customer wants to return item stating too late to give as a gift

[phinathome]

I sold an item on March 13, and shipped it out to Burnaby BC  V5H 4E4 Canada on 14.  On March 23, it shown custom clearance processing completed,  and delivered on March 24.  Today, March 26, customer want to return, claiming the item got there too late to give as a gift, therefore customer wants to return. 

There was never request to ship this item priority, or express.   In fact customer paid $7.90 before I got chance to even send the invoice.  PayPal had : "  Note to seller The buyer hasn't sent a note.".

How am I supposed to be responsible for customer not receive it in time to give as a gift?  I can't control the USPS shipping.  How is this my fault?  Does eBay has seller protection  as well as buyer's protection?

Does anyone have the same situation?  If so, what did you have to do?  Please give me suggestions, advice.  I have lost money on two packages that I shipped out and customers stated they didn't receive and PayPal just refund them without customer even contacting me.  Now this.  I appreciate anything you all can suggest.  Thank you

[dark_phoenix9273]

Buyers run this site now, your pretty much screwed cause eBay and Paypal will side with them completely.

[reallynicestamps]

Take a deep breath.

Tell the customer to return the item with confirmation of delivery for a refund of the selling price. The reason for permitting the return and refund is Buyer Changed Mind.

Don't panic.

The reason for the return is very very important here.

No it is not your fault. The buyer is a twit.

When the item is returned, and there is good reason to believe it won't because return shipping with Confirmation of Delivery is bloody expensive, refund the original asking price.

You get your selling fees back.

I'm not sure about feedback, but you won't get a Defect for Buyer Remorse.

And again, she may not return it when she finds out the cost of return.

If she doesn't use Confirmed Delivery, she would not be able to prove return of the item should she decide to take the problem to eBay. However, ethically, if she does return it, you should be refunding the purchase price.

We're in business here, and businesses take returns even from idiots.

Well, maybe I'm not a fancy gentleman like you, with your... very fine hat. But I do business. We're here for business.-- Captain Malcolm Reynolds

[reallynicestamps]

I notice you have very low shipping fees for your expensive jewellry.

Whether you charge in full for Confirmation of Delivery (and in your price range you should be using Signature Confirmation) or whether you add the cost of Confirmed Delivery to the asking price and offer 'free' shipping -- which never is-- you should have been able to appeal those Claim by giving eBay or Paypal the tracking number.

I also find that telling my customer on shipment that a tracked service has been used, the date of the shipment and the tracking number are useful to prevent false claims of non-delivery. I put that information into my feedback for the buyer, to make the information even more public.

On cheaper items, you could use Cookie Jar Insurance, but on jewellry, something more public is necessary.

[dark_phoenix9273]

Why not be honest with him?  Theres a big chance the paypal will do what it always does and side with the Buyer.  He should check his paypal account and see if the item is even covered for seller protection because it's 50/50 as to whether or not it is.

[pjcdn2005]

I realize that when things like that happen it is frustrating but you do have a 14 day return policy which means you accept returns for any reason. Do not refund until you receive the item back.

[pjcdn2005]

The buyer returns the item, the seller refunds. This shouldn't involve paypal or ebay at all.

[jersey..authentix]

You have to go with the punches. There is always going to be the odd difficult transaction, but the level of difficulty can be raised or lowered in how you react.

You have had some good responses to how you should proceed and some responses not worth mentioning, so Im not going to add one. Just remember that for every one lousy customers, there are 100,s that are better.

[maxwar82]

Did the customer send a return request or just contacted you via message?

[phinathome]

Sorry for taken too long to answer. I am still having problem finding it after I close the discussion board. I use to be able to change the shipping with signature charge, but my computer, after it crashed over a year ago, I can't even change the color on the listing. Sometimes it won't even record my PayPal and I have to go back to correct it. Other times, it won't keep my international shipping, and would say ship to Harrisburg, PA. It's crazy. Each listing sometimes I have to correct several times before it orks. Also, somehow I got switched to Canada side, so I had to change from Canada currentcy to the US, and the shipping also screwed up as well. I still try to figure it out. I went to my account, and it shown my address correct, so I don't know what's going on. Thanks.

[phinathome]

Thanks, I agree!

[phinathome]

I have no problem with return as I did so in the past. The problem I have is reasoning. They could say "change mind" for example, but to claim it arrived too late to give as a gift, or item not matching description when you know you shipped the same day or the next day and customer never ask to have you ship express and this is international. Then some would want you to agree so they don't have to pay for shipping it back when they claimed item not matching description. Wouldn't that get you to be counted agaisn't as listed the item that is not matching the actual item? I asked customer to please contact me for return, because I din't think PayPal or eBay needs to be involved. They should only be contacted if sellers not sooperative with customers, that's my opinion. Instead, they would claimed it through eBay and made me feel like I did something wrong.

[phinathome]

Thanks for all the advice I get. I really appreciated.