What would you do?

[uvmmmdu]

Recently I sold 2 cookbooks to two buyers that I mixed up and sent them each the others cookbook.  As soon as buyer #1 notified me of my mistake I apologized and said I would contact buyer #2 and do what I could to get them each the correct books.  I contacted them both asking to return at my expense by opening a return wrong item received so they could get a paid by me label. I then contacted ebay because of the statement about making sure to refund the customer within so many days. I explained to ebay there is no refund its just getting them to the right party. They suggested I pay the refunds when they arrived and relist each so they could repurchase and I would be able to use ebay labels to mail them out again with tracking. I did this and notified each party and for their trouble I did offer to reduce by 50% the price which then total would be 3-3.50 free shipping. These were 1st class so there would have been about a week delay in delivery but also I was reducing cost for them.

So as a buyer would this be a satisfactory solution for you? Would this deserve a negative feedback? This is not a regular error for me. I have sold thousands and maintained 100% feedback for years without mix ups. I am human and I thought I was trying to work with buyers.

As a seller what would you have done? Ebay also said I could just go to post office and pay to resend and purchase tracking but that the sytem may refund because it showed returned. Returns dept. did not recommend I do that for that reason. So I followed their suggestion and handled it they way they thought best.

 Just trying to find out opinions of other buyers and sellers on this issue. Thanks for your time.

[uvmmmdu]

Also buyer #1 that informed me of mistake was great about the whole situation and repurchased item leaving positive feedback. Buyer #2 that I informed before it even arrived to them that they would be getting the wrong one in error and I explained they could refuse delivery,  write return to sender (unopened) or print the return label I was providing. I explained buyer #1  had informed me and was already returning as well so I could get them each correct books. Buyer #2 left neg.  about how I asked them to return book and that they did not get their book. (true they did not, they chose not to and were refunded)

[hebertsusedautoparts]

I personally would understand and feel you did right by giving the discount if I was the buyer. Unfortunately not everyone is as understanding and people tend to forget that sellers are not machines and sometimes things don't go perfect.

hopefully the worse they will say in the feedback is there was a glitch but you made it right, sometimes even if that feels negative to some it helps because I know if I buy something and see that the seller works with their customers and makes things right that is someone I want to buy from.

[uvmmmdu]

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately no mention of trying to work with them. I did reply which I hear is best I can do about it.

Buyer #2  Just gave negative and Comment left was : Seller sent wrong book, then asked me to return wrong book, never received book 

[hebertsusedautoparts]

Yeah, all you can do in that case is reply to his feedback that you made the mistake of sending the wrong book and offered the discount and to send the correct book.

[stuff4divas]

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@uvmmmdu wrote:

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately no mention of trying to work with them. I did reply which I hear is best I can do about it.

Buyer #2  Just gave negative and Comment left was : Seller sent wrong book, then asked me to return wrong book, never received book 

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I think u did a great job trying to rectify your error. B2 is a jerk.

I would follow 'herberts' suggestion, leave a follow-up comment, a nice one, but get the point across that u did everything humanly possible to try to resolve.

Again, a JERK!

[castlemagicmemories]

I had this happen.  I bought an animated Santa teddy bear.  I had not received the item yet and my seller told me I would be getting a set of candles instead as the other buyer had already received the bear (they were closer) and would I send that to the other buyer when I got it and the other buyer had already sent the bear to me.  I said yes.  Seller was thrilled she got two cooperative buyers, bear and candles were successfully received, and the grateful seller refunded shipping.  No bad feedback exchanged, just one of those things.  All's well that ends well!

[centexcompsvcs]

I am sorry that negative FB was left for you.  Sheesh,  some people just utterly fail to understand the simple fact that we, as human beings, make mistakes. 

[lovtaco0]

The buyer had a poor experience so their FB is justified. Your response to the FB was professional and to the point so I wouldn't worry about it. You did what you could but mistakes happen and not everybody is understanding. Buyer #2 should have refused the package - sorry they were not cooperative.

If this happens in the future you can do things differently to try and make it easier. Buy the return labels from PayPal.com/shipnow and e-mail them to the buyers. That way it's not in eBay's returns system and the refund won't be forced. You can instead ship out the replacements.

[fossil_diver]

If the books werent too expensive I would have them return them for a refund and then reship them to the correct buyers. 

[centexcompsvcs]

"The buyer had a poor experience so their FB is justified."

Disagree.  The OP  offered a more than reasonable, timely solution to rectify the mistake. The buyer chose to have a poor experience by not availing themselves of that solution.

I really do not know what other folks do, but I reserve negative FB for the  worst of the worst situations/sellers.  For myself, this unfortunate situation certainly falls quite short of that scope. 

I chalk it up to the buyer being a rigid, cold and unempathetic person. Not someone that I would ever prefer to engage with, in any setting.

 I applaud the OP for offering a great solution and for replying to the negative FB in  a courteous and professional manner.

[lovtaco0]

I didn't say it was deserved, I said it was justified. There's a big difference.

I think the seller made an error that we've all made in the past and did everything she could to fix the situation. I would have responded like her first buyer not her second buyer.

That doesn't change the fact that the second buyer was inconvenienced and had a poor experience. Not everybody is understanding when mistakes are made. The buyer is allowed to leave negative FB reflecting their experience. The OP's response to the FB was good so I don't think the one neg will hurt them at all.

[keziak]

I used to arrange for the 2 customers to mail the books to each other. Most people could not be nicer. But it's a hassle for them to send the books out. 

These days I would just email the people telling them I shipped the wrong book and will dropship another copy to them. Keep the wrong book or dispose on their end. This results in a delay in delivery but not usually a big delay. 

We are fortunate that usually there are plenty of other copies of the titles available for dropshipping. 

[centexcompsvcs]

I did not say that you thought it was “deserved”. You said that it was “justified”.   However, in my mind, if giving a seller negative feedback is justified, well then, on some basic level, it must be deserved. 

Semantics aside, I do not agree that the negative FB given to the OP was justified nor deserved. Given the current milieu of the eBay venue, this incident is a small issue. It was an easily correctable human mistake. The buyer made this a huge issue in their mind, and chose not to participate whatsoever in rectifying the problem. They chose instead to be unyielding and to  exact payback via the feedback sysem. 

 I pity sellers who must deal with buyers’ of such mentalities. I do agree that the OP responded professionally and that this feedback will not harm them .

[uvmmmdu]

Thanks to all for the input here.

I did consider having each mail to each other but thought if one does and the other doesn't then both might be upset. Instead I followed ebay CS suggestions hoping for the best and had one upset. If I had second copies of the books I would have just sent them each correct ones.