eBay Evolves Top Rated Policy, No Longer Allows Withholding Shipping On False Not As Described Claims
eBay has finally officially acknowledged what sellers have been experiencing for months, saying the Top Rated Seller policy has "evolved" to no longer allow sellers to withhold original shipping from refunds on false not as described claims.
The issue came up again this week when a seller in the eBay community asked if the tool that allowed Top Rated Sellers to withhold shipping on Not As Described claims in certain situations had been removed.
paylessfashion
In the past, Top Rated Sellers were allowed to withhold shipping from buyers who abuse the system and claim Item Not As Described vs. Size, etc., to avoid return shipping costs.
I distinctly remember eBay initiating this policy and allowing us to report the buyer and toggle off the return shipping when we did the return. It appears this has been taken away from Top Rated Sellers, or am I wrong?
Other sellers chimed in to confirm that eBay did previously offer this option for Top Rated Resellers to retain the original shipping amount in the very specific instance where they had reported the buyer under the Abusive Buyer policy before the Not As Described claim was filed.
To illustrate that point, they referenced a different eBay community post from July 2024 which discussed the possible pitfalls of exercising that option - namely that the seller would not be refunded their fees on the transaction, which could end up costing them more than the shipping amount being withheld.
gurlcat
Friday I refunded a buyer for their INAD return. I did not deduct any percent of their item price but I did leave the original shipping option at its' default setting of 'off' (as in, don't refund it).
Ordinarily that option does not even appear for INAD refunds; original shipping is automatically included in the expected refund. But it seems to be an option that occurs when the seller had reported the buyer for something prior to this point. -In my case I had reported the buyer when they requested a partial refund, as per eBay abusive buyer policy...
...After completing this refund, I observed that eBay did not credit back my seller fees, even though I did not withhold any portion of the item price. It seems to be only because I did not slide the original shipping option over to 'on'. In other words, I INADVERTENTLY withheld the $7.25 in original shipping at the cost of losing my $33 in fee credit.
The policy pages don't make this unique situation clear at all. -Is reporting the buyer indeed what causes the original shipping an optional part of the refund? If the default is to NOT refund that, why does leaving it that way forfeit the fee credits? Why are neither of these stated in policy?
eBay community staff confirmed on that previous thread that reporting the buyer was what caused that toggle option to appear and then went on to explain how fee credits work and why the seller would not receive a refund of their fees in that scenario.
On July 10, 2024, Kyle@eBay said:
...Then we have the question with the toggle appearing and defaulting. I can confirm that reporting the buyer is what causes the toggle to appear...
But since that time, many sellers have reported in the community and across social media that they no longer see that toggle option to withhold the original shipping on an Item Not As Described claim - even if they had reported the buyer for abusive behavior before the claim was started.
For example, YouTube channel Flippin Aint Easy reported running into this problem with the missing toggle switch back in November.
After months of confusion and no answers from eBay, Kyle@eBay has now responded to this most recent post, advising the policy has "evolved" since last July and confirming that eBay no longer allows Top Rated Sellers this option for Not As Described claims.
paylessfashion
there has been some evolution of the program...Currently, a seller can deduct the original shipping cost only on a remorse return where the buyer paid original shipping.
I do not believe anything else has changed recently with regards to this process. But rest assured we will continue pushing to get more updates and share them with the Community as much as possible!
While it's good to finally have an official answer, it's troubling that it took months to do so and that it only came in a community staff response rather than a proactive announcement or public policy page update - and even more troubling that an eBay employee doesn't seem exactly sure himself whether or not any other unannounced changes have been made.
Top Rated Seller status requires sellers to go above and beyond to provide excellent service to buyers and maintain high rating in eBay's seller standard metrics.
The payoff for that hard work is supposed to certain benefits like additional seller protections - and in fact, eBay still allows Top Rated Sellers to receive a $6 credit on return shipping costs for false not as described claims and to withhold up to 50% of the item price if the item is returned in used or damaged condition.
So why wouldn't Top Rated Sellers also deserve to withhold the original outbound shipping costs as well in cases where they have reported the buyer for violating policies against abuse?
That cost was already paid to the carrier for the original delivery and is not recoverable any other way - and if the buyer abused the policy by falsely claiming and item was not described, the seller shouldn't have to eat that cost.
Has this stealth change to eBay's Top Rated Seller program impacted your business? Let us know in the comments below!
