posted on March 9, 2002 10:23:02 AM new
I sold an item as new/sealed and was paid via
Paypal.
Item Price and shipping were $44.50.
I ran into a slight problem with inventory and
only had one of the item to sell. This item
was not sealed (it was still new).
I e-mailed the buyer and told her about the problem and agreed to:
A) Cancel and refund in full
B) Give her a $15 discount + Free shipping
She took option B and I simply enclosed a personal check in the package for the refund.
She e-mails me when she receives the item and
tells me that the item will not work.
I write back to her nicely and we figure out together that the item will not work because she does not have the proper equipment to
use the item even though I
included a
"Please make sure you have XXXX
equipment before bdding" in the auction description in bold black letters.
She was a newbie and I decided to go ahead and accept the return.
I e-mail her and tell her to keep the check and I will send the rest of the refund when the item is returned.
Total Price $44.50 -$18.00 (personal check)
- $1.50 Billpoint fee =$25 refund which I
will give upon receipt of the item.
Note: I did not charge her to send Billpoint
initially, but I knew that I didn't
want to get stuck with a fee for accepting a return on a no-sale.
Yesterday, I get a package via Express Mail.
Total cost $12.50 postage
She could've easily returned the item via
Priority for under $4.00 or First Class for
$2.
I went ahead and refunded the money, knowing that the $12.50 she spent to have it shipped to me will surely make the refund seem smaller.
I don't know why she did it.
It's not like I said "Have the item back to me in less than 24 hours or you will be stuck."
posted on March 9, 2002 01:38:58 PM new
A buyer spending $12.50 to return something via Express Mail when the seller had simply asked for it to be returned. The buyer spent something like 1/3 of her refund to use the most expensive method to mail it back...unnecessarily.
I had a similar experience with a buyer recently. I bought an item, and the end-of-auction notice from the seller had the wrong email addy for PayPal. I wrote and told her I had tried to pay but saw that she didn't have an account, so I was sure there was some sort of mistake in the email address. She immediately wrote back with a profuse apology and the correct addy.
I received my package almost instantaneously. She had sent it via Express Mail and included TWO items instead of the one I had bid on. It cost her almost $25.00 to do this, plus the value of the second item (around $20)...all for a $20 sale! I wrote and thanked her and told her that I would be happy to split the extra postage as I felt she had gone way overboard. I never heard back from her.
posted on March 9, 2002 03:41:38 PM new
I did write to her ahead of time and tell her what the refund would be so I hope she didn't
expect postage back. It was her mistake in the first place that she didn't have the proper equipment.
If it is a clear foul up on my part, I might refund return shipping, but $12.50 is too much.
She left me great feedback for a no-sale which I thought was odd, but I reciprocated just to be nice--I didn't want her to e-mail later
asking for feedback.
sonsie----
That is a really wierd story as well. I suppose I would be happy if I had been in your shoes.
posted on March 9, 2002 05:24:38 PM new
Seems to me that you actually found a buyer who reacts normally when things go wrong. Why are you so surprised?
posted on March 9, 2002 09:17:06 PM new
If you look at who paid for the express mail shipment, you may find somebody's employer paid for it. I see that frequently in my business.
posted on March 9, 2002 10:06:49 PM new
I'm not surprised by her reaction (returning the merchandise). She behaved very reasonably in that respect. I'm only surprised at how she chose to send the return because of the obvious cost involved. I did look at the label and it appears that she paid for the postage herself (not an employer) but I could be wrong.
