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| | | Author: | stansbrickstore  | | Posted: | May 15, 2021 10:10 | | Subject: | Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 151 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| Hi everyone, I hope you're well.
Today I received a message from a customer saying that ten pieces were missing
from his order, and would I be able to send out some replacement pieces. I quickly
messaged back, apologising and said that I was more than happy to send him new
pieces free of charge. I have a couple of problems though.
For extra information his order was relatively small, 29 items in 11 lots (including
one CMF).
Two of the pieces (the same piece, ordered twice) I no longer have in that colour.
I have offered to substitute them for the same piece in a different colour, or
send some sort of refund. The other eight pieces I have in my store and I'm
happy to send him. What sort of refund is usually acceptable (I'm a small,
new store and I've never had this problem before)? Is three times the cost
of the pieces an acceptable refund?
Also, as I said I'm a small store and I really enjoy picking orders, so I'm
happy to spend extra time ensuring that all of the pieces are in the package
and they're packed appropriately. I'm almost certain that all of the
pieces in the order were packed and I'm sure that the buyer is telling the
truth. Perhaps they could have fallen out during postage (if the bubble mailer
got torn) since the missing pieces are very small and were packaged tightly together.
The value of the pieces is so low (roughly £1) that it's not worth me making
a claim, but for UK bricklink sellers, would I be able to make a claim to the
Royal Mail if this happened again?
Is there anything else I should do to ensure that the customer is happy? I'm
really not fussed about covering the cost of the pieces, I'm more just annoyed
that he has been inconvenienced.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and any advice from bricklink experts
is much appreciated!
Stan. 
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| | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | May 15, 2021 10:48 | | Subject: | Re: Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 60 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, stansbrickstore writes:
| | Two of the pieces (the same piece, ordered twice) I no longer have in that colour.
I have offered to substitute them for the same piece in a different colour, or
send some sort of refund. The other eight pieces I have in my store and I'm
happy to send him. What sort of refund is usually acceptable (I'm a small,
new store and I've never had this problem before)? Is three times the cost
of the pieces an acceptable refund?
|
My rule of thumb is to refund the cost of the parts plus a portion of the postage,
since the buyer is now inconvenienced and will need to order the parts from somewhere
else.
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| | | | | | | Author: | tonnic | | Posted: | May 15, 2021 11:15 | | Subject: | Re: Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, peregrinator writes:
| | In Selling, stansbrickstore writes:
| | Two of the pieces (the same piece, ordered twice) I no longer have in that colour.
I have offered to substitute them for the same piece in a different colour, or
send some sort of refund. The other eight pieces I have in my store and I'm
happy to send him. What sort of refund is usually acceptable (I'm a small,
new store and I've never had this problem before)? Is three times the cost
of the pieces an acceptable refund?
|
My rule of thumb is to refund the cost of the parts plus a portion of the postage,
since the buyer is now inconvenienced and will need to order the parts from somewhere
else.
|
Agreed, 3 times the partvalue is, most likely, not enough unless it was a quite
expensive part...
I always, unless the buyer and I agreed otherwise, reimburse the part and a large
part of the shippingcosts they need to pay again to buy it elsewhere.
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| | | | | | | Author: | MrPetovan | | Posted: | May 15, 2021 12:15 | | Subject: | Re: Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 34 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| As a buyer, I request to be refunded the missing parts price when they aren't
worth a re-ship (like cheap, common parts). I've never thought about asking
to be refunded part of shipping because so far I always have had another expected
round of orders into which the missing parts can seamlessly fit, but it definitely
is something I'll consider if I get close to not needing any more orders.
In Selling, peregrinator writes:
| | In Selling, stansbrickstore writes:
| | Two of the pieces (the same piece, ordered twice) I no longer have in that colour.
I have offered to substitute them for the same piece in a different colour, or
send some sort of refund. The other eight pieces I have in my store and I'm
happy to send him. What sort of refund is usually acceptable (I'm a small,
new store and I've never had this problem before)? Is three times the cost
of the pieces an acceptable refund?
|
My rule of thumb is to refund the cost of the parts plus a portion of the postage,
since the buyer is now inconvenienced and will need to order the parts from somewhere
else.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | May 15, 2021 12:41 | | Subject: | Re: Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 43 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| As a seller, I try not to wait for the buyer to ask. Once the buyer tells me
that something is missing, I offer to send the parts (if I have them) or to refund
the cost of the parts plus a large portion of the shipping (typically $4)
In Selling, MrPetovan writes:
| | As a buyer, I request to be refunded the missing parts price when they aren't
worth a re-ship (like cheap, common parts). I've never thought about asking
to be refunded part of shipping because so far I always have had another expected
round of orders into which the missing parts can seamlessly fit, but it definitely
is something I'll consider if I get close to not needing any more orders.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | MrPetovan | | Posted: | May 15, 2021 18:19 | | Subject: | Re: Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| What if the buyer gave you an alternative (refund/re-ship) immediately with the
package contents discrepancy report like I do?
In Selling, peregrinator writes:
| | As a seller, I try not to wait for the buyer to ask. Once the buyer tells me
that something is missing, I offer to send the parts (if I have them) or to refund
the cost of the parts plus a large portion of the shipping (typically $4)
In Selling, MrPetovan writes:
| | As a buyer, I request to be refunded the missing parts price when they aren't
worth a re-ship (like cheap, common parts). I've never thought about asking
to be refunded part of shipping because so far I always have had another expected
round of orders into which the missing parts can seamlessly fit, but it definitely
is something I'll consider if I get close to not needing any more orders.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | May 16, 2021 08:00 | | Subject: | Re: Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, MrPetovan writes:
| | What if the buyer gave you an alternative (refund/re-ship) immediately with the
package contents discrepancy report like I do?
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Hasn't come up yet! I have had buyers tell me not to worry about a refund
or to only refund the cost of parts.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | MrPetovan | | Posted: | May 16, 2021 09:05 | | Subject: | Re: Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| I've had varied experience with refunds, when I wasn't mentioning the
amount some sellers refunded the part price but not the New York State sales
tax (8.8%), so I've started adding the tax part to the requested refund.
The last couple of times I've done that, sellers have refunded me more than
that. So I think it balances out for me in the end even if it's at the expense
of a couple generous sellers for which I left Positive feedback despite the missing
parts.
In Selling, peregrinator writes:
| | In Selling, MrPetovan writes:
| | What if the buyer gave you an alternative (refund/re-ship) immediately with the
package contents discrepancy report like I do?
|
Hasn't come up yet! I have had buyers tell me not to worry about a refund
or to only refund the cost of parts.
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| | | | | Author: | happyshopper | | Posted: | May 15, 2021 11:53 | | Subject: | Re: Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 42 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| I once had another seller message me to see i would ship a couple of parts to
one of their customers that they were short of. They purchased the parts and
provided the address of their customer might be another option which will save
further postage costs for your buyer.
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| | | | | | | Author: | stansbrickstore | | Posted: | May 15, 2021 12:14 | | Subject: | Re: Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, happyshopper writes:
| | I once had another seller message me to see i would ship a couple of parts to
one of their customers that they were short of. They purchased the parts and
provided the address of their customer might be another option which will save
further postage costs for your buyer.
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Thanks, I'm considering doing this.
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| | | | | Author: | hpoort | | Posted: | May 15, 2021 12:14 | | Subject: | Re: Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, stansbrickstore writes:
| | Hi everyone, I hope you're well.
Today I received a message from a customer saying that ten pieces were missing
from his order, and would I be able to send out some replacement pieces. I quickly
messaged back, apologising and said that I was more than happy to send him new
pieces free of charge. I have a couple of problems though.
For extra information his order was relatively small, 29 items in 11 lots (including
one CMF).
Two of the pieces (the same piece, ordered twice) I no longer have in that colour.
I have offered to substitute them for the same piece in a different colour, or
send some sort of refund. The other eight pieces I have in my store and I'm
happy to send him. What sort of refund is usually acceptable (I'm a small,
new store and I've never had this problem before)? Is three times the cost
of the pieces an acceptable refund?
Also, as I said I'm a small store and I really enjoy picking orders, so I'm
happy to spend extra time ensuring that all of the pieces are in the package
and they're packed appropriately. I'm almost certain that all of the
pieces in the order were packed and I'm sure that the buyer is telling the
truth. Perhaps they could have fallen out during postage (if the bubble mailer
got torn) since the missing pieces are very small and were packaged tightly together.
The value of the pieces is so low (roughly £1) that it's not worth me making
a claim, but for UK bricklink sellers, would I be able to make a claim to the
Royal Mail if this happened again?
Is there anything else I should do to ensure that the customer is happy? I'm
really not fussed about covering the cost of the pieces, I'm more just annoyed
that he has been inconvenienced.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and any advice from bricklink experts
is much appreciated!
Stan.
|
Best at this stage would be to source the missing parts elsewhere, especially
since you already messaged the buyer you would send the parts. Dropshipping is
an option.
In other circumstances, always ask the buyer what they would prefer, be it a
refund+compensation (often good enough), alternative replacement parts, you going
an extra mile to source the parts elsewhere (always very much appreciated) or
even the rarely useful coupon for a future purchase.
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| | | | | Author: | cosmicray | | Posted: | May 15, 2021 18:45 | | Subject: | Re: Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 54 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, stansbrickstore writes:
| | Perhaps they could have fallen out during postage (if the bubble mailer
got torn) since the missing pieces are very small and were packaged tightly together.
|
Bubble mailers have their place, and lots of sellers use them (for obvious reasons).
Any parts I sell go out in a cardboard box. I have very small boxes (designed
to carry one cassette tape) that can handle up to three minifigs. Thus far, I've
had no reports of parts lost in the mail.
Nita Rae
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| | | | | | | Author: | roball1956 | | Posted: | May 16, 2021 03:33 | | Subject: | Re: Missing pieces from an order I sent. | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| In Selling, cosmicray writes:
| | In Selling, stansbrickstore writes:
| | Perhaps they could have fallen out during postage (if the bubble mailer
got torn) since the missing pieces are very small and were packaged tightly together.
|
Bubble mailers have their place, and lots of sellers use them (for obvious reasons).
Any parts I sell go out in a cardboard box. I have very small boxes (designed
to carry one cassette tape) that can handle up to three minifigs. Thus far, I've
had no reports of parts lost in the mail.
Nita Rae
|
PIP boxes (price in proportion) are much better for orders. They come in a variety
of sizes and are available online (ebay/Amazon/direct). If you buy in bulk they
work out at about 14p each, usually cheaper than bubble envelopes.
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United Kingdom, England
USA, New Jersey
Netherlands, Noord-Holland
