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Product sellers: do you ever have people ask for refunds for absurd reasons?

by internetmarketer1
19 replies
I've had people ask for refunds, and I try to refund promptly. I understand if somebody either doesn't like what I teach, they don't understand any of the content, or they already know the information. Usually though, what confuses me is when they would have already gained some kind of success but still felt the need to ask for a refund.

One guy sent me an email saying, "I only sold 8 Teespring with your WSO. It didn't tip. I want a refund since this doesn't work."

Has stuff like this ever happened to you?
#absurd #people #product #reasons #refunds #sellers
  • Profile picture of the author James McAllister
    Refunds always spike for me right before Christmas. People come up with the silliest excuses to refund after they've used the product but its obvious that they just want more money for Christmas shopping. My favorite is when people suddenly "change their mind" 6 months later and decide they don't want to utilize the product they have purchased.

    Could you imagine going to your web host and demanding they refund all the money you've ever sent them because you decided to quit IM? Lol...
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  • Profile picture of the author heruma
    As many as there are "cheap seller", there are also "cheap buyer".
    JVZoo has a feature call blacklist. You can blacklist the buyer so next time he/she cannot use that account to buy from your product. There is also a feature that you can use "Peer Network" blacklist.
    Quote from JVzoo site :
    "Let's say you choose the number 3 for this example. What this will do is block any buyers that have been blacklisted by 3 or more JVZoo vendors from purchasing your products. This is another way to protect yourself from potential serial refunders that you may not be aware of simply by leveraging the knowledge of the other JVZoo vendors blacklists."

    Happy Selling.
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanbiddulph
    I am not big on refunds. All sales final. Because of this Weeds out iffy folks to make room for clear, driven folks who use my products and who are hungry to hire me for my services. Why? We're in charge. We hire, we fire, not the other way around. Same deal on refunds. In truth, I feel you have the ultimate amount of confidence when you do the exact opposite to offering a guarantee. Tells folks they better love it, and if not, it's just time to eat the product, because this happens in all areas of life.

    This position means you're showing SERIOUS posture, and that's all but lost on today's internet marketers. A few folks have it but many don't because they fear customers, or do everything to make them happy. I take the Asian view of customer service; the customer is sometimes wrong and if they don't like it, tough. It's life. Helps me sleep better at night and also, it helps me get super picky with who I work with. As for selling my eBooks through Amazon that's a third party bit so I have nothing to do with after the sale. Folks offer their reviews, but I am clear on doing my best so I'm cool with it

    Onward and upward!

    Ryan
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    • Profile picture of the author More Than Tips
      I have had a full no questions asked refund policy and always will. But that will not stop some shady folks from still being shady.

      I had a guy proceed with a Chargeback when all he had to do was just ask for a refund. It would be hilarious if there was not a very real extra fee involved when someone does that.

      But I think you have to shake it off..there are unsavory types out there and always will be but there are more good ethical people every time. Do not waste time trying to figure out why some people behave a certain way...focus on the people that did buy and how you can make their buying experience even better with your next offering to them.
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      • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
        Why does this bother you?

        Originally Posted by More Than Tips View Post

        I had a guy proceed with a Chargeback when all he had to do was just ask for a refund. It would be hilarious if there was not a very real extra fee involved when someone does that.
        The buyer DID ask for a refund. He may not have done it using your preferred method, but that's just one of the costs of accepting credit cards in payment for your product, and is something you should expect and accept.

        The customer isn't charging you the chargeback fee, the credit card company is... and it's a fee that you agree to BEFORE accepting credit cards as a form of payment.

        There's nothing "unsavory" about it. It's a simple cost of doing business, and one you just need to plan for.
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        • Profile picture of the author More Than Tips
          Originally Posted by Sid Hale View Post

          Why does this bother you?



          The buyer DID ask for a refund. He may not have done it using your preferred method, but that's just one of the costs of accepting credit cards in payment for your product, and is something you should expect and accept.

          The customer isn't charging you the chargeback fee, the credit card company is... and it's a fee that you agree to BEFORE accepting credit cards as a form of payment.

          There's nothing "unsavory" about it. It's a simple cost of doing business, and one you just need to plan for.

          A chargeback is not like a refund request...chargebacks can get accounts shut down.

          Lets just take a look at what Clickbank has to say on that subject...

          A purchase is "charged back" when a customer disputes a charge through their bank or credit provider, usually because the customer claims that the purchase was unfunded, unauthorized or fraudulent. Chargebacks cost ClickBank money and harm its valuable reputation as a reliable Internet retailer. When a Vendor is the subject of a chargeback, the Vendor is assessed a fee based on the chargeback rate of the Vendor account. The chargeback fee assessed to the Vendor is:

          The same applies to paypal, too many charge backs and you can wake up to no more account.

          Why does this bother you? Was that really your question?
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          • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
            Originally Posted by More Than Tips View Post

            A chargeback is not like a refund request...chargebacks can get accounts shut down.
            Sure it is. It may not be your preferred method for the customer to request his/her refund - because an excess can, in fact, result in you not being able to accept credit cards any longer.

            You need to come to grips with the fact that chargebacks have existed as a major cardholder benefit since the inception of credit cards. Long before internet commerce.

            The ability for a cardholder to request a chargeback is/was one of the card companies' most important benefits in the mind of the cardholder. This is even more true with online purchases. It gives them peace of mind, when dealing with a seller they have never dealt with before.

            Online chargebacks are more of a problem for sellers of digital products (vs physical), simply because there is no way to physically return a purely digital product.

            That just means that the seller of digital products must work harder to make it easy for a buyer to receive his/her refund.

            He/she can't trudge down to your store and confront a sales clerk with the merchandise return - so the seller needs to work that much harder to make sure the customer knows what recourse they have when dissatisfied, and HOW to take action in that regard (i.e. a customer support link on every page of their site, in every follow up email, etc.

            If the seller doesn't ... they are pushing the buyer to resort to filing a chargeback.

            Lets just take a look at what Clickbank has to say on that subject...

            A purchase is "charged back" when a customer disputes a charge through their bank or credit provider, usually because the customer claims that the purchase was unfunded, unauthorized or fraudulent. Chargebacks cost ClickBank money and harm its valuable reputation as a reliable Internet retailer. When a Vendor is the subject of a chargeback, the Vendor is assessed a fee based on the chargeback rate of the Vendor account. The chargeback fee assessed to the Vendor is:

            The same applies to paypal, too many charge backs and you can wake up to no more account.
            That last sentence is the important one - specifically the phrase that I underlined.

            ClickBank, nor Paypal, nor even your own merchant account will close you down for the occasional chargeback. If a seller is experiencing a high ratio of chargebacks to total sales, its not any one customer's fault and is something that the seller needs to address, rather than getting upset at the customer.

            Why does this bother you? Was that really your question?
            Yep
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            • Profile picture of the author Kay King
              The all time best refund excuse I've had was several yeas ago when someone requested their money back for SIX MONTHS of a membership.

              The reason? "I need money for Christmas so I want to return some things I bought."

              Seriously? This was from someone who could be found on the WF day after day posting in the WSO section...."I just bought this and I love it". I wondered how many sellers were providing "chrismas money" for this idjit.

              I refunded him 2 months and blocked him - what ya gonna do with that mentality?
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              • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
                Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

                The all time best refund excuse I've had was several yeas ago when someone requested their money back for SIX MONTHS of a membership.

                The reason? "I need money for Christmas so I want to return some things I bought."
                In my book that's theft and that is how I treat it.

                There is also a mentality among some buyers, both online and offline, that it is OK to use a product and then return it so they have had it for free. They believe they have a right to automatically return any product at any time.

                It is self-centered with no thought about the hassle to the seller and money being taken from them which they also need for Christmas.

                .
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    I like when people feel the need to explain why they are un-subbing from my lists. Those can be pretty amusing.
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  • Profile picture of the author fatcitygirl
    I think a refund should ALWAYS be offered but have a stipulation in place. An example would be to show that the buyer did actually try what was suggested in the product. Of course this will also depend on the product.

    In my opinion, sales copy that doesn't even list what it is you're selling (vague copy) will prompt more refund requests. People going in blind are trusting you to provide what you offer and when they discover it's something they already know or have already seen a million times, they're going to ask for a refund.

    Seriously, be honest, and realistic, in what you're offering and people won't ask for a refund.
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  • Profile picture of the author slammer81
    Good on your ryan. "we hire we fire".

    You'll hear all kinds of excuses (reasons?). Best is to have a hard time policy for a refund and adhere to it. Have an assistant refuse should this time pass.

    Fair's fair I think.
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  • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
    The creative reasons for a refund are endless, and so is the fraud. Someone recently told me they mistakenly purchased a Wordpress plugin but don't use Wordpress and have never used Wordpress. Since they didn't need the plugin they wanted money back.

    Naturally, I checked out their website. You already know where this is going and why I closed the support ticket without bothering to respond - or send a refund.


    .
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    • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
      LOL

      Originally Posted by kindsvater View Post

      The creative reasons for a refund are endless, and so is the fraud. Someone recently told me they mistakenly purchased a Wordpress plugin but don't use Wordpress and have never used Wordpress. Since they didn't need the plugin they wanted money back.

      Naturally, I checked out their website. You already know where this is going and why I closed the support ticket without bothering to respond - or send a refund.


      P.S. I'm adding this P.S. simply because the above reply was too short to be accepted as a post
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  • Profile picture of the author HDRider
    Well lets see...

    Even though the my sales page and download pages are crystal clear on what they are getting and how to download and so on.

    I can't download a .zip file
    I thought I was ordering a paper book
    I ordered by mistake
    I never got the product

    Best is asking for support when they downloaded for free from a blackhat forum or file sharing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Smeltzer
    Here is one. Out of about 200 people one guy decided he would write me a 6 paragraph POORLY wrote message riddled with spelling mistakes and other errors about how my grammar was off in a place and he could not understand the ebook..... Really?

    I just gave him a refund because I knew what it was and just blocked him from all future transactions.
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    • Profile picture of the author More Than Tips
      Originally Posted by Smeltzer View Post

      Here is one. Out of about 200 people one guy decided he would write me a 6 paragraph POORLY wrote message riddled with spelling mistakes and other errors about how my grammar was off in a place and he could not understand the ebook..... Really?

      I just gave him a refund because I knew what it was and just blocked him from all future transactions.

      I feel you on that...all we can do is remain professional as possible and tune out the noise and stay productive.
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  • Profile picture of the author newideamarketing
    Banned
    I dont give refunds. It say it on my sales page and when people ask I say no refunds. You bought something, that cant be returned you can get a refund.
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  • Profile picture of the author AngelaWest85
    I agree with alot of the peoples posts on here.There are alot of people who will just get a refund so they can get something for nothing but then again there are some legitimate reasons for some peoples refunds.It boils down to the seller.Me personally I always offer refunds just to please the customer,even if it dosent please me
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