eBay Guarantee*:100% satisfaction of eBay purchase; or replacement/ refund

[sapana@ebay.com]

Dear Members

We at eBay India are excited to share news on the launch of eBay Guarantee*!

Shopping on eBay is delightful for our buyers, as they get to find Lots of Safe Easy Deals along with the convenience of round the clock shopping and doorstep delivery. We achieve this by working closely with our sellers who are fully committed to delivering a great buyer experience!

However as India is still in the early stages of online shopping, our buyer’s tend to have some concerns about the item purchased being as they had understood, prompt delivery, and empathetic help in case anything goes wrong. Keeping this in mind and with an aim to deliver customer delight, we are launching the eBay Guarantee* program from the 20th of April 2010.

“If you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase on eBay, eBay will ensure that you receive a replacement or a full refund within 20 days”.

eBay Guarantee* will have multiple benefits for our buyers:
1. If a buyer is not 100% satisfied with her/his purchase on eBay, we will ensure replacement or a refund as per the below timelines:
a. Replacement of item within 7 working days after the item is shipped back to the seller by the buyer OR
b. Refund of total purchase price within 7 working days after the item is shipped back to the seller by the buyer
2. Buyers can register their unsatisfactory experience by informing a customer support representative by phone/chat or email or by registering the issue on site in the form of a dispute
3. The eBay Guarantee* Protection applies to all transactions done on eBay India and through Global Easy Buy
4. The entire transaction amount (item price + shipping charges) will be refunded to the buyer
5. Return shipment when required will be reimbursed to the buyer by eBay

Our seller protection and seller performance policies have also been revamped to ensure NO misuse of the eBay Guarantee* Program, the salient features of the seller protection policy are:
1. A seller can avail protection against loss incurred by him for refund / replacement made to the buyer through eBay Guarantee* program where Seller is not found to be at fault. A Seller can avail protection where:
a. The seller has shipped the product to the buyer with valid proof of dispatch and the buyer is in possession of the product
b.The buyer has returned the product to the seller but the seller has not received the same or received in damaged condition
2. A Seller is eligible to avail protection up to the item price of the product mentioned in the listing
3. To avail protection the seller should
a. Inform eBay about such loss within 10 days of such buyer claim closure date
b. Actively participate in the eBay Guarantee* process to resolve the buyer concern
4. All “Item not Received (INR)” disputes (including PaisaPay INR) raised by buyers where a valid proof of dispatch is not available, will be part of the Seller non performance (SNP) policy & will impact seller segmentation as per SNP policy


Please feel free to read the FAQ’s, contact our Customer Service team or attend Online Workshop on eBay Guarantee* from 4-5 PM on 8th April, 2010. To post your question, click on Post Reply link.

We at eBay.in will continue to work towards delivering a super user experience and a trusted environment where online shopping can thrive and are confident that happy buyers will place their trust in eBay and come back to buy from eBay sellers again and again!

*Terms & Conditions applicable

Thanks & Regards,
eBay Team

[anil@ebay.com]

Hi Mysalesoffer,

Sellers who work towards providing delightful Customer Experience are the cornerstone of eBay marketplace. Buyers from such sellers are less likely to directly approach eBay Guarantee as their sellers will resolve all their concerns if any. eBay Guarantee will be useful for buyers if he has gone through a bad experience and feels that seller is not cooperating to resolve his concern. In eBay Guarantee, if a seller cooperates with the buyer and gets the case resolved, he will not get negatively impacted. Only sellers who do not cooperate in resolving the case will get negatively impacted by SNP.

Regards
Anil Shenoy

[anil@ebay.com]

Hi rhtdm.6624,

Please allow me to assure you that at no point of time will our sellers be disadvantaged without their fault. The cost of sending the product back will not be borne by the seller but by eBay. If the seller does not receive the product back / or receives it in damaged / used condition, he would also be eligible for Seller Protection.

Also, in cases where there is a dispute on item description accuracy, eBay will work with both buyer and seller to resolve the case.

Regards
Anil Shenoy

[saikripa_sales]

I have one instance of not being able to track a shipment and agreeing to refund the buyer. The very next day buyer received the shipment.

Ebay executives informed me that they could not do anything as I had agreed to the refund. They asked me to get the money directly from the buyer. This was said even after the buyer sent a message to ebay that he had received the item and wanted to cancel the refund.

Then, buyer did not pay me anything because he had purchased the item using a discount coupon and he refused to pay the entire or even part amount to me.

I had to bear that loss.

[saikripa_sales]

Another example - of the poor ebay support policies - for sellers:

Buyer bought an item but wanted to cancel the order. I had entered the shipping details but requested ebay executives to initiate a refund in favor of the buyer. I sent mail, as requested.

EBay did not initiate the refund and now seller is asking me to pay up. I issued a cheque to the seller yesterday, while ebay deducted the paisapay fee and ebay "final value fee" from me when they transferred the payment to me. This is another loss I have to bear.

[saikripa_sales]

I have to agree - that in trying to attract more buyers, ebay is getting more and more "buyer-friendly", because they get their money in the form - listing fees, paisapay fees, and final value fees. They don't care what happens to the seller!

When it comes to providing support to sellers, talking to the customer service executives - is like beating your head against a wall. Totally useless.

Does ebay do anything to ask buyers to leave feedback? DO they track and train new buyers? that they have to leave feedback? All this has to be done by sellers, even if it means making long STD calls!!!

[saikripa_sales]

All these mailers they send - to sellers - asking to increase sales etc. Send mail to anyone, you get a reply after one month with one line - "apologies for the late reply" and "we will get back to you"!!!

This is support provided to sellers on ebay!!!

[rhtdm.6624]

Hi Anil

Thanks for clarifying my doubt. But I have one more query that eBay will pay shipping charges thats fine but what about seller time and product usage? No one will accept used product if we sell. Also now a days buyer not accept the product if it not in seal pack condition. In such cases who will bear this loss ?

Regards
rhtdm.6624

[stylish_india]

Totally shattered .. and extremely unhappy.

Haaye haaye haaye:-(

It is like buyer purchase anything - e.g. Jewellery item - go to party -- come back and then -- tell the seller -- he don't want the product and not satisfied - and getting full refund for that and too make it worse -- he will torn the jewellery stones and will say -- the stones are broken - it is not what was shown and all that false stories just to get their refund

[cosycom]

Dear Preeti( Stylish India) , Once a decision is taken on such policies ebay normally do not roll back therefor most probably they are going to implement it . Mr. Anil has blind faith in all buyers .....

The worst are going to hit new sellers & sellers who are selling delicate , novelity items . It is normal human nature that even a great new concept product loose its charm in a few days of use & often user feel that item is of no use any more . Now providing an easy option of refund & Guarantee can very easily lure a buyer to any sort of malpractices.

First thing is that providing a Guarantee should be an option for seller only & not must for all sellers. Providing a guarantee often increase the cost of product as well, therefor sellers may seek for a price rise to compensate. Today a customer can easily judge if he should buy the offered product or not without guarantee.

If at all eBay wants to introduce it then there should not be any refunds involved, just provide a Replacement Guarantee or free service Warranty as can be offered by seller . This is general practice & most of the sellers are already offering .

Now the worst hit will be international sellers where it is almost impossible to provide guarantee or even service warranty , since the cost of international shipping & involvement of customs may often be more than cost of product itself . long & uncertain delays also very much possible.

I feel ebay's existing feedback based system is sufficient for buyers satisfaction , if at all ebay is commited to introduce eBay Guarantee then they should start in a seperate section for interested sellers only . Pl. do not make it compulsary for all .

Most of ebay sellers are running their online businesses single handed or with limited resources , such decisions will directly impact their efficieny & business.

I hope our concerns will be considered seriously and decision makers will just not implement this policy without taking sellers community in confidence . Pl. just do not only look for ways to justify your idea .

A simple solution can be that they can get voting done from sellers on this issue , Pl. consider it ...

Best regards

Narinder

[stylish_india]

Who is interested in this - eBay Guarantee*:100% satisfaction of eBay purchase; or replacement/ refund ???

I am not .. What about others ?? Is there any seller who is in favour of this ? Vote please