Okay folks,
Half rant - half legit question.
I sell auto parts - meaning that as an Ebay Motors seller of parts and Accessories (hereinafter referred to as P&A) I am FORCED by Ebay (for new/new other) to take FREE RETURNS at all times.
Okay - frigging hated this policy when it came out. Was correct...my returns went from 0.02% to 4.1% in 2 months - now hovering at 3.8%....for MODEL/MAKE SPECIFIC P&A!!!
Every single return but two were simply buyer remorse - something I never dealt with. You buy an alternator for your 1984 Plymouth Reliant....there's no such thing as remorse.
Fast forward almost a year after the policy has been put into place and I'm pissed at this last return...
Just to head off you fuckers who are gonna dismiss this as 'don't sell on ebay if you're gonna cry over $7 - you don't belong on ebay if you can't absorb a $7 loss)....GFY. For those still reading....
I hate the process. This last return went down within 10 seconds. First the notification that the buyer wanted to return the item. Two seconds later I get an email saying the same. 5 seconds later - I get the 'we accepted the return on your behalf and sent the user a label'. I refunded the buyer right away - the total sale was $18. It was NOS and it was 2yrs on my shelves - just wanted to get it to someone who could use it without taking to the scrap yard. However friggin P&A FORCED RETURNS reared it's ugly head.
Ebay didn't give me a friggin' chance to simply refund the buyer before charging me a $7 label for return. I've been all over ebay trying to find a solution to give me a hot minute to decide if getting the item back is worth it...instead now, I'm out somewhere in the neighborhood of $15 on an item for which I get no revenue. I'd have been out $6-7 dollars - but ebay just had to pile on.
Anyone know how to perhaps fix this where I can get a moment of sanity before ebay kicks me in the shin? I mean on higher dollar items - it is what it is - and upon return, Ebay has most often let me keep my money due to the typical shit ebay buyers pull....
I know - you mf'ers who think $7 isn't worth arguing can shut the hell up. Over the course of a year - regardless of the amount of money on any given return - it's an expense that I shouldn't have to incur.
I just want an hour or 30 minutes or ANY time to make the best business decision. Ebay is focused on buyers correctly - but this is just insane.
Is there a setting somewhere that I've missed that I can toggle to get me the opportunity to avoid the return shipping on a forced free return?