Partial Refunds and Musings on Customer Service

A couple of interesting things happened today that I wanted to share.

First, as I was preparing to ship one of the items I sold recently (the $30 from yesterday), I noticed two spots on it that I just hadn't noticed before. I don't know if I got them there while packing the thing or if they were there before and I didn't see them. The problem is the buyer had asked me specifically on the listing whether the item had any blemishes, and I said NO but I guess I must not have looked very carefully. I've come to the conclusion (as I've mentioned before) that I just need to take a deep breath before pulling the trigger on some things. If I'd done a better job of inspecting the item I would not only not be in this situation, I would also have realized it was worth much more than the BIN I provided.

In any case, I took pictures of the defects and emailed the buyer before shipping the item off. I figured better they demand a refund before they discover the spots on their own than AFTER. I offered a full refund and a discount on their next purchase. She responded - rightly so - that had bought the item yesterday because she needs it to arrive at a certain date and doesn't have time to go through the whole process again, but at the same time doesn't think the item is worth what she paid given the blemishes. She suggested I apply the discount I offered to the current item and send it to her anyway. I agree, apologized profusely and told her I'd also send her a small token of my appreciation. I'm sending her a small t-shirt.

I know what some of you are thinking. The woman probably realizes I've sold her a hard to find item for peanuts and took advantage of my blunder to get an expensive item for even CHEAPER. That may be the case, but the way I see it, I have three legs to stand on in the eBay marketplace (so to speak).

1) Customer service. I bend over backwards for my buyers. With only 27 stars under my belt I HAVE to if I want to continue building my eBay business. I also need some repeat business if I want to increase my conversion rate.

2) Price. I've done my research. Like I said in my last post, my motto is "don't get greedy." I'm much better positioned than other sellers out there and that helps me attract buyers.

3) Shipping Speed. I usually ship things the day after people pay me. I would do it every time except I don't have a scale, so I have to take items in to the mail room at work to make sure I'm not underpaying for postage.

Anyway, I'll let you know how the situation resolves itself. She seemed pretty happy with my offer, and I genuinely hope she's not disappointed with her item. As far as I'm concerned, my margin is still close to 100% so in that sense $25 is just as good as $30... right? :(

The other interesting thing that happened is before that item sold, another buyer had contacted me with questions about it. Soon after I answered her question, the item sold, and the second potential buyer emailed me saying she was really disappointed since she'd been looking for this specific item for a long time and wanted to kick herself for not using the BIN.

That got me thinking. This buyer is in the UK. What if I invested a little time on local classifieds (Craigslist and the like) and perhaps tracked down the item I just sold so I could resell it to this lady in the UK. Chances are, given what the item is, I can probably find it stateside more easily than she can in London. Soooo .... I am now a woman on the hunt, mostly out of the goodness of my heart, but also because this feels like a good opportunity to generate good will and therefore sales.

We'll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted.