Oct 17 2008
Mandatory Return Policies
Apparently eBay was about to enforce a site-wide rule about making return policies mandatory. The rule was about to go into effect when we were offered a last-minute reprieve. If I’d known about it, I would have been annoyed about it, but that annoyance also gets a reprieve. The new rule is being put off until after the holidays.
Do you have a return policy? If so, you’re not alone. More and more people are getting return policies because they’ve been pushing them pretty hard on people for the last two years. Personally I don’t have one and I won’t have one until it becomes mandatory.
Why? Funny you should ask. Actually, I don’t think that it’s necessary for a reputable, long-time seller to have one. I’ve been selling for a number of years and have about 6,000 feedbacks. If there is a need for a return, I’d like to take it on an individual basis and I’d like to be trusted that I will do the right thing. I do not want to advertise that I will take a return on an item because that is an invitation to buyer’s remorse returns that come two months after the sale for no reason. But, if I say the policy is that I don’t take returns, I look like a seller who won’t negotiate and won’t take the individual transaction into account. Either way, the seller loses. Thanks, eBay!
