@Anonymous wrote:
So, instead of the seller having to do the claiming from the carrier, ebay will be doing that. I hope they have taken on a whole heap of staff to deal with that!
But of course, this is all for SD now, we don't know yet what the terms will be when it is forced on private sellers.
No, they won't need to claim from the carrier.
I don't know what your INR rate is for tracked items - mine is negligible. A few buyers open cases because their item hasn't arrived on time, and occasionally there is a mix-up with the tracking (postman scans the item as delivered before ringing the doorbell, nobody at home, item ends up with neighbour or back at the depot, that sort of thing). But nearly always it gets amicably resolved before the stage of having to pay out.
eBay is collecting 75p per item plus 4% to cover the admin on this (plus their rake-off on Simple Postage). If more than 4% of tracked items have to be refunded because they arrive after the due date, eBay has many of dealing with it:
1. Extend the ETAs to give late items a reasonable time to arrive. This means fewer claims. If 75% of late items turn up within 3 days, just tell buyers they can't claim until the item is 4 days late, and then they'll get an instant refund.
2. Automate the claims system with their TWO carriers, so after an initial set-up fee, it costs virtually nothing to run. Buyer claims INR, system checks item is past its due date, and the refund and claim from carrier are automatic and instant.
3. Negotiate an agreement with the carriers that says the carriers won't entertain claims (similar to the business contracts some sellers has with Royal Mail) in exchange for lower postage prices. So eBay gets 75p + 4% of postage price + (say) 10% markup on postage. This gives eBay a big enough "Revenue Stream" to cover all claims.
4. Allow for eBay to reclaim the item if it arrives late - by issuing buyers a prepaid return label sending the item to a central hub for onward sale. This could be applied to higher value goods in certain categories, so they can be resold. Buyers who don't return the goods, get their refund clawed back. This can be sold as "if you really, really want to keep that special item you chose, no problem. Just keep it, and we'll take the money from your registered payment method in 3 easy stages. You don't need to do a thing."
5. Do what they've been telling sellers to do for years, and "build the cost of dishonest claims into your business model".
6. Kick repeat claimants (or sellers whose items repeatedly get lost in the post due to poor packaging) off the site.
I very much doubt eBay will fiddle about with "providing the original receipt when the item was originally bought" or anything else like that. The fees they will be collecting from buyers will be massively more than the cost of the occasional refund. Buyers are paying through the nose to get the refund they're entitled to. A bit like Tesco's adding 75p + 4% to your grocery bill as a "Customer Service Charge", and telling you to be grateful they bother staffing the CS till at all.
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Cesario, the Count's gentleman
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