eBay's new dispute resolution process may anger sellers over refund reimbursement clause.
eBay today announced it will take a more active role in resolving transaction disputes between buyers and sellers and start directing buyers to eBay directly, rather than sending complaints to PayPal, the company's online payment unit.
The news comes during a time when eBay is currently shifting its marketplace focus from online auctions to more fixed-price sales, in attempt to keep pace with rival Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and recently opened up a new seller system called Large Merchant Services for high-volume catalog sellers.
Policy changes employed last year prompted unprecedented seller boycotts and mainstream media coverage while industry watchers speculated that a significant amount of sellers would leave eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) for alternative sites.
Starting in mid-June, the auction giant will «in some cases» issue refunds at its own expense to customers claiming they either didn't receive the item they purchased, or got a different item altogether — even if the seller wasn't at fault.
However, in what may become yet another battle ground between eBay management and its member e-tailers, the policy also states eBay may reimburse buyers and seek compensation from sellers «when appropriate.»
eBay will also be transitioning buyer-seller disputes from PayPal to eBay, which is a radical change in the way the company previously operated. Some sellers travel to the annual eBay Live tradeshow each year just to get answers to questions, as the online marketplace company is notorious for being hard to contact with buyer issues.
«The goals of the new process are to keep buyers on eBay by giving them a more familiar eCommerce resolution experience, and to reduce the time buyers and sellers spend resolving issues,» wrote Stephanie Tilenius, senior vice president and general manager of eBay North America, in eBay's spring news announcement today.
«Direct communication between buyers and sellers will continue to be strongly encouraged. With the new process, buyers and sellers will also have an option to call eBay. We'll be taking a more active role, and in certain cases when we determine the seller was not at fault we may refund the buyer at our own expense,» she added.
The company also will make its merchant tool «Selling Manager» free for all online vendors, and will move online shipping services from PayPal to eBay to make it faster and easier to pay for shipping and print labels.
Ключевые слова: Amazon, e-commerce, eBay, online shopping, policy
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