so much buyer remorse!

[ballet_russe]

Does anybody else feel, that there has been much buyer remorse lately? People are returning items for silly reasons even though my policy is no returns.

They are finding phantom wear on items, claiming that purse is too small, or that the genuine item is a fake. Sales are good lately, but in my experience I have never experienced as much buyer remorse before!

Do you have any advice to stop it?

 

[Love Of My Life]

there unfortunately is no rhyme or reason why buyers do this and it is

unfortunate that sellers at times have to put up with this c**p....

 

[poopsie]

Because Ebay and PP do nothing to discourage it

 

[shopaholism]

Ugh, that's annoying (knock on wood, I haven't had any situations like that in awhile, but you never know)...I'm sorry you're dealing with that!

One seemingly counterintuitive idea (that really works!) is to have a return policy, but make it kind of a pain to do returns...say, besides making the buyer responsible for both sides of the shipping, make the return window really small (3-7 days) and/or charge a certain amount as a restocking fee. (I guess it has to be a flat amount, not a percentage--for some reason the percentage is against the rules? I don't know how much that's enforced though...) If they see that they will be out a good amount of $ by returning, they may just resell (and if they give you any grief about it, you could always offer to let them use your description and pics when relisting).

 

[Love Of My Life]

Because Ebay and PP do nothing to discourage it

agree but unfortunately if someone disputes their cc that takes care of that..

 

[MarneeB]

Too many people buy off ebay thinking they'll just return if they don't like it for any reason. They know that ebay backs buyers so what have they got to lose? I can see if it's a store with many new items (well to some extent) but for those of us that are small sellers just selling stuff we have around the house this is very annoying.

ETA: I like shopaholism's idea about making the return a PITA for them, maybe it'll discourage some of them.

 

[shopaholism]

^Yup! It takes away the buyers' power to wheedle and connive you into making a return policy just for them, and they can't really argue against something that's written out. I compare it to Loehmann's return policy (15 days, must have receipt, otherwise it'll only sell for the "current price," which is usually some ungodly-discounted clearance amount...making most returns not worth it)

 

[AJ1025]

Yes, this is currently happening to me as well though, to be fair, of the last ten items I've sold, nine of the buyers were very nice, prompt with their payments and communicative.

 

[whateve]

I have a 7 day return policy but for some stupid reason I accepted a return after 3 weeks, and the buyer doesn't even have the decency to cancel the transaction, so I don't get my fees back. This is the first time someone has returned something so I was so surprised that I forgot my own return policy.
Most buyers have been great, though.

 

[Schientist]

I had my first return recently too! I do the PITA return policy, and someone took it anyway. In fairness, she returned it the very next day and I came out flat even on costs, so it wasn't terrible. However, still waiting to resell the item...

My sales are really down lately though. Bleh.

 

[skislope15]

I have a 7 day return policy but for some stupid reason I accepted a return after 3 weeks, and the buyer doesn't even have the decency to cancel the transaction, so I don't get my fees back. This is the first time someone has returned something so I was so surprised that I forgot my own return policy.
Most buyers have been great, though.

Call ebay and show them a copy of return receipt from paypal they will reverse fees for you

 

[whateve]

Call ebay and show them a copy of return receipt from paypal they will reverse fees for you

Really? Thanks, I will try that. Why don't they tell you this in the ebay learning center? It seems stupid that there isn't an automatic process. After all, Ebay encourages sellers to accept returns and then makes it so difficult to get your fees back.

 

[whateve]

If you don't offer a return policy, they will just open a case, possibly claiming something that isn't true just to force you to refund their money. Most likely, ebay will make you refund shipping too, and you won't get your fees back, so it is just better to have the return policy. Plus if you have a return policy, it makes you look more trustworthy. People are less likely to be worried that you are selling something that isn't authentic. And you are less likely to get any negative or neutral feedback.
I sold the item that was returned today for the same amount, so I am only out the postage if ebay refunds my fees.

 

[LindaP]

Plus if you have a return policy, it makes you look more trustworthy. People are less likely to be worried that you are selling something that isn't authentic. .

Very true! As a buyer when I see a return policy I feel more confident that the seller isn't hiding anything.

 

[skislope15]

Really? Thanks, I will try that. Why don't they tell you this in the ebay learning center? It seems stupid that there isn't an automatic process. After all, Ebay encourages sellers to accept returns and then makes it so difficult to get your fees back.

they don't tell you because if you don't do anything about it they keep the funds...but since you can prove the return took place you should have no issue receiving a refund even though your buyer was nice enough to ignore you request to cancel. What's wrong with people these days, they want to return but they can't be bothered to click accept...is that a minute of there time they'll never get back geesh....