As a seller, another thing you are going to have to watch out for is the new change in return policy. The old rules say you can have a 3 day or 7 day return policy or no returns at all on items. Starting in May, I think, the new return policy is going to be something like 30 days or no returns.
I couldn't figure out WHY eBay would do something like this until a couple of weeks ago. Then, I ALMOST, got nailed.
I sold a little figurine which was in really nice condition for all of $7 dollars. The "person" emailed me and gave me specific instructions on how they wanted the item packed and where to mail it to. I followed the instructions and mailed the item out. A few days later, I received another e Mail asking if the item had been shipped (I marked it as shipped on the eBay page) and again gave me the specific instructions on how and where to mail the piece.
A week later, I receive a message that the "buyer" wanted a full refund WITHOUT having to return the figurine because it was broken. I informed the "buyer" that A) they didn't pay for insurance, B) I have a 7 day return policy and that it was past that time frame and C) even if I were to give a full refund, I would have to have the piece returned to me (as stated in my return policy at the bottom of the page) and that pictures would not do.
A few days later, I received another E mail asking about the refund. I then Googled the "buyer" (since they had over 28,000 Feed Back and NO Negatives) and found out they were a PARTNER of eBay.
This company has over 20 different eBay names, all starting with "Flight2..." and what they do is take eBay listings and translate them into Japanese and put them on their Japanese website. When the Japanese buyers buy something, this company takes and adds a percentage to the total and then tacks on additional for the shipping. They then tell the sellers to send the item to a warehouse in California where the items are packed into shipping containers and sent to Japan.
I found out that there have been MANY complaints about this company breaking items and then asking for full refunds. By doing this (and being an eBay partner), they can get off scott free with No Negatives (as far as Feed Back goes) and with eBay still being able to keep all of the fees they have collected.
Once I found this out, I sent an e Mail back explaining that I knew what company they were, about all of the broken items people had complained about (and not gotten anything done from eBay) and that if they wanted the refund then were going to HAVE to mail the item back to me because I KNEW they were a partner of eBay and that, combined, I thought they could afford the small cost for postage.
I never heard back from them.
Now, I have ALL of these company names as restricted from bidding in my auctions. I also know WHY eBay is changing the length of time for return policies; so that third party "buyers" can make their purchases, send them overseas and, if something gets broken, they have the time to get a refund for their clients and eBay gets to keep theri fees while the seller gets shafted (unless there is insurance on an item).
David
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