eBay's New Return Reason For Car Parts Could Be Costly For Sellers

Liz Morton
Liz Morton


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UPDATE 8-16-22

A recent announcement for eBay Australia shines some light on this new return policy - it appears eBay has changed doesn't fit to a "not as described" return reason, but will be offering some protections for sellers who provide fitment information.

eBay Forces Returns In Motors, Some Protection For Fitment
eBay forces returns in Motors Parts & Accessories, but provides some protection for compatibility & fitment.

A seller in the eBayUK community is sounding the alarm over an apparent unannounced return policy change in Motors that could cost sellers a lot of money - changing the "doesn't fit" return reason to be considered as an Item Not As Described / eBay Money Back Guarantee return, not a Buyer's Remorse return.

New Return Option (Car Parts)
Hi all just a heads up, i hope this is some sort of glitch or joke from eBay but i noticed this morning after asking a customer to open a return yesterday under the “doesn’t fit” option as he had already returned something to myself but i couldn’t refund as no return had been opened. That a new opti…

Hi all just a heads up, i hope this is some sort of glitch or joke from eBay but i noticed this morning after asking a customer to open a return yesterday under the "doesn't fit" option as he had already returned something to myself but i couldn't refund as no return had been opened.

That a new option has appeared yesterday which now states "doesn't fit my vehicle" which is fine makes more sense, but whats not fine is this option is now asking for the seller to pay for the return postage even though from my own personal experiance 9.5 times out of 10 when an item has not fit a vehicle its down to a customer not reading the description correctly.

the previous option as of 2 days ago would not put the blame on the seller for these issues and make them pay for the return, if it was a genuine error on my own part then there is plenty of other options for the buyer to pick i.e sent wrong item, if this change is no mistake i can honestly see no other option a buyer can pick which doesn't put the blame soley on the sellers door and of course the return cost.

so by helping a buyer out and asking him to open the return yesterday i have effectively given myself a mark on my own metrics, im hoping this is a mistake which ebay will rectify.

doesntfit1

The seller also provided information showing that eBay is definitely treating this return as Item Not As Described.

hi i cant access the exact options as i accepted the return now but it just basically gave me the option to upload a returns label, confirm i had already supplied one with the order or select out of the 2 options ebay offer and buy one from ebay for the buyer.

this is the email that came with the return (the item was purchased only a few days ago and i have a 60 day return policy)
doesntfit2


If this truly is a permanent change, not a glitch, it raises several concerns.

One of course is just the additional cost for sellers to pay for return shipping when, as the seller pointed out, many times in these situations it is simply that the buyer purchases the incorrect part for their vehicle, not that the seller didn't describe it correctly - that's precisely why it was considered buyer's remorse in the past.

Beyond that, eBay tracks Not As Described claims in seller's Service Metrics and if a seller has a "very high" rate of these types of returns, eBay will charge them an additional 5% penalty fee on sales on top of the FVF and other existing fees.

Service metrics policy
We want to make sure that buyers have a great experience when shopping on eBay, so we try to help sellers provide great service for their buyers. We provide sellers with service metrics and peer benchmarks so that they can see how they are performing compared to other sellers who sell similar items.…

Service metrics
Service metrics include information on the following:

  • How often you receive return requests for "items not as described"
  • How often you receive buyer requests for "items not received"
  • Peer benchmarks: comparisons of those rates to similar sellers
  • Insights into why your buyers are making these requests
  • Tips to help reduce rates of these requests

Consequences of Very High rates
If you are evaluated as Very High, the following consequences may apply to your listings on the eBay sites and in the categories or shipping categories where the Very High evaluation applies:

Item not as described: An additional 5% final value fees for listings in the categories where you are currently evaluated as Very High

Note: This additional 5 percentage points fee is calculated on the total amount of the sale, including shipping. Final value fee discounts, including Top Rated Seller discounts, do not apply to this additional fee. See our selling fees article for more information on how final value fees are calculated.

Item not received: Time automatically added to buyer-facing delivery estimates for the shipping categories where you are currently evaluated as Very High


I'll update as more information becomes available but if eBay is testing this out in the UK, it wouldn't surprise me if we see it expand to the US and other countries as well.

eBayReturns

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Liz Morton is a 17 year ecommerce pro turned indie investigative journalist providing ad-free deep dives on eBay, Amazon, Etsy & more, championing sellers & advocating for corporate accountability.


Recent Comments
Avatar PlaceholderConcerned2 days ago
It is Slowwwwwww and is more expensive to the buyer. In the past items I have ordered will sit at the hub for around 2 weeks. I avoid ebay unless I cannot get it elsewhere.
Avatar Placeholdermarks30473 days ago
Hi, I have a friend who had an interesting experience recently that fell under this issue. They sold an item, packed and dispatched to the UK Ebay hub, this was midway through the period as the pause occurred. They then received a message from the buyer that they had checked tracking and discovered that the item had disappeared on ebay, no advice. It then turned out that the tracking had been fudged and the package was with them but not forwarded on to the USA. A few hours of to and fro to get the answer that it was due to the tariff dilemma. NO fault of the buyer(who had paid) or the seller ((who had been paid) and a strange response that the item could not be delivered. The buyer would be refunded in full, the seller would keep payment and the item would not be returned. Strange, Ebay must be hurting paying our both sides of the deal+
Avatar Placeholdercwi4 days ago
  1. Start building out the brand and promoting the heck out of Canadian sellers to our domestic market. Work with Federal/Provincial level governments in the push to build a strong presence here in Canada.

  2. Add other calculated shipping options than Canada Post UPS/FedEx for domestic shipping - partner with couriers nationwide, leverage agreements and software integrations with courier reseller platforms such as Stallion Express. Build out a crowd sourced network using national/regional retail locations as drop points for rural regions, leveraging transport networks to move packages to courier pickup points, akin to the UK courier model but adapted to the Canadian realities.

  3. Create a centralized international shipping clearing house to aide micro businesses with affordable shipping rates and customs clearance to avoid pitfalls and complexities (akin to US eIS).

  4. Bring features forward to the platform from other localizations, such as prepaid best offer acceptance, etc.