a guy bought a 1911 S lincoln from me for $20, received it over 3 weeks ago, left me a positive feedback, and now wants to return it. I feel like NO. What should I do?
What is your normal return policy? I would say three weeks in hand is too long to ask for a return on a coin. I would not accept returns on anything after 2 weeks if shipping is involved.
Makes me wonder if your buyer bought a second coin and may want to return one of them (yours). I suppose if you thought you could relist it and do as well, then maybe I would take it back. Otherwise, you would be able to contest a bad review if the buyer takes his compliment back.
This is what I suspect happened EXACTLY. I take GOOD pictures. He selected the "changed my mind" option, I am not granting a return now because of buyers remorse.
Your emotional reaction is understandable, but you should consider whether you want to sever a relationship with a customer. Because the buyer left positive feedback after examining the coin in hand, it is very much like someone buying a coin in person at a trade show. Unless some sort of deception was involved, like the coin being counterfeit, deceptively cleaned and retoned, or damaged and tooled, I think the buyer should own the coin and learn a lesson from it. If deception was involved however, whether by the seller (you, in this case) or someone who owned the coin beforehand, I think the seller should take some responsibility for not detecting and disclosing the problem before offering the coin to the buyer. That might be either a full buyback, or a compromise in the form of a partial refund.
On the dealer level, this makes particular, good sense. Even as a matter of a private sale, it's good advice if something out of the ordinary is made of the specimen (e.g., as you note in your post) after the sale.
eBay is notorious for standing by buyers and leaving sellers in the dust unfortunately. For this transaction honestly i would probably just grant the refund the ignore the headache. A quick phone call to eBay from him most likely could force a refund from you anyway. As long as he pays return shipping i don't see a problem with accepting the return. It is a shame because you could have 100 positive feedback and the one negative is obviously going to glare out to buyers which may lead to you losing sales at the end of the day.
Been in sales and management most of my life, and customer relationships, especially online, in what is essentially a luxury business are essential. I assume this is beyond whatever return period you offered, because if it is within the return period you pretty much must take it back. If not, and the customer has not pulled this before, consider as others have suggested, is $20 worth throwing away any future dealings with a customer who apparently likes your service? How easily can you sell it again for the same 20? Have you reached out to the customer to ask for a reason or if maybe you can interest them in something else? Maybe negotiate for a partial refund and only give back 15-18 dollars to cover your fees and expenses if you are going out of your way? In any case, I say take it back, confirm it is as it was sent, and then block the customer if you don't trust them and move on. $20 isn't worth an ebay case and someone potentially blasting you after the fact online. If it was more money, maybe, but for this, that's my two cents.
Has he bought from you in the past? Will he buy from you in the future? What is your return policy? What is the policy of the web site you sold it through? Three weeks is a long time to hold a coin and then ask to return it. I would contact your customer and find out why he left positive feedback (obviously he likes the coin), why he wants to return it and why did he keep it this long?
You do indeed run into some riffraff over at ebay every now and then........no pun intended, Riff. Before I comment any further, I would like to see a pic of Exhibit A (the 11-S penny). Is this possible, Riff?
He selected "Changed his mind" not "significantly not as described" So take it back but he eats the shipping/insurance charges.
I think Ebay makes sellers state their return options, right? What was the stated return window in your auction? If you stated 1 week, and he wants to return it 3 weeks later... you are not obligated to accept the return at all! However, if it is a solid coin that you are confident in, you should be able to resell it easily. Is it worth the hassle to prove a point? Some would say yes - but that decision is up to you. If he is outside of your stated terms, you are perfectly within your right to refuse the return. And, I really wouldn't concern myself with "losing a potential customer." If this customer is trying to pull something like this (which, admittedly, looks shady), he's not a customer I'd try too hard to retain!
I haven't sold on eBay in a long time, but I always had a strict policy of only accepting returns if there was a mistake made in the listing. "Changed my mind" is never something I accepted as an excuse. If something was wrong because I messed up, fair enough, but I have no sympathy for "buyer's remorse." I would stand my ground on this one.
No. Unless it's being returned for being a fake or otherwise not what was described, the window to return it has closed. If you want to accept the return anyway, it's purely at your discretion. If you do, do not offer a full refund. Maybe $10 to max $15. You have to cover your losses and the extreme hassle.
