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Etsy Sale Confusion


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I have a woman that recently purchased two handmade mugs from me which were listed at $20 a mug plus shipping. In the first line of the description I stated 'mugs are sold individually, select quantity when ordering'. She selected a quantity of '2'-so I shipped her two mugs. She just contacted me stating she 'thought she purchased two sets of 4 mugs at $20 a set. That's right-she thought she was getting a set of 4 mugs for $20!!! The reason she thought this was because when I first listed the item I did have 4 of them, so two of the etsy pictures show 4 mugs. However, as I said I DID state 'sold individually' very clearly.

 

I'm trying to brainstorm on how to make this customer happy but I have no idea. I offered to make her more at similar cost, she's not interested. She lives in CA, I live in NY so shipping is quite expensive as well. I don't want a bad Etsy review from her but I'm also not willing to make a bunch more mugs for little or no money.

 

Any suggestions???

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Maybe the best thing would be to point out to her that you had made it clear that the price was per mug, not per set and offer her a refund on receipt of the undamaged mugs, returned at her expense. This would be the normal procedure and it was obviously her mistake if your listing was clear. At the end of the day, she was buying online and needs to read the description carefully. Any doubts, any uncertainty - ask the question!

 

Somehow, I doubt that you will ever make her happy. Whatever the outcome, there's always the risk of a bad review but if your listing was clear then anyone looking at her comment would say 'silly woman - 8 hand made mugs for $40? Be sensible!'.

 

And I would not give out my phone number, even though I agree that talking is better than writing for sorting out problems.

 

Girts

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Got to love the web for ceramic sales

This sounds like 7 or 8 emails and still will not be right

I would not have any photos of anything but the exact thing you are selling

Welcome to customers who are clueless

Because of this you need to be more clear than you now are on what is offered and how they are photographed

You eat the costs and make her happy or explain what's the deal and hope she gets it,some will never get it.

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Yes it's not ideal that there were photographs includes of 4 mugs, and only two were available to be sold individually-my bad. I really relied on 'common sense' with this but obviously shouldn't have. Who thinks that four handmade mugs are $20 totally????

 

I suppose I can offer her a refund of the products themselves which is $40, but if offer her a refund of everything paid then I loose $20 shipping myself. I'm definitely not going to give her my phone number though, even though I understand communication would be clearer that way.

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If I was in this situation I would refund her the money, give her the two mugs and tell her sorry for the confusion.

 

There is a certain perception I want to have of customers satisfaction on my shop and my reviews being the best they can be for long term success. Buying pottery online is a difficult business you want all the pluses you can get.

 

It hurts to lose $20 dollars and the two mugs sure , but really if she leaves a bad review you have no certain idea of how much damage the review will cost in the long run as you can't quantify the unmade sales that could have came from that review. How many reviews do you have?

 

Also your hoping if she does make a bad review, that she does so in a way that makes herself look bad. Very low chance this will be the case. The review will probably be something like, "seller mislead me and I am not happy."

 

That being said people are really dumb. Etsy is the internet, most people on the internet are not the brighter bunch. If you pictured four mugs and someone was on their cellphone in a hurry then they saw that you had to option to buy 2. This mistake will happen again and again.

 

You learned the mistake and its time to decide if you want to stand behind it being your fault or the customers. This will be the attitude of your shop going forward if she leaves a review.

 

The other option is you could just say no sorry that wasn't the deal. Ship the mugs back, I will refund you money and you get you mugs back and lose $20. There is a chance she might leave a review stating that you mislead them and then you can report the review to etsy because if you made no mistake they might take it down.

 

So in that situation your relying in etsy to fix the problem and you still lose 20$ but you get the mugs back.

 

IMO mugs are cheap to make and 20$ is a cheap learning experience. I would do what ever possible to resolve the problem with the customer so that your reviews are healthy if you plan on making etsy a long term goal to earn extra income.

 

There is even a chance she leaves a good review when you just give her the money back and the mugs and explain your sorry for the mistake. However this is not a huge opportunity for that to happen, but some people will feel pretty special to get that kind of service. Since deep down she knows in her gut that it was her fault and she is just trying to get one over on you.

 

Good luck and keep us posted on what happens.

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Etsy and PayPal will side with you, the seller, as the description was clear.

 

Don't be held hostage in fear of a bad review. Etsy is a culture all its own. Most etsy buyers are good and reasonable. But there are some that use any angle possible to get their stuff for free. And too many sellers will cave in fear of a bad review. That person will NEVER be a loyal customer. if you give a full refund the buyer can still leave a crappy review. It's how the ball rolls.

 

I have several Etsy shops and have learned to keep communications short and to the point. Lots of convos only fan their fury. Keep all communications within Etsy or Etsy cannot and will not protect you.

 

If you receive an unfavorable review you as the seller have the option to respond publicly. Buyers read the reviews and can pick out the scammers instantly. If the review is truly hateful you can appeal to Etsy to delete it. Just DO NOT under any circumstance cancel the order. Once the order is canceled Etsy can no longer remove bad feedback.

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Joseph said "IMO mugs are cheap to make and 20$ is a cheap learning experience."

 

I echo this advice. To me, being a good business owner means having a hyper sense of responsibility, accepting more than your fair share. There was some room for misinterpretation in your listing, therefore this situation could have been prevented, therefore this is 100% your responsibility.

 

The people who are advising you to seek justice for yourself aren't wrong, it's just that this advice assumes that you are dealing with a reasonably intelligent person. So far your customer appears to be dimwitted and clueless about handmade pottery. Mark C. said "This sounds like 7 or 8 emails and still will not be right" and in my experience this is correct. Not worth your time! And really the mistake here is that you assumed that all customers read carefully and have common sense. But now you know better, so spend your effort on things you can control, such as making sure your future listings have no room for misinterpretation.

 

If it were me, I would apologize for the confusion, refund her money, and let her keep the mugs. I would not bother having her ship them back, because chances are she won't pack them correctly and you'll get broken mugs. Again, this was not an expensive lesson.

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There have been a number of threads on this forum about people coming to your booth with a broken pot that they had purchased previously wanting a replacement.  Or something of this nature.  I remember Mark C. and Mea saying a number of times that you do what you can live with. This was a hard lesson learned for you, but you can turn it around to something positive.  So if that means, letting this particular customer get by with this, I truly believe it will come around eventually to your favor.  Mark C. has talked about people not having the money at the time and telling them to send a check when they get home.  I have done this also.  It always works out.  You may have to bite the bullet on this one and chalk it up to lesson learned, no more effort wasted on it.

 

And BTW Joseph???  Mugs are NOT easy for everyone!! :rolleyes:

Roberta

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And BTW Joseph???  Mugs are NOT easy for everyone!! :rolleyes:

Roberta

 

I didn't say easy! I said cheap! A few pounds of clay cost like 2 bucks.  <_<   :D

 

The thing is there is nothing easy about letting go of product that you took time to make, box, ship, and then having to deal with a customer who isn't the brightest. But in the long run there will be less of these customers than good ones and I think it's best to never risk not getting a good customer because of what a bad one said in a review. That is my bottom line on how I have always ran my businesses in the past and when I worked for others as well.

 

I also think all top businesses have these same policies. I moved into my house and found out the previous owner bought a $600 kitchen sink facet! I was in shock when I read the label, so much to my dismay I couldn't find the parts at the big box store. I went to the website and called the company and they instantly sent me a $90 set of replacement parts next day delivery and said they were sorry for the faulty facet leaking. I even told them I wasn't the original purchaser and they didn't care. It was their product installed in my house and they weren't going to hide behind that. That is one of the reasons they probably get to sell $600 dollar facets. Good customer service is worth a lot of value, a lot more than a few mugs and feeling like you were justified.

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Guest JBaymore

It was their product installed in my house and they weren't going to hide behind that. That is one of the reasons they probably get to sell $600 dollar facets. Good customer service is worth a lot of value, a lot more than a few mugs and feeling like you were justified.

 

 

"Sell on quality, not on price."  Tom Peters

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Yes it's not ideal that there were photographs includes of 4 mugs, and only two were available to be sold individually-my bad. I really relied on 'common sense' with this but obviously shouldn't have. Who thinks that four handmade mugs are $20 totally????

 

I suppose I can offer her a refund of the products themselves which is $40, but if offer her a refund of everything paid then I loose $20 shipping myself. I'm definitely not going to give her my phone number though, even though I understand communication would be clearer that way.

 

I'm going to echo what a couple of others have said and strongly recommend NOT communicating with her anywhere but via Etsy. If you have communicated anywhere else they will do nothing for you in case of any issues or if she was to open a case. What Etsy is going to do if the issue comes to them is look at your listing. If you clearly did state what the person purchased by buying this listing, they will back you up. If she leaves a review of 1-3 stars you can post a carefully worded reply making the situation clear to any customers who view it. 

 

If you wish, you could offer to pay to ship them back and, upon receipt in their original condition, issue a refund minus shipping. But that is the maximum loss I personally would be willing to accept on the transaction. You are under no obligation to let her keep free stuff. I know a lot of people on here are saying to refund the purchase price of the mugs and take the loss to keep the customer happy. But I disagree for three reasons.

 

>> 1. This kind of customer is not going to be happy no matter what unless she gets 8 mugs for $40.

 

>> 2. Someone who wants to buy $5 mugs and doesn't read listings is not "your" customer anyway.

 

>> 3. Why should you have to bribe someone to keep them from being nasty to you?

 

To prevent this from happening in the future you can add a "listing variation" with price. I do this quite often now since Etsy Mobile has been causing problems I had never experienced in the past. One variation will say, "One purple Mug" and the price is $20. Then a variation that says, "Set of Two purple Mugs" and the price is $40. That will make it very clear what the customer is paying for when I have more than one item in the listing photo.

 

I have several times had customers who have left a four-star review stating that "the stamp was larger than I expected" or "this was really small for $16" when I sent them an item that was exactly the measurements stated in the listing. I have also had one customer who left me a 2 star review because they read but misunderstood the listing, where I clearly stated "This listing is for one (1) [of this particular] stamp". Whenever this happens, which is pretty rare, I re-evaluate the listing and change anything I feel might be unclear, but there is a limit to what I can do if the person isn't reading the information I put out for them. The big indicator that it is NOT my issue is that for some of these listings I've sold literally hundreds of that item and had only two customers who felt they were misled by the listing photos or the wording. The overwhelming majority of my reviews are positive.

 

For some of my stamps, I show a photo of ten stamps because the listing is for a random item and I want them to be able to see a wide variety of patterns I've made. In the title and in the listing both, however, I state that the listing is for ONE item. I have had customers who admitted to me that they misunderstood the listing or did not read it, yet they expected me to "make" them happy in some unspecified way, probably by letting them have the product for free. I have also had customers who did not read the listing to see the measurements of an item, which in my opinion is incredibly unwise when purchasing on the Internet. So for example one stamp I have that costs $10; the customer ordered the 1 1/2" size when she wanted the 1/2" size. She did not pay attention to the listing, where sizes were clearly defined. I ended up sending her a shipping label, then shipping out the correct size. So I lost half the value of the stamp at that point paying for extra shipping out of my own pocket. After that happened twice I added to my policies that "if the customer does not read the listing correctly, they are responsible to pay for all return shipping to fix the issue". Now, I am at liberty to tell someone who is very upset that I will do something special for them and pay shipping and I can and will do that when I feel it's warranted or if it's a repeat customer of mine. 

 

If you'd like to PM me I'd love to have a link to your Etsy shop so I can stop by to visit! :)

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By the way, I am not rude to my customers in any way. I am being very blunt here but when communicating with them I consider everything I say very carefully and I would never say, "Well it's hardly my problem that you didn't read the listing, is it?" 

LOL Just wanted to clarify that I use more tact than the above post might suggest. 

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Giselle ... How would you deal with a negative review? Can you post an answer below it?

 

If a review is 1-3 stars, yes, you can post a reply. If it's 4 or 5 stars they can say whatever they want and you can't reply but it doesn't impact your average review rating. 

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When I worked the customer service desk at a local grocery chain, we were lucky enough to get some very good training about how to handle the "ugly" complaints.

Typically someone will couch their anger in terms of an "I feel" statement. Eg, I feel angry (frustrated, cheated, etc) about this product/ mistake/ treatment!

You acknowledge their upset nature (I can see how you would feel that way. I might feel the same way if our positions were reversed, etc.) This will typically bring someone out of their immediate ire, and then you can lay out what you are willing (or able) to do to fix the problem. These are your store policies, and you need to stand by them, whatever they are. You are not obliged to be like a chain store if you can't because of your overhead. That said, if you want to be flexible, be flexible! Just set the boundary clearly and stick by it. They don't need the details of why, that opens things up for arguements. Lay it all out factually, and see what they do with the information you give them. If the complaint is genuine, and the suggested fix is reasonable, 99 times out of 100 everyone walks away happy.

 

If they are not satisfied with the reasonable steps you take to make them happy and they still leave a nasty review, you can respond by saying in the appropriate spot "I apologize for this confusion. When you contacted me regarding this situation, I took x,y, and z steps to remedy the situation. I have taken x,y and z steps to prevent this problem in the future." Again, leave emotions out of it, and lay out the facts and the polices in effect.

This way future shoppers can see that you've taken reasonable steps and that their chances of encountering the same have been lowered. It says you are not a scam artist, and this previous customer was in error, without actually saying they were wrong.

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Thank you all for your very sound and helpful

Input on my Etsy problem. I have only conversated with her via Etsy and I decided to not offer a refund. It turned out more reasonable than I thought. I would just have given a full refund. She left a 4 out of 5 star review warming customers that this listing was for '1 mug' not a 'set of 4' and that was that. If I had a storefront and wasnt dealing with high priced return shipping I would have just given a refund. I had enough other great reviews to float the one not perfect one from her. I have since then fixed any listings like that one to avoid any other confusion.

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When I worked the customer service desk at a local grocery chain, we were lucky enough to get some very good training about how to handle the "ugly" complaints.

Typically someone will couch their anger in terms of an "I feel" statement. Eg, I feel angry (frustrated, cheated, etc) about this product/ mistake/ treatment!

You acknowledge their upset nature (I can see how you would feel that way. I might feel the same way if our positions were reversed, etc.) This will typically bring someone out of their immediate ire, and then you can lay out what you are willing (or able) to do to fix the problem. These are your store policies, and you need to stand by them, whatever they are. You are not obliged to be like a chain store if you can't because of your overhead. That said, if you want to be flexible, be flexible! Just set the boundary clearly and stick by it. They don't need the details of why, that opens things up for arguements. Lay it all out factually, and see what they do with the information you give them. If the complaint is genuine, and the suggested fix is reasonable, 99 times out of 100 everyone walks away happy.

 

If they are not satisfied with the reasonable steps you take to make them happy and they still leave a nasty review, you can respond by saying in the appropriate spot "I apologize for this confusion. When you contacted me regarding this situation, I took x,y, and z steps to remedy the situation. I have taken x,y and z steps to prevent this problem in the future." Again, leave emotions out of it, and lay out the facts and the polices in effect.

This way future shoppers can see that you've taken reasonable steps and that their chances of encountering the same have been lowered. It says you are not a scam artist, and this previous customer was in error, without actually saying they were wrong.

 

 

Love this, Callie, I'm out of likes for today but this is wonderful. 

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