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Should I issue a refund when food item is well before expiration date?
 

I sold a local "pastry" item that is made near where I live and sold in local grocery stores. The buyer bought 4 boxes of this item. I went to the grocery store the same day and purchased the freshest boxes they had. I purchased and shipped the items on 2/21/13 and she received them on 2/25/13. The expiration date on the package says 3/14/13 (she even admitted this in the message). However she is telling me they are stale.

I think maybe she might not like them, buy they obviously aren't stale. What should I do here?

How much money are you potentially losing? You have to decide whether a potential negayive feedback is worth your money.

Well this is the reality of doing business on eBay.

If your customer is not satisfied with the item/s, then it is upon you to offer a refund or replacement otherwise you may have a case filed against you along with a negative feedback.

If I were you, I would try to reason with the buyer and offer a partial refund.

Total was $32

I guess I will try to reason with the customer. I just find it crazy the customer can file a dispute and give negative feedback just because they didn't like the taste of an item. It obviously isn't stale. I will just have to get used to this with ebay, I guess.

Re: Should I issue a refund when food item is well before expiration date?
 

You can't say its obviously not stale.

You did not taste it.

They are probably full of BS.

You are selling a perishable item going through the mail, bad things are bound to happen unless you perfect the art

That's true. But I can probably be about 98% since these are cupcakes that are individually sealed and factory packed. I'll see if they will settle for a partial refund.

I'd try to offer the partial refund and see what happens. If it's under $20, I typically just refund it and move on, it's not worth wasting much time over and the last thing I'd want is a neg feedback in relation to ANY edible. Purchasing food on ebay is already a huge leap of faith on the buyers part and even though it could just be an infuriating scammer, I don't want new buyers to have any sort of hestitation when it comes to something they're going to be eating..

Re: Should I issue a refund when food item is well before expiration date?
 

Factory sealed cupcakes sound like they have enough preservatives to last 5 years without getting stale. You are selling these on ebay?

Amount is under $40.

Consider a full refund.

Go back to the supplier. Tell them of the issue. Who's to say there may have not been a fault with the packaging?

It's food. Dont mess about.

Do people really sell food on eBay.....can you send me a nice meaty pizza with chips I am starvin!

Thanks all. The cupcakes are made locally and pretty popular. BTW- I also sell local potato chips on ebay. Granted I just started doing this and only a few sales but I have sold some.

I would give her a refund, forget about it and move on. If you're not going to starve for the rest of the month, that is. If you made a nice profit and it's cheaper to send her another order free of charge, then maybe do that. It depends on your profit margin.

One angry customer is much worse than losing an amount of money you can afford to lose.

I guarantee you she's fat and has sausage fingers. Only fat people buy food on the internet and complain about it.

Tell her you will refund her if she goes for a 2 mile jog and providers proof.

Refund right away.

Not worth the hassle.

I actually sell a food item that is only made close to me and only sold locally and when vacationers are around they cannot get enough so I know what you mean.

For me, I been there before so now I adjusted the listings down from 4 boxes to 2 just in case I get one of those "professional buyers" like you got again.

Betting they are not stale at all.

I would refund but also would be thinking of asking her to return the item.

Not worth it but betting they are not stale at all.

The customer is always right <<<< even though I don't believe it. But I do practice it.

Always give a refund in minutes, not worth the hassle.

Consumers today have way too much power to create chaos.

Will get positive feedback fo'sho :thumb:

UPDATE- I replied and told her I would give her a full refund and asked if she could return the un-eaten cupcakes to me so I could "complain" to the company.
This was her response- "No its fine thank you though very much"

So yeah, she probably ate them all already. Now hopefully she doesn't leave me bad feedback.

VERY bad move to ask her to send back the cupcakes. It's a pretty silly request if you think about it

I disagree. He was certain the items were in date when he sold them.
I do understand that something could go wrong in the mail, however if I was a genuine buyer and this happened to me, I'd send them back regardless, just as you would return bad groceries bought in the store.
As I'm sure no buyer would just throw away $30 by saying ''dont worry its fine''

The OP was obviously adamant he was right in this case and chose to do what eBay would have suggested anyway 'to return item for refund''

Even if he chose to refund her without a return, he could still be subject to a negative rating, as by just refunding for an item, you are basically sadmitting guilt.

So there is no ''very bad'' move in this...only one that was right for him.

let's say the customer wasn't lying. they would have opened more than 1 package to see if a different one wasn't stale. so now you have at least 2 open packages and someone asking to send them back. not a good situation since most people wouldn't 'know' how to send food through the mail.

if they were lying, they know the game and you should just cut your loses.

if they don't leave a negative feedback or open a case then i really doubt they were lying. it would have been cheaper to tell her that you will ship her another order. you have to satisfy your customer. who knows, maybe he would've gotten a repeat customer from this and turned the situation around in his favor.

regardless, asking someone to ship back cupcakes to you just doesn't make any sense.