Sellers: how do you deal with things like this?

We are all used to failed deliveries, but occasionally I get asked for help when the person received the item, but then loses it, apparently because of SL's bugs. Normally, I'd deal with it as with a failed delivery so the customer is happy, but what about the more expensive items?

Right now I have a request for help from someone who bought a 1000L bed a week ago, and who now says that it disappeared when trying to rez it yesterday. My thinking is, how come the person waited a week to rez it, and, of course, I know that some people will try to take advantage of the daily 'issues'.

How would you handle it?

IMO I see no reason to not replace something if it is in black and white on your transaction page. It costs nothing to replace that item. Was it transfer ? Even so,I would still replace it. But that's just me.

There are a lot of reasons why someone would buy something and not rez it (didn't have time, impulse buy, looking for a house, needed to clear things for more prims, etc). I have things I bought 18 months ago and have yet to get around to actually rezzing/wearing since they were impulse buys .

I'd just listen to the story and see if it actually makes sense with what can happen, but unless the story is full of obvious holes the bottom line will really be "do you want a happy or an unhappy customer?".

(And always make a note in their profile that they contacted you about a replacement so you can catch it when a certain person comes back again and again)

I agree with Rioko. Sure you may get scammed on occassion by someone getting two for one........but what's the benefit for the scammer if your permissions do not allow transfer? They can't take to the local pawn shop and get anything for it. Most people (yeah, even here is SL) are honest. You can't deny something has happened to cause the problem if it's SL related so your only choice it to do what Rioko said. Assuming you are customer relations conscious (which, friom your initial post, you appear to be).

All my stuff is transfer. That's why it's so easy for dishonest people to scam this last month or more.

The few things I have bought from you, I have rezzed and taken back into inventory three different times. I have had them in 3 different houses due to changing locations and just redecorating.

I think you should do it once, but I wouldn't be doing it a second time for the same person.

In that case maybe you have a good reason to be concerned. Then it's a judgement call on your part. All you can do is investigate as thoroughly as possible and act accordingly.

That's what I'll do, Damien1. I would have done it anyway (I've never refused anyone, whether I have a responsibility or not). It's just that once in a while I don't feel totally happy about it, and I wondered how other sellers handle such things.

Phil, I also think you can volunteer to come to the place they rezzed it and see if you can talk them through finding it. it might be ghosted, and returned to their inventory on a sim restart.

I could do that, of course.

of course, you can do that by PM too, but if they are scamming you, at least you can make them sweat a little even if you still end up replacing the item. perhaps copy/no transfer might be a better choice for the 2nd one.

copy??? a sexbed??? absolutely no way.

I would definitely give them another copy, i lost transfer items when i removed a home and by accident return my own Item, to the owner of the house, seems it was coalesced somehow, with his home...stanger things have happened

I still believe most people are honest....

ok, well i relate 'sex bed' as a no value item, so i perhaps just don't 'get it'. if i had one in my inventory, i'd probably just delete it without even knowing wut it was.

I do agree with that. But one thought has crossed my mind from time to time. Suppose you give another item for one that wasn't delivered, or one that was lost somehow, and later the original one turns up; e.g. when positioning the original, the screen rotated, it flew out of the building, and it couldn't found (as could have happened in this case). Then the seller gives another one. A while later, it turns up in Lost and Found. How many people would be honest enough to return it, and how many would be happy to keep the spare? Interesting thought.

i think most - but not all - would keep it.

if my lost D&D dog ever comes back, i will return it to D&D because they replaced it. so far, that's the only no copy item i've ever lost that mattered to me to try and replace. i actually would have bought another just as easy (and almost did without asking for a replacement), so kudos to the company for trusting in me and giving me one.

I often (not as often as i would like, sadly!) have a shopping spree, have been known to spend many 1000's of L$ Within a short period of time.

My point is: I often dont get to see/open many of said purchases until days, often weeks after I bought them (Hey...I love to shop....Shoot me! )

Only one time has a store/creator refused to help with a problem I had with delivery (tiki hut for my then 4096 plot) Unfortunately for him/her I went on to spend a small SL fortune on house, decking, furniture that a south facing corner Island plot needed...

Needless to say, I never bought anything else from the store/creator that implied I was lying and or thieving because it was over a week since I purchased it!

Marie.

I prefer to trust people than not. During one 'issue' a guy wanted a fireplace, but SL wouldn't do any of the transaction. So I gave him the fireplace and asked him to come back tomorrow and pay for it. He paid for it. I much prefer to trust, but I dislike it enormously that SL forces me to even consider that I might be being taken advantage of (failed transactions force it).

I went in to deal with it, and the person was very honest. It turned up in her inventory half an hour ago. She didn't have to tell me that but she did.

If they bought a transferable bed and they lost it I would just replace it and keep a list of customers that you have had to do this with. At the very most they are getting away with paying you half price for each bed. Of course they could be telling the truth and you could be helping a very grateful customer like Marie who would then continue buying at your store out of loyalty.

Hell , I got tons of stuff, some things I brought 6 months ago, I never opened, not sure what they even are
It costs you nothing to replace and you'll get better milage out of 20 satisfied customers than just one out to rip you off. Karma will sort them out.
You got some cash out of them, better than nothing

Not sure if I would do that either because you may be penalizing a frequent buyer. I always go back to the first source when I am very satisfied with the products.

So far I've always helped out my customers. Fortunately this doesn't happen very often, but when it does I always replace peoples stuff for them. At the end of the day it only costs me a couple of minutes of my time and makes sure that I have satisfied customers who might come back or tell their friends about my place. Plus I get a nice warm fuzzy feeling when I get nice replies back say how thrilled they are with the service

Yup I too also have things in my invent that I haven't open and they've been there for ages.

After all this time in SL I've had items not sent when I've paid for and the one where they owner/creator didn't respond at all doesn't get my business again and the other who has resent items gets my business all the time. I've had the misfortune to have this problem occur with 1 seller a few times (NOT the sellers fault but due to SL glitches and bad timing) and she's replaced everything, been quick and sweet about it and I've gone on to spend Several thousands in her shop.

I still believe most people are honest and will only claim for real losses.

I always replace, how I see it is for the odd one that may be 'scamming' me 50 will be genuine and I would rather keep the 50 happy so they may come back or even tell their friends. I make a little note in peoples profiles and thank them for their custom

I have been on the other side of the coin and it feels such a waste if you dont receive any help and I NEVER go back to a store if anything like that happens.

Last year when I started out building I brought some textures from a well known store and for whatever reason I paid 3 times for full perms textures. I sent a notecard and asked if the owner would kindly reimburse me as lets face it..buying 3 sets of the same textures is a bit pointless..lol I never ever heard anything back, I was patient and did try to communicate a few times, I got the message my notecard had been received.. I still get mad at that..but I have had the last laugh really...I always tell my friends NOT to go there if they mention they are texture shopping..back when I paid 3x for these textures I was just starting out building..nowadays I spend an absoute fortune on textures in world...and that store does not get a penny..so for the sake of L$600, they lost a repeat customer and word of mouth.