Suggestion/comments on situation

[canadaspatchking]

Hello,

We don't normally go looking for suggestions from fellow eBay sellers but sometimes unique situations arise on eBay that outside "counsel" can't help with.

So we had a US buyer win an item at auction, bought and paid for the item, and we shipped next business day as per usual. A few days ago we get a message through the eBay system telling us that the item has arrived _but_ the styling is too colourful for her "friends" liking and they would like to return it, even mentioning they understand they would have to pay for the postage to send it back.

We replied back that our pictures speak for themselves and the styling of item, but, that we also had 1 style left that wasn't as "colourful" and that we would happily send out this exchange/replacement as soon as the other item was received by us.

Get a new e-mail this morning indicating they would like the other style of lanyard _but_ they found the auction price had gone too high on the original item (they bid on 2 different auctions with the same design of item). She says it's too high because we now have more of these items in-stock at a Buy-It-Now price rather than auction and the price is lower than many of the auctions were bought it (we don't usually run auctions but were low in supply of these items a few weeks ago when they were hot items).

Basically, she has changed her story as to why she wants to return the item back to us from the styling to the auction price was too high.

We believe we have a few options.

1) Stand-firm and say that the exchange/replacement was offered for a less "colourful" design to compromise on the original reason for a return. We aren't worried about a negative, it's just part of doing business on eBay.

or, 2) Insist that if a return is sent for a refund that it be sent with Delivery Confirmation (thinking that she may not realize how much that is going to cost her to send it back from the US to Canada with DC attached)

So, suggestions are needed if you think any other options are available. It's obvious they are having bidders remorse and are trying to find any excuse to return an item.

Thanks in advance.

[pierrelebel]

Different sellers have different policies.

In my case, I always invite the buyer to return the unwanted item (regardless of the reason or excuse) and advise a full refund will be provided upon receipt. I also add the name to the blocked list.

I never ever offer or accept a request for partial refund for a lower price, regardless of the nature of the problem.

[montrealmaps]

I have "no question" policy. I gladly refund the money, shipping fee included, even before I get the item back. Such losses are included in my business calculation. But I must honestly say, that I got two returns since 2002 😉 Both buyer's explanations were so stupid, that I wondered, whay people even bother to write such things 😉

I see that you sell a lot, so simply close this case as soon as possible, forget about it and go forward with your business! Good luck! 😉

[surplusdealdude]

I don't think this is worth making an enemy over and I think that's what you're going to do if you're hard-nosed about this.

The buyer has offered to pay for return shipping and I think that shows good faith.

You may not make money on this sale, but I'd agree to her conditions.

[recped]

Take the return, if the buyer wants a refund rather than replacement that's fine.

I never get into the details of what the refund will be (shipping included or not). When you get the item back and confirm it's ok then issue a refund for the original amount less shipping.

If the buyer isn't happy with that you can go from there but at that point YOU hold all the cards.

"I never get into the details of what the refund will be" This should probably be "I WOULD never" because I have never had a buyer want to return an item other than when I have made a mistake.

[canadaspatchking]

Thanks for the replies. As we don't normally use auctions as a means to sell items it does sting a little bit when a buyer decides, after receiving the item, that they thought they paid too much for it, especially after bidding on 2 of the same items.

Anyway, the advice is appreciated even though it's probably what we didn't want to read/hear as we feel they were not being truthful with their first request for a refund because of "styling" and then mention price on the second reply.

But as some have already said if they are willing to send it back to us at their expense and they have stated they realize that the refund will only be for the item and not our shipping charges then we'll just leave it at that. Perhaps if they realize that they should send it back with DC confirmation that they may realize it isn't worth the effort as they will probably sink at least $10USD ++ (including the original shipping charged) just to send back an item. But apparently this is logically, so go figure!

They have already been added to our blocked bidder list.

Thanks again.