eBay Forces Buyers Remorse Returns in Fall Seller Update

by: Marie

@Rexford

Why would you do that?

by: donald

@ Marie

To turn off, discourage, unsure, non-serious, buyers. What else?  

by: Marie

With the new updates to the return system, Ebay is NOT "forcing" buyer remorse returns anymore than they do right now.  I understand how this can appear to be something new to newer sellers, but for seasoned sellers this is the same as it is now and has been for a long time.

by: Chicago48

is this only for store owners?  It seems these changes MOST effect store owners.  I see the same convo in the forums of AMZ.

by: Marie

I didn't notice any reference that these changes were for store owners only.  I think that is pretty doubtful that they are only making these changes to store owners.

by: Rexford

Marie, right now my restocking fee is 15%.   I've never had a customer complain about it.  I do think that it cuts down on the buyers who want to use and item and return it.  There is a cost associated with returns and I think that the buyers should have some skin in the game unless of course I have made an error or unknowingly made an error in my description.  In those cases I waive that fee.

I actually want to see more details on the upcoming fall updates.  As usual, eBay doesn't give us much detail.  If however, I see more money coming out of my pocket for a return, I will indeed raise it to 20%.  You have probably seen a few of my posts that state that I am not dependent on eBay anymore. (Never was, I have a career and ecommerce is just a side business for me.)    I have found success on other sites and I just don't need them anymore.

You can not tell me that eBay's unfriendly seller policies are not created to run small sellers off of the site. I will never believe that.  Everything that they implement is to help the mega enterprise sellers.

eBay will lose hundreds of thousands of items from their site when the UPC requirements go into place.  And is it even possible to list an item with the European EAC?  Some of our items have EAC and not UPC.   In the end it is buyers who will lose because the site will no longer have the unique items that made it popular to begin with.  It will be enterprise retailers and commodities....and the Chinese.  And new items with a retailers code that don't have a UPC on them will disappear.  

by: Mark4

Proof ebay is failing.

https://investorplace.com/2017/09/ebay-stock-turnaroun
d-story/#.WcKLVciGNPY

by: Marie

Posters on this site have been saying that Ebay is trying to get rid of small sellers at least since I started posting here and probably were doing it long before.

If Ebay didn't want small sellers for all these years, then there would be no small sellers on Ebay today.  They would simply set up certain requirements to having a selling account that us small guys could not achieve.  They would have approached it by supposedly making changes over the years that small sellers don't like which causes some of them to leave.  Those that leave are just replaced by other new sellers.

Amazon is having a push for proper ISBNs on books.  

New ISBN Requirements for Listing Books
Sep 18, 2017
Starting June 1, 2017, you must provide an ISBN, JAN, or EAN to list books in the Amazon catalog, regardless of the book's publication date. If you want to list a book that does not have an ISBN, JAN, or EAN, you can request an exemption. For more in...

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/headlines.html/ref=xx_head
lines_cont_home#3674938372852471834

by: Rexford

Marie says "Posters on this site have been saying that Ebay is trying to get rid of small sellers at least since I started posting here and probably were doing it long before."

Ever heard of the concept of mission creep Marie?  If not, look it up.

Years ago, I think before Donahoe arrived or right when Donahoe came onboard, someone (likely an eBay ex- or at that time a current employee) published a letter regarding eBay's future and their plans.  I would love to read that again, but all of their predictions have come to fruition and then some.  Based on the content of what that writer divulged, it had to have been someone with some inside knowledge.  The writer stated that eBay did not want small sellers, and line by line divulged what they were going to do to thin the heard. It was very well written and visionary.  Does anyone have a copy of that letter?  I would love to read it again.  It was published at several sources.

If you don't think for one minute that everything that eBay is doing and has done has been to boost the enterprise sellers and get rid of their "flea market" sellers (their words, not mine) then there is really no point in you and I discussing it.  Your glass is always half full when it comes to eBay (I might even go as far to say as completely full) and nothing they do seems to change that.  I am not faulting you for that, it is just the way I see it.  I actually admire your ability to remain positive when it comes to eBay.    Based on everything they do to make it harder for small sellers to sell, my glass is pretty empty as it relates to them.  The other sites that I sell on seem to actually want my business.

I agree with some much of what you say, but I think we just think differently about eBay's motives.

by: Marie

@rexford
I take no issue with us seeing things differently.  It always makes for a good debate and often times leads to being able to look at a situation differently or at the very least understand it better.

Ebay does lose lots of sellers in any given period of time.  They always have.  Some because they don't like the changes and others for more personal reasons.  But there is the opposite as well.  New sellers joining the site.

by: Rexford

Marie,  why can't a small seller grow his or her business on eBay?  I have heard small seller after small seller state no matter how many items they list, their sales stay consistent.  This doesn't seem to be the case with the enterprise sellers, who are tops in visibility without jumping through all of the hoops.

I actually think eBay lose more sellers due to their policies that hurt small sellers.  They just get fed up and leave.  I would guess that most small sellers will not be able to list half of their inventory once these UPC restrictions kick in.  I myself have many items from Europe that have EANs and not UPCs.   I can not get eBay to take an EAN.  Any item with a Department store code and not a UPC, even though it is new with tags, will not be able to be listed unless the seller can find it on the internet.  I've searched high and low for some of my own and they are no where to be found.

by: Marie

The UPC policy is difficult at best right now to figure out what the future holds for sellers in categories that require them.  Ebay [to my knowledge] is not requiring UPCs on items where there are no UPCs.  The seller may not have it, but that does not mean that one does not exist.  It only means the seller doesn't have it.

Time will tell on this policy.  Some are concerned when they don't sell in categories that require UPCs, as they are thinking it applies to everything sold on Ebay, which it does not.

We will know in a few weeks what size this problem really is.

by: Rexford

Marie says "We will know in a few weeks what size this problem really is."

Oh I will tell you right now that if listings that are brand new with tags but no UPC code are eliminated it will be a problem like sellers and eBay have not seen.  Hundreds of thousands of items will simply vanish if they hold hard and firm to this policy.  Both sellers and buyers will be greatly affected.  So much for finding "IT".

by: Snapped

''Eliminate'' small sellers?  Maybe not by directed policy.  Certainly not by admission.  Even eBay couldn't spin that top in the street.  So the logic of lack of an 'obvious' intention lacks logic.

But what if they, via incremental enactment of 'policy updates', sanctionable obstructions and undisclosed limitations, by homogenization of listing content and format, dictation of listing content and 'preferred' payment and fulfillment terms, by removal or obstruction of unique seller identification, and control of inventory 'availability' via visibility manipulation, acted to instead eliminate a small seller's very identity as independent business entity?  Under false pretense no less, considering their hypocrisy and preference for thus advantaging enterprise participation.

Because, degree by degree little froggie in the pot, that's exactly what they've done for a decade now, and continue to do today; this latest coercion included.

And by so doing, they have disadvantaged and decimated their core small seller base, to the point of abandonment.  Or compliant resignation to fate and result they can no longer control and barely afford under the eBay yoke.  Of course, one can rock the boat at will - better have a good life jacket handy though.

So either by design, or sheer incompetence, elimation of the small, independent entreprenure seller as a respected class and an independent entity on eBay - even if their skeletons remain - is a foregone conclusion.  Fate accompli. 'Obvious' to the most casual observer.

AKA - 'Noise' Abatement

by: Rexford

Snapped, you just made my case for "mission creep" which I mentioned to Marie earlier.   I have been mentioning mission creep for years on this forum.  That is EXACTLY what they have been doing.  I still believe that their end game is to have only enterprise sellers.  They've done nothing to make me believe differently.   The fact that a small seller can not grow their business on eBay should be proof enough that they are intentionally holding you back

Their policies are not small seller friendly policies.  When I go into someone's home I know when I am welcome.  At eBay you are knocked in the face with the door mat going and coming.

by: Marie

If Ebay does not want small sellers [mission creep or not], then why do they allow small sellers to sign up and start selling?  Seems to be a self defeating mission.

by: bitbybit

"If Ebay does not want small sellers [mission creep or not], then why do they allow small sellers to sign up and start selling?"

Just chiming in...this is an easy one to answer. Two-fold..first, it's easier to swindle money out of newbie sellers since it's not good business to leave money on the table and it's easy pickings...second, it gives the "appearance" that all is well in eBayland without showing their true intent.

by: Marie

@bitbybit

What does "appearance" have to do with this?  I ask because it doesn't make sense to me.  "Appearance" to whom?  Wall Street or Shareholders, they don't care.  What they care about is the profits and/or finances of the company.  If Ebay has decided they don't want small sellers, then they have the right to do that.  There is nothing to stop them, so therefore if they didn't want small sellers, there would be no small sellers.

by: bitbybit

By "appearance" I mean, eBay wants to be perceived as a company as welcoming all including small sellers, even though they don't give a shitzu except to their bottom line. If eBay can squeeze more money from fresh victims, I mean new sellers, eBay has nothing to lose. Sellers to eBay are disposable.

by: Marie

@bitbybit
Well then, they aren't trying to do away with small sellers, they are welcoming them so that Ebay has the opportunity to make more money.  Which is why we are all in business, to make more money.

I'm NOT trying to defend any specific changes made by Ebay.  I'm just trying to say that it isn't all about small sellers.  Every change Ebay makes is NOT about the small seller.