Refund/Returns Advice

[bpl521_sell]

All:

Curious is it better as a seller of relatively low value items but with high postage costs to accept returns and refunds with "buyer pays". Of course  doesn't protect you from  INR or SNAD, but wonder if it makes it harder for a scammer to game the eBay system if they have to jump through  hoops to receive a  refund with a SNAD claim.

[reallynicestamps]

I'm a believer in making the complaining buyer return the product for a refund.

Within reason-- for example, if a glass bowl arrives in pieces, I would accept a photograph.

But I think it comes down to psychology.

A truly unhappy buyer doesn't want the item. She feels unhappy every time she sees it.

So she might be willing to accept Buyer Remorse and pay* for the return shipping.

But that is the honest, unhappy, but calm buyer.

Then there is the scammer, who will go directly to the SNAD, and that's where a suspicious seller, in my opinion, should be willing to eat* the return shipping cost and make the scammer work for the refund. Hoping to get at worst a saleable item back and no feedback .

And in between is the mostly honest buyer, with a truly unacceptable item, that might be Buyer Remorse, but not thrilled about paying for the return. And the seller will have to pay to get it back.

Basically, if it's good enough to keep, it's good enough to pay for.

If you don't want to pay for it, you have to return it to get any sort of refund.

The one question I have is whether what the seller gets back is still saleable-- perhaps not as NIB, but at least as NWOT or lightly used.

*But-- Cookie Jar Insurance covers this.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Have a recent customer that claims a 7.00 item with 12.00 postage arrived damaged. Made 3 requests for photo evidence. No response. Is it really worth returning a broken item for 12.00 in postage? Don't really think so. In the time since this return request was made have checked the feedback the buyer has left in other transactions. Not once have they left positive feedback. Calling Holmes!!

-Lotz

[pjcdn2005]

Buyers don’t have to jump through any more hoops with a snad claim than they do with a buyers remorse return.  Ebay doesnt  require that they send pictures or any proof that the item is Nad.

But I do think that it is better to have a buyer pays return policy rather than not allowing buyer remorse returns.  If someone really wants to return something, they are going to do so and having a no return policy makes it more likely they will file a nad.

[reallynicestamps]

It's not a question of 'have to'. It's 'instead of'. If the seller agrees that  photo evidence (and it could be put more gently than that) is acceptable, instead of the annoyance (for the buyer) and expense (for the seller) of a return, that's fine.

If the seller sends a return shipping label (and we can send USPS labels through Shippo now) and the buyer doesn't return the item, perhaps because he can't be bothered or perhaps because there is nothing wrong with the purchase, then the buyer loses the Claim and the seller eventually gets the cost of the return shipping label refunded.

I did just that a few months ago when a buyer wanted a partial refund on stamps that were sold as Hinged, because they were hinged. He didn't use the RSL and I got my cost refunded a good month later.

As sellers we have to remember that even if our stated policy is No Returns we can still demand a return before refunding.

The refund part we don't really have a choice about.

[bpl521_sell]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

I did just that a few months ago when a buyer wanted a partial refund on stamps that were sold as Hinged, because they were hinged. He didn't use the RSL and I got my cost refunded a good month later.

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I assume that is a Shippo refund not a eBay refund?. Label wasn't used so a refund was granted by Shippo?

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

I agree.  Make the buyer work for the refund.  Especially when you know it is a remorse return even though they lie about the reason.  Accept the refund but make them return the item first. I have told them to send it back with tracking. When I receive it back,  I refund the original price & original shipping but not the return shipping. So far that has worked but if you get a nasty person you may have to pay return shipping too.

Another thing that bothers me is when the buyer doesn't contact the seller first to work things out. They go directly to the INAD complaint & request a return. That raises red flags for me. Many buyers work the system knowing they can get away with being dishonest.  Whenerver I have had a problem with an item in the past, I have always gone to the seller first to see if we can work it out. Many times that is all that is needed without having to open a complaint.

[femmefan1946]

The shipping label was purchased through Shippo. It was a USPS label. So the refund came from USPS to my Shippo account.

The buyer lost the Dispute, because he did not return the item. I did not refund him.

EBay would not be involved in refunds for return shipping labels. They have nothing to do with that.

Buyers would get refunds on their entire payment, including shipping, and that would come through eBay from the seller.

[femmefan1946]

the buyer doesn't contact the seller first to work things out. They go directly to the INAD complaint

The wording on Contact the Seller is fuzzy.

I often tell buyers with INR problems to ignore that suggestion, because all too many scammers will draw out negotiations until the eBay deadline passes and the Dispute times out.

All the buyer needs in a Not Received is some indication that the item is in Canada, in my opinion.

So I tell them to ask for date of shipping, service used and tracking number. And really all the buyer wants is a response.

We sellers who don't track have to use other methods of protection. My own is Cookie Jar Insurance.

With NAD, a return (or as above photographic proof that the item is irrepairable) is the most basic requirement. 

If it's good enough to keep, it's good enough to pay for.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Recently, it seems like buyers are very quick to file INR or NAD's but very slow, if at all with follow up when you try to message them. With a bit of friendly communication, quite often these cases could be resolved without grief on both sides. 

-Lotz