Combined shipping, would you refund $1.00

[musicyouneed]

I have a person who purchased 2 CD's from me and I am able to get them into one envelope.  I list on .com and .ca and this person bought 1 from each site.  The savings is about $1.00 putting it into one envelope.  They paid about $7.00 shipping.  My costs will be about $6.00 including in the large bubble envelope.

I had refunded another buyer last week and he told me he didn't care about the $1.00. 

What are your feelings?  WWYD?   

[ricarmic]

If it is within a couple dollars, I don't bother to refund. (think of it as insurance/handling charge, the buyer is unlikely to complain as they don't know your costs aside from the postage).

I have never, so far, had anyone complain. of course now that I've said this, I'm sure I'll have a neutral tomorrow about one!!!

[retroman_studios]

Don't worry about it. You could always tell them if they buy more CD you can give a discount on future orders if they are a regular customer.

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

I wouldn't worry about a couple of dollars. I never charge my buyers the exact shipping cost. I always add on a couple of dollars to cover handling which includes my time, gas, supplies, cookie jar insurance ect.  Shipping within Canada is bit different for me. I usually charge close to the exact shipping cost but sometimes I end up paying out of my pocket to places back east.

[momcqueen]

Before I had my calculated shipping figured out, I’d refund any over-charge. Like 16 cents too much, I’d refund. I started to feel like it made me look, well, nuts. Plus, I worried all these refunds — like a refund of one dollar or three dollars on 50 per cent of my sales — was affecting my credibility in the eyes of eBay and PayPal because it appeared that I didn’t know what I was doing. Plus, it made my accounting more difficult.

So I switched to calculated shipping and set it up to undercharge postage to the buyer so that I subsidize each order a little. I moved that $2 subsidy to the item price. On the rare occasion there’s a surplus on the shipping amount, I add it to the ‘insurance’ fund which helps to offset liabilities and/or losses on orders of the future.

[kawartha-ephemera]

The buyer you refunded last week said they didn't care about the $1.00 refund ... but I bet she or he will remember for quite some time that you did so. 

Do your CDs routinely ship via Lettermail? If so, then I would issue the refund every time if it were me. Heavier bulkier items that ship by parcel are a little different situation. I would not refund on those unless there were a much larger saving.

The flat shipping discount rules function very well and eliminate a lot of these hassles. Having CDs listed on both sites definitely throws a monkey wrench in those works though.

Are there a few music genres that don't have much cross-over appeal that you could place on .com and keep the rest on .ca or vice-versa? Sort of separate the buyers into two streams to try and cut down on multi-item orders where the shipping discount rules don't work. 

[musicyouneed]

Thanks for your responses.

The buyer you refunded last week said they didn't care about the $1.00 refund ... but I bet she or he will remember for quite some time that you did so.   

I hope so, I get a lot of repeat buyers and that $1.00 refund can sometimes turn into that buyer into another repeat buyer.  If it was less than $1.00, I wouldn't worry too much about it.  I try to be a fair seller and how would I feel if a seller refunded me $1.00.

Do your CDs routinely ship via Lettermail? If so, then I would issue the refund every time if it were me. Heavier bulkier items that ship by parcel are a little different situation. I would not refund on those unless there were a much larger saving.

Yes I ship the CD's lettermail and I do have it set up if the Cdn buyer purchases 2 on .ca that they will get the combined shipping rate as long as they pay for it together.  They would be paying $6.25 for the combined shipping.    I can offer that as I am only paying the 30 cent paypal fee only once, one envelope, although I have to buy a special one and it cost double of a single envelope, has to meet certain dimensions.  

The flat shipping discount rules function very well and eliminate a lot of these hassles. Having CDs listed on both sites definitely throws a monkey wrench in those works though.

That's true and listing in 2 currencies is another hassle.  I do have flat shipping discount set up. 

Are there a few music genres that don't have much cross-over appeal that you could place on .com and keep the rest on .ca or vice-versa? Sort of separate the buyers into two streams to try and cut down on multi-item orders where the shipping discount rules don't work. 

70% of my buyers are from the US and I find a lot of them hesitate in buying on .ca.  They mostly purchase what I have listed on .com.  Canadian buyers buy on whatever site they find what they are looking for.  My advantage with them over the US sellers is that I can ship oversize letter mail for a little over $3.

I did have only compilations, time life, Christmas and unusual CD's listed on .com but needed to list more on .com than .ca.  I now list more on .ca as I am running out of store free listings.  

I am still on the fence about the $1.00.  I will think about it and any other advice would be great. 

[momcqueen]

If you are serious about making an educated decision on this subject, I’d strongly encourage you to call eBay (and then PayPal) to determine what impact making multiple partial refunds monthly has on your seller standing. I suspect it’s entirely possible that eBay view that as an orange flag, a sign that a seller might be in some trouble and is issuing refunds not to set-right shipping but to bribe unhappy customers.

[kawartha-ephemera]

These small shipping refunds are very commonly issued. Provided they involve only a portion of the shipping charges I doubt they concern eBay. I personally have never seen any indication that they take any notice of them. Also the sales records update within minutes of issuance so they must feel they are aboveboard ... which they are. 

[femmefan1946]

I'd refund, but my refund would allow for any fees I paid on the transaction.

Remember you paid 30 cents + 2.9% on each of those payments.

If it gets under a dollar, I wouldn't bother, and the buyer would probably never notice*.

But everyone likes a refund and you may be all the more memorable because of it.

*If he did, I'd refund with an apology and probably BBL him. Sheesh.

[musicyouneed]

I have decided to refund the $1.00.  It is not going to make me poorer and it may create a repeat buyer for me or at least a positive experience for the buyer.  

What made me decide that is:

I was wrapping up another couple of CD's for another buyer tonight.  This buyer had previously purchased 4 CD's from me in June and before that in May.   Their feedback to me was glowing. 

I think that in this day and age, you have to treat your buyers like gold hoping that they will remember you when they want to buy more CD's.  Without those buyers I would not have any sales. 

[hlmacdon]

Within reason (every seller will have a different threshold that makes sense), yes. Buyers are pretty much trained to expect it and I consider it a mark of good customer service.  It's a small thing but contributes to customer retention. It can be annoying when you get a finger jabber that orders 10 things and checks out individually.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

I'm too lazy to refund a couple dollars (everything extra goes into cookie jar, which I used towards INRs and upgrading tracking as needed), and since I offer "free" shipping anyway there is no "excessive" shipping for me to refund my buyers... usually those that buy more than a couple books will get a freebie (similar book) from me. If it's international buyer who bought multiples and requested combined invoice then I just invoice them accordingly.

[momcqueen]

Or... switching to Calculated Shipping eliminates the need to decide whether to refund a dollar or not. Proper postage amounts are calculated by weight and volume.

[reallynicestamps]

But those of us who use Letter rates can't use Calculated (until the multiples package is over 2cm thick or 500 grams) and are buying either stamps or labels at the PO counter.

The only discounts we have available are on purchasing mint stamps here on eBay. 

And our customers would be unaware of how much/little we paid for those.

[momcqueen]

You’re correct, of course. I compensate for that by adding the peanuts paid for lettermail to the item price and call it Free Shipping.

[esclyons]

less than 2$ i never refund unless, the buyer requests it after the fact..  i lose too much, with ebay and paypal fees taking 10% of my shipping fees, so when i charge 16$ i lose almost 2$, on the fees, so when it works in my favor i consider it put into the pot for when i lose, which is more often than when i win..  

[heartovermind]

I sent a refund recently, not a dollar but more, then noticed paypal gave me back some of the fees. Does it not do that for you?

[momcqueen]

Paypal refunds some of the fees but not the original 30 cents per transaction. 

This is the reason I suspect that multiple partial refunds on the part of a seller done regularly might endanger a seller's standing with paypal. It would take a call to the right person to know for certain.