The Wholesale Forums

[mrsweet]

Hi all

Ok can someone shed some light of item return refunds? do you have to refund total paid by customer including postage? and what about return item postage? do you have to refund this also under DSR etc

I'd like to hear your thoughts please, at the moment we do not refund postage, only refund item cost on return, is this wrong?

Thanks

Andy

[greedyboy]

1) If the item is faulty you pay all charges. In fact the customer is within their rights to make you collect the item from them

2) If it's a change of mind, providing you clearly state the customer is responsible for the return postage then you have to refund the purchase price and the original delivery cost.

There are loads of rules and all on the side of the consumer. For instance an electrical item is expected to work for 6 years. Regardless of the 12 month warranty, if the product fails within 6 years the customer is entitled to a proportion of the price as compensation.

[mrsweet]

As i thought after a quick look over the web, seems the seller have little options v buyer.

I guess we'll refund full costs from no on then...

Can see how returns could kill a bussiness very quickly indeed!

Out of interest how do you cover this loss in a bussiness? is it just a case of right off the bottom line etc...

Thanks Dean

Andy

[greedyboy]

It's a cost alright

I'm in the warehouse today and I am looking at enough returns to fill two pallets! Just have not got the time to get anyone to go through them. One thing we do is every now and again have a massive clear out via 99p auctions and list everything as spares or repairs or do a small test on the item and list the results.

It all depends on your time vs cost. We try and shift stuff quickly and our own brand stuff is pretty cheap to make regardless of the high price tag so there is room to breakeven or even make a small profit by doing it this way. We also put a claim in with our factory now and again and they send us free replacements without the need to return the faulty items.

Alternatively, stay on top of your returns and document/test them as soon as they arrive back.

[mrsweet]

Cheers

No doubt a fulltime job in itself...

We are in the same boat as yourself, there's room in the profit for a loss etc.

I had the idea of spares/returns auctions so we give that a whirl, not at 2 pallets yet but not far off one! maybe 80 items....

Thanks
Andy

[mrsweet]

Another question for you

Do you ask for items to be returned before you give refund?

[greedyboy]

Yes always. We also send an SAE for small items or DHL for large item collections,

[D M]

Originally Posted by mrsweet

Another question for you

Do you ask for items to be returned before you give refund?

You'd be mad not to!

[mrsweet]

What if they ask for another item to be sent out and on receipt return damaged item? etc

[greedyboy]

Originally Posted by mrsweet

What if they ask for another item to be sent out and on receipt return damaged item? etc

Give and take. I authorise it depending on the situation and value.

I had one today on a faulty cable. The customer called and explained the problem and asked NICELY if we could send it out so they 'crossed in the post' sohe can install it on Saturday without any delay.

Not only that he decided to pay extra there and then for a better alternative cable. In these cases I would authorise the replacement before getting the existing one back.

Valuable stuff I normally send DHL to pick up while a replacement is being arranged. Hopefully the next day the tracking will show its been collected and the replacement can be sent.

Each situation is different.