Free returns on car parts: question about the technical implementation on eBay's side
Summary: teileversorgung asks about eBay's return costs and visibility of affected listings due to changes in return policies for auto parts. They are concerned about having to manually check around 500 listings to ensure compliance with new guidelines. patrick@ebay responds, confirming that new or revised listings not offering free returns will not be published but a separate overview of affected listings is not available. teileversorgung later discovers their listings are not showing as inactive, despite previous assurances. patrick@ebay clarifies no dedicated list is provided for non-compliant listings, suggesting manual checks are necessary. autolackdiscount24 inquires if there are exceptions for painting supplies, not directly related to auto parts.
I'm trying to find an answer here to my thoughts on the topic in the subject line. Maybe @miriam@ebay or whoever else can answer my question?
First of all, and so this is dealt with right away in the second line: I'm trying to keep my anger about this new mandatory rule out of my question so that we can discuss the whole thing objectively.
I currently have around 2,000 vehicle parts listed, of which a little more than 500 parts have the status "New other" for which eBay will in future charge me return shipping costs.
I have created an adjusted setting for free return shipping.
As I understand it, eBay will hide all vehicle parts marked as "New" or "New other" for which no free return shipping is offered starting today. Is that correct?
Now to my question: How do I find out about the hiding? Will items deactivated by eBay be shown to me somewhere in the eBay backend (for example, in a separate "Problem with an item" section, as is also done for policy violations), so that I can decide which of my 500 "new" items I still want to offer on eBay and can adjust the return conditions accordingly.
Among them are some items that do not fall under the return obligation, and additionally some that fall under bulky goods. Also items that, because of the unfavorable combination of high shipping costs and a low item price, I will definitely no longer offer via eBay in future.
If I have to work through all of the listings individually on a hunch and correctly identify them among my 2,000 items, then on top of the lower margin due to the inflated return costs, there will also be half a week of extra work.
So it would really be helpful if I could see in one place which items eBay has hidden, so that I can decide step by step what I want to continue offering here.
And one more question:
Nine out of ten returns happen for me because customers don't read the text. I describe all my listings very carefully and also always use the vehicle compatibility list, which in itself is already an enormous amount of work - especially when you only have the parts listed once each.
Even so, most people fail already at reading beyond the heading (not least because eBay goes to great lengths to hide the link "View full description of item" in the eBay app so that hardly anyone clicks on it).
For these cases, my customers have so far clicked "doesn't fit my vehicle" as the reason for return, and eBay covered the return shipping costs as part of the "parts promise".
Do I understand correctly that eBay has now also eliminated this cost factor with the new rule and that I too have to bear 50% of the eBay return label?
Then my explicit request - which, based on experience, will remain unheard - would be one that I already voiced at the Seller Event in the German Football Museum in July of this year and which was met with great approval among the dealers present there:
I want an option for sellers where, AFTER the purchase but BEFORE payment, a free-text field with a checkbox [yes/no] is available.
Here I would like to politely and appreciatively ask "whether my careful compatibility notes in the full item description were read and checked". Combined with an offer of help to minimize unnecessary effort and shipping costs for everyone involved in the purchase.
I saw such a checkbox on American eBay just a year ago, so it does exist.
For me, that would be an option to at least absorb some of the new and additional costs and to avoid at least part of the "doesn't fit" bad buys in advance.
I'd also appreciate feedback here regarding the chances of this being implemented.
autolackdiscount24
·6 days ago · EditedHello patrick@ebay
On the topic of policies for the free returns option for vehicle parts, we have a few questions.
We list items in our shop that fall into this category, but they are not spare parts or accessories; they are items for paint-supply use.
Is there a way to make special exceptions if the items are not directly related to vehicle parts & accessories?
I also have a small addition to the topic, since I just received the info from eBay.
What exactly does this mean? Additionally, the listings must meet the following criteria and must not fall under the exceptions mentioned further down or the excluded categories:
Item location: Germany
Buyer location: Germany
Item price over 10 euros (excluding shipping costs) <------------------ ??????
Condition: “New” or “New: Other”
Format: Buy It Now (fixed price)
And I would still like to know whether our items such as polishes, clear coats, or paints, etc. are included? These are all consumables. Unfortunately, when setting up an item, the category always starts with “Vehicle Parts & Accessories”
Best regards autolackdiscount24
patrick@ebay
Hello @teileversorgung ,
As soon as I have more information about this, I'll get back here again.
Best regards
Patrick
teileversorgung
OP1 week agoGreat. Thanks.
patrick@ebay
Hello @teileversorgung ,
as far as I know, colleagues should have contacted you. So I’m replying here once again for everyone’s information.
Question: From now on, will all affected car parts with the condition “New”/“New: Other” be hidden if no free return shipping is stored?
Answer: No. Newly created or revised listings that meet the criteria and do not offer free return shipping will not be published. The criteria are in the FAQ: https://www.ebay.de/verkaeuferportal/angebote/optimieren/fahrzeugteile/kostenlose-rueckgabe#ausgeschlossene-kategorien
Question: Where can the seller identify affected or hidden listings?
Answer: There is no separate overview in the Seller Cockpit.
Question: Are all around 500 items with the condition "new" or "New: Other" actually affected?
Answer: The condition alone is not enough for that. If the listing qualifies for EFR and free return shipping must be offered, you can read about it here: https://www.ebay.de/verkaeuferportal/angebote/optimieren/fahrzeugteile/kostenlose-rueckgabe#ausgeschlossene-kategorien
Question: Does the seller now have to pay 50% for “Doesn’t fit my vehicle”?
Answer: For an eligible return under the eBay vehicle parts promise, eBay will continue to cover 100% of the return shipping costs
Best regards
Patrick
teileversorgung
OP2 days agoHello @patrick@ebay ,
thanks for the feedback. Indeed, a friendly eBay employee called me and explained the details to me.
However, he informed me that items that are hidden because the return conditions haven’t been updated will afterwards be found under the tab "Offers > Inactive".
With that, I could have lived - apart from the fact that I’d have had to edit around 500 offers manually.
Now that my first items under "New other" have expired, however, I’m finding that NOTHING like that is shown in the Inactive tab.
So I’m asking once again just to be safe:
Does Ebay offer no technical support as to which items are hidden from buyers because the return conditions are not up to date?
For me, that means: I practically have to work blind through my 2,000 offers and check each of the roughly 500 new items individually to see whether they’re affected by the change and not on the list of exceptions (which, evidently, also includes commercial vehicle parts).
In addition, I somehow have to figure out which items I’ve already updated (because that won’t be shown either), since it’s impossible to get everything done in one day and you can’t just work through a list, because at the other end of the list around 15 items expire every day after 30 days.
My only chance right now is to search for each item by part number in a second browser where I’m not logged into my account, and see whether it’s visible online?
It just can’t be that I’m the only one facing this problem.
patrick@ebay
Hello @teileversorgung I'm sorry that you've received differing statements here. In the Inactive tab, unsold and ended listings from the last 90 days are shown. There you can view these listings and their details. Among other things, it also contains listings that, for example, do not comply with the policy.
In your case, however, they do not violate any policies and are therefore not shown there either. The colleagues had confirmed to me that there is no separate overview for this in the cockpit. Actually, my last update was that you should be sent a list showing which listings are affected.
Best regards
Patrick
teileversorgung
OPyesterday at 6:29 PMHello @patrick@ebay , thanks for following up on that.
Unfortunately, I didn't receive any such list. I just checked my inbox again. Nothing of the sort to be found.