Return/Exchange

[thejoycollection]

I send the wrong item to my buyer.  He notified me, and we identified the one he actually bought and paid for and I immediately send the correct one, asking him to return the wrong one.  I agreed to reimburse him for the price of return shipping.  He said ok.  That was almost 6 weeks ago.  I have not received the item.

I have contacted him 4 times in a polite manner, regarding sending it.  I was trying not to antagonize him, since I need his cooperation. Excuses and apologies from him, but no action so far.  I am new and this is my very first return/mistake.  

 I appreciate any advice.  Reading other return posts, I have learned that the next time this happens, I will wait for the return before sending an item.  I really have no leverage here. What do you suggest I do next? 

[fashunu4eeuh]

@thejoycollection 

Just to clarify—

Your instincts do you credit. You did the right thing by immediately sending the right item to the buyer. Since it was your mistake, waiting for a return of the other item would not have been good customer service in this situation. 

However, for regular returns, one’s that are buyer-initiated, waiting for the returned item before refunding is appropriate and necessary.

Wishing you much success on eBay. Please come back anytime.

[fbusoni]

You are lucky that this was a fairly inexpensive lesson.  

Since you now know that this individual is dishonest / uncooperative, make sure you add his name to your blocked buyers list.  

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/BuyerBlock?

Hopefully you will make some sales soon and will earn sufficient profit to offset this loss.

Good luck.

[thejoycollection]

Thank you.

[thejoycollection]

Thank you for your kind words.

[thejoycollection]

That's an excellent idea.  I think he might have if it was that easy.  Lots of excuses, and apologies.  He seemed sincere. I'll try your way next time.  Thanks.

[certifiedcitynet]

Under federal law, the buyer is not required to return the item not ordered. He can legally keep it. 

[isoldmytreasures]

My experience with customers and exchanges has been fine. I send them a jpg of the return label letting them know they can have the post office pick up the package.

The real problem is getting ebay to come up with a sensible process to NOT REFUND THE CUSTOMER WHEN IYOU HAVE SENT THE REPLACMENT ITEM AND THERE IS NO WAY TO REACH EBAY ANYMORE BECAUSE  YOU CANT GET TO THEM VIA CHAT AND NO IDEA HOW TO UNBLOCK YOUR PHONE SO THEY CAN CALL YOU SO YOU CANT GET THROUGH TO THEM!!!!!  THE CUSTOMER CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO CLOSE THE RETURN EITHER.  ARRGGHH

[psfhobbies]

I did the same thing few weeks ago The buyer sent me the knife back on his own dime (w/o Ebay involved) plus he sent me two $20.00 Olight flashlights just to be friendly. I sent him the correct item $10.00 bill for his postage and a CRKT knife for free. There are great people out there who get this place is more or less a big garage sale and not everyone is a full time business able to take big losses. Been here 27 years and this guy blew my mind on his generosity and understanding. On the flip side  just had a person file a bogus "damaged" return for a car part from California showing me pictures of his part he took off the car saying it was the one I sent him.Ebay CS didn't even buy it  yet I had to give him 50% refund to keep them happy..win some lose some.

[autosol15]

Some people are just lousy.   I've been a business seller for 3 years, a bit over 8000 sales, and have had my share of orders get lost by the USPS.   I always send a replacement immediately, even paying for overnight shipping sometimes if there is a time constraint,  (items under $100 value) after explaining what happened and politely asking them to notify me if and when the original package arrives and I'll gladly send a shipping label so they can return it.   In not a single instance have I been contacted about a return, even though I leave the original label active and monitor the tracking....many have been delivered weeks or months later.  

It's just the cost of doing business.   Raise all your prices 2-3%  to cover situations like this.