Refund Question

This is a question to get feedback on how to handle a request for a refund due to buyer's remorse. The customer in question gave a large deposit to hold a number of yearling tortoises until the paperwork was in order. This was August of 2015. Until recently the customer decided that they did not want to go through with the deal and wanted to know what their options were. The reply was, wait and see when you get your permits in order and we can discuss it further. 3 months later, the customer notifies us that the permit request was denied and now wants a full refund. My question is should we just give the money back and move on or are we entitled to compensation for the care of these animals over the past 8 months. Lesson learned for us is: If you do not have your paperwork in order at the time of purchase, no sale and if the animals are sold by the time you get everything in order, too bad.

If you do not have it in your TOS that a certain percentage of the deposit is non-refundable should the buyer back out of the sale then you owe 100% back to the buyer.

Hi, Evan. I would refund in full since product cannot legally be delivered based on denial of permit (that is assuming that claim made by the "buyer" is true...). Melinda's input also rings true.

Some other things you might or might not want to do-

Let your network know that this person reneged so that members of your network will not be dealing with the same scenario.

Check the registry to find out whether denial of the CBW permit actually took place. Just to know if that factor was or was not truly involved versus pure buyer's remorse.

Avoid any permit-applicable sale unless the person actually possesses the permit. Do not sell based on possibility of future approval.

Consider briefer payment plans or none at all. I have been burned in the last year by people I have been really generous/nice/semi-flexible with on payment plans. Some of them are even repeat customers. Non-payment. Flakes. Delayed payment without acceptably adequate communication. Delayed payment with claims of hardship while I know they have bought other animals at the time from people in my network or connected to people in my network (as in they are buying other animals from other sellers in full while telling me they are short on cash to make payments to me according to schedule). I have had many more excellent payment plans get followed through without any hiccups. A few bad apples have spoiled this for me, so now everybody loses. Instead of getting burned again by this sort of situation, I would say to limit payment plans to a brief period or get rid of them entirely. It might also be less of a hassle to agree to hold for payment in full rather than in installments just so you do not have to play with refunds for people whose word is without value, but then that also creates its own "word without value" alternative. Probably best to just tell them they can buy it if it is still available when they get all of the money together. Save yourself the booty pain.

Thanks Nick:
Agreed. I did check the registry and it appears based on what was sent to me is that the applicant did not follow through with answers regarding the permit reviewer. Since the questions went unanswered, the file was put in inactive and the permit was denied. Clearly to me the buyer sabotaged the application after changing their mind on the purchase. Now we will not engage any transactions unless permit in hand or legally allowed to purchase. A full refund was indeed returned. It required forward thinking on our part, in that we didn't want any bad PR due to buyer's remorse.

Originally Posted by deadheadvet

Now we will not engage any transactions unless permit in hand or legally allowed to purchase. A full refund was indeed returned. It required forward thinking on our part, in that we didn't want any bad PR due to buyer's remorse.

I would still have a percentage of the purchase price be nonrefundable due to buyer's remorse, especially if the buyer was on a payment plan.