Setting a Fair Refund Policy

Hi, I've searched & read the forum on this topic but none of the previous extensive threads quite answer my question, so I'd be grateful for any advice.

A friend has a shop re-selling clothes from a designer. They purchase wholesale, getting a set number of no copy/trans copies of the outfit/items, pop them in vendors (Zod's EZ Vend in case it is relevant) & sell on.

Last night had a customer who paid for an item but said it was not delivered to his inventory. Checked trans history & yep he had paid, checked vendor & there were the right number of items left in it (i.e. to indicate the one he had purchased had been delivered to him). Have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the customer, & in order to encourage them to come back & offer good customer service he supplied them with another copy.

Now I know SL can be buggy (no kidding!!) but he really needs to come up with some sort of refund policy here that offers the right balance between protecting the innocent customer & not allowing those (few hopefully) people who are out to scam a free item.

So my question... what would other sellers do in this situation? Does he refund/replace on the word of the customer? Obviously as he is buying a limited number of the items this cuts into profits. Does he put up one of those somewhat off-putting signs saying he is not responsible for SL glitches if an item isn't delivered? Any other option I haven't thought of?

Thanks

Hi Danni *waves*

I can see where this could turn into a big problem with resale items. My items are all copy unless a customer requests different, so no problem with supplying replacements, though of course resale can't have those permissions.

If it's a formal agreement with the orginal creator, would it be possible to come to an agreement with them for non delivered items? I can see if a few don't get theirs then the profit and more could be wiped out. You could ask that the customers put the non delivery message on a notecard that can be sent to the original creator so they don't think he is trying to get more for free.

SL is buggy and we regularily don't receive items paid for. Some shop owners will replace, others wont. Those that do are more likely to have return customers. I wouldn't shop somewhere there was a sign saying no replacements.

I almost never check if my customers tell the truth, I simply think they do. It could be that there are some dishonest people amongst them. But it would take me too much time to check everyones story. In some cases, when much undelivered items are involved, I check if customers paid for them. If they did, then I see no reason why I shouldn't send them the items afterwards. I sometimes even throw in an extra gift to compensate for their trouble. I still remember, in my early sl days, how bad I felt when I paid for an item with my camping money and it didn't get delivered.

It's another story when people ask for a refund. It doesn't happen much, luckily, but if it does then I check if they actually paid for it. It happened one time that I didn't check, and I found out that the person was dishonest. But that was only one time in a year of sl. For the rest I usually give the refund if people have good reasons to ask. Customer satisfaction and store reputation are the most important business assets in sl I believe, even if it means a refund. Eventually those customers will come back or tell their friends.

So, I don't have a strict refund policy. I fact, I won't buy myself in shops where I see these sometimes agressive no-refund signs.

In this case, since the designer is the one with the never-ending supply of their clothing, why not ask them to spot you a new one when this type of thing happens?

Same here. I suppose it helps that I have high sales volume so the proportion of such handouts isn't high, but I'm a lot more concerned about keeping customers happy than about accidentally handing out a free copy. If the same person was claiming inventory bugs and asking for replacements multiple times I'll explain that unfortunately I can't keep handing out free copies forever, but that's only happened maybe twice out of hundreds of failed delivery/replacement inquiries.

I have it easier, I guess. My items are mod/copy while no transfer (reasons have been posted elsewhere, so not hashing that up!) and thus I can usually send on a new copy or if a customer bought two copies of the same color, if they want another color, I'll send it on or do a refund.

*shrug*

It really does depend on what you sell,
If you sell clothes
Copy, No transfer then if they recieve 100 versions of the item it makes no difference

No Copy, Transfer, they could claim the item was lost but they have give the original away and want an additional - Lost sale .. .not good

My items are No copy no transfer no mod
No Copy - Items are cheap for a scripted item so I have no problem saying no copy

No Transfer - Avoids issues like didnt recieve where they may give the item away or sell it

No Mod - Scripted Items, cant allow access and support by offering custom fit to customer.

So I dont offer refunds BUT should the customer offer proof of purchase I am VERY happy to replace ANY item no quible gaurantee.

To add to the equation... if what you sell is a custom job, then a no refund should be the way to go. Being very explicite about what the custom job entails and incorporates is very important to prevent ambiguity.

As a reseller you are between a rock and a hard place. The original creator would simply drop a copy from their inventory as it doesn't represent the investment that you have. Each copy you give out, you pay for.

As some have posted, 'public relations' are as important in SL as they are in RL. Although you could not imagine a car dealer dropping you another copy of a car, should you claim yours did not get delivered .

If you take the hard line, you could reduce your potential sales and therefore cashflow, if you are too leanient, you risk loosing any potential income from the venture. My guess is it's about numbers... how many potential losses can you make, before hitting the breadline? How often do people ask you for refunds/replacements? Have you built that into your equation when you worked out the potential revenue gains. Price them too high, they will buy elsewhere, to low, and you could simply go bust if the refund/replacements are too high.

I personally judge any seller by their own sincerity. If they ignore IM's, or dropped NC's requesting assistance for a 'lost item', or are rude with their responces, I go elsewhere. If they plaster their shop with NO REFUNDS WHATSOEVER - DON'T EVEN BOTHER ASKING signs, its a sure sign they won't get my custom in the first place. Also checkout the owners profile, some put Refund policies there, or even worse sometimes, a very rude and direct notice about disturbing them as they have no intention of replying.

I would suggest there are no hard and fast rules. You may want to seek advise from the ilkes of the SLBB, they have some excellent advisory notices to guide you.

I use Zod's EZ Vendor (did you see the "with one line by Oryx" version? ) for some of my stuff. I just suck it up and ask the buyer which he/she prefers: L$ refund or a new outfit. Since it rarely happens (maybe once every few weeks) I'd rather have a happy new customer than a disgruntled ex-customer.

Here are my personal rules for avatar skins and other textured wearables (I understand this may be different for scripts and objects), and a possible solution to the OP's predicament:

1. I set item permissions to either COPY, MOD, NO TANS, or COPY, NO MOD, NO TRANS, provide demos for people to try before buying, and offer replacements with no questions asked.

2. Return=Refund (only from the original purchaser).

In general I offer a generous replacement policy and follow rule #1 about 99.9% of the time. Rarely do I ever deal with #2 because I simply do not sell transferable items. I have been known to offer one time price breaks if someone genuinely tells me they like something else of mine better than what they originally bought. Other special refund/credit cases include people that have bought uneccessary duplicates, or someone who owns all items included in a fat pack who did not receive a discount at the time. I also understand SL has it's inventory problems - Another reason not to sell transferable items, and a good reason to sell copyable items.

Another thing I don't do is use vendors to sell the final product. I always sell only the contents from prims, and never the actual prims. My one exception to that rule is vouchers. They are NO MOD, NO COPY, TRANSFER. The reason I don't worry about selling from a vendor, giving refunds, or replacements on these items is because each one is accounted for in the transaction history and it's explicitly stated that they become void if transfered to another avatar (that includes me and my business partner, since we are the collectors). If someone is scamming the system it is easily traced, and if the system fails to deliver it is easily replaced.

In the case of the OP's mention of reselling items that are transferable and not copyable - That's always going to be problematic unless someone is willing to take the hit for untrustworthy people or system failures. A voucher system might offer that crucial balance the OP is looking for. Vouchers themselves are worthless as a product, but they provide a means of receipt. The customer can confirm a proper reciept from the designer by transfering the voucher to the reseller. The transaction would take place through a split sale where the designer and the reseller agree beforehand on any percentage share of the proceeds. The reseller purchases a set number of product in advance at a discount in good faith. The vendor can then be set up by the designer to sell a set number (maybe 100 NO MOD, NO COPY, TRANSFER vouchers with copyable NO TRANSFER product ) "originals" (so that the vendor depletes) directly to the customer. I realise this is selling the product directly from the vendor, but this is a smaller risk than selling transferable items one wishes to offer replacements on. The customer hands the voucher back to the reseller as reciept of goods. When the vendor runs dry the process can be repeated. If a transaction fails to complete, the designer can offer the customer a direct replacement and not involve the reseller.

Many thanks to all of you who took the time to reply with your ideas

*waves to Denise*

I think we may just wait & see if this is an ongoing issue, before deciding to clamp down, which we are reluctant to do. My gut instinct agrees with what many of you said, those notices saying they will not be responsible, profile entries that are abrupt to the point of rudeness etc do nothing to encourage repeat business.

I have the same setup as your friend and had the same thing happen to me a couple of days ago. I give the person their money back or another copy of the item, sometimes I offer money and the item.

The issue is that there is no delivery receipt on items. Lag can play a key issue, or the item may be in their inventory but they don't know where to look for it.

However it's really a matter of the customer always being right and if you want repeat business and as you can't prove if they got the item (but you can prove that they paid you) you have to take it on the chin.