a government auditor for several decades, so I do have more than idea of how this works.