My Problems with Returns. At least the Royal Mail cannot lose!

I run a fairly unsuccessful internet business.  Basically I sell women’s shoes on Ebay and Amazon.  I have a domain address registered, however, I have not as yet developed a website, although I am looking at the Prestashop open source application.

So what has got my goat today?  I have said it is fairly unsuccessful, and, one of the reasons is due to the recent return rate.  I fully accept that due to the nature of the product, I am going to have some returns, but recently this has increased astronomically.  It’s the reasons for the return that flabbergast me.  I do my damnedest to describe the products in detail, so the customer knows what they are purchasing; however, recent return problems are “The shoes are too high a heel for me”, even though I have stated that the heels are 5 inches, or, “My mother has back problems, and, the heels are too high”, again when I have written the heels are 4 inches high.

The other thing I state is that customers should in no circumstances colour match the shoes against an outfit.  This is because the pictures are not always an exact match, or, the colour varies due to the display equipment you are viewing the pictures on, or, that different people interpret the colours in various ways, as was shown with the internet picture that went viral because it could be interpreted to being a number of colours.

It appears in the large part that customers do not read the description of the items being sold.

So why is this a big deal?  Well it comes down to the postage cost.  As shoes are parcels to send via Royal Mail it costs £3.90.  When a customer returns the shoes, even though they pay for the return postage costs, they are entitled to a full refund including the original postage cost, so at that point it has cost me £3.90 plus any associated payment transaction costs.

How could this be so, I hear you cry?  Well as ever it comes down to some European legislation that states when a customer returns an item bought via mail order they are entitled to a full refund including any original postage charge.

The ruling does however state that a business if it so wishes could deduct a re-stocking charge as long as this is stated in the original description.  I have never introduced such a charge, but I am minded to.  I just fear the battles though that when a customer is told of this they will complain vociferously.  As we all know the item description, and, terms and conditions are seldom read.  A consequence of this is that the customer is then highly likely to leave you negative feedback, which will affect your future business supplies.  You may think that the likes of Ebay, and, Amazon marketplace may protect me against this, but they are totally geared towards the buyer, with the seller becoming an inconvenience.  Their mission in life is to make it as difficult for sellers to sell their products.

For anyone reading this it must all seem like sour grapes.  I bet you are thinking I need to find an alternative vocation for myself.  Maybe I should.  I must admit I was thinking of introducing an honesty shop.  This is where the buyer pays a minimal sum, say £10 towards postage, and, stock costs, and, when they receive the shoes if they liked them they would pay a further amount of their choosing to what they believe the goods to be worth.  If they were not suitable they just wrote the £10 off, and, maybe tried to sell the shoes themselves.  I would love to introduce such a system, but alas do not have the knowledge to develop such a website or store.

At least there is one winner.  That is Royal Mail, and, the Post Office, who are at least making money every time one of my parcel of shoes is being sent!