Increased Buyer's Remorse COVID-19?

[kitschplus]

This week I had a buyer request a return for an $85 vintage item. Her reason "a pungent odor so strong she had to leave the item in the garage".  I had stated that there were no odors. I had given the item a major sniff test before listing. I may not have the sense of smell of a twenty year old, but there is no way I missed a strong "pungent" odor.  We don't average one return request a year.      

We also sell a lot of low priced vintage greeting cards shipped via letter mail because we can't justify charging the cost of tracking for a $5 item. We normally have far less than 1% lost in shipping. This week  we have been contacted by three buyers informing us their cards did not arrive.  We always refund as soon as we are notified a card is lost. 

I'm thinking maybe this is fueled by panic over all the chaos due to COVID-19? Has anyone else had a higher percent of problem transactions over the past 3-4 days? Does anyone have advice on ways to discourage this? 

[greatmidwestcoin]

There's not a whole lot you can do about returns. I don't get many also but have learned to not take it personally. No use fighting a return because eBay will always side with the buyer. This way you avoid a possible negative FB and frustration.  You should just be glad that obviously you are doing something right to not have but a few returns. This virus thing will go away once they pull the plug on the media outlets. Good luck.  And always remember, in a hundred years it ain't gonna matter. 🙂

[johnrj1226]

Unfortunately you leave yourself wide open to "scammers" and/or 'thieves" that want something for nothing when you do not have tracking to show the purchase was delivered.  This has been going on for a long time before the current virus issue.  Guess you could  blame it on the full moon we had recently too.

[mudshark61369]

@kitschplus,

  "This week I had a buyer request a return for an $85 vintage item. Her reason "a pungent odor so strong she had to leave the item in the garage".

The return was probably because of buyer's remorse and they did not want to pay the return shipping cost. Unfortunately, ebay sides with buyers 99.9% of the time so go ahead and deal with the return.   How I would proceed after that would be first to call the uSPS customer service phone number and ask the rep if there is no odor, would that qualify as mail fraud.  If it does, when you receive the package take it to the P.O. unopened, along with either a screen shot, photo or copy of the buyer's message.  I would open it in the presence of a postal employee, preferably the postmaster. If there is no odor at all, tell them what the rep told you and ask them to open a mail fraud case and ask if they would write a note testifying to a lack of odor on usps stationary. 

  When you get home message the buyer tell them you have opened a mail fraud case with the USPS, and that you are going to report them for abuse of the buyer protection policy to ebay,  add a photo scan or copy of the letter and the fraud case number to the message.   Then wait a day or so to see if they reply and how they respond.   If they are rude or refuse to repay the return shipping, go to the resolution center on the first page in the box on the right select report a problem with a buyer.  I'm not sure if you can add photos, scans etc. to the report, but you should be abl to write the exact reason for the report and say that you have a letter from the USPS and give the mail fraud case number.

  "We also sell a lot of low priced vintage greeting cards shipped via letter mail because we can't justify charging the cost of tracking for a $5 item... We always refund as soon as we are notified a card is lost This week we have been contacted by three buyers informing us their cards did not arrive"

Maybe the virus scare is part of that, maybe your local sorting center has an issue with processing cards,  but you may have just run into a batch of scammers. 

I do not know where you got the $5 figure for 1st class tracking but you are wrong about it.  You can go online and find manila envelopes that fit your average card size in bulk for pennies apiece. If you use them and print labels at home the total shipping should be .55 cents (that is the retail rate), you get an online discount when buying through ebay  which should include free tracking if the weight is under 15.99 oz. If there is a tracking fee it will be .23cents per envelope, retail, up to 15.99 oz, so you can combine shipping.   Tracking prevents INR claims from being filed.

'

[kitschplus]

Thanks you so much for the helpful information! I will take the item for the postmaster to sniff lol! I didn't mean to imply that shipping was $5 for tracking. What I meant was the buyers don't want to pay a high shipping cost on a greeting card that costs $5. The only trackable methods I have found have been in the $2.70 to $4 range for first class package depending on the zip code. I didn't realize there was the method you described with the manila envelope.I had no idea tracking could be bought for 23 cents for letter mail.  I'll definitely look into that. Thanks again for the great info.

[picknparley]

Keep in mind that all delivery services are running slow. And they'll probably get slower. Perhaps you can ask your buyers to be patient several more days before you have to refund.

Some sellers are changing their handling time out as far as 15 days but still shipping in a timely manner considering the current situation (maybe not daily now, instead 1/week).   Doing this will give the post office extra time to get it there. Chances are many of those will make it ahead of their scheduled delivery date.  At least that's the thought and it seems to be working really well for many. 

Hope this helps. Stay healthy!

[david382611]

Good luck on the .23 with tracking I don’t think that is true. You may ship for that but with no tracking like you said 

[cream_couture]

The info given was incorrect. You can't get tracking unless an item is sent minimally first class package which cost $2.70 - $4ish.