Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Unbelievable

I'm online a lot during the day, checking my orders. In addition to soap, I sell digital products, including some really cute fairy clip art in PSD format that I email to buyers. Earlier this evening I took an hour to eat dinner and watch CNN. Get back online to check my email and find that at 5:13 pm someone bought some of my fairy clip art and paid via PayPal. So far, so good.

The next email I opened, time stamped 5:33 pm, or a brisk 20 minutes later, is a notification from PayPal that the buyer has filed a Non-Receipt of Goods Dispute and my funds had been frozen. I couldn't believe it. My PayPal funds frozen over a 20 minute delay?

Now I am normally a great believer that the customer is always right. I believe in damaged shipments and things that never arrive, even though I've got a delivery confirmation that says it did arrive. I know how things work in real life. Packages get damaged or get lost, and I always replace it. But this buyer opened a dispute over $5.99 within 20 minutes. That is just unbelievable to me. I mean, I once waited 3 weeks to receive a freaking lip balm!

OK, I went to PayPal and communicated with the buyer. I specified the timeline of 20 measly minutes between payment and filing a dispute, stated that I found that kind of behavior astonishing, made a full refund -- and instructed this individual to never buy anything from me ever again. Problem solved.

3 comments:

Tracyw. said...

Wow! how can anyone even think that only 20 minutes is an acceptable time frame to get an on-line, email purchase?
Shame on them. They need to get a life if they don't understand that most people don't sit on the computer all day waiting for orders.I think you did the right thing.

AdornmentsbyMilani.com said...

Hi Steph,
Sorry to hear that happened to you. As one of your past customers, I know how great you are as a seller.

Stephanie said...

Thanks for the shoulder! Yeah, it kind of blew my mind, that 20 minute thing. Fortunately most people aren't like that! :D