return guilt

[sonia]

I just submitted my first ever ebay return as a buyer, b/c the candles I ordered (those dansk tall tiny tapers) arrived broken. I know I shouldn’t feel guilty – it’s the seller’s fault for not packing appropriately, but being a seller myself I know what an unpleasant surprise this is going to be for them! Oh well, I hope they take it in the constructive “all lessons are expensive” way.

The good part of this experience was that it was great to be able to see what buyers see in the return process. What was a little annoying was that once I submitted the return request, the item disappeared from my “Purchase History” and the only way I could get info about the return was via the message ebay sent me about it. But then I figured out that in “Purchase History” there is a “show hidden items” option, and once I selected that, I could see the candle purchase again.

Now that I’ve written this post, I’m over my guilt – thanks for the free online therapy. 🙂

[Ryanne]

i never feel bad opening a return, no one ever feels bad when they open a return with you, so you shouldn’t feel bad either.

[Ryanne]

p.s. but i hear you

[Jay]

yeah, I find that the return process gives me confidence as an eBay buyer. But it is built on everyone playing fair and falls apart if either party has bad intentions.

[sonia]

Truth

[Sharyn]

I have a set of silver plate flatware that my grandma passed down to me when I was a teen. I only have service for eight, but I usually have 9 or 10 when we have family over. My son gets a kick out of using the good stuff and asked why I never used my good silverware.

So, I bid and won an auction of somewhat random flatware in that pattern. When I received it, I found a sweet handwritten thank-you note from the seller, so I sent her a return message through eBay.

A day later, I was checking through the flatware and realized that one fork was missing. I’m sure she would have shipped me the missing fork, but what I really need at this point is at least one more knife, so I didn’t bother. I guess I had “return guilt” of sorts mostly because of how nice she was and how surprised I was at getting something handwritten.

[sonia]

Yup – knowing that it’s an actual regular person there on the other side of the transaction does make a difference for me, especially if they write a note or something like that. I would be much more likely to complain about a missing fork if I were purchasing from a big company.

[Antique Frog]

Re packing- beware of giving your buyer “packing rage”. I listed a ‘Tramp Art” picture frame, packed it carefully in hopes of getting a sale. No-one bit so I decided to consign it to a local auction. Took me a quarter of an hour to unwrap it; I was so enraged that I gave myself negative feedback.

I had a number of magazines listed under the wrong name. Sold three (one to a large library in London) when I got a message that they weren’t the “British Journal of Photography” but the “Royal Photographic Society Journal”. Well in my defence it says “Journal” in big letters and it’s about photography… Unfortunately I’d just sold one before the message came in, so I’m going to post it and tell the guy if it’s the BJP he wanted I’ll refund him and he can keep the mag.

I did have a magazine returned recently. Return reason- “Didn’t like it. Was expecting to learn about embroidery.” Buyer managed to select one of a series of magazines about the art of embroidery, with the contents page scanned, so basically they picked one at random and thought it’ld have something about how to push a needle through cloth.

Since I have “seller pays return postage” I ended up paying something like 4 GBP for the disgruntled customer to return it in the original envelope, unsealed. Learnt my lesson there- tell ’em to chuck it in the recycling instead.

[Author]

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