Is it fair?

I have been thinking about this lately (actually couple of months now).. as you know, i'm selling DD stuff on the market place.. At first, i tried to sell things i bought at the price I bought them and sometimes higher, seeing it has no chance of getting sold, I revised the price and reduced it to a lower cost.. so many people asking and buying (i'm more than happy that people finally bought what i'm selling).

 

I'm very concern with the items that people bought from me and I will start packing the stuff as soon as they paid it.. the next day or 2 3 days after payment, i will shipped the item. since the shipping price i offered is lower than what the post office here charged me, I'm still willing to shipped the item, and yes sometimes i made mistakes (i forgot to inform the buyer that i had shipped the items).

 

here comes the actual discussion part, . normally, shipping using airmail will take about 2 -3 weeks and sometimes it can exceed till a month or more (right??). currently i had problems that items doesn't reach the buyer. i am very sure that the item has already left my country (i keep the receipt and usually will ask the post office about the items if the items still hasn't arrive the buyer). but some buyers, i don't know whether they understand or not, keep asking me for a full refund when actually it is not my problem (after the items left the country , correct me if i'm wrong). i discussed and give suggestions such as offering for a half refund. why? because logically, if you lost the items that you buy, you only lost the money. Me myself who is selling the items, lost the items if they happened to disappear throughout the journey to their (buyer's) home and also lost the money if i do full refund. but yeah, sometimes the buyer still want a full refund and that really dissapoint me.

 

so my questions and asking for opinions actually, do you think it is fair for the buyer to ask me a full refund? IMO it is NOT. because as i said, I lost two things and you lost one. this happened to me recently and i bet more to come after this (i don't know which one is wrong, is it me, or my county's post office or the buyer's country post office?). it's not that I'm against the buyer, no, it's just that i've been thinking where is the fairness of the transaction? so what say you?

I'm going to use DoA logic here. When selling a doll if you state you don't require insurance: "Please keep in mind that if you do not choose insurance, I am not responsible for loss or damage in transit unless the item is misaddressed or poorly packaged."

 

Sorry for restating:

If a item is lost in transit and they didn't specifically ask for insurance for the item then it is completely out of your hands. You have no control of the shipping, and if that's what they ask for then that's the risk they are taking. Imo they don't deserve any sort of refund because it simply isn't your fault. Sometimes things get delayed or mis-routed, which is also not your fault. No reason to refund if you aren't at fault.

 

The only time you can be responsible for the shipping of the item is if it arrives broken due to lack of packaging, or something along those lines. You aren't in control of the postal service, and if they make a mistake it is on their hands. If your buyer didn't pay insurance then that was the risk they took. I've had an item get lost in transit completely, and it is frustrating, but I chose to go via airmail and I didn't get insurance. That was my fault. I get where your buyer is coming from but imo they aren't in the right to be demanding things of you when you can't do anything about what has happened.

 

Just keep trying to see if they can locate it. If it is out of the country though then there is simply nothing you can do, and my advice is you don't refund the buyer.

I agree with Gunter.

 

I purchased Haruka Niimi from you, and she arrived Quickly.

 

Sometimes mail just takes a while to arrive and within reason, people need to have a little Patience =__=

If the buyer did not pay for insurance with their mail, they can not claim or request a refund IMO-- however, if they paid you via Paypal, then Paypal may not take your side if they open a claim/case against you.

Thnks gunter, i agree with you.. They should't do that to me because none of them ask for insurance (only some of them who really want the item to be insured - sometimes i can't do it because of the overprice of the shipping- this, i will be responsible if it's lost)

 

But some, they even demanded me a tracking number which in the first place there's NONE!!!

 

So sad when this happen.. And for oni-chan, thnks.. And yes, they need to be patience because i didn't guarantee ems that will arrive to them in 2-3 days or a week!!

 

And leitan.. YES! That's what i hate.. Paypal! And when they open claim.. I keep on sending mails to the buyer, and finally i was so pissed off, i refunded everything because i can withdrew my money into my bank account because of the claim.. Screw paypal! And screw the buyer!

Paypal will always side with the buyer whenever possible. it's more profitable and beneficial to their business plan. they don't actually care about the morality of the issue or if they're being "fair".

 

as a rule of thumb, if you are ever selling anything valuable and you ask for payment via Paypal, you should require insurance and tracking unless you confidently know or at least trust the buyer's good reputation.

 

having proof of delivery and insurance is the only way you can really protect yourself from being scammed by drive-by buyers - i've read stories on *chan boards where people talk about scamming sellers out of hundreds of dollars of stuff just by seeking ones selling without tracking and insurance and then opening Paypal claims after they get the items. Ebay sellers are especially vulnerable because they can't leave negative feedback AFAIK.

I have lost hundreds of dollars in things I bought not making from overseas. It is just how it is with international shipping. The seller doesn't run the postal insanity, I mean postal system. They can't be held responsible. If I really want something, I will get EMS or tracking of some kind. Gunter is right that you should put a disclaimer in the listing. I think leitan is right that Paypal is very buyer biased. I have read about crazy scams too.