Thoughts on partial refunds?

[dev93]

Hi all,

I just offered a buyer a full refund once I receive the item. They countered with a 40% refund. To be clear it's not a lot of money but after all is said and done I'll make a dollar.

I've never had this before on the selling end. Is there a general philosophy on how to deal with this? Any thoughts are appreciated.

Best,

Devin

[vintagecraze50]

I NEVER offer a partial on here unless I know I have made an error. If you are getting a customer blaming you and accusing you of something not right that you know could not be possibly true it;s up to you but generally I do not feed into this behavior on here. They either want it or they don’t.

[caldreamer]

Personally, I never give "partial refunds" as I don't want to encourage this trend.

[kensgiftshop]

Would you come out better giving the partial refund or having to give a full refund and paying return shipping?

[inhawaii]

Some sellers flat out refuse to give a partial refund.

They demand the item be returned for a full refund.

I will give a partial refund IF it works to my benefit.

Everything is on a case by case basis.

[house*of*paws]

Hi @dev93 

Are you otherwise responsible for providing a prepaid shipping label for the return?  

It sounds like the buyer is claiming the item is ‘not as described’ if they are requesting a partial refund.  Did they open a return request?  If yes, then provide the free label.

[sextons-sweet-deals]

for the buyer to counter a partial just means they really want to keep it but working you for a partial refund. 

Did you review the buyers complete profile / feedback?

What was their issue / complaint? 

It's up to you. 

[a_c_green]

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@dev93 wrote:

Hi all,

I just offered a buyer a full refund once I receive the item. They countered with a 40% refund.

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So basically he does want the item; he just doesn't want to pay you your asking price for it.

The time for haggling (if you want to haggle) was before he bought it, not after. I would tell him, "I'm sorry that you're not satisfied. You can return it for a full refund." Leave it at that.

[dev93]

It would be a wash on this one. It's more about a general best practice for selling.

[dev93]

They want to keep it and get a discount. Yes, the error, while small, was definitely on me. Again, I thinking for the future rather than just this transaction. I'll likely give them the refund and be done with it.

[reallynicestamps]

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

 and

If you could refund 40% and still make a profit, you can afford to send the Return Shipping Label, refund and resell.

[adkhighker]

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@inhawaii wrote:

Some sellers flat out refuse to give a partial refund.

They demand the item be returned for a full refund.

I will give a partial refund IF it works to my benefit.

Everything is on a case by case basis.

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I think that's a great answer. It's really up to the seller to decide when a partial refund would be in their best interest and when one would not.  My only experience that I can remember when someone asked for a partial refund was a long time ago when I sold a gold coin that sold for well over a thousand dollars at my auction.  I had been expecting between 750 and 950 for it. The buyer messaged me saying he was fairly certain that the coin had been polished probably a long time ago, and he said he would still love to keep the coin and asked if I would refund $100. As far as I could tell, I didn't think the coin had ever been polished, but I told him I would take his word for it and refunded him the hundred, rather than getting it back and hoping for anywhere near the same price again. He was happy  with the partial refund and I was still happy with what I ended up getting for it.  There are so many other times, though, from what I've read on this board when return for a full refund should be the way to go.  It's just that it should be on a "case by case basis," just like you said, inhawaii.

[a_c_green]

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@dev93 wrote:

They want to keep it and get a discount. Yes, the error, while small, was definitely on me.

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Oh, okay, then. If that's the case, you might want to kick back something as compensation.