eBay announced a new portal featuring items that are “certified refurbished” and “guaranteed by leading manufacturers” at eBay.com/certifiedrefurbishedhub. eBay had already announced the launch of a “certified refurbished” hub in June, and at first glance, it’s not clear what might be different about the hub announced today.
However, readers may remember that last week, eBay announced it was requiring sellers gain approval before being allowed to list an item as certified refurbished, stating, “Starting October 9, 2020, items listed as certified refurbished will need to meet our updated item condition requirements and be approved by our certified refurbished team.”
In June, eBay mentioned the demand for refurbished goods was good for its sellers – “both individuals and brands who are looking for new distribution channels.” But in today’s announcement, eBay made it clear the new hub is exclusively for brands and manufacturer-approved vendors.
“Only brands that meet eBay’s Certified Refurbished criteria can qualify for the program, which requires an item to be in a pristine, like-new condition that has been professionally inspected, cleaned, and refurbished by the manufacturer – or a manufacturer-approved vendor – to meet their specifications. In addition, the item must be in new packaging with original or new accessories.”
The new hub encompasses five categories: laptops, portable audio, power tools, small kitchen appliances and vacuums; and eBay listed the brands that have signed on to the program.
The program is currently available to buyers and sellers in the U.S., and sellers in Australia have begun applying, eBay stated.
As eBay announced last week, sellers who are unable to get approval to sell items classified as “certified refurbished” can sell them as a “seller refurbished” item, which means it has been restored to working order by the eBay seller or a third party. But those items won’t appear in the new portal.
So thats the answer.
eBay wants to ELIMINATE competition from its NEW beloveds – by restricting other sellers …. another day, another illegal program.
Truth is – its the same cr@p they do with VERO. VERO has nothing to do with violating ANYONES IP – its about restriction of free trade.
eBay cant ever see what a seller has – so to make demands is just stupid. Can you judge how something tastes with out eating it? (only in eBay criminal land).
Will they snag buyers – you bet – until someone has an issue and the maker tells them “no way”.
Another move to “HELP” its sellers ……… THANKS WALMART IDIOTS!
eBay cheerleaders in:
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“but but but its THEIR site and they can do what ever they want ..!” ….NO – its called restraint of free trade (when you put up invisible barriers to shut people put of certain markets)
I think it’s good that eBay is starting to clamp down on claims that items are refurbished which right now is not gated at all and anyone can claim that they have refurbished an item, while in reality probably a majority of items are just ‘used’ but the seller just copied someone else’s listing and that included the condition code.
The bigger and more important challenge is the Seller Refurbished condition which is the Wild West at the moment. That needs to be gated so that only sellers with real depth and commitment can make that offer. Perhaps limiting it to sellers with 500 4.9+ As Described DSRs in category and requiring 60 or 90 days paid returns (or similar) would put an end the the abuse and make the condition rating meaningful. That would help differentiate Seller Refurbished products, and help sellers with those skills get a decent return on their additional investment in their offerings.