Step #5.1 Satisfaction Guaranteed

Written by Texas Tracy on February 14, 2008

Do you remember your first purchase on ebay? Maybe it was even back in the day before Paypal, and you sent a check or money order in the mail. Not without some trepidation, I am sure. Everyone could be a potential crook! They may never send me my item! Or, they will do a bait and switch-take a picture of a great item and will send me a cruddy one instead! Fears, perhaps not unfounded, ran through your mind. I think it is safe to say that the person buying on ebay for the first time may feel the same way, even today.

Which begs a question: should I offer a satisfaction guarantee? Boy, I wish I had a good, pat answer to give, but after years of experience I feel it is a personal choice. That being said, I choose to offer my customers a no questions asked satisfaction guarantee if they contact me within three days of receiving the item. My thought has always been that I must allow for my opinion and the opinion of my buyers to vary. And we may not always see the item in the same way.

I sell designer purses and accessories. If electronic equipment was my speciality, I may not feel the same way. Some categories lend themselves to people who are a bit shadier than others, so consider what you have chosen to sell.

Will you get burned by offering a satisfaction guarantee? Maybe. But I can only think of a few times when I have begrudgingly refunded money. Like the time a female pastor said that the interior of a purse was dirty when in reality it was just the adhesive bleeding through the fabric that adhered the lining to the purse. But, in her defense, I should have noted it! And she was a pastor!

To be steadfast in your grit and determination not to refund money will not earn you friends or repeat customers. Just keep that in mind, and comtemplate if it is worth a negative on your feedback. Especially if your feedback is under 100-ouch!

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