New Seller, Rookie Mistake

[sirsidsells]

Hello everyone. I do a bit of reselling on my eBay store. I started up 3-4 months ago. The first month or two I really had a good routine going, and did about $1,500 in sales and built up to 66 feedback (100%)! The next two months I didn’t put as much effort into the store and let it drag. About two weeks ago I was packing up a few orders to send out. Then a week goes by until one of the buyers messages me. They say stuff along the lines of, hello I believe I received the wrong item. I was going to open up a dispute on eBay and then I saw you also sold what you sent me. If there’s anyway to fix this let me know”

okay awesome, I accidentally mixed up the two packing slips and put them on the wrong orders!  Wow, rookie mistake but it happened. I message him telling him I’ll definitely work with him and see what I can do. I message the second buyer who hasn’t contacted me yet. I tell him the situation and that he would be receiving a $1 basketball card that was mixed up with the keychain he had purchased! I tell him to let me know as soon as he has any updates! The weekend goes by and when I wake up on Monday I see a dispute opened. The second buyer opened up a dispute claiming he never received the keychain. (This keychain is with the first buyer) I ask him why did he open up a dispute when I was trying to work this out with him before hand. I told him I would need the card back to I can send him the correct order (keep in mind someone had already purchased this or I would let him keep it and just send the keychain free of charge). Well he then goes and tells me how I am one of the most unprofessional sellers he’s ever dealt with in his 25 years of experience on eBay. Now I can admit where I am in the wrong. First, he never got what he purchased. Second, now he’s getting told that he “needs” to send the card back and what if he never received the card, I would essentially be calling him a liar. I understand no one would want to get called a liar, and how that could anger someone. He typed very long messages how this was my fault and how I shouldn’t sell on eBay anymore. Now I don’t know about you guys, but that message really hurt me. I blocked the buyer, and got another message on the dispute page saying how eBay should ban me, blah blah blah, he wants a refund and to never talk to me again. So now I have until Thursday to send him his refund otherwise eBay will play its role. I will obviously continue to sell, and give him his refund owed. And I will use this experience to better my store and make sure nothing gets incorrectly sent again. Has anyone else made this mistake, and if so how did you find a resolution. I am certain this buyer will leave a negative feedback, but at least I have a week time to sell more items and try to bury it as it’s only 1. 

[44012]

If this were me, I would refund and forget about getting anything back. You have blocked. Don't respond to messages. Just make the buyer whole and learn from the error. 

I have not made this mistake but have made others. Making the buyer whole is the most important thing.

[12345jamesstamps]

Mixing up orders do happen and this is what I do....including an item a seller can't find to ship out.

I tell buyer keep what was sent. If item is returned I will mail it to the correct buyer for free. That never happens.

I also send buyer a higher priced item for free and it's usually OK with them. That works well. Of course I email them first with the situation. I always refund buyer for a mistake immediately without questions.

I never ask a buyer to return my mistake...it's considered a freebie.

These buyers never leave feedback to me. Or even a thank you.

At least I save my feedback and no demerits from eBay.

You have to own up to your mistakes at a cost where you do lose some money.

Buyers do not have the time to return something...buyers don't work for you.

I can see where the buyer got mad and said some not very nice things.

I never block a buyer when it was my mistake. That's a no-no in my life.

[sirsidsells]

Okay thanks for your advice, I really do appreciate you taking the time to respond. I understand frustration from the buyer. This was my mistake with packing so I have no problem with them leaving a negative review as it justified. The first buyer has no problem with not receiving his $1 card and just receiving a full refund. He even offered positive feedback! 

[4pawsup*]

We all make mistakes.I have not made yours but enough to learn from them.

44012 gave you good advice refund and forget getting the card back and do not contact them again. Some people are just angry you cannot change them.Refund the card buyer as well and see if you have another card they would like. I would send them that for the trouble if your selling it for a $1 anyway.

[sirsidsells]

Okay this is very wise, thank you. The keychain he originally purchased is getting send back to me by the other buyer. When it gets send back I will take your advice. I will send him his keychain free of charge and include a higher priced item also. I hope that this will at least provide a little bit of resolution for him. I will also send a handful of basketball cards to the first buyer who never received his card free of charge as he is going out of his way to send back the keychain. Thank you 

[sirsidsells]

I will see if I can send them other cards on my shop, free of charge. This is good advice and offers a win for the buyer as well

[sirsidsells]

So after going through all your great feedback, I realize this is probably what I should have done originally. I should have offered the keychain buyer the card that got mis-shipped to him for free, no need to return. I should’ve then told him I will get the keychain he bought sent to him free of charge in a few weeks time. Then I could’ve offered the basketball card buyer a full refund, money back for sending the package, and a small credit on my store to get another card or two free of charge. This would have probably been the best solution from the start, but I had not thought of this. Thank you for the great advice guys