It happens.
Buyer reports the item was received, not as described. Ugh.
The overriding plan for seller: reduce this to money. Long term money. Get out of this as cheap as possible, but not at some long term cost.
For me, that means a hassle free return policy. No hard time regarding whether the thing really was as described or not.
Negative checklist on the reply:
1. Do not challenge buyer's claim that the item was not as described (ex: "it shows that in the picture").
2. Do not seem to agree that you deliberately described it wrong. (ex: "I apologize for avoiding that defect")
3. Do not be penny foolish, agreeing to refund $36 for the item, but not $6 for the return postage.
4. Do not, in any way, hint that buyer is undeserving of the return. (ex: "I'm doing more than most sellers would do for you").
Any of those are highly likely to motivate buyer to take action to punish seller.
The latter one is especially difficult for some sellers (and real life shopkeepers). They'll do the refund, but they want buyer to know that it was under duress. Lose/lose. Seller loses some postage money, and loses everything else too. You're going to lose the postage money anyway. Do it with a smile, and at least gain buyer's good graces.
Once the thing has been received as returned, refund promptly. The return postage needs to be as a separate "send money" transaction in Paypal. Make it a personal transfer, not as if it was a payment for goods. Otherwise, buyer will be asked to suffer the indignity of absorbing a Paypal fee. Explain to buyer, in an Ebay message, that there were two separate refunds, not all buyers have any effective notification of that in place.
Then, ask buyer for a cancellation. One of the reasons to cancel is "buyer returned item for a refund".
When it's all said and done, look for ways to convince Ebay to give sellers a way to automatically block buyers who are chronic returners.
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sg51 wrote: Do not challenge buyer's claim that the item was not as described
ReplyDelete- That is seller/item dependant. Sometimes buyer assumes item is SNAD because they don't know how to use it properly or bough incorrect part, etc.
Yes, there are exceptions.
ReplyDeleteThey may include suggesting helpful hints. I once had to sell buyer on the need to look in the garbage and find the missing part which had been thrown out.
There are many classic challenges, all slam seller into the ground.
a. The item is as buyer observes, but a correct reading of the listing yields no SNAD.
b. The item shipped as described, thus buyer must have damaged it later.
c. The item is not as buyer reports. Seller may claim evidence, making things worse.
d. The broken/missing part is not what was really being sold here.
The problem with all or any of that is if seller is correct and buyer is indeed lying . . . even if buyer looses the case, they can still neg/ding sellers. So this whole issue is really about the worth of fighting the loosing battle with person who determined to steal or become vindictive in unsuccessful attempt.
ReplyDeleteThis whole issue is about:
ReplyDelete1. Focusing on long term profits above emotion.
2. Working on a way for Ebay to accurately identify misbehavior in buyers.
There is no way a conclusion that buyer is lying will maximize long term profits. Better off to just not go there. Worst case, lose/lose, is to refund while accusing buyer of lying.