topic Re: Buyer refund requests... in Selling

Buyer refund requests...

saarzi — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 09:07:05 GMT

I sell plant seeds for $1.50 a pop including postage.

I have a buyer today, who put in a case, saying the *seeds* (not packaging) were damaged on arrival.

These seeds are the size of a pin head, packed in a plastic ziplock bag and put in an envelope. To squash the seeds or damage them, you would have to cook them, freeze them, or get your fingernail, and squish them very hard one by one.You cant even squish them between your fingers. Theres no way they could have been damaged just by going through the post.

Hasnt sent photos I requested, no response. Return request was made AFTER I left positive feedback (5th one down).

Its $1.50, who cares. But, makes me wonder how many people buy low price items, say its damaged and hope they get a refund because the seller thinks "its $1.50, who cares".After a few items it starts to add up.

Do Ebay take note of how many REFUNDS a buyer requests? It seems if they get refunds without it being escalated to Ebay, it would probably slip under the radar.

Re: Buyer refund requests...

harley_babes_hoard — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 09:25:28 GMT

unfortunately this is what ebay have created with the new MBG. There are a lot more free shopping than ever before.

Re: Buyer refund requests...

digital*ghost — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 09:26:08 GMT

@gtx305 wrote:

Do Ebay take note of how many REFUNDS a buyer requests?

They say they do.... There's something in the MBG policies that refers to buyers found to be abusing the guarantee etc risk account restrictions and so forth. But I would honestly be suprised if that is little more than lip service, except in the worst, most obvious cases, maybe. 😞

I have a bit of a problem with missing items - in that rather than saying INR, I get more people than I'd like saying not all of the items were in the package. A few times I knew they were right, because I distinctly remember the package and what I packed, a couple of times I know I packed the correct order... The rest, I really can't know for sure. Some I have absolutely no idea, others I could have sworn I packed correctly but don't have total recall. Need to do something about that, but I seriously don't want to start photographing what I packed for every order that has more than one item in it. >_>

(When I process orders, I label the front with the address, and write the contents of the order on the back, peel off strip, then pack, then seal when everything's gone it - where I've stuffed up is usually in missing more than one quantity of the same item, because I'll write the item there, but pack 1 instead of 2 - much harder for me to miss packing different items, so those always make me a bit iffy if I can't 100% recall that specific package - if the order is large, I print out a packing list and mark off each item as I pack it, so don't usually mess those ones up :D).

Re: Buyer refund requests...

clarry100 — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 09:42:51 GMT

If we send out a replacement item for something reported either lost or damaged in the post we add a follow up comment to the feedback we left for the buyer at the time we mailed out the item.

If all sellers would do this then other sellers can see if there is a trend with this particular buyer.

It goes something like this.

<UID>: Replacement sent for item reported lost/damaged in post (date).

Or if you refund then change the words a bit to suit.

Put the buyer's UID in the comment so all can see the buyer ID. Otherwise its hidden by ebay.

Just change the lost or damaged to suit the circumstance.

Re: Buyer refund requests...

saarzi — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 09:47:30 GMT

Didnt think I could leave a follow up coment to my own comment - will do.

But whats a UID?

Re: Buyer refund requests...

saarzi — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 09:50:18 GMT

nevermind i am sloooww lol

Re: Buyer refund requests...

dealuxe_store — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 10:12:08 GMT

That is a really good idea to let other sellers know.

I am definitely going to adapt this strategy. Maybe we should make it a topic on its own to get more sellers to start making this standard practice.

Re: Buyer refund requests...

clarry100 — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 10:21:38 GMT

Yes by all means pass this idea as far and wide as possible. The more sellers that adopt this little strategy the better chance we all have of being forewarned.
And the buyer cannot have it removed by eBay either as it is simple and factual and does not breach any rules and does the job of getting the message across to all.

Re: Buyer refund requests...

lane-ends — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 10:27:56 GMT

I have always done that.

Which brings up another question, if your follow up is negative comment after previously leaving a positive, does that contravene the not leaving green dot with neg comment.?

Re: Buyer refund requests...

clarry100 — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 11:46:51 GMT

It could do Yes. So we just leave out all the emotive stuff and stick to a simple statement of fact.

Re: Buyer refund requests...

i-love-my-sheep — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 12:29:35 GMT

I had a buyer send a message last week saying her item hadn't arrived yet. I asked if she would mind waiting another week to see if it arrived. That week ended today and I haven't heard back from her! No case opened, no message so I don't know if she's got it or not. I thought about sending her a message to ask, but I didn't want to give her any ideas about saying it hadn't arrived if it actually had, just to get a refund. I did ask her to let me know if it did arrive. I'm hoping no news is good news. If it doesn't get there, this will be my first INR in 620 sales!

Re: Buyer refund requests...

clarry100 — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 00:51:22 GMT

Yeah we had one message us just after Xmas saying that her item she had ordered 6-weeks before that had not arrived yet. Her address was country QLD.

I asked her to validate her mailing address for me and to check at her local PO in case they were holding it.

But we have never heard any more since then.

So perhaps it either turned up or the local PO was holding it.

But I don't want to ask in case it gives her ideas.