eBay

winner188 · ‎10-08-2017

Recently switched some items to free shipping.

Sold an item with Free Shipping

Buyer wants to return an item because he admitted he made a mistake when he purchased it.

I agreed to the return and buyer pays return shipping with no problem

- Item sold for $110.00 with free shipping

- Actually shipping cost I paid to ship item $41.00.

After $110.00 refund to buyer I have a loss of $41.00.

HOW Can I Avoid this happening again in the future while still offering free shipping?

rose-dee · ‎10-08-2017

@winner188 wrote:

HOW Can I Avoid this happening again in the future while still offering free shipping?

Well I don't know that you can avoid some sort of loss in this situation, but you can do a few things that might help to mitigate your actual loss.

First, I would say that if your shipping is costing $41 on a $110 item, I'd increase the item price, or try to decrease the shipping somehow, or a combination of both. For one thing, the proportion of item price to shipping is quite high. I'd be inclined to list the item at, say, $130 to absorb some of the shipping. If it's a very desirable or unusual item that you know will get buyers' interest, you could roll most of the shipping into the listed price.

Depending on weight, size, and destination, you may also be able to use a lower shipping service to save money whenever you're offering free shipping. For example, using Tracked Packet rather than Expedited to the U.S. or overseas, or Small Packet rather than Tracked Packet (and take your chances with late delivery, which I find is extremely rare with Small Packet).

If this was sent within Canada and it was a large/heavy item, you may be pretty much stuck with parcel rates. Often Expedited isn't much more expensive than regular parcel anyway. In that case, increasing the item price by, say $15 or $20 would at least prevent some of your loss.

Then there is the well-known and much-touted "Cookie Jar Insurance" approach. Since I assume returns are relatively rare for you, add a dollar or two to every price you list in order to self-insure and cover such eventual losses.

winner188 · ‎10-08-2017

Thanks, I'll start right away with Cookie Jar Insurance.

momcqueen · ‎10-08-2017

Add a 20 per cent restocking fee to Remorse Returns where free domestic shipping is your postage option. It will mitigate some of the loss to postage that you are obligated to refund when an item that sold with free shipping is returned.

reallynicestamps · ‎10-08-2017

FWIW- as a strong believer in Cookie Jar Insurance and in Free Shipping, I also am a strong believer in only using FS when letter/light parcel rates would apply.

I do sell some items (mostly multiple postage lots) that have high value with Free Shipping and use relatively expensive tracked services, but I also have a healthy profit margin on those and pay for the labels with discounted mint postage. (One of the clerks at the Post Office sighs deeply when I turn up in line.)

But what it comes down to is spreading the pain over all your sales in the month/year and not fixating on the one that cost you.

ricarmic · ‎10-08-2017

I'm a free shipping believer as well.

I ship everything up to bankers boxes full of stuff free shipping to North American addresses.

I am fortunate that I very very rarely get anything sent back.

I am also a believer in cookie jar insurance.

I've always had more than enough in the CJI to cover any lost items as well as returns costs (so far).

rose-dee · ‎10-09-2017

FWIW, although as mentioned as above a re-stocking fee is permitted by eBay, I'm not a proponent, mainly for marketing reasons.

First, your re-stocking fee will appear in the shipping section and may deter a lot of buyers who don't understand that it will only be applied in a remorse situation. Your listings with re-stocking fees would be competing against a whole lot of sellers who don't charge such fees. Which will buyers choose if there's an option? What's the likely proportion of buyers who might be turned off by seeing such fees as opposed to your actual need to use them (i.e. how often do you experience remorse returns)?

Second, generally speaking customers dislike the optics of "extra charges", punitive charges, or add-on fees, especially those that appear gratuitous, which is what a re-stocking fee looks like to prospective buyers. It seems to me there's little point in offering free shipping if a buyer sees in the listing itself that you're going to claw back some of that cost should he/she wish to return the item, whether the return is justified or not.

Third, if you ever want that buyer back again, being forced to pay a re-stocking fee on top of return shipping in order to get a refund will probably guarantee that person will never return -- and they'll also probably tell friends and family to avoid you (or avoid eBay altogether). Some will say they don't want a buyer who returns an item for buyer's remorse -- block them! However my attitude is that some people really do make mistakes in purchasing at a distance. At least this buyer was honest enough to admit their error. It seems to me that a re-stocking fee in such an instance is tantamount to punishment for honesty. He/she could have found (or created) damage, and filed a SNAD claim instead.

Lastly, eBay is pushing toward "free returns" (i.e. seller pays return shipping for unwanted purchases). This may take a while to be introduced in Canada, but buyers are going to start getting used to the idea, and again, competition is the issue. In fact, buyers are already getting free returns of online purchases from some major retailers.

It's up to you of course, but overall I think Cookie Jar insurance and managing shipping costs in other ways is wiser than tacking on re-stocking fees. I must tell you that personally I don't buy from any seller who displays a re-stocking fee, and I'm sure there are a lot of other eBay buyers who feel the same way.

winner188 · ‎10-09-2017

Great advice, THANKS

lady.stark · ‎10-13-2017

@rose-dee wrote:
However my attitude is that some people really do make mistakes in purchasing at a distance. At least this buyer was honest enough to admit their error.

The thing is... I've done these kind of mistakes in the past where I purchased an item that I already had in my collection (like pictures), but didn't remember. In those instances, I never - ever - asked for a return. This was my fault, not the seller's. I should have checked my binders before purchasing. So... I really don't understand buyers who are doing this...

rose-dee · ‎10-14-2017

@lady.stark wrote:
The thing is... I've done these kind of mistakes in the past where I purchased an item that I already had in my collection (like pictures), but didn't remember. In those instances, I never - ever - asked for a return. This was my fault, not the seller's. I should have checked my binders before purchasing. So... I really don't understand buyers who are doing this...

I don't think the OP specifically said the buyer was returning the item because it was a duplicate, just that he "made a mistake", whatever that means. He may have chosen the wrong item entirely, wrong price, wrong size, wrong seller, almost anything.

Although I'm not completely excusing inattentive buyers, and realize that remorse returns aren't pleasant for sellers, if the buyer is willing to be honest about his/her mistake, and pay return shipping, the fact that the seller may lose money as a result of offering free shipping isn't the buyer's fault. It's something a seller can and should predict and account for.

EBay sellers tend to think of remorse returns as a sort of punishable offence, and unlike the vast majority of retailers, eBay hasn't helped in that perception in previous years. After all, purchasing online does have its risks for the buyer too. Sometimes the item may have been properly described and photographed, but isn't quite what you want when you see it in reality. Or you just make a stupid mistake and buy the wrong thing. Retail stores have gotten the buying public used to the idea of "no questions asked" money-back returns. That's what eBay is competing with.

I don't really have a problem with people returning items bought online because they've decided they don't like or want them once received -- as long as they're honest about it. What I do have a problem with are buyers who think up (or create) issues of damage, etc. in order to get both a refund and a paid return.