How to do a replacement when I accidently sent the wrong item?

[vivacie]

Hi everyone, rather new to selling, and I made a blunder and sent someone the wrong book by mistake. Thankfully, they are taking it rather well and agreed to return it. 

The issue is that I have no idea how to exchange it. This person has already dropped it off at the post office and the return page only says that I can refund the buyer.

So when I receive the item, will I have to relist it and they have to rebuy it? Or can I just not refund the buyer and ship the correct book? 

Any help/insight will be much appreciated. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

Just ship the correct book.

[no_zero369]

In addition to fixing this immediate problem, it might make some sense to think back and find all of the reasons that this mistake occurred.  Point is that many sellers say something like, "Oh I was distracted or just stupid and I'll do better next time."   If you can find the reasons or a set of reasons, then you can fix it. 

I found that I made mistakes in shipping a few times: sometimes I was tired, sometimes I was multi-tasking on the phone, sometimes I was just in a rush.  So to eliminate future problems I created a "check list" for myself.  Now before I ship anything I run through the check list.  Since then I have had no shipping errors.  BUT I had to be deliberate about the check list for it to work. 

So I hope you can find the cause of this mistake and then some ways you can be deliberate about avoiding the causes.  Good luck!

[evry1nositswindy]

You can ship it through PayPal.

[vivacie]

Oh, of course, I definitely agree. Usually I have a mental check list, but this was apparently one of those times I slipped up. In this case, it happened to be two books looked nearly identical (which I didn't realize) and my mistake was not double checking the title to make absolutely sure. Thanks for your reply. 

[vivacie]

Of course, that is the goal, but since it is a return that is set up so that I can only refund and not replace the item, I'm a bit confused. I was more looking for info on what to do as a newer seller.

A) Is not refunding an option (even though it says to?) after the return and just shipping the correct book.

B) Refunding and listing the book again, once I receive the return, so that the buyer can go through the buying process again.

C) Eating the cost of the book and shipping it free of charge for my mistake

D) ? another option I don't know of?

[no_zero369 · Accepted solution]

---

@vivacie wrote:

Of course, that is the goal, but since it is a return that is set up so that I can only refund and not replace the item, I'm a bit confused. I was more looking for info on what to do as a newer seller.

A) Is not refunding an option (even though it says to?) after the return and just shipping the correct book.

NO!  You MUST refund the buyer when the item is received.  If you fail to refund the buyer, the buyer will ask eBay to step in and they will refund the buyer from your funds AND give you an 'unresloved case' defect.

B) Refunding and listing the book again, once I receive the return, so that the buyer can go through the buying process again.

Yes, this is an option.  If the buyer is understanding they may be willing to rebuy it.  As a nice gesture you could upgrade the shipping for them or give them a nice discount.  No reason to wait for the other book to get back to start that process however.

C) Eating the cost of the book and shipping it free of charge for my mistake

This is up to you, your conscience and how you see 'customer service!'  It "might" make a big fan out of the buyer and create a repeat customer?

D) ? another option I don't know of?

---

[1grandmashope_1]

I would ask the buyer what they paid to ship your mistake  back, and I would ship the book purchased by them tomorrow with a note and the $ that they spent on returning it. Please inform them you are shipping it immediately with your apologies. 

Some may not agree, but this is what I would do.

Being in the moment can be a bit hard these days. Nonetheless it is important when shipping is involved. 

Best,  

Grandma 

[1grandmashope_1]

I pick C.

Live and hopefully learn.

G.

[vivacie]

Alright, thank you so much, this was a big help. I'll go ahead and just ship out without making them rebuy it. 

[vivacie]

Thanks for your input, I appreciate it! I paid for return shipping already, so I wasn't worried about them having to spend money to ship it back.