What is your response to this?

[iamalwaysright]

Buyer buys shirts earlier this month. Today I get the message "Thank u for the fast shipping. Unfortunately after leaving positive reviews I washed my shirts n now they are so small my 8 year old barley fits it them."

😑How do you respond?

[oregon_bins]

I would block them immediately so they don't buy anything else to leave retaliatory feedback. Then I would probably ignore. If they open a return and send back the shrunken shirt then just take off 50% for not being returned in the original condition.

[albertabrightalberta]

My suggestion would be to tell them to return them in accordance with your return policy. (They can still open NAD and you won't have a choice!)

I wouldn't block until they're done communicating with you because if they send messages, you want to be able to respond and blocking will block your receiving their messages.

[funfactorychannel]

Make another kid?

They didn't ask for anything, Just say sorry to hear what happen. Shirts do shrink when washed, especially with hot water and using hot dryer.

[participatrophy]

Offer the steepest discount you can get away with on a second round of shirts in the next size up. She can go the return route where she ends up with a partial refund and you end up with partially devalued no-longer-new shirts, OR she and the kiddo can look cute walking around together in their matching shirts and you can turn a buyer self-induced complaint scenario into another sale.

[iamalwaysright]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

I wouldn't block until they're done communicating with you because if they send messages, you want to be able to respond and blocking will block your receiving their messages.

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Here we go again @wastingtime101 devon@ebay kyle@ebay . Another instance where this function is putting me at risk.

[guildbrosantiques]

Say your sorry for the inconvenience. Period. Then block them. The worse they can do is leave a negative and their story is hard to believe.

[iamalwaysright]

Thanks for the tips so far. All of the replies thus far have valid points. Yes I can block and deal with the possible return filed. But avoiding the messages could possibly push the buyer over the edge to filing a not as described versus a remorse return. Obviously getting the remorse is preferred because eBay’s recent stupid change to make the original shipping untouchable on a SNAD return regardless of what condition the item is returned in.

And yes, I did think that the buyer technically didn’t ask for a return or any action on my part. The way the message is worded, it’s basically a FYI statement. But I don’t want to reply with any assumption on how they washed, like mentioning hot water because they’ll just come back and say they didn’t do that.

The steepest discount was actually something I used to do long ago. I forgot why I stopped doing that. One thing to realize is that even if the buyer takes that steep discounted offer on an additional purchase, they can still come back and file a SNAD on their original item and totally come out on top.

[iamalwaysright]

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@guildbrosantiques wrote:

Say your sorry for the inconvenience. Period. Then block them. The worse they can do is leave a negative and their story is hard to believe.

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They already left positive feedbacks so they are unable to leave negs for their order.

[oregon_bins]

I think negative feedback is a lot more of a thing to worry about than a return. Since you don't have to worry about to feedback, That is why I suggested not saying anything back. Your time is valuable and spending hours wondering what to do is more of a punishment than issuing a 50% refund once you get the destroyed shirt back. 

If they hadn't left feedback yet I would say " I'm so sorry this happened! You are welcome to return it, but I have to be straightforward that I will only be able to issue you a 50% refund once I get it back because it won't be in the original condition. But I don't want this to happen to anyone else. So do you have any suggestions of what I could add to my listing to help this not happen to the next person? I've sold ___ of these before and I've never had any complaints. Thanks so much for the communication!"

I would say all this so they would like me and not leave me a negative (while also being honest with them with what would happen to them if they did return it)

But in this case, since you don't have to worry about negative feedback, I honestly would just block and try to move on with your life and if they do return it just refund them the 50%. 

Business is business and we can't get too emotional.

[broto_64]

Do the shirts shrink, is the buyer right?
Because if the buyer is right then nothing will hurt sellers more than to ignore the buyer's complaint.

So first thing to find out is whether the product is even capable of the buyer's alleged defect.

How do we find out?
We wash such a shirt, take a shirt from inventory and wash it, see if it actually shrinks.
I would likely try and further inquire from the buyer, how it was washed?
Hot/Cold? Did they use a dryer?

The idea here is to duplicate the error, IF the error can be duplicated then it's likely time to find a different product to sell. If the error can not be duplicated, it is possible this buyer is abusing returns.

Then reply to the buyer with:
Dear Buyer I am so sorry to hear that, please return the item for a full refund. Thank you.

To conclude...
If the product returned is the same you sold (except of course much smaller) then is it still possible the shirts you're selling actually shrink when washed (even if the one you washed did not shrink.)
If the product returned is not the same you sold, then I'd report the buyer for abusing the returns system, and block.

[m1881969]

First, it is necessary to confirm whether the shirts for sale can be washed in various ways and whether there is any shrinkage. Then, the seller asked the buyer how he washed the shirts. Welcome to return the goods. You will receive a 50% refund of the purchase price. Then update the product details and specify the best washing method for the shirt.

[rugerskick]

You can block them but still opt to receive emails from blocked buyers.  Its a seller-settable option now.

[krazzykats]

If the shirt's cost isn't too high, could you consider sending a size up? It might make the buyer happy, prevent negative feedback, and help retain a customer. 

ᓚᘏᗢ

[pickapaper]

@iamalwaysright 

Unless the shirts were really, really super cheap quality, I'm surprised at the shrinkage comment.  Most washable shirts/t-shirts these days are either preshrunk cotton or are a fabric blend that doesn't shrink.  Cheap cotton things "might" shrink a tiny bit but not a lot like the buyer states.  

Do you have any more of the t-shirts like she bought that you could look at the fabric content on the label?  Maybe the shirts are cut smaller (I call it cut skimpier) to begin with, which sometimes happens with cheap clothing.  For example, a t-shirt might be marked a medium but if you measure that t-shirt against another brand's medium, they could vary in size.   If your buyer bought her regular size and didn't try it on before washing it and it was cut skimpy, it might have been too small to begin with and did not actually shrink as she thought it did. 

And then there is always the chance she might be fishing for a partial refund.