Buyer said item was broken, offered return, still angry?

[gingergottin]

I sold an item on another of my accounts two weeks ago, I packaged it up and shipped it.  When it arrived to the buyer a few days later she emailed me to let me know a couple arrived with the lids broken (it was a lot of shampoos & conditioners).  I emailed her right back, apologized and told her I would accept a return of the items for a full refund; she just had to file a return, say it was not as describe and the return shipping would be on me.

Well, I never received the return and never heard back from her.  Today I get a message from her saying the product was still usable despite how horrible the bottles were broken and "thanks for your unconcern."  Should I have followed up with her about the return?  I don't know why she is upset.  She never elaborated about how the lids were broken, and I know stuff can get destroyed in the mail so I'm extra careful when packaging items but I know stuff happens.  Did she want me to send her a return envelope?  She never requested that (I would have done it if asked since it wasn't her fault) and never even responded to my message about returning the items for a refund.

In the past when someone has requested a return they usually return the item - but I don't get a lot of returns and when I do it's never for a broken item (usually it's cause something doesn't fit, they don't like it, etc).  I wasn't sure if I needed to do more in this case.

[gingergottin]

I DID apologize first.  Twice.  Then I told her I would accept a return and of course I would pay for the return shipping.  Then I apologized again.  That is why I was perplexed when I received her reply.

[retrose1]

Some buyers will just come back with an angry reply, because they are entitled monsters and are used to their mommy and daddy dropping everything and making everything better whenever they threw a fit.

And there are some scammers that are aware that if they pull that style of scam, it will work if they have profiled correctly.  There are many types of scams and some of them not so obvious.

My response to just about every buyer complaint is a cut and paste response..

Dear xxxbuyer,

I am sorry you are unhappy.  Please return xxx for a full refund.

Me,

My address

I do not try to justify or defend my item, my packing, my listing or my ship method.  I keep the first contact simple and robotic - I give them one option with little wiggle room for negotiation and nothing to give them something to profile me with.  The buyers response to that message tells me how to respond after that. 

A buyer with a legit problem might come back with something about paying for return shipping - I tell them to file a return with ebay and I can send them a return ship label through that.  I had a recent buyer who was so scared that my account would be damaged if she went through ebay and I explained that ebay doesn't do that anymore.  I knew that the buyer wasn't trying to scam me and had a legit problem and we could easily come to an agreeable solution for both of us.  I got good feedback and she got her refund. 

An honest buyer is concerned with how and how much to do your method of being made whole, a scammer will try keep the item and refund without work.  If you try to justify or defend, a scammer will get valuable information that they might use against you.  And the information you give is a waste of time as most angy buyers don't want excuses, they want a solution.

[paulieshere12_5]

They got something broken you expect them not to be angry. Meanwhile my other account is banned for giving people refunds rather than ship them a broken item. You still get to do business here. Go figure.

[lynnscollectiblesnstuff]

I would have told her the exact steps for a return for refund. Something like this (cause each return has to bedealt with a little differently to calm customers down):

 1. take the ENTIRE box, just close the lidsof the box and afix the pre paid shipping label on.

2. go to usps.com a schedule a pickup with the postman.

3.when I receive the return you will receive a Full refund in the method you paid

[paulieshere12_5]

There are times when you have to cut your losses with a buyer. If they wont send back all the items in this case for a full refund, and they dont want a refund...I dont think I would chase down a feedback or offer them anything else unless they neg you or neutral you in which case it might be ok to say hey I will offer you a partial refund if you revise your feedback. Leave yourself that bargaining chip isnt a bad idea.

[badwolf12]

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@paulieshere12_5 wrote:

They got something broken you expect them not to be angry. Meanwhile my other account is banned for giving people refunds rather than ship them a broken item. You still get to do business here. Go figure.

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Apples to Oranges. OP's item broke during shipping. Your items broke because of how they were stored prior to shipment.

[paulieshere12_5]

Really?

So this seller obviously packs things wrong and ships items in a way that they got damaged but he is somehow more responsible of a seller?

LOL 

Look I used to have this kind of an issue too and then I learned how to pack fragile items in boxes in such a way that they wouldnt get damaged in shipment. 

In fact if an item has even the slightest damage its more prone to ship damaged in addition to being packed wrong?

What do you think a buyer would rather have? A damaged item sent to them or an immediate refund?

Anyway this person made a rookie mistake and I am so angry about being banned over returns that EBAY insists we all do to begin with then defects us over that I wont even explain the best way to pack bottles so they dont leak!    Why help the competition???

LOOL flawed thinking on your part to say the least! 

[frodobagginskennedy]

I sell mostly breakable fragile glassware items/sets.   My response to most issues is:

"I am so very sorry for the damage.  Please forward a picture of the damaged item(s) for insurance purposes.  Once I receive the photos I will go ahead and send a credit to your PayPal account"

9 out of 10 times I have a picture within an hour of the original message.  Rarely do I ever encounter any issues.  People understand that you need to supply proof for insurance.

[coolections]

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@retrose1 wrote:

An honest buyer is concerned with how and how much to do your method of being made whole, a scammer will try keep the item and refund without work.  If you try to justify or defend, a scammer will get valuable information that they might use against you.  And the information you give is a waste of time as most angy buyers don't want excuses, they want a solution.

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Not true at all. An honest buyer that received a damage item expects a seller to make them whole, not have to drive to their PO, print a label and return junk. A good seller would understand that and not assume an angry buyer who got ripped off from a seller is a scammer. What you say is the best way to get a negative and the best way to get booted from Ebay as Ebay is not keen to keeping rude sellers on their site.

[paulieshere12_5]

Some buyers on here may already have a broken item they want to replace. When they buy yours they send a photo of the broken item. When you sell records this happens a lot in fact. Some people out there really are just scam buyers.

[copper.boom]

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@odditiesandantiquities1 wrote:

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@oleander1993 wrote:

I see the anti-seller crowd has chimed in. I think you did the right thing. If the buyer doesn't want the hassle then she could at least discuss it with you instead of expecting you to read her mind. How would you get your fees you paid for the sale back from eBay without a return?

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Anti-seller crowd.....lol. A new moniker. Good one. Nicer than saying meanies.....

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But I guess you think it's okay to call posters here meanies... posters that have offered you a lot of really good help and advice with some of the problems you encountered.

[coolections]

True, but as you said "some", but it is actually very rare.   There are some posters who think everyone is a scammer and out to get them and suggest to be a rude seller and basically tell their buyer to get lost and provide no customer service at all. People like that is what gives sellers a bad name and causes buyers to not return.

[plumbingspecials]

I do not see how you were "unconcerned" when you told the buyer to begin a Not As Described return. You instructed exactly how you will handle the situation, and the buyer did not follow through. I think the buyer was hoping for a discount, and when you did not offer that option, the buyer got mad. That's on her, it's not on  you, because you were willing to resolve the issue, legitimately.

You do not need to do anything more (except I would probably put her on "the List").

[gingergottin]

***UPDATE***

I am the OP with the unhappy buyer.  I thought I would follow up because I'm usually curious about how some other sellers' problems turn out so I update this post.

A few days ago, a month after she last contacted me, the buyer sent me a rude message saying that I shouldn't have blocked her from buying other items because she was only trying to help me out by messaging me about how poor my packaging was and how unhelpful a seller I was.  Also, my prices are too high and she can get the items much cheaper elsewhere anyway.  She then gave me a negative stating that I don't package items well and I'm unresponsive.  

I don't know why she would even want to purchase anything more from me if she thought my packaging skills were terrible, but I did report her after seeing that she has left several negatives over the past few months for other sellers who she was upset with.  So now I have one negative feedback amongst hundreds of others including many that praise my items for being well packaged, lol.  I know I shouldn't respond to it cause that makes it more visible (although that was advice of customer service) but I don't feel it was quite fair as I tried to resolve the problem and she was rude, condescending and only negged me after I blocked her.

Thank you to everyone who offered helpful advice.  Unfortunately it didn't turn out so well for me.

[starroute-us]

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@gingergottin wrote:

***UPDATE***

I am the OP with the unhappy buyer.  I thought I would follow up because I'm usually curious about how some other sellers' problems turn out so I update this post.

A few days ago, a month after she last contacted me, the buyer sent me a rude message saying that I shouldn't have blocked her from buying other items because she was only trying to help me out by messaging me about how poor my packaging was and how unhelpful a seller I was.  Also, my prices are too high and she can get the items much cheaper elsewhere anyway.  She then gave me a negative stating that I don't package items well and I'm unresponsive.  

I don't know why she would even want to purchase anything more from me if she thought my packaging skills were terrible, but I did report her after seeing that she has left several negatives over the past few months for other sellers who she was upset with.  So now I have one negative feedback amongst hundreds of others including many that praise my items for being well packaged, lol.  I know I shouldn't respond to it cause that makes it more visible (although that was advice of customer service) but I don't feel it was quite fair as I tried to resolve the problem and she was rude, condescending and only negged me after I blocked her.

Thank you to everyone who offered helpful advice.  Unfortunately it didn't turn out so well for me.

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Sorry about the neg and the bad buyer:(

They probably do the same often to try and get freebies, when it doesn't go as *planned* they leave negs.

Just remember if you respond to the neg, they will get another chance to respond and that can look worst than 1 lone neg.