Uh Oh! Mandatory 6-Month Returns If You Accept Paypal

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/m...olicies-full





6 month returns. GREAT!

A huge problem with this is, since completed ebay auction listings only remain in ebay's cache for finite period, how does a seller prove what was or was not stated or shown in the listing 6 months after the fact when someone files a dispute?

Seller Beware

I'm strictly a buyer, but wow, 6 months seems like a long time. I'm curious about the rationale for the change.

You have to remember, stamps are but a small part of what is sold on ebay. Things that make no sense for stamp buyers may make perfect sense on electronics or larger items. Like it or not it's still the only game in town.


But I should add, everytime something like this goes down, it opens the opportunity for other venues.

This is not an ebay change, it is a PayPal change.

Another issue with this is that PayPal requires tracking/signature proof of delivery that is viewable online... but USPS only retains tracking information viewable for 60-90 days. Does this mean that every nonreceipt claim opened after 90 days will automatically be found in favor of the buyer? Even if you print out the tracking information showing delivery for every item you sell, PayPal will not accept it, as it isn't information they can verify online.

An absolute nightmare in the making.

"This is not an ebay change, it is a PayPal change".
Since ebay owns paypal, it doesn't matter.

It most certainly DOES matter. ebay policy changes only affect transactions that occur on ebay. PayPal policy changes affect transactions everwhere, e.g., items sold here at SCF, on BidStart, private party sales, etc.

Quit using them for transactions other than ebay. I'm sure they aren't doing it for the fun of it or to piss people off. There must be something legal going on between them and the credit card companies where they are getting hung out to dry.

As a seller, the less I have to use PayPal, the better!

Here's the information about how long tracking information is kept by the USPS. It appears sellers are safe:

http://faq.usps.com/adaptivedesktop...eType:search

The records of mail classes and services are stored in the system for different time periods:

USPS Tracking™ service – up to six (6) months
Signature Confirmation™ service – up to one (1) year
Priority Mail Express™ service, Certified Mail™ service, Registered Mail™ service, and Numbered International Mail services – up to two (2) years
Adult Signature Required / Adult Signature Restricted Delivery Mail – update to three (3) years
Archived tracking information can be requested multiple times within the above applicable timeframes.

I just got off the phone with PayPal. Upon explaining the two major concerns ( ebay and USPS data retention in order for sellers to refute SNAD claims or prove delivery), their response was:

1. ebay is supposed to be increasing the length of time that completed auctions will be visible online, in conjunction with PayPal's change in policy. This has NOT been published anywhere.

2. Regarding USPS's current tracking retention period, the drone put me on hold for 10 minutes while she spoke with a supervisor and came back with "Uhhh... they're still working out all the details on the new policy, but rest assured that it will be fair to sellers."

Oy vey. My guess is that nobody at PayPal ever even bothered to check and see how long USPS tracking remains online before publishing this policy change.

To confirm the data retention, I went back and entered in some old tracking numbers from packages I sent over the past 6 months. It looks like it's longer than I originally thought, but not a full 6 months. Most of the packages sent in April still show tracking information at USPS, but none of the ones from March show up at all, and the last 2 weeks of March would be included under the new dispute window.

Further proof that e-bay truly wants to get rid of small and mid-size sellers and cater only to big box stores who can absorb this type of loss. Maximum returns allowed on e bay is 90 days, so I wonder why Paypal is now allowing 180 day returns? It must have something to do with Apple's new iPayment.

With regard to tracking, I ship and receive international stuff daily. I mostly use "17 Track" for all shipment tracking: http://www.17track.net/index_en.shtml

Not sure how long they retain records. Interestingly, I have had a few issues tracking US to US shipments - mainly in which the USPS site had not yet shown something as delivered - and the 17 Track site posted the delivery before USPS did. Not sure how that can be, but it has happened more than once. I have been told that in dispute cases ebay recognizes this tracking site with regard to 'proof of delivery'. (Don't quote me on this - just repeating what I have heard)

Anyway, those of you who do a lot of shipping or receiving might want to give it a test drive.

The other side of this coin is that you will now have time to get a stamp sent out to be certified. There are cases where buyers were unable to get refunded due to the amount of time lapsed after stamps came back with no certification.
Probably would never happen, but would be nice to see the ability to decrease the return time to 2 weeks if a stamp sells with documentation. This would add incentive for higher dollar stamps to be certified before listing. It would probably increase costs but once done the value of the stamp would include and carry the cert cost.
Don

"It must have something to do with Apple's new iPayment"

What is the Amazon policy for returns? ebay really pays attention to Amazon.

Heck, most brick and mortar stores don't have 6-month return policies, they're ususally 30-90 days. And if I sold electronics, there's no way I'd take PayPal. A used electronic item that someone wants to return after 5 months is basically worthless to resell. Almost every store has a 30-day (or less) return policy on electronics, and will generally charge a hefty restocking fee to boot.

90 days from estimated delivery date. There must be some reason Paypal is running scared.