Questions & Confusion Remain As eBay Motors Parts & Accessories Forced Free Returns Goes Into Effect
eBay Motors sellers are scrambling as new forced free returns requirement goes into effect with many questions, concerns, and confusion still lingering over which categories are affected and other key aspects of the program.
This massive change in policy was announced as part of the June Seller Update, advising US Motors seller would be required to offer free 30 day remorse returns for most parts and accessories - with eBay footing the bill for 50% of the return shipping costs - starting July 15.
Liz Morton
The announcement received swift and strong pushback from Parts & Accessories sellers who worried the new policy would increase returns dramatically and also raised several important questions that the help page did not provide explicit answers to - including basic information like which specific categories are affected.
The wording of the original announcement, plus a mention of eBay's Guaranteed Fit program, naturally caused many sellers to assume this will only impact listings in Car and Truck Parts & Accessories categories.
But, the policy pages does not actually say that, it simply references Motors Parts & Accessories and provides the following list of excluded categories - all of which are Car and Truck Parts.
Which P&A categories are excluded from the updated return policy?
Listings in the following categories are excluded from our updated return policy and aren’t required to offer free returns:
- Wheels (179679)
- Tires (179680)
- Tire & Wheel packages (179681)
- Other Wheel & Tire Parts (179684)
- Auto Transmissions (171115)
- Manual Transmissions (171117)
- Complete Engines (33615)
- Door Panels (33696)
- Hood Panels (33646)
- Airbags (177710)
- Listings with local pick up only
- Listings where shipping uses freight services
The confusion is caused by the fact that subcategories for Boat Parts, Aviation Parts, ATV/UTV Parts, Snowmobile Parts, and are all also nestled under the broader Motors Parts and Accessories heading when creating listings and navigating the site, leaving sellers in those categories questioning whether or not they will also be required to offer free remorse returns.
And apparently it's not just sellers who are confused - over a month after this question was first posed to eBay community staff, they finally replied today with Devon@eBay initially advising:
We did confirm with the Product team that categories that are a part of the new P&A returns policy are Car and Truck only, minus the exclusions that can be found on the Seller Center page under the first FAQ.
But then Devon replied again just ~30 minutes later to clarify he had received additional information from the Product team confirming that all subcategories under 6028 are affected by this new policy - which would include Boat Parts, Aviation Parts, Snowmobile Parts. etc.
UPDATE The Product team was able to provide further clarification on what categories are included:
"The policy applies to all parts and accessories under the category 6028, which means atv utv, boat, motorcycle etc are included to."
Given the obvious lack of clarity internally at eBay, and the fact that the help and policy page still don't actually explicitly state all subcategories which are included, sellers are understandably still confused and not willing to just take a staff post in a community forum as accurate information.
Unfortunately that leaves the matter up in the air and sellers in those non-automotive parts categories will likely only really find out for sure if it applies to them "later this summer" when non-compliant listings will be blocked.
Of course many sellers won't want to risk having their listings potentially blocked and may go ahead and voluntarily comply to avoid the risk - which is likely exactly what eBay is hoping for.
But given the significant pushback from sellers on this new policy, it will be interesting to see how many resist the "carrot" of eBay partially subsidizing the return label cost and call eBay's bluff, waiting to see if the "stick" of blocked listings will ever actually be brought to bear.
Some aren't sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what happens. Instead, they're searching for creative (if possibly eBay policy violating) ways to get around the new requirement.
One seller suggested potentially using a lower item cost along with an inflated flat rate shipping cost so that in case of return, the seller could retain the original shipping amount to make up for the cost of return shipping - not unlike how sellers used to do something similar to avoid paying the full amount of Final Value Fees, which eBay fixed by making the fee applicable to the entire amount including shipping.
Not only would that solution violate other policies and likely get a seller's account shut down, it's also not entirely clear if it would work since eBay still hasn't answered questions about whether sellers will still be able to withhold the original shipping when refunding for returns under this new policy.
Another more plausible idea being thrown around is that since the free returns requirement only applies to items in new condition, sellers may choose to change the condition to "used" and simply note in the title or description that the part is actually new.
Technically, that would also likely be a violation of eBay terms which prohibit actions that are taken with the intent to circumvent policies - and even if eBay doesn't take enforcement action, sellers could lose sales if the mismatched condition information causing confusing or lack of trust for the buyer.
Similar to when users in the UK share tips for trying to circumvent Buyer Fees and mandatory Simple Delivery managed shipping, maybe eBay should consider if an update is so unpopular that users put this much effort into trying to find some way out of it, that might be a sign they shouldn't move forward?
Liz Morton
Several sellers pointed out that many other marketplaces and popular auto parts ecommerce sites do not offer such generous free remorse return policies and wondered why eBay is forcing the issue when it is absolutely not industry standard.
Several large auto parts sellers are so frustrated with this forced change they are considering jumping ship to some of those competing sites, with one even saying Walmart is heavily recruiting sellers with attractive incentives to move inventory to their marketplace instead.
...Even places like Amazon are not offering free shipping like they used to. Not sure why they keep trying any of this when it is not working.
You get people that do not read descriptions, titles, look at the pictures, or item specifics or even the kicker.....the eBay compatibility chart. Somehow, it is the sellers fault at the end of the day. Instead of being innovative and revamping the service metrics for categories that have high return issues due to customers making mistakes, they keep trying to find ways to punish the seller.
Just the other day I had two different people buy a passenger side door mirror and another a passenger sun visor. They message me after they get their items, telling me they needed the driver side for each. I'm at a loss, like you didn't read my entire listing where we say "Passenger" in the title, the eBay compatibility chart does too, and then the item specifics also have the same information. It is wild.
I will say that Walmart is on their heels with the used auto parts market and being very aggressive on trying to get sellers on to their platform. I know that eBay Motors is said to be down 10-15% the past two years, but having spoken to several others, motors has to be down much more than that at this point.
Of course it's not surprising that Walmart is moving aggressively to try to get sellers on their platform - in fact they've poached talent from eBay in several key "focus vertical" areas over the last year for this specific purpose, including (now former) Auto Parts and Accessories Business Development/US Motors Events Manager Sarah Burgess who left earlier this year to become Senior Manager Business Development Parts and Accessories for Walmart Marketplace.
Liz Morton
How are you planning to handle eBay's Parts & Accessories Free Returns mandate - go along to get along, wait to see if/when it's enforced, try to circumvent it or move to a different platform? Let us know in the comments below!
