How far should I go to help this customer?

[nodeal]

I have been reading on the forums a lot lately, and it seems to me many of you go above and beyond to help your customers, as positive feedback and excellent customer experiences seem to be crucial in growing and maintaining stealth accounts.

Recently I had a customer message me regarding a phone case I sold to him. He said after a couple days of use, the case has gotten scratches on it, and asked me what I plan on doing to help him with his situation.

I have a 14 day return policy, and obviously there is ebay buyer protection on his side. However, how do I know this guy didn't just scratch/scuff the case himself through his own abuse/misuse/carelessness, and then thought it would he a good idea to make it seem like it's the fault of the product and demand his money back?

I know ebay is notorious for siding with buyers. I just would like to know how you guys would handle a situation like this? What is the best course of action for me to take? Should I just respond favorable to the buyer and appease his requests? Or should I take the "it's not my responsibility" route.

[Bunneh]

To be honest with you, if i bought a new phone case and just after a few days it was covered in scratches, i would be most upset.

There is no 100% way to prove it is the product fault or the buyers fault.
But if you value your account, i would suggest you replace it for them.
Otherwise you risk a case being recorded and a negative rating.

I know it is annoying and you lose profit this way, but if this is not a regular thing then this should be fine, if it happens a lot then you need to look at the product you are selling & where you source it from.

[nodeal]

Thank you Bunneh. I have sold many of these cases and customers seem to be very happy with the product up until this point. You are right, though. It totally is not worth risking any unwanted attention or negative feedback. Thank you so much for your response!

[AuctionsDenied]

Originally Posted by nodeal

I have been reading on the forums a lot lately, and it seems to me many of you go above and beyond to help your customers, as positive feedback and excellent customer experiences seem to be crucial in growing and maintaining stealth accounts.

This should be a rule of thumb for any business.

If your %'s of customer complaints is very minimal, then you are golden.

If they are high, then it time to re-evaluate selling practices and products selling.

I would just give the customer what they want.

[rsot]

Return for refund - try to communicate with the buyer to avoid negative feedback -just a one-off return

[jeffweico]

The average return rate for online retailers is about 3%. So, you have to build in replacements and refunds as a part of your business model. If the return rate goes above 5%, you might want to reconsider what you are selling because it could negatively affect your account.

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by nodeal

I have been reading on the forums a lot lately, and it seems to me many of you go above and beyond to help your customers, as positive feedback and excellent customer experiences seem to be crucial in growing and maintaining stealth accounts.

Applies to any type of account.

Seller should do their best within in their defined business plan to accomodate buyer issues.

I make refunds a case by case basis. I do have a defined refund policy. But I have found flexibility within it has often meant buyers returning to purchase again.

Result is a happy buyer, happier seller AND an ebay account that has few issues.
If your existing plan can not accomodate the refund of a phone case, then you may need to re-value it.

[jeffweico]

Originally Posted by GreenBean™

I make refunds a case by case basis. I do have a defined refund policy. But I have found flexibility within it has often meant buyers returning to purcahse again.

This is SO TRUE! I once sold a book to a buyer who was upset with their purchase. I had honestly assessed the book as being in "Like New" condition and the buyer said it was "Very Good" at best. We worked out a deal, and I refunded 50% of the purchase price.

It turned out that the buyer was a library. Now, I get a couple thousand dollars in business each year from them. Why? Because they know I will stand behind what I sell and they trust me.

[rama]

You go as far as needed to make the customer happy and to safeguard your business.

There are customers who are needy, picky and impossible, but this comes with the business.

All of us professionals who have ebay , pp & amazone always on the buyers' side need to be very clever in dealing with such situations & satisfying the customers in order not to harm your account(s).

[JamesNorth101]

The three options are offer a full refund for the return of the product, a partial refund, or a new replacement.

Offer all options to the customer, and go from there.