Sometimes, you just have to swallow your pride . . .

[bill.purvis2012]

I offer returns. 30 days. If it's due to wrong size ordered, I refund the selling price, but buyer is responsible for return postage.  If, it's due to anything wrong I've done, I refund in full and pay return.  Sounds fair to me.   But, every now and then you get one of those customers. You know the one.  Pitching a fit because I sold a pair of shoes that don't fit them even though they swear they should.  Claim defective. New shoes with size in them.  

What do you do? You know if you don't do whatever it takes to please them they will leave bad feedback.  So, you refund in full, pay shipping and call it a day. They've got you. Glad it doesn't happen too often. 

[mcdougle4248]

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@bill.purvis2012 wrote:

I offer returns. 30 days. If it's due to wrong size ordered, I refund the selling price, but buyer is responsible for return postage.  If, it's due to anything wrong I've done, I refund in full and pay return.  Sounds fair to me.   But, every now and then you get one of those customers. You know the one.  Pitching a fit because I sold a pair of shoes that don't fit them even though they swear they should.  Claim defective. New shoes with size in them.  

What do you do? You know if you don't do whatever it takes to please them they will leave bad feedback.  So, you refund in full, pay shipping and call it a day. They've got you. Glad it doesn't happen too often. 

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Accept the return and report the buyer for making a false claim.  You are a Top Rated Seller so you can get $6.00 credit on your next invoice to help with the shipping costs.

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2019-fall/seller-protections.html#m22_tb_a1_4 

[nyusha7654]

Or you can do all : refund all what was paid and let them enjoy the shoes....they will definitely leave you positive feedback.

[iart]

I agree what you wrote about treating buyers fairly. I've also decided that I will never sell shoes!

[johnrj1226]

@bill.purvis2012 

FYI two things about footwear you need to remember

1.  There are no international shoe size standards.  The same shoe size can vary in insole dimensions and have a different fit.   As a personal example - I like New Balance footwear.  It they are made in the US.  I wear one size but if the NB shoe was made in SE Asia I need a 1/2 size larger and the next wider size.

2. Shoes like clothing can be mislabeled.  We used to  sell lots of footwear and have found incorrect size labels/stamps- not many but a few.   I always include in sole dimensions in my listings and compare them to the manufacturers shoes size chart and/or an International Shoe Size Conversion chart. By doing this I have yet to  have a return for fit reasons.

[rus-5387]

I also deal primarily in footwear.  Boots in my case.  Honestly, returns are just going to be part of this industry.  It's for the same reason that our B&M store stays afloat in a world where everything gets purchased online.  Having a customer claim something is defective because it didn't fit in the size they "usually" wear rankles a bit though, as in most cases it simply isn't true.  I use ebay primarily for items I'm attempting to clear out, so everything is discounted to around our original cost, and then we offer free shipping on top of that.  We list everything with no returns, but if someone initiates one I pretty much always accept it with the buyer paying for return shipping.  Because every time I sell something the shipping is already cutting into nonexistent margins, I really don't want to have to relist and sell it again.  Fortunately the return rates are quite low in my case, so I believe the good outweighs the bad.

[joshuacbraun]

I also sell shoes and boots.  In my case, I thought I would have had a lot more returns than I have for "size issues".  So far out of about 100 sold shoes, only one return for that reason.  But the one time it happened was very irritating.  I had a pair of shoes that continuously didn't sell and I lowered the price to $2.99.  They weighed 4 pounds and were shipped from CA to NY for a shipping cost of $19.  When the buyer returned, they paid the return shipping so they got a net gain of about $3, but since I refunded their $21.99 total, I lost $19.  Ebay gave me the choice of refunding the total $21.99 or $2.99 since it was a "did not fit" issue.  I figured the guy would have been really miffed if I just had given him $2.99 after he spent about $19 to ship them back in addition to the $21.99 he paid to purchase them.  I know that I did the right thing, but it still eats me that I lost so much $$ on the sale.  The consolation was knowing that this is just a "cost of business" and knowing that it doesn't happen often.  At that point, I decided NOT to sell shoes under 5 bucks.  It was a good learning experience.  If shoes don't sell under 5 bucks, I give them to Goodwill.  Best of luck to you all.

[soh.maryl]

"They will definitely give you positive feedback . . "

Where did you get that idea?

And, furthermore, most sellers here are doing it to make money, not to give away their merchandise.