missrebel in Breach of Distance Selling Regs

wealdroam

PrettyM wrote: »

Is this the law? If I placed in my T+C that I would only pay the garment cost, would be covered then?

No, you cannot say that.

PrettyM, it might be an idea to read the OFT's A guide for businesses on distance selling.

Remember also that Ebay will expect you to refund the outward postage costs too.

terra_ferma

PrettyM wrote: »

I was doing some research on distant selling and hit this forum. I am thinking of starting selling some clothes on ebay. I am a little confused about returns and cancellation.

If I sell something for £5 and the postage is £2.99 the buyer pays a total or £7.99. If the buyer receives the items and cancels the order and returns the order, am I to refund the £2.99 postage cost as well? so the buyer would get the full refund of £7.99.

How would I be able to make money if half the buyers did that? The cost of the garment would be around £4 for me to purchase, so if I refunded £2.99 I would loose out £1.99 on each return. I would be out of business pretty quickly.

Is this the law? If I placed in my T+C that I would only pay the garment cost, would be covered then?

Thnx

the 'secret' is to include the cost of returns when you price your items, nothing is for free.
websites giving 'free' delivery, 'free' returns etc, they don't lose money, they include these costs in their pricing.
you need to do a bit of research on both dsr and ebay's own policies before you start selling, as what you suggest is both illegal and against ebay's own policies

there is forum especially on ebay, here on mse, and this thread is not really about what you are after, the op asked a totally different question

PrettyM

thnks all

I have a question. If someone purchases two items and wants to return only one item then would the postage have to be refunded?

bod1467

Depends on how the postage was calculated.

Postage for 1 parcel (even though 2 items) ... no refund of postage if 1 item kept.

Postage per item ... refund of postage for the returned item.

wealdroam

PrettyM wrote: »

thnks all

I have a question. If someone purchases two items and wants to return only one item then would the postage have to be refunded?

If you are talking about distance selling regulations, then they are concerned with cancelling the order.

No, you do not have to refund postage if the whole order is not cancelled.

PrettyM, if you have any further questions, perhaps you could start your own thread either on this board or, if more appropriate, on the ebay board.

PrettyM

thnx,

no more questions. I think its unfair on sellers to refund the whole postage cost. Its not just the postage amount but the time for staff wages to post out then manage the returns should be considered. The sellers should have some flexibility to define their returns policy, the buyer has the choice to buy from them or go elsewhere.

wealdroam

PrettyM wrote: »

I think its unfair on sellers to refund the whole postage cost.

Then you need to avoid distance selling, if you want to stay within the law.
If you want to change the law, you could perhaps contact your MP.

PrettyM wrote: »

Its not just the postage amount but the time for staff wages to post out then manage the returns should be considered.

As advised above by Terra_ferma, you need to build that cost into your pricing structure.

terra_ferma

PrettyM wrote: »

thnx,

no more questions. I think its unfair on sellers to refund the whole postage cost. Its not just the postage amount but the time for staff wages to post out then manage the returns should be considered. The sellers should have some flexibility to define their returns policy, the buyer has the choice to buy from them or go elsewhere.

I think retailers need to look at the bigger picture. The UK are one of the countries where more people buy online, don't know the figures but I think it's behind only to USA.
Without DSR a lot of people would not buy online, because they can't see the product, and they wouldn't want to take the risk if they weren't able to return it.
It would be cheaper not to accept returns, but as long as you build that into your pricing, it can be a win-win situation, buyers get to return the item, retailer get more business at zero cost to them.
The problem on ebay, as opposed to general online selling, is that a lot of people don't price items properly, and when they have a return, or item lost in the post, they make a loss. This in turns skews the market because people who include them in their pricing tend to be more expensive than those who don't, but who then complain that DSR are unfair...

techspec

Another seller trying to dodge DSR's? In this case its freepost - but they are trying to say they won't refund in full. Mmm - i think Ebay/Paypal won't agree.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150900665614?item=150900665614&_trkparms=clkid%3D2440253189838952976&_qi=RTM988219

PLEASE NOTE: Postage cost of £2.99 is included in sell price, therefore we will deduct/charge the postage of £2.99 if you want Return for REFUND or for exchange

ninanoonanarna

I have a question. What happens when someone has paid for express delivery? Would the retailer have to refund that too? Asos Charge £7.95 for next day evening delivery which I have used a few times. If I was wanting to send these items back would they have to refund me £7.95 on top of everything else? I understand that companies should factor the postage costs into their items but surely they wouldn't factor another £8 into it otherwise they wouldn't be competitive :S