eBay

momcqueen · ‎04-25-2016

I'll tell you upfront that the moral of the story is to ALWAYS GIVE BUYERS THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT before jumping to the worst kind of conclusions. I woke from a lovely afternoon nap with the kids to a cluster of emails from eBay about a buyer who had just received her order from me this afternoon. She immediately opened a Significantly Not as Described Returns request because she opened her package and initially saw her Free Gift With Purchase and not the Cars character she ordered.

Instead of jumping to all kinds of terrible conclusions about what could possibly go wrong here to leave me out-of-pocket and with a big, fat defect of some kind, I return messaged her sweetly and explained (this is paraphrased) that the diecast truck she found was, in fact, her free gift as indicated on the enclosed packing slip and Notice of Shipment from ebay and that she would find her order beneath it. I packed it myself, and usually put the free gift at the top so that I can be sure the important part of the buyer's order fits first before adding anything else into the box.

The buyer then messaged me back saying something to the effect of 'oh my, you're right, I'm sorry' and I asked her sweetly again to close the request and thanked her again for her business.

The lesson here being that if I had reacted with all the moral outrage I felt at first upon opening the message from ebay, I would have handled this all wrong and upset my buyer even more. It did occur to me that I had lay the free gift on top of the Cars character she ordered and it may have been the only thing she saw when she opened the box, and that she jumped to conclusions and just needed some reassurance to look a little deeper into the box.

The second lesson is that I should now make certain that when I pack something extra as a free gift, it should be unpacked and seen last, not first, so that the buyer doesn't experience unnecessary stress and think I messed up their order. It happened once before that a buyer found their free gift in the package and thought I'd sent them part of someone else's order without checking to see that the Packing Slip said it was theirs as a gift.

I thought I'd share that. It has worked out fine but my knee-jerk reaction would have seen me make a real a jerk of myself in the situation. Calmer heads prevail.

photosalp · ‎04-25-2016

Or mark it as a free gift if you can. I do that sometimes (send a gift), when I'm in a really good mood.

zee-chan · ‎04-26-2016

I always empty out the whole box / envelope when I buy things online and I'm surprised that not everyone does it...

when i I send free gifts they are usually small (only adds a few grams to total weight) so so far no one missed the actual item yet... LOL

momcqueen · ‎04-26-2016

I've enclosed hundreds of free gifts over the years ( the nature of which always depends on what volume and weight I have left to work with once the meat and bones of the order is packed) and always mention the inclusion on the enclosed packing slip to avoid confusion.

My initial reaction to the 'full refund request' added to my SNAD Returns Request was not to assume that my buyer hadn't emptied their box completely. That's never happened before but I could see that if a buyer has had a string of recent bad luck with their orders, they might assume the worst from the start.

Reaction to the free gift has, until now, been overwhelmingly positive so this was a bit unusual.

pocomocomputing · ‎04-26-2016

I had an item I sold years ago that had "parts". It was an old Caiso 256k digital organizer. I had the unit itself, the manuals, a small cable and something else. I packaged the item in the box with each piece in separate large plastic bags for water protection and labelled each bag 1 through 4. On top on the packed contents I put my packing slip with a big "read me" and a hand written list of 1 to 4 checklist of each bag and contents.

LOL, the buyer receives the item messages me in a panic that they were missing pieces. I replied that all was there and check the box. They found the items but when unpacking the box did not see the other 3 items. They only saw the main unit which was larger. I was very careful and layered everything in order of the handwritten checklist.

I thought I had made a simple system for the contents. But this person was not careful and did not read. Or perhaps they opened the box upside down and never saw the list.

I have used this checklist method for other orders and never had an issue. But any method a seller can think of and use is not foolproof obviously. Nothing is foolproof in life, not just eBay. Lots of ways something can go wrong.

ricarmic · ‎04-28-2016

I enclose my lots in plastic. Oftentimes, I will put 2 or 3 lots in the same plastic bag.

I have had people count the bags (without opening them) and contact me about missing items.

I have sometimes begun writing on the outside of the bag "3 lots inside".

If I include a freebie I write "BONUS" in sharpie on the envelope or whatever it is in so it is clear....

momcqueen · ‎04-28-2016

That's a good idea. I'm thinking about ordering stickers for the blister cards that say, 'FREE GIFT WITH PURCHASE compliments of McQueen and Mo Mater. The collector in me can't bring myself to permanently mark the package with a Sharpie.

sylviebee · ‎04-28-2016

I've been adding freebies because I'm downsizing and some things are not worth listing but too nice to toss out. I figure I might as well give those items to customers.

I used to get phone calls or emails regularly nforming me that I sent an extra item by mistake. One buyer even mailed the freebie back to me. Now I always label the freebies "gift."