Question about refunding, please help!

[ShannonClarkPhotoArt]

Hi everyone,
I'm having a little problem. I had a customer order one of my prints today and I printed it but for whatever reason there is this awkward line of discoloration on the bottom. I've printed it at smaller sizes and have not had this problem.
I know I can't send it looking like that so I feel like I need to contact the buyer and tell them what's up and refund their money via paypal. I hate to do this :(, what would you do? and how do you refund money via paypal?

ps i wrote this to the buyer (please let me know what you think)

Hi there!
I hate to do this but for whatever reason, I am having problems printing your order. I've printed it before and there were no problems, but for whatever reason, today there seems to be an awkward discoloration mark that even after editing the spot in software, seems to be still present after printing 4 copies :(
I would like to return you your money for the order, because even though it's small, I am not happy with the appearance of the photo :-/. If you would like to not have the money returned i'd be happy to print you 2 photos from my shop of your choice for no additional cost.
Let me know! I see you are a shop owner as well and can probably understand where I'm coming from hopefully..Sorry for any inconvenience!

Shannon

[pillowsophi]

Hi Shannon. That's a shame! If I were you, I'd try every way I could think of to get the photo to print before giving a refund. However, if it comes down to it, you can refund the customer by going to the PayPal transaction page and clicking on the refund link (please let me know if you need help finding it).

Are you sure there isn't a problem with your printer? Does the line show up only on the one photo, or is it the result of the size?

I hope you find a way to get this sorted out... good luck!

[ShannonClarkPhotoArt]

@pillowsophi

Hi! Unfortunately it's happening with all the photos, in the same spot (an awkward discoloration across the bottom inch of the photo :(. Printer has ink and was working fine when I printed out some orders earlier. So i think it's in the print unfortunately..

Thanks for your advice! :)

[Former_Member]

Hi Shannon! I totally understand! I sell art prints as well and this happens sometimes. But I agree with pillowsophi, you need to try everything you can to print this out and fulfill the order before refunding the money. I'm not sure if you print in house or through a printshop? I'm lucky to print in house, so whenever this happens, I can fiddle with the press until I've fixed the problem. But if you've tried cleaning out your press, and nothing is working, and you're on a time crunch, I suggest sending your art to an outside printshop. If the same problem occurs through their press, then you know it's the artwork and you should probably not relist the photo and offer to give the customer her money back or store credit with a discount. In addition, no matter the outcome, I would probably send her a handwritten note thanking her for understanding and patience and possibly a free gift inside the card or a gift certificate.

I hope that helps!

Heather
Pop Heart Press
www.popheartpress.blogspot.com