Order Issues and Prewritten Responses: Consistency and Speed
Darcy Leech
Order issues and missing package disputes are a fundamental reality in the world of eCommerce that requires the shipping of products through the mail. Even though the problem of missing packages and order disputes seems to be something that sellers run into far too often, the good news is that only a small percentage of customer orders should have a problem with the transaction.
Whether a customer is making a condition complaint, noticed an inaccuracy in their order, or have had a tracked order go missing into the depths of the postal system, it is important to give solutions that are fair and timely. Our hope in this article is to illustrate the benefit of having some pre-written customer service responses that allow us to take ourselves out of the situation and to respond in a professional and dispassionate matter.
After all, the more time you can save on a back and forth between yourself and an upset customer, the more time you will have to list and ship cards to make up for these small losses. Also equally important are the performance and profitability gains you can make in directing your time towards scaling up your business and investing in its growth. By having consistent responses to common questions you can empower your employees to handle these issues for you and you get to spend more time on your big picture and bottom line.
A good response will include all of the following:
- Acknowledgment of the issue - Customers really want to be heard, and they don’t want to hear excuses or be made to feel like they are on their own.
- Apology for the inconvenience - Just as your time is valuable, so is that of your customers. Customers want to get their product with as little fuss as possible and apologizing (even when the issue is out of your hands) can go a long way towards recuperating consumer satisfaction.
- Options for resolution - In many cases, the customer will say what they want done to resolve the problem with their order when they initially write in; but in the event that they don’t, providing them with different options is a good way to effectively manage the conversation and get to a resolution faster.
- A closing statement and a thanks for the customer’s business - for the customer’s business - There are many sellers to choose from on the TCGplayer Marketplace, but they came to you for your business. Whether that’s because they’ve already had a good experience with you, or because they researched your store’s ratings. Make sure to nurture those relationships to get repeat business!
Read on for some templates of how to approach common problems with orders and feel free to adapt these samples to your own situation and your own “voice”. It’s up to you whether or not you’d like your brand and voice as a seller to be more conversational or playful.
Each one of these replies is constructed to adhere to TCGplayer policies so you can rest assured that you are giving your buyers accurate information. Load these responses up into your computer’s clipboard and you may see that you can save a lot of time and energy and still deliver excellent customer service (making sure to fill in the blanks where appropriate!):
Package that shows delivery per tracking but is missing/or tracking has not updated correctly:
Hello,
We are very sorry that this order appears to be lost.
Since the package is listed as "delivered" to your address per the tracking updates, we would first like to work with you to see if we can locate it. It may be helpful to contact your local post office responsible for the delivery to see if they are holding the parcel for any reason. You can also call 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777) to document your issue and receive a case number to follow up with. We will also be opening a missing package claim with the USPS to see if the package can be located.
Can you also please confirm your shipping address for us? The address that we have on file for this order is:
____________________
If the address is correct and you feel comfortable, please check with your family, roommates or neighbors to see if someone else might have received the package and forgot to tell you.
Please contact us if the missing package is delivered to your address or if you have not received it by the end of the day, ____________________. At that point, if the package is still missing we will fully refund you for this order.
Customer asking for tracking on a low value order:
Hello,
Thank you for placing an order with our store!
Due to the additional costs for tracking, and because this order is valued at less than ____________________, we do not have tracking information for this order.
But worry not! This will not affect the speed at which you receive your order, or our 100% satisfaction guarantee. If your order does not arrive within 8 business days of being placed, on ____________________ please write back to us here and we will make sure that you are taken care of.
Product Condition Issue:
Hello,
We're sorry to hear that your cards arrived in a condition you did not expect!
In general we assess a 10% partial refund per degree of condition difference. Given that the card we sent you was supposed to be ____________________ and you found it is ____________________, we would be happy to provide you with a partial refund of ____________________ of the value.
If this is acceptable, please let us know and we will take care of that partial refund right away,
Alternatively, If you would rather receive a full refund by returning the card, just let us know and we will send a postage paid return mailer to you. Once we receive the card back at our store we will then process the full refund.
Please let us know if one of these options would be acceptable and we'll take care of this unfortunate issue immediately. Our apologies for the error.
Customer received wrong item and there are no replacements in stock to send:
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us regarding this issue. We’re sorry for sending the incorrect card!
After looking at our stock I am sorry to say that we do not have extra copies to send you, so we would like to retrieve the incorrect card from you and supply you with a full refund. We will be sending you a prepaid return mailer that you can use to ship the card back to us. Once we receive the return at our store we will issue your full refund right away.
Customer thinks they received a counterfeit card:
Hello,
Thank you for reaching out! We're sorry to hear that you received cards you believe are not legitimate.
We do examine our inventory regularly to ensure that the cards we sell are real, but just in case this is a situation in which we missed identifying a counterfeit before sending it out, we would like to bring TCGplayer into the conversation.
TCGplayer’s customer service team will reach out to you soon and explain their process for retrieving and investigating suspected counterfeit cards. They will be supplying you with a prepaid mailer to return the cards to their HQ and will ensure that you receive a full refund for the card. We will then work with them to ensure that we are keeping a very close eye on what we are sending out in the future, just in case!
Customer inquiry about missing package and 8 business days have not passed:
Hello,
We are so sorry to hear that your package has not arrived yet! Our records show that we shipped your order out within 48 hours of receipt, but sometimes mail in transit can be delayed due to extenuating circumstances.
TCGplayer.com’s policy does allow 8 business days for all orders to arrive based on the speed of normal mail. We know that you are excited to receive your order but we ask that you please allow until the ____________________, the 8th business day, before we decide that the package might be lost.
If your order does not arrive by the end of ____________________ we will be happy to provide you with a full refund.
In the meantime, please keep an eye out for this package and let us know if it arrives. Hopefully the mail is just running a little slow, and that you will see your order arrive soon!
Customer wants to cancel order but it has already shipped:
Hello,
Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately your order has already been shipped out so we were not able to process the requested cancellation.
No worries! When your order arrives please write "refused" or "return to sender" on the unopened package and leave it in your mailbox. Your mail carrier should retrieve the package and ensure that it is returned to us. As soon as we see the order arrive here at our store, we will issue you a full refund for the returned package.
Let us know if you need help with anything else.