Life Goes On..love hate ebay

Don't you just love ebay?

Don't you just hate ebay?

Well, which is it? I love that I can sell on ebay, it's my job, stay home, be my own "boss" and earn a decent income. I hate it when ebay goes wrong.

I have been dealing with two very different customers in the past several weeks. Customer A emailed me to tell me she had received the skirt, didn't like it and wanted to return it. Ok, return it and I will refund your purchase price, less 20% as per my return policy. She gets "all up in my face" about my hidden return policy. What? In a very professional way I explained that everyone on ebay has to have a return policy, even if its no returns. After returning the item and demanding her entire amount refunded we had several "conversations". I tried to be as professional as possible, explaining that the fees that she wanted returned were collected by ebay and I didn't have them to return them. In fact the 20% restocking fee only barely covered the fees, which is true. After two emails she stopped. End of story.

Customer B, on the other hand, was not going to give up. She emailed me that she wanted to return a skirt because of  "unexpected condition". Whatever that means, I instructed her to return and I would refund. She did and I again charged the 20% restocking fee. Well, then all hell broke loose. It seems that unexpected condition now means that it was not as described. Why? Because the hem of the skirt had some threads hanging down that I failed to mention. What? This was a silk skirt and there were maybe 6-8 single strands of silk hanging down from the hem. Not frayed, not damaged but something very, very minor. The "damage" probably occurred when I washed the skirt and didn't think to clip the hanging threads. Mind you these were the woven fabric silk threads, not sewing thread. Not very visible.  Again, I tried to keep it professional explaining that the only reason I charged the restocking fee was to cover the ebay fees. After 5 or 6 emails of her demanding a full refund and calling me all sorts of names, I stopped restating the issue and let it drop. Then she opened a case, not as described, and wanted her money back. The original shipping, the 20% and the return shipping. I took a deep breath and called ebay. Ebay said to let the case sit and since I had refunded I was OK and it should be ruled in my favor with no defect.

Well, long story short, ebay refunded her money and did not charge it back to me. I will keep an eye on this case and see if it affects my rating. Who knows.  I've about decided that it's not worth the headache to try so hard to keep the TRS status. I try and along comes some crazy and wrecks everything. And for what? $7. I could have refunded her the $7 when she started her name calling, and email rant, but gee whiz the skirt was as described and she didn't like it and wanted to return.

When I do utilize the 20% restocking fee, as plainly stated on ebay, I get jumped all over by an angry customer. Honestly, I do understand that every $ counts, but I have one suggestion for customers.
READ THE DESCRIPTION, LOOK AT THE PICTURES, AND READ THE MEASUREMENTS

It's so simple, a child could do it!

Oh, and one more thing. When I list an item I have started giving shipping options. First Class if applicable, and then Priority Flat Rate. Sometime first class is free, sometimes not. It is up to the buyer to choose slow or priority. But it costs.

Both of these skirts were shipped out first class and both were returned priority flat rate. Why? Because the buyer thought they would get refunded for the priority? Because the buyer didn't give a rats ass?

My money is on the rats ass!