Hi all & thanks in advance for any support,
I'm relatively new & I got my first unhappy customer today. She ordered two items and sent me photos of one of them - very blurry since it's small - claiming a stone was broken. (happens to be the one in my icon) You really can't tell from the photos, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt & accept that there must be something wrong with it.
I replied within 20 minutes & offered to repair it for her free (paying shipping both ways at a loss) and she said she wanted a refund instead and is returning BOTH of the items. I'd *like* to say she can't return both, but I don't want to be a bully and the second, unharmed item is my best seller so I expect I can resell it.
Still, my policies actually state returns are only good for exchange value, so presumably I could have told her tough luck? I'm surprised she did not check this before contacting me but her English is extremely poor and this arouses a natural sympathy in me. I don't want her to feel stuck with items she doesn't want, but I also know I need to protect myself from potential bullshit.
Looking for general advice on dealing with returns. I expect it makes all of us feel bad. What's the general standard on etsy? I don't want to be a monster, I certainly don't want negative feedback, but I don't want to be a pushover either. Where's the balance?
Is it acceptable to simply put no refunds in your policy and quote this at people? I don't want to deter potential customers and I never mean to deceive anyone, but I feel at a loss to defend myself. I OVER package my items to prevent damage so I'm not sure how this happened at all. =(