Customer is claiming return for 'inaccurate website description' before they have received it
I really need some advice!
I dispatched an item yesterday from the UK to America. Within a few hours of the dispatch notification going out, the customer had requested a return claiming ‘inaccurate website description’. Either Royal Mail have suddenly become the fastest international courier service in the world or the customer is lying.
What should I do? This could be an innocent mistake on behalf of the customer, but I imagine they have simply changed their mind, but selected this reason in order to avoid having to pay for a return. So is there anything I can do about it? Is this going to affect my metrics on this product when clearly there is nothing inaccurate about the description? All my items are handmade so seller fulfilled.
Thanks in advance!
20 replies
Seller_oeNSjAsIEd8sm
I think you should open a new case about this issue to amazon
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
The honest person in me thinks they may have selected the wrong order
The cynic says its more likely they were hoping that you have returnless refunds set so they get a freebie
If its not set to auto refund, accept the return and tell them the usual about refund on return
Seller_DROodOAYHftnc
Was just about to ask the same !
Will the cost of return be more than the item is worth , or close to it ? Is it worth cutting your losses ?
Seller_ae51e0CJoHqCX
I had exactly the same yesterday and in my case I blame Amazon for this one.
You see I offer 1 day and 2 day posting options as well as standard. the issue is that customers see the listing and a price that says free posting whilst at the same time showing the next day delivery but it is not clear that you have to pay extra for the option and the customer quickly buys the product.
Shortly after making the purchase they will then receive a message from Amazon with a much longer delivery date and they then say it was misleading and put in an automatic return for not getting it on time. This is why I got the message that the description is wrong even though they have not received the item.
It not only causes issues for you on ensuring the return goes smoothly but you also end up taking a hit on your product stats.
Seller_B4VbHpnDLDLAU
Most of my return requests yesterday were not as described when they are. They are purley using it to see if you do free returns or to claim free returns postage. [we have been doing partial refund in these cases]
Seller_74kGI1wl29wRl
Thanks for the help everyone.
I’ve had a response from amazon seller support who have advised that I approve the return and when the package comes back, I refund the cost of the item minus any shipping costs I had to pay. Presumably, if the customer then puts some kind of claim in, I’ll have the email from amazon to justify my actions. Not entirely confident that amazon will have my back but a good result for now.
Seller_6sxtIS0RbZ5k7
If it’s not cost effective for you to pay for the return and you have little chance of reselling it, ask them to send you a photograph of the item cut in half and you will then refund without a return. Somebody on eBay did this with me once for a low-priced rug, I had to send a pic with a chunk cut out.
Seller_FEO0des6cjAyK
the first thing to do is make polite message to the customer and try to get to the bottom of the issue, if they have made an honest mistake you can ask the to remove the comments
Seller_FEO0des6cjAyK
call amazon and ask for a solution, they will at least send you a link to the correct department so you can send an email asking them to look into it
Seller_6sxtIS0RbZ5k7
The other thing that occurs to me (if people are getting a lot of requests for refunds before the customer has even received the item) is mark as dispatched but delay posting until the next day (assuming the estimated delivery date would allow for that) to catch out the ones who try for a refund or bogus ‘cancellation’ once they receive the dispatch notification. You can then hold onto it so you’ve not lost the item and they’ve not gained the item. I’m not sure if you can cancel Amazon postage but you’d have lost that anyway.
