Refund issued without being allowed to review it

[#1]

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.

[SheWhoPlaysWithGlass]

Also remember that if you do not fully refund and the customer opens a case, chances are Etsy will refund fully.  I would email the customer a label and fully refund after you get it back.

[SixDegreesOfToto]

Thanks! 

I've done everything Etsy customer service suggested I do (via chat) at this point.  They said if the buyer does not respond, to be in touch again. 

I'd have to look at my numbers on this sale, but I'm not sure there would be any reason for me to send and pay for a return label if I were just going to refund in full anyway.  I think that the profit on this item is not likely worth it.  It might be worth it to just refund in full, cancel the order, and move on from this transaction? 

[JMOldeVintage]

When first reading this I got the feeling that the buyer probably checked out purchasing all items in their cart instead of selecting the items they wanted to purchase. Yes, this would be their error, sort of like a change of heart purchase.

However the OP has Free Shipping on all the listings I see on their main page. Yes shop owners & most buyers know it cost $$ to ship a package. Once shipping is shown as "free" technically & probably legally the buyer is paying absolutely nothing for shipping the item to them. The OP also has a 'no returns' policy so any refund is being done to accommodate the buyer's error. But imo don't stress shipping costs as a reason to give a partial refund & be aware that if the buyer is not satisfied & opens a case Etsy may react differently than a shop owner feels they should. 

[SixDegreesOfToto]

The buyer claimed their computer crashed when they made the order and they weren't aware that they'd made it and purchased it elsewhere.  They were then surprised when it was delivered.  I did everything right on my end and someone having buyers remorse because they weren't careful to review their purchases doesn't seem like a reason for me to lose money.  I'd be pretty upset if Etsy forced me to lose money on a transaction like that, especially when I have a no returns policy. 

I honestly haven't heard anything else from this buyer since their original message to me.  I think they were just fishing to see if they could get any money back since most e-commerce places now will just refund anything, no questions asked, and pay return shipping.  Hopefully, people realize when they buy on Etsy, that they are buying from small business owners who don't have the kind of buying power of Amazon and cannot afford to offer that?