Let’s talk about a $1,000 flip that we sold on vacation that we almost had to issue a refund on. Sharing this experience might help you work through return requests you may receive.
We are on vacation and have been for a few weeks. While on vacation we had a sale for a $1,000 item and we almost had to give a refund for that flip.The item was a KitchenAid 36-inch wide retractable telescoping downdraft range hood. It mounts into the counter behind a cooktop and pops up to vent the steam off. It’s a lot more expensive than a normal hood. I bought this on last year’s road trip.
Put Your eBay Store On Vacation
The sale actually came through while we were on this year’s road trip and I had forgotten to put our store on vacation. That was the first time I almost had to issue a refund. When that happened I messaged the buyer to say, “Hey, I’m sorry. I forgot to put my store on vacation so I can’t ship this out right now but I can give you a refund. Or we’ll be back at this date and I can ship it out.” Be up front with the buyer and know you might have to do a refund if you forgot to put your store on vacation. With this transaction, the buyer’s first response was that she wanted the refund.
It took me a little bit to respond because we were on a cruise ship and I didn’t have good service. I was getting ready to do the refund when she messaged me back and said no, cancel the refund, because she wanted to keep the item. She said to ship it when I got back.
We ended up returning home earlier than expected and let her know we were going to ship the item out sooner. She was buying it because there was a broken one in a house she was selling and she wanted it replaced with the same unit. We even paid $50 extra to expedite the shipping; shipping was $133. We paid $30 for the unit and sold it for $1,000 so I had wiggle room on the shipping.
Handling The Refund Request
As soon as she received it she had a handyman put it in. She messaged me and said, “Please call me immediately. It’s not working.” Normally I don’t do phone calls, but I jumped on the phone with her and she said the handyman pulled a piece off it and it wasn’t working. I even jumped on FaceTime with the handyman and asked him why he did it and he said it was how the old one was. That’s a red flag. He wasn’t an electrician and I knew I didn’t have to give a return once he said that. But I felt bad because this lady bought it and it was not working. She asked me if I would take the return and I told her yes if she would pay the shipping. I was going to deduct $100 from the total price she paid and let her keep the item just so I could cover my cost. I didn’t want to deal with shipping it back because I didn’t want to mess with it.
We felt bad because she was in a hard spot, she had recently lost her husband, and as I was talking with her I told her I knew the unit wasn’t bad. I said I would ask one of my contacts if there was someone in her area who might be able to come look at it. In a few hours she made some calls and found someone to come over to look at the unit.
She got someone to the house and they figured out what the problem was – the filter had come out of the slot. It was a little tiny button that wasn’t making contact because the filter wasn’t in tight, so they fixed it. Disaster averted.
eBay Refund Tips
If you ever get a return request, it’s best practice to keep your communication with the buyer through eBay so there is a paper trail. If you do talk to someone on the phone, follow up with a message on eBay to confirm next steps and what you both agreed on so it’s written somewhere.
Another tip is to keep extra money in your eBay account in case you do actually have to take a return. $1,000 is a lot of money if you don’t have it put away in your reserves.
Good communication is essential. From the beginning I had good communication with this buyer. That’s how we were able to avoid the first return point due to shipping delay with our vacation and the second return point because we worked together and figured out a solution. It’s okay to pause and take a minute to be a detective too before immediately issuing a return. Stop, ask questions, and figure out what’s going on.
Show Notes
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fleamrktflipper/
You can find us at: https://fleamarketflipper.com/
FURTHER RESOURCES
Let Us Find High Profit Items FOR You!
FREE Workshop How To Turn Your Passion of Flipping Items Into A Profitable Reselling Business
Download These 47 Household Items To Resell TODAY!
