Refund issued without being allowed to review it

[SixDegreesOfToto]

I have a customer who ordered a vintage vinyl record one week ago and it was delivered this morning.  He said that he didn't realize that he'd ordered it and doesn't want it.  He hasn't even opened it yet.  Though my shop doesn't officially do refunds, I wanted to be helpful, so I was willing to offer him a partial refund if he would ship it back to me.  I would refund him the full amount minus my shipping and packaging costs.  I hadn't even offered this option to him yet because I wanted to calculate what the appropriate partial refund would be. 

So I was in the Etsy refund page to calculate what the refund ought to be. I inputted the partial refund amount and hit "enter" on my keyboard, thinking it would calculate all of my fee refunds, etc.  Instead, it just processed the refund, without going to a screen where I could review and confirm it.

I'm so livid about it.  I was able to get someone on chat with Etsy very quickly and after spending a lot of time with them checking back and forth, they said that the refund was issued and I have to take it up with the customer.  They suggested I make a reserve listing that the customer would "purchase" for the amount of the refund that was issued prematurely

I did as Etsy suggested and messaged the customer explaining what happened.  I don't see how this customer has any incentive at this point to do anything because he has already receive as much of a refund as he will get.  I haven't heard from the customer yet and I kind of doubt that I will.

The person on chat did tell me that if I did not hear from the customer to get back in touch with them. I am not sure what they will do for me.  I am not sure what will happen with the fees I paid because I also sold this item through Offsite Ads.

Long story short:

Has anyone else ever had this happen?

And please be wary of that refund page.  Do not hit "enter" as it will just process your refund without giving you a chance to review it.

[Amaradorn]

Etsy does let you review the refund before you submit it, perhaps you missed it?

A quick search on Google brought up this screenshot of the refund confirmation page: the

https://external-preview.redd.it/sn5XOYauXPBbzb-sjWL1zVBOc0ymFypSxq4FiW0Kin0.png?auto=webp&s=9099263...

As for the refund itself - I'd let it go and chalk it up to a learning experience.

[SixDegreesOfToto]

i saw the "review refund" button for sure.  When I pressed "enter," however, it just went and processed it.  Honestly, it did not give me an opportunity to review the refund as I was planning. 

I will probably have to chalk it up to a learning experience, but I hope they fix whatever glitch happened to me and I want to warn others about it.  Thanks!

[SadiesHome]

Yes, I’ve done that before as well, and it was extremely surprising.  I let that one go and have paid very, very careful attention when doing refunds since then.  It sounds like you’ve done everything you can.

[SixDegreesOfToto]

So it sounds like it is designed that way? That if you push "enter," you don't get an opportunity to review the refund first?  Wow.  I hope they change that.

I guess I am lucky that it wasn't a higher priced item.  I only lost about $12 all told.

[SadiesHome]

@SixDegreesOfToto  Haha, I don't think it's designed that way... probably just a glitch.  I know that as well as either not getting/seeing the refund pop-up, I've tried to extend the ship by date by +1, it will go BACK one day instead.  So if you find yourself needing to extend the date, I'd recommend going like +2-3 days ahead, lol!

[ArtDollsbyJD]

@SixDegreesOfToto   It does give you the chance to review.  I've completed partial and complete refunds and it has always given me the page to review.

I suspect it was not Etsy but maybe your browser.  Are you using any kind of ad removal software?  That can paly havoc with Etsy as well as with other businesses,

[SixDegreesOfToto]

This is possibly true. I know that I've issued a partial refund in the past and not had an issue.  I use Firefox and it does sometimes block popups.

[CanningCrafts]

You get fees back including Offsite Ad fees, if you refund & cancel. If the buyer hasn't opened the package, Can they just mark it as return to sender & have it sent back to you? 

[SixDegreesOfToto]

That's a possibility!  I'm not sure?  I wonder who is on the hook for return shipping in that case.  At this point, the buyer hasn't even responded to me, so I think I am just out the money unless Etsy reimburses me. 

[CanningCrafts]

If you shipped USPS, he can just write Return To Sender on the box, assuming it definitely wasn't opened. Then no one would pay to have it sent back to you as far as I'm aware. Sometimes Returns take longer to find their way back home in my experience. In theory, they are supposed to ship back in the same time span. The same tracking # should update, so you should be able to watch its return. Since you already issued the refund, you have nothing to lose by contacting your customer & asking he send it back.

[SixDegreesOfToto]

Thank you! I am going to try this.

[SixDegreesOfToto]

Oh, I just researched it.  Since it was sent Media Mail, it will arrive with postage due, possibly won't arrive at all. Darn.

[CanningCrafts]

I didn't realize that's how it worked with Media Mail! Too bad! You'd get your product back, but perhaps it would be a wash if you had to pay shipping?

[FindingTrail]

@CanningCrafts  this may not be the same, but I sold a book once, on eBay, and the post office clerk entered the wrong house number (which is why I always print my own labels now). The book was returned to me (thankfully, because it was over $100). The mailman personally knocked on my door for the postage price of it being returned to me, the sender. Just a few dollars, but still. Wanted to throw that out there.

Eta: mine was sent with media mail, if that makes a difference 

[CanningCrafts]

@FindingTrail Good to know, thanks! Maybe it's a Media Mail only specification? Or maybe something has changed? I have gotten my First Class orders returned & not had to pay to receive them.

[FindingTrail]

@CanningCrafts  To be honest, I’ve got no idea. I sold a bunch of my books for some quick cash last year, and that’s the only one that I had returned that way. My store here is pretty new, so I can’t speak for 1st class mail.

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

I’m sorry that happened to you. I just want to add that I thoroughly enjoyed browsing through your 80’s section! 

[SixDegreesOfToto]

Thank you! It's my pride and joy! ha ha.

[maggiemaybecrafty]

I've always been able to review my refunds before I actually issue the refund. No problem at all. It sounds like maybe you missed a step during the refund process? If you refund and cancel (you have to do both) you will get your fees back.

[SixDegreesOfToto]

I've issued partial refunds since this happened without a hitch.  I am convinced that there was a glitch either with my browser interfacing with Etsy, or just something in the code of the page.  I'm not eager to recreate it! 

But what happened was this:

I wanted to see what my fee refunds would be and wasn't even at the point where I was ready to issue a refund. I was honestly just checking the numbers to see if it was something I wanted to offer the buyer. 

So I inputed the amount of the partial refund and pressed "enter." At that point, though, the page immediate turned to the refund processed page. 

In the partial refund that I successfully processed since then, I inputed the amount of the partial refund, clicked another box on the page, and the amounts autocalculated and I was able to click "review refund." 

An error was made somewhere that I think is related to the website and Etsy processed a refund that I was not ready to issue because I hadn't come to an agreement with the buyer about the terms yet.  I've made Etsy aware of what happened through customer service chat and they said that a team would look into it.  I will update here if I hear anything else from them. 

[SixDegreesOfToto]

I do want to say that I was surprised that I was able to online chat with someone in customer service and didn't have to wait at all to get ahold of someone.  In the end, they were able to confirm that they couldn't do anything to stop the refund.  I was surprised that I easily got ahold of someone since I have heard horror stories about customer service on the forum.  Maybe things are improving?

[SixDegreesOfToto]

Another seller had the same experience as me and someone has suggested that it might be that my browser is not playing well with Etsy.  I think this is likely.  I know that something glitched out, whether it was on Etsy's end or because of my browser.  It is a real issue, though, so I want to encourage everyone to be careful.  Lesson learned for me.  Thanks to everyone who responded!

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

Since the customer is receiving a partial refund that they didn't agree to, they may not opt to send the package back.  

Also, since you didn't do a full refund, cancelling the sale is not an option, throwing wide open the right of the customer to leave a review and they might take full advantage of that.

Did the customer receive the amount that you wanted them to have?  That option to review the refund has always been there for me so can't comment on your not seeing it.

[SixDegreesOfToto]

The amount of refund that was issued was the amount that I would've agreed to if the buyer had returned the item and paid for return shipping (I have a no returns policy and this buyer just had buyers remorse, there was nothing wrong with the item).  But, yes, since we didn't actually agree to anything, the buyer has no motivation to return the item to me.  I don't expect that he will as I haven't heard from him and, at this point, I'm just chalking it up to a lesson learned on my part.  Yes, the buyer may still leave a review, but he is a guest buyer (offsite ads) and I kind of doubt that he will.  In the end, I lost a bit of money on this transaction and the buyer is keeping a great record and got a good chunk of money back without having to do anything.  He should be pleased?