@weldtronics wrote:Hi yo!
So Today I saw that I got 2 defects from a buyers, These buyers created a return request and wanted to return the item, I told them: "No problem, return the item to me and I will refund you"
IDK how but shipment never arrived and returned to the buyer, the buyers claimed to eBay and eBay decided to fully refund them, So now, these buyers got my items and the money, and the only thing I got is a defect
I'm sorry this had to happen, but if the customer opens a Return Request, you are required to complete it. That completion depends on the type of return it is (what they claimed when they opened the request) and what options are available to you.
If they opened a SNAD (Significantly Not As Described, altho the 'significantly' can sometimes be replaced with 'senseless' and the acronym still works), you have three functiononal options: 1) Accept return, sending customer return postage label, and sending full refund when it's received by you. 2) Refund the customer in full, no return required. and 3) Offer partial refund, buyer will keep the item.
Option 1 is what you have to do if you want the product returned. Option two is what you would use if you just wanted to cut your losses -- like a $12 sale of a $2 item with $4 postage and eBay fees. Adding another $4 return shipping to the total means you will never be able to recover enough to just break even. Option 3 works when all the customer wants is money and has no intention of returning anything.
Unless you can communicate with the buyer and they agree that they will keep the item and close the return (it does happen), you will be required to use one of the above options to close the request without a defect.
If the buyer opened a Changed Mind return request, you will also have an option to decline the return. The buyer will not be able to open another, but they will be able to file a chargeback with their financial institution, and if you challenge and lose, they keep the item and get a full refund... and you pay a fee ($30??) for the privilege! Now, if they file a chargeback claiming they didn't make the charge, eBay will send the financial institution the tracking information -- IF you posted the tracking number to the Return Request before doing anything else. Yeah - eBay has it already, but apparently the Return system doesn't talk to the rest of eBay and so you have to enter it.
Your defects came about because you did not send them the return postage label. When the buyer escalates, eBay sees that you didn't provide postage as required, and they will send the customer postage from your account, and then track the label and refund the customer, in full, when the package is scanned as delivered. If you had sent the label, the burden is now on the customer to actually return the product, using that label, and then you get 2-3days after receipt to refund, again in full. If you supplied the return label and they didn't ship back, or it was returned to them (USPS is still really mucked up and getting worse), then eBay closes the return in your favor, they get no refund, and you get no defect. But they get like 21 days to actually mail the product back... 😞
While this seems like eBay is catering to the customer, and in some respects they are, the Returns process is actually designed that way to stay in sync with FTC consumer protections that are legally actionable (eBay could be sued). Way back when mail order first started (defined by the FTC as any item ordered by the customer and delivered by common carrier - effectively any carrier other than company truck), there were a lot of rip-offs -- shady operators shipping items that didn't work, weren't nearly as good as they looked in the pictures/drawings, or just didn't ship at all. The FTC rule is that, if the customer claims the item was damaged or not as it was described, the seller must make the customer 'whole' by either reshipping a new product or refunding the customer's payment.
So today, buyers can order with ease, have protections from their credit card company, and have learned they can abuse online venues and their sellers by simply lying, claiming damage that isn't there, and the seller has to do something -- either give them a refund or ship them another (a 50% refund, or 2-for-1 deal). eBay's added a bit of protection -- if you provide the label and they don't ship, they lose. If you are top-rated, offer seller-funded free returns up to 30 days, you can withhold up to 50% of the refund to compensate for loss of value if the product is returned other than as it was sent -- sealed box is returned opened, product was new and now clearly has been used, new with tags where the tags are cut off. But only if the customer does a Changed Mind type return - Not As Described voids the withholding option.
It's complicated until you figure it out, then it's just annoying and irritating and time-consuming.
My process for returns is: 1) post the tracking data to the Request. Always. 2) Thank the customer for contacting us (setting a pleasant tone). 3) if they claim some aspect doesn't work, ask them for more details and perhaps the issue can be worked out together (had this work several times, the most recent being a customer who forgot to install batteries...). If they Changed Mind, step 3 becomes sending a stock message explaining our Return-For-Refund policy -- buyer pays shipping back, we refund less original shipping and handling fee. If they cuss, yell, call names, or are otherwise abusive -- I simply report them to eBay and then respond to their message, not their emotion. This keeps me in eBay's good graces and makes the customer look bad.
Sometimes you can work things out and the customer is happy. Sometimes the customer doesn't want to pay return postage, doesn't want to return the purchase, and is simply fishing for some level of refund 'for their troubles'. Sometimes they are quite polite and decent to work with (those I will waive or reduce the handling fee). Sometimes they need a whole lotta liquid soap to clean all that foulness out of their mouth -- but that's eBay's job (you just report message).
Your defects were for not sending postage. Lesson learned? I hope so -- there are far more decent, honest buyers than their are disruptive, abusive buyers. It just doesn't feel like it when you get the later and not the former.
Hang in there - it does get easier. I've been at this for a very long time, even before eBay or the Internet (using BBS message boards and mailed checks). When you reach the point where you think you've got it down pat... a customer will come along to shatter that illusion for you. 🙂
Welcome to the circus!!
-Bob.
