eBay launched a new policy in Australia on October 1, 2020. The marketplace will automatically refund buyers for items valued up to $15 in case of Item Not Received claims and will absorb the cost of the refund under the following circumstances:
- The item was sent using an eBay-integrated carrier;
- The shipment has at least one valid tracking event (i.e. an acceptance scan).
For items valued over $15, eBay will automatically resolve the claim if it’s asked to get involved, and in certain circumstances, it will absorb the cost of a refund and spare the seller a defect.
However, it’s also cracking down on sellers who don’t upload valid tracking for orders with a tracked service or who have a very high rate of Item Not Received claims.
This is the third full holiday-shopping season eBay Australia has had to deal with competition from Amazon, which launched in Australia in December 2017, launched FBA in February 2018, and launched Prime in June 2018.
eBay emphasized the importance of sellers using tracking when shipping their orders, explaining:
“This year, COVID-19 has changed the way both sellers and carriers fulfil and deliver eBay orders, so it’s never been more important to ensure your orders are tracked. From 1 October 2020, if you use a tracked postage service and upload valid tracking information for your eBay orders, you’ll benefit from better Estimated Delivery Dates and increased seller protections.”
It’s a temporary change that runs throughout the holiday shopping season – from October 1 until at least January 2021.
eBay also updated its list of integrated carriers: “Hong Kong Post, UBI and La Poste are no longer available for overseas sellers sending items to Australia. USPS is also no longer available for Australian-based sellers sending an item overseas.”
The full announcement can be found on the eBay Australia announcement board, and eBay has additional information on the seller center area of the site.
Yes…yes…Keep punishing the sellers for things beyond their control (thieves, incompetent couriers, etc.) and keep rewarding crooked buyers by giving them more incentives to file false claims. “But…but…Amazon does it!” the parrots at eBay squawk!
This is probably going to kill a lot of [especially smaller] Sellers who sell low cost, large letter rate items.
Under the new Policy if the buyer doesnt receive it by EDD then they get their money back (so more like eGD than EDD). Or rather ‘says’ they didnt receive it (not to mention the many buyers that open a claim and then receive the item the following day – normally buyers dont close the claim and it eventually times out, but now they will still be refunded).
Now if you dont upload tracking numbers your items will appeal down low in Best Match.
So you add $3,50 to postage costs for tracking to get back up the top of Best Match.
Except your item is no longer ‘free-post’, so back down the bottom of Best Match you go.
So instead you add the $3.50 to the item cost. Back up you go in Best Match.
Except now your prices arent competitive, so back down you go in Best Match.
So you remove the tracking cost and just pay for tracking yourself. Back up you go in Best Match.
And broke you go, very quickly.
When i saw this was coming in I added $3.50 tracking to a bit over 1000 items (with free tracking if 4+ items purchased). This was 2 weeks ago. My hub currently shows a 60.1% decrease in sales.
Not to mention that ebay may as well have put up a banner saying “get your items for free” – as in the past we have made buyers open INR claims, thinking if they are serial offenders then ebay will put a stop to their account. This appears not to be the case. CS have advised that the Seller needs to report the buyer first – but how would the Seller even know?!!
Ebay have created a breed of dishonest buyers – or it is a pure coincidence that over 95% of INR’s received are from buyers with yellow star feedback rating.
“If a buyer opens an ‘Item not received’ request and you haven’t uploaded tracking from an eBay-integrated carrier, we will resolve the request and refund them after 3 business days, unless the request is closed. We will do this without requiring the buyer to ask eBay to step in and help.
As is done today, we may also hold your funds until we see a clear sign that an item has been delivered”
What i want to know is HOW they will see a clear sign that an item has been delivered (if untracked). By feedback being left? Not only do an average of 30% (prob less now) leave feedback, but under ebay’s own policy it is not considered proof an item has been received. The only other way is that they ask the buyer……which is just baiting them to say ‘no’.