eBay is betting its investments in fitment technology will pay off – if it can get sellers in its eBay Motors Parts & Accessories category to adopt it. In an email on Thursday, eBay dangled a significant carrot: free returns for sellers who add fitment and adopt its new returns API update.
“I’m floored they would ever offer any scenario where they give a free shipping label,” a Top Rated eBay seller told EcommerceBytes.
In the email sent to sellers, eBay said it would introduce the new program in early 2023 in an effort to decrease returns caused by fitment issues – in other words, reduce the number of buyers purchasing parts that are not compatible with their vehicle.
Here’s how the program would work for sellers who meet the criteria:
- Buyers will provide their vehicle details
- eBay will confirm fitment by checking the buyer’s vehicle details against the info in your listing’s compatibility table
- If fitment is confirmed, in many cases the program will provide a free return label for you to use when there is a fitment issue
The program will cover Parts & Accessories in the Car & Truck category starting early next year, with expansion to more eBay Motors P&A categories in the future.
It appears sellers must not only add fitment, but they must also comply with certain return-policy conditions that weren’t made clear in the email for sellers who don’t use a third-party service to manage their inventory. “More information on the program will be shared in the coming days,” eBay stated in the email. Sellers have until January 17, 2023, to make the changes.
The seller we spoke to did express some skepticism. “I’m eager to see how easily they let bad buyers weasel out of this since they allow such rampant abuse of the “not as described” cases,” he said.
eBay Motors Parts & Accessories is one of eBay’s largest categories, generating over $10 billion in annual GMV – and it’s also one of eBay’s “focus” categories. In early August, eBay CEO Jamie Iannone told Wall Street analysts that fitment was one of the best enablers of trust and said, “To ensure every buyer finds the perfect part to fit their vehicle, we are enhancing all of the AI that powers search, merchandising and advertising.”
A few weeks later, eBay acquired myFitment, LLC and Illumaware, LLC in order to integrate their technology into the eBay platform.
One month later, eBay Motors General Manager Chris Prill and the head of eBay Motors product and engineering Paul Stathacopoulos gave a presentation at the eBay Open seller conference where they explained how they were integrating fitment into search for a better shopping experience for buyers.
