OT: New eBay Seller Policy - 30 Day Return Policy

[Buythatcard]

Has anyone seen one of the new eBay Seller Policies.

New 30-day return policy requirement for Top Rated Plus listings

Starting May 1, 2016, to earn the Top Rated Plus discount and benefits, listings must offer a minimum 30-day return policy with money back*. We understand this means some sellers will have to change their selling practices but it's an important step in making sure Top Rated Plus listings provide service that today's buyers expect—and that we reward those sellers who deliver it.


I can see the following scenario. Mr. Buyer won a card for $100. He now takes this card and tries to sell it himself. He can only sell it for $95. Realizing that he did not make a profit, he then decides to cancel that transaction. He then contacts the original Seller and says that he wants to return the card because it is still within the 30 days.

What's next? Lifetime Return Policy.

[Leon]

That doesn't sound like a good policy for legit hobbyists in our space.

[mattsey9]

It's bad for us where prices are more static, but the guys who break cases to flip new modern cards which are much more volatile in price are going to be harmed even more.

[yanksfan09]

Horrible idea (as you'd expect from ebay). People will speculate on the hot rookie cards of young prospects and hope they stay hot or get called up or whatever. When they fail or cool off they can just send the card back. They have nothing to lose. I could see this scaring a lot more card dealers off ebay....

[egbeachley]

Originally Posted by yanksfan09

Horrible idea (as you'd expect from ebay). People will speculate on the hot rookie cards of young prospects and hope they stay hot or get called up or whatever. When they fail or cool off they can just send the card back. They have nothing to lose.

This doesn't seem too likely. Within 30 days the timing of an event needs to be precise. Are call-ups of a potential star really unexpected? I bet the price is already built-in. Plus you need about 15% increase to break even after fees. Another downside is that you need to spend return postage with signature confirmation each time you fail.

But.........there must be other ways to benefit. I'm trying to think of some.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by egbeachley

This doesn't seem too likely. Within 30 days the timing of an event needs to be precise. Are call-ups of a potential star really unexpected? I bet the price is already built-in. Plus you need about 15% increase to break even after fees. Another downside is that you need to spend return postage with signature confirmation each time you fail.

But.........there must be other ways to benefit. I'm trying to think of some.

If you were dishonest, you could buy a bunch of cards that look strong for the grade, send them in for review (or cross to a "better" holder), and send back the ones that don't bump/cross.

[sportsguy]

Example: When I sell football cards (high end newer stuff) on eBay at playoff time, some people will buy tons of high end Andrew Luck cards before a game and only pay for the cards if they win (and his cards get hotter). Happens with baseball too and gets very annoying. 30 days is a long time.

[savedfrommyspokes]

As a seller of raw vintage, I have such a small percent of returns with the current 14 day mandate that I do not worry that this change will yield an increase in returns. IMO, even with the previously discussed scenarios, these sketchy returns can be accomplished just as easy in 14 days as they can be in 30 days.

The change that worries me is the new on-time measurement. With the changes, in order to be a TRS, 97% of the items need to be either shipped or delivered on time. With items w/o tracking, the buyer can, when leaving feedback, indicate if the item arrived on time, however, if no feedback is left by the buyer, this would cause the seller to not receive the on time stamp from ebay for that item(does not count against either). I ship about 7-8% of my items w/o tracking (inexpensive commons that would not sell if there was a higher s/h rate). I am confident on 92-93% will be deemed on time as that end is under my control, but am worried about buyers not understanding the new significance of this change .