So I accidentally sent a customer the wrong book. Same series, wrong title. Totally my fault. They submitted for a return which was auto authorized by amazon and they have a UPS tracking number issued.
They messaged me that they can’t print the label and since it’s not a QR code they can’t use it. They’ve asked me to send them a label.
I have no issue doing this but I can’t print the assigned UPS mailing label that they were issued, right? So would I have to make a new label and mail them or am I opening myself up to some type of scam or other headache? I want to do right by the customer due to my own mistake.
Complication - they e asked for a replacement. If I mail them a different label they might get charged again since Amazon won’t register they returned the first. Unless there’s a way to let Amazon know a new label was created.
Well that’s kind of the downside right? I would like them to not get charged again. I think I’ll just look up local fedex/kinko/staples locations or library’s in their area to see if they can print it there. I’ll offer to refund the printing cost up to $1.00
If it was us and because it was our mistake, we would send the customer the correct copy and put the printed return label in that shipment or just let them keep the other book (depending on the book’s worth vs return label cost).
We would document what we were doing through the Amazon message system so there would be a record of what we did.
It doesn’t seem as if this customer is being rude or unreasonable so we would be trying to treat them good (and most likely avoid a bad feedback).
This is not what a lot of sellers would do but, since we have so very few issues like this, we tend to take care of the customer and bite the bullet when it is our own mistake.
If I do that, then the UPS label from Amazon doesn’t get scanned showing that they sent back the original. In that case, they get charged (since they asked for a replacement). I don’t want to put that on them.
Just for clarity - if I send them a label I made (pirateship/printstation etc) and they mailed the original back, Amazon isn’t going to know that and might charge them for the second copy as they didn’t “return” the first one though right?
They are absolutely not being rude which is nice.
I ended up suggesting that they could go to a local library to print out the label (there is one about a mile from them) and said they would get processed faster that way than by waiting for me to send it down to them to have them put it on and send back.
If you sent the book, then it was FBM. Amazon would only charge again if Amazon sent the book ( this is FBA ). When it is FBM, Amazon can not send the replacement book … that is on you and wouldn’t know to charge for the replacement.
Yet this makes the customer do the work for your mistake … and will possibly make this nice customer turn not so nice.
In this case … if you send the replacement with the return label (and document the replacement tracking inside an email to the customer through Amazon shipping noting that there is a return label with tracking XYZ for the customer to return the book sent in error), then the worst case would be the customer gets the correct book, doesn’t send back the wrong book and then claims an A to Z. The customer would not be charged for the replacement book by Amazon. You would be taking the risk of loosing the replacement book, the wrong book sent and the A to Z claim ( the return label cost would then be covered by cancelling the label upon an A to Z claim being opened ).
The other way to handle it would be to refund the order. Send the customer a prepaid label for the return. And finally, have the customer reorder the book. This avoids the A to Z claim but might irratate the customer who might give bad feedback or not.
The risk is on you on how you want to handle the customer. You can make it easy for the customer and take all the risk or you can make the customer do some extra work by reordering the book and give the refund on the first order. What do you think is best for this customer? Doing right by the customer doesn’t always mean the seller doesn’t loose a little when it was the seller’s fault.
It is a business call on your end as to what you think is right for the customer and what your business can handle as a risk.
I might be misremembering, but if the customer submits a replacement order, and you use the order in Amazon’s system to send that, then the customer has like 30 days to use the return label that Amazon generated to return the wrong item. If they don’t return the original item (by scanning the label) then Amazon can charge them for the second copy as well. This is based on my own experience in requesting a replacement based on the wrong item sent.
In either case, I’ve spoken with the customer and I am going to send them the correct book with a return label. If it goes south, it’s not going to hurt my business. If they leave negative feedback, I always publicly respond to those (positive or negative) and will handle it if I need to. They seem pretty chill though, so I am trying to err on the side of caution.