Restocking fees

pugs2

Member
Sep 23, 2010
144
0
How does everyone feel about sellers that accept returns for an item you don't like, but you don't get your original shipping fees back and you have to pay a 10% restocking fee? Would you buy from this seller? Would you put that in your listing?
 
If you don't like your purchase and the seller is willing to accept a return, I agree that the original shipping should not be returned. A restocking fee isn't my favorite thing - but if you are getting the bulk of your money back due to the item not fitting or you didn't like how it looked - I can live with it.

I am totally against a restocking fee if the item is SNAD - but I've heard of some sellers who try to collect that.
 
I like returns with stocking fees if it's an alternative to "no returns" but what I find is that places that offer that a lot may not have the most honest descriptions, or have faced a lot of returns in the past for various good reasons, and use the restocking fee as a way to make people give them money in situations in which a normal no-fee return should be allowed. I feel like sometimes they insist that is their return policy no matter what and a lot of people unfamiliar with filing claims assume they have to pay the fees to return non-working items, items in poor condition, etc. as opposed to simple "I don't like it" returns.
 
OP, I think I know what seller you are talking about. Are they located in Washington? If so, I have dealt with this seller. I had to return an item, and she was very nice about it, but did keep my shipping $$ and the restocking fee. The item was a $450 so I was just happy to get the bulk of my money back. But I would ONLY buy if you're sure you're going to want the item. I'm still kicking myself that I'm out $60 for nothing!!
 
OP, I think I know what seller you are talking about. Are they located in Washington? If so, I have dealt with this seller. I had to return an item, and she was very nice about it, but did keep my shipping $$ and the restocking fee. The item was a $450 so I was just happy to get the bulk of my money back. But I would ONLY buy if you're sure you're going to want the item. I'm still kicking myself that I'm out $60 for nothing!!


No, this seller is in Arizona. I have not bought anything from her yet, but I was just reading her listing. She accepts returns, but you have to pay the restocking fee, shipping fees back to her and she will not refund the original shipping fees. I would be upset too if I lost $60 for nothing too, but I'm glad you got the bulk of your money back. I was just wondering if buyers stay away from this kind of listing.
 
I am not sure why you would buy an item you don't like. You should know what you are buying before you buy it. Now, if the item is SNAD then you can still file with ebay and get your item cost back with no stocking fee.
 
This situation never occurred to me, but if I bought an item that didn't fit, rather than having it sit in my closet I would return it even with the restocking fee or just try to resell it myself and make acurate descriptions. Better than letting it sit in my closet and waste space & my money.
 
I don't think there is anything wrong with a restocking fee. These people are running a business and can't just accept returns all of the time and still make money. They aren't a huge corp like nords that can handle that kind of loss. If it's a SNAD, that's one thing. But that's also why there is a claims process. But if someone just doesn't like the item as much as they thought they would then they should pay the fee. I've paid one once before because I didn't like an item as much as I thought I would. It was my mistake, so I should take the loss. But now I do most of my shopping in person or on sites that have full return policies.
 
If you simply don't like the item then I think it's unfair to expect the seller to suffer the loss on your behalf. Many large online companies (e.g. amazon) won't refund the original shipping charge and would also expect you to pay the shipping to return the item.

As for re-stocking fees, a seller has spent time listing an item, dealing with queries, perhaps even lost a buyer who really wanted the item and would not have returned it, packing it, going to the post office etc etc so I understand a re-stocking fee but a % fee can be quite high depending on the item value. So perhaps a % to a maximum figure or a flat rate would be appropriate?

You need to consider the seller's perspective - if they have many buyers who 'buy to try' and then return then how would ebay feel about all those mutual cancellation requests issued by the seller - I think a lot would arouse suspicion so perhaps a seller would charge a re-stocking fee to cover their ebay fees too and not cancel the transaction? Just a thought, don't know if it applies to your seller.