Value Added Resource Week In Review 4-20-25
Welcome to the Value Added Resource ecommerce news week in review!
eBay News
eBay has released an update to the user agreement with significant changes to arbitration terms and limits on lawsuits, effective May 16th 2025.
Liz Morton
Users are starting to see eBay Facebook Marketplace partnership listings in the wild but erroneous item details added by eBay AI description summary raise serious questions about liability for false advertising and seller protection for Item Not As Described claims.
Liz Morton
eBay has launched a new Ambassador program, giving buyers, sellers and smaller content creators an easy, self-service opportunity to earn affiliate commissions.
Liz Morton
As eBay UK makes Simple Delivery mandatory for private sellers, questions about insurance coverage for loss or damage in the managed shipping program linger.
Liz Morton
eBay announces strategic partnership with Checkout.com to enhance payment acquiring capabilities and expand checkout options for buyers on the platform.
Liz Morton
UPDATE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP has joined Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP, opening their own investigation into eBay's privacy practices, alleging the company may be sharing customer private information in violation of California law.
Liz Morton
Other Ecommerce News
As new tariffs raise concerns about supply chains and rising prices, Etsy is leaning into its network of local sellers to boost user and investor sentiment.
Liz Morton
FedEx and UPS are reinstating China to US surcharges as deadlines approach for tariff and de minimis changes.
Liz Morton
Q1 2025 earnings calls are just around the corner with tariffs and trade war fallout sure to take center stage. Track important ecommerce marketplace earnings dates with Value Added Resource!
Liz Morton
I had a customer open THREE separate INAD cases back to back in Feb. She told a bunch of falsehoods in her comments on the case and refused to provide pictures to back up what she was saying, so I called her out on in it with proof that her statements were untrue.
Even though I knew she was trying to scam me, of course, I approved the returns [all 3] and provided a pre-paid shipping label.
She never sent anything back. I got 3 messages from eBay's system saying "We've closed your buyer's return because we have no record that they shipped the item back to you."
However, eBay's system counted all of them against me in my Service Metrics, causing my "Item not as described returns" rate to be: 0.98% even though the buyer was an obvious scammer and didn't return the items.
I didn't have to refund her since she never shipped anything back so there's not a problem there and eBay did remove her feedback, but eBay still counted the cases against me in my 'service metrics' percentage making me look bad in comparison to my peers.