Upset customer, grrrr.

[jaredseiders]

I had a customer purchase a Sydney Opera House (Architecture) off of me for $71 after shipping. Apparently, I forgot to take the $39.95 label off the bottom (thanks Barnes and Noble). Now she wants a refund. Amazon contacted me, and said the following: 

 

Details: Customer received in the box label of the manufacturer, sticker $39.95. Now customer demands a refund for this case since she paid $71.04. Please research the issue and contact the customer at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

 

/sigh

 

I called her back and got an answering machine. I said who I was and why I was calling but was cryptic because who knows if the person the item was intended for would hear. Just said that I heard she had questions about the item she purchased and she could call me back or email me and I'd be happy to answer them...

 

I'm really at a loss, honestly. My take home for this after paying shipping was $57.09. Subtract out cost of 42.35 and I made $14 off the transaction. I mean seriously, when you buy a toy on December 17th that's one of the hottest toys on the market, and it can't be found anywhere else, what do you expect?

[justafrog]

By email or phone, my answer would be, "I am sorry I left the old price sticker on that set - it actually cost me well over that amount to purchase and sell it" (which is completely true when you factor in time, shipping costs, etc.). I am happy to accept returns for any reason."

 

(Unless you think your AZ account has a few too many claims/strikes/questions lately, in which case I'd do what every good eBay and Amazon seller learns to do in those situations: pee yourself to show your submission to Amazon and refund her the difference.    )

[Mos_Eisley]

I would guess that she doesn't realize she bought the item from a third party. Regardless, she's dumb because it doesn't matter what it may have cost originally. She saw the price and decided it was worth paying.

[Jackson]

I never communicate by phone.  I use email so all communication can be saved and then retrieved if necessary.

 

I've had similar situations.  Sometimes, I refund the difference.  Sometimes, I tell the buyer he can return the item for a full refund; this often works because then the buyer doesn't want to go through the hassle of returning the item.  I absolutely hate when stores put stickers on items.  Figure out a better system!

[jaredseiders]

I never communicate by phone.  I use email so all communication can be saved and then retrieved if necessary.

 

Amazon provided me her phone number. My guess is that maybe she called Amazon and doesn't really know how to contact via the email links?

[jaredseiders]

I only have 1 AtoZ and that was because the buyer never contacted me for a refund (which I'd have been glad to do). She just hit A to Z because she thought that was the correct way to go about it. Matter was resolved immediately. It's still on my record, but I have to hope Amazon can see what happened if something happens again.

 

I'm glad to refund the item, however I really don't want to lose the sale. If it comes back to me, I'm going to have to return it to BN for the retail because I'm not going to be able to sell it at that markup anytime soon.

 

I'm going to give her the options. Return it minus shipping cost and pay the return shipping (probably cost her 9 bucks (and not have the item). Or she can keep the item and I will refund her half of the $14 I made off of it. I explained out all of my costs (including ink, gas, paper, time finding the items, etc), and also explained that had she not bought mine (the lowest price on the market at the time) then she honestly would have paid more for it from a seller who would have removed the sticker and she'd never have known anyway. And went on happy as a clam.

 

That option works for everyone.

[justafrog]

These sorts of claims are maddening, by the way, forgot to commiserate in my first post.   A reminder to all of us to triple check for price markings and get rid of them, by blowtorch or sulfuric acid if necessary.

 

There are a fair few buyers who either don't comprehend reselling or like to pretend they don't comprehend it to try to extort money. Only you can decide if your AZ account is in good enough order at this point in time (as far as claims, complaints, returns, etc.) to absorb a hit. If it is, my instinct is to (very, very politely) tell buyers like this to pound sand.

[jaredseiders]

I sent her the following email, because I don't really want to wait for a call back and I want a paper trail too:

 

Hello,
Amazon recently contacted me via email addressing some concerns you had with your Sydney Opera House. I attempted a phone call, but only got the answering machine. I have to apologize for the seemingly cryptic message, part way into the message I realized that the intended recipient of the item might actually get the message and did not want to ruin any kind of surprise.

Anyway, I digress. Yes, you are correct, I did pay exactly $39.95 for the item in question plus a 6% sales tax in the great state of Pennsylvania. It also cost me about $4.50 to ship the item to Massachusetts. An item you received in two days despite paying for standard shipping. Yes, I did sell it at quite a mark up, for $71.04 (after shipping). However, I did not get to keep all of that money, as you may think. Firstly, Amazon takes a whopping 15% of the combined total of item price and shipping. That is $10.66 right there. Secondly, there is the cost of ink and paper, which may seem minimal, but they add up over the course of hundreds of items in a week period. Thirdly, the envelope costs about 15 to 20 cents each. Thirdly, I had to drive these packages to the post office and drop them off. The post office is approximately 10 miles away, so 20 miles round trip.

And finally, and the largest expense of all, is the time I spend doing this. This is a basically a part time job for me. I have to do research on what items are most likely going to sell out everywhere else. Then I drive from store to store, finding those items. I purchase them for retail price, sometimes on sale, but Lego Architecture is almost never on sale. It's a risk I take, and for the most part it pays off. But I clearly can't sell it for the same amount I paid for it.

In all honesty, I made a profit of $14.34 on this transaction. I understand that you want a refund for the sale of the item. I can understand that, not knowing all that was at hand. But in all honesty, if the label had been peeled off, wouldn't you have paid the same price? Also, if I weren't selling it, wouldn't you have paid more for it? Because I was the cheapest person on the marketplace at the time you purchased it from Amazon.com.

If you still want a refund, all you really had to do was ask. I'm not a horrible human being. You could have messaged me straight through Amazon.com. I will gladly refund you the $66.55 you paid for the item. However, I can't refund you for the shipping, and I would have to insist that you pay the return shipping to me, since the item was exactly what you ordered but the only argument is buyer's remorse in the price that was paid for the item.

In the spirit of Christmas, however, I would like to make a counter offer. I will offer to split my profit in half and refund you $7.17 and you keep the item and give it as a gift for Christmas.

I'm usually very thorough with removing price tags before shipping, but the Christmas season is a shipping mad house. I am up until 3 AM most nights after work getting shipments processed. Please excuse my oversight.

[BrickedOut]

I just had the exact same thing happen on a Star Wars battle pack with a $9.95 sticker and the lady bought it for $34.  Amazon seller customer service said that I did not need to refund or accept the return because the item was as described and did not fall under the A-Z guarantee.  I told her that I would take the return at her expense to return the item in the same condition and I'll just resell it.  Worst case she leaves bad feedback, but with the return that should resolve it.

[jaredseiders]

These sorts of claims are maddening, by the way, forgot to commiserate in my first post.   A reminder to all of us to triple check for price markings and get rid of them, by blowtorch or sulfuric acid if necessary.

 

There are a fair few buyers who either don't comprehend reselling or like to pretend they don't comprehend it to try to extort money. Only you can decide if your AZ account is in good enough order at this point in time (as far as claims, complaints, returns, etc.) to absorb a hit. If it is, my instinct is to (very, very politely) tell buyers like this to pound sand.

 

I understand the feeling. This doesn't happen to me too much, most of my items are FBA though so there's no contacting me for returns. It happens though. I can understand her side though. She's probably just nieve and thinks that she should pay the cost of the item. That's what Amazon would charge. I'm hoping that when she realizes I didn't exactly rake her over the coals she's more understanding. But like I said, I'd rather make $7 off of the item than $0. If she were to push hard enough Amazon might make me foot the bill for return shipping to keep her happy. 

[Mos_Eisley]

Amazon sounds dreamy. Flipping is easy.

[Jackson]

Wow.  That's quite an email for one return.  I use a different approach, short and sweet; I give the buyer what he wants or tell him to return the item for a full refund.  I never try to use logic on a buyer or tell him my costs.  I don't think buyers care. 

[jaredseiders]

I had a woman remove a negative feedback by explaining to her that I hadn't exactly made bank off the item she "paid double" for. It works. Buyers don't want to think they were ripped off. Explaining how they weren't can sometimes lighten the mood. If I found out I just paid triple, I might be mad. I might be less mad if I found out that the guy that sold it to me didn't make crazy money either and that he's just a guy like you and me that has costs.

 

It's partially my fault. That sticker shouldn't have been there. The holiday season has done a number on me. I've processed 600 shipments in the last two weeks self-fulfilled. I almost never self fulfill throughout the year. But with Christmas this close, I can't let inventory be shipping to a warehouse to be unpacked by Amazon slaves. That could take 3 to 4 days and a full week for stuff going to Phoenix (which is usually about 25% of my items).

[Alpinemaps]

Man, sorry to hear about this.

 

I'm in a similar (but not really) situation.  I have a buyer that hasn't received their package yet.  Tracking on it shows that it's left a USPS facility a last week, and was supposed to be delivered a few days ago.  Still not there.  Now, they bought it on economy shipping, so there was no guarantee it would get there for Christmas.

 

I'm concerned at this point that the post office has lost it, and that she's going to demand a refund.  Of course, I probably made about $10 total on the product (trying to do a quick flip).  She paid $70 for it.  I don't really want to refund her anything, but who knows if she'll ever get it?  I'd hate to be out $70 and have no product to show for it.

[jaredseiders]

If it's an Amazon transaction you will have to refund, unfortunately. That's why I try to FBA everything. If the shipment never arrives it's on Amazon. Anything super expensive ($100+) I require signature confirmation on. That's the only kind of confirmation that will stand up to an Amazon A to Z. Delivery confirmation just confirms that a postman scanned it, not that the customer received it.

[Mos_Eisley]

It's Christmas. Stuff takes longer than usual to get delivered. A few extra days is nothing this time of year. I've had First class packages take 3 weeks to arrive in December.

[Jackson]

People need to take responsibility for their own spending on luxury items.  The price of an item is almost always going to be lower in some other place and/or at some other time. 

[jaredseiders]

Well, the lady I spoke with told her that Amazon customer service rep named Jay, the same guy that emailed me regarding the matter, told her that if she filed an A to Z claim, she'd win and get her money back and keep the item. So I was bent over a barrel. I basically refunded her to the point that she paid 39.95 plus shipping. Then I called Amazon and bitched out seller support for Jay telling her that when he was in the wrong.

 

I don't want a negative feedback or an A to Z on my record. Those A to Z's haunt your account regardless of whether you win or lose. It's just not worth the cost. /sigh. Can't win them all. This was the only bad transaction I had all year though. So out of 4,254 transactions and 4576 items sold I had one bad transaction, I guess that's way better average than most retail stores. I was on the phone with seller support for about an hour ranting and raving, and then I realized. It's not her fault that the system's built this way. I conveyed that to her, thanked her for listening, and wished her a Merry Christmas.

 

I don't hold any ill will towards the customer or the seller support lady. But Jay from customer service is another story. I told the woman at Amazon that what I'd really like is for someone to go to customer support and smack Jay in the back of the head on my behalf. I also said I'd like for half of my lost money ($15) to be directly withdrawn from his pay check and deposited in my seller account. I think she thought I was serious because she said they can't do that. I told her I know, I was being phaecetions (spelling?) and I was just trying to make the point that Jay from customer support doesn't give a damn what it costs me, its not his money. He doesn't care if it costs me $10, $100, or a million dollars, as long as it gets an upset customer off his back and give him good feedback ratings.

 

Blah. I'm done with this sour transactions. I'm not going to let it damper my mood. I was up this year in a big big way, one loss isn't going to change anything. But if I ever get my hands on that weasel Jay, I can't promise anything.

[Alpinemaps]

If it's an Amazon transaction you will have to refund, unfortunately. That's why I try to FBA everything. If the shipment never arrives it's on Amazon. Anything super expensive ($100+) I require signature confirmation on. That's the only kind of confirmation that will stand up to an Amazon A to Z. Delivery confirmation just confirms that a postman scanned it, not that the customer received it.

 

It was an eBay transaction.

[justafrog]

It was an eBay transaction.

 

eBay and PayPal will both stand behind you if there's a delivery scan AND the package is under $250. However, without the delivery scan, they will refund the buyer from your PayPal account or backup funding method.

[Alpinemaps]

Yeah, that sucks.  It left here, it got scanned in at a distribution center, and it shows that it left the distribution center last week, with an expected delivery 2 days later.  And that was 5 days ago.

[justafrog]

It's likely to break loose and get delivered after the 26th - if you can make nice noises at your buyer and hold her off a bit, assure her that you'll be glad to refund if it doesn't arrive, etc., you'll probably be fine.

[akohns]

I'd stand your ground if it's an ebay transaction. Most buyers will back down in cases like this. I had a guy message me the other day because he paid $22 shipped for a SW battlepack from a couple of years ago. He said I must have taken him for a sucker. And always try to be nice and explain that I operate a business where I search all over for hard to find items and that I pay ebay fees, paypal fees, shipping, pack handle the item as well as pay my taxes, so it's not like I was making a killing off him. He changed his tune pretty quickly.

[jaredseiders]

Eh, I explained all of that to this lady. But Jay from Amazon told her straight up she'd win an A to Z case, so when I told her what I would consider she told me she'd just go the claim route instead. I completely hit a wall. 

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

I cant stand these - Its like making money is dirty, right? Oh you paid less than I actually paid? You basterd!!! Thats freaking retarded.

 

I always take stickers off things if I can, but it shouldn't matter. I had a few people complain about my captain america sets because I left a clearance sticker for $6.50 on it - thats when I learned.

 

Speaking towards that, I freaking hate some people. Have 5 returns so far this month - 3 people who didn't read and didn't know it was no minifigures, one who was mad because it didn't have a box (again in the title) and they said "they couldn't wrap it without a box", and then a third because "it didn't get there fast enough". Well you knew when you bought it how long it would take to get there?

 

It really makes me mad, but I think Ebay should pay original shipping back to you if someone returns an item. They push returns so hard, so they should help. I am up to about 60$ in loss during december off things that weren't my fault. Definitely agree its the price of doing business, but at the same time I am not a retailer or some giant chain. These profit margins just get slimmer and slimmer.