I've been attaching the old version of my form letters a lot recently. I noticed that they were the 2014 version so I figured it made sense to provide my "latest greatest" almost 2017 versions....
Note that I sell in the postage stamps category, different categories and types of material may have to be handled differently.
While they won't work for everyone, I've adjusted these over the last 17 years and for me they have tended to work reasonably well in most situations, although they seem to be less effective now than a couple years ago.
Anyway, if you find any of these wordings of use, please feel free to re-use whatever wordings work for you in your situation.
My main goal in creating these as form letters was to avoid writing what I want to write back, because the situation is frustrating, the buyer may not have waited very long or may not be very polite. By using the form letters, it helps make sure I write something professional and it makes the process more consistent from my end.
My generic one usually used before the buyer has opened a case:
Hi! Your parcel was sent as promised on DATE SENT without tracking (to track would have cost an additional $17.50 more). I understand your frustration awaiting the parcel's arrival. Unfortunately parcels like this may go through COUNTRYNAME customs and can take a long time to arrive. You will receive a full refund if your package does not arrive, so you do not need to worry. If it gets to the point that you think it has been long enough, please just send me another message and I will refund your money out of my own funds. Assuming the parcel does arrive after that, let me know and I will send another invoice so you can pay again (small parcels like this are not insured so I am out 100% if they do not arrive). 99% of the time parcels to COUNTRYNAME just take longer than they should to arrive. I would appreciate it if you can wait another week or two before we decide the package is lost and I refund your money but I will be ok whenever you decide. Regards, RICARMIC
This one translated well to Chinese and is an example of one after a case is opened:
Hi! The parcel was sent on DATE SENT. If the parcel has not arrived by DATE I will refund. If the parcel arrives after the refund on Friday, please let me know so I can send another invoice so you can pay again (small parcels are not insured so I am out 100% if they do not arrive). It is very rare for parcels to never arrive, over 99% of the time they just take longer than one would expect to arrive, hopefully it will arrive soon. Regards, RICARMIC
This one translated well to German and is an example of one after the case is opened:
Hi BUYERNAME! Your parcel was mailed as promised on DATE MAILED to this address: BUYERS ADDRESS. There is no tracking number, to get a tracking number would have added an extra $25 to the shipping cost. I am refunding your money out of my own funds now. If the parcel arrives later, let me know so I can send another invoice so you can pay for it again (parcels like this are uninsured so I lose 100% if they do not arrive). It is very rare for parcels to never arrive, over 99% of the time they just take a long time to arrive. Sorry for the frustrations around this parcel, hopefully it will still show up. Have a great day! RICARMIC (Ron)
