coupons

[pentiques]

Sold an item this am and buyer said she could not redeem her coupon so would I please refund the $5 for the coupon.  I do not use coupons, I did not offer a coupon, I know nothing about coupons.  This is the second time this has happened.  The first time was a very expensive antique basket, I lost the sale.  The basket buyer was very frustrated that she could not redeem her coupon.  In the case of the basket I offered to send her a refund equal to the coupon but she was so angry and frustrated she canceled the sale.  So would someone tell me what is going on with the coupons.  I have not authorized ebay to offer any coupons on my behalf, I do not offer coupons.  So what is up with the coupons.  

[m*and*l*sales]

I don't know anything about the coupons they're referring to, either.  But in my shopping experience, you know before you pay whether a coupon was accepted or not.  To ask for a refund of a coupon after the fact is a little off.

When I'm in a store with a coupon that doesn't ring up, I take care of the issue prior to paying.  Either the clerk can get it to apply, or override the rejection, or I can decide to pay full price or put the item back.  At no time would I try to apply a coupon after the purchase has been made!  And the same logic applies to online purchases unless there is some sort of price-match for whatever time period, which some retailers used to offer.

When I sold on Etsy, Etsy itself would offer coupon deals from time to time, which Etsy ate (the sellers were not affected by the use of those coupon deals).  Is eBay doing something like that now?  I don't pay attention to those promotions when they show up on my phone so I don't have a clue about the details of those notifications.

I guess it is up to you whether to cancel the sale (and block her) or to take off $5.00.  I don't see another option - if you ship the item to her, she's probably going to complain on feedback or cause you further problems in some other way.

[jonathanbrightlight]

I've seen coupons applying to our listings recently, generated by eBay not us, and if a customer asked about it, I'd refer them to eBay as it has nothing to do with us.  It does put you in a tricky spot when they make the purchase and then complain, but I'd be tempted to cancel and block, not because of the $5, but because they're likely to just be problem customers anyways.  Not everyone can afford the cancellation (or if you cancel due to a reason that wouldn't give you a defect, it could be more trouble if that buyer decides to make it trouble), so I understand if you'd prefer to just give them the partial refund or try to placate them instead, though.

[ittybitnot]

I've seen coupons applying to our listings recently, generated by eBay not us,

@jonathanbrightlight 

Thank you for mentioning "coupons generated by ebay".  When you see these as a buyer they often make the deal appear better than it really is....unless you READ THE SMALL PRINT.   Often these coupons are only for certain categories, time frames,  or have a minimum spend component.  For a simplified example, the five dollar off coupon may only be for the canned dog food category, while you are looking at bags of dry food or even wrenches.  You may think you are going to get $5 off a wrench.   The buyer is not going to know until they click though and READ.  Your $5 coupon may only be good for purchases over $100, and you find you can't use it since you were auto-billed for your auction wins separately instead of one invoice for $120 due to auto-pay.   Though there are other examples, if a buyer does not click through to find out,  well, it falls under the "shoot the messenger (seller)" scenario when the coupon does not work.   

After all, the rules state the SELLER is responsible for their listing content, (even if eBay includes the information).  I will always remember my red donut review for "advertising PayPal credit, and not allowing the buyer to use it"....LOL..  

[mamacassidy]

@pentiques 

There has been a coupon I've seen a few times in the last couple of weeks that says:

"$5 off $50 purchase when you pay with Venmo"

This is some kind of deal between Ebay and Venmo, and they are trying to get people to sign up/ and or use a Venmo account (it's a payment sharing app).

This coupon doesn't come out of your funds. If someone messages you and asks about a coupon, I'd just give some kind of polite reply saying that Ebay offers some coupons on certain transactions, but if the coupon code didn't work at checkout, then the coupon doesn't apply to this sale.

[jonathanbrightlight]

Yeah, right now there's a "SHOPANDSAVE" coupon showing on some, but not all, of our listings, and it has a few different requirements.  It's not from us, it's from eBay, but I'm guessing someone will ask us about it if it doesn't end soon.

Details here: https://www.ebay.com/e/daily-deals/25-rw12-spend-and-save