returned merchandise

This question is primarily aimed at those who have retail establisments rather than breeders but I would appreciate responses either way. How do you handle people that want to return animals. I received a call today from a lady who wanted to know if I buy back animals. Apparently, she bought a Leopard gecko for her daughter almost a year ago. Her daughter has lost interest in it and now she wants to sell me the who package back. Gecko, and complete setup. How do you respond to customers like that. I told her I would give her $15.00 store credit for the gecko and that I wasn't interested in the used equipment. She hasn't gotten back to me yet. I explained to her that I have an abundance of LGs right now and that most people want babies rather than adults so hers will sit for a while before I can sell it. I almost feel like putting up a sign that says "this isn't Steve's rent a pet service" I do have signs posted stating that all live animal sales are final but I still get people wanting to return animals because they are tired of them or because they didn't tame down like they had expected them to or for whatever reason. What do you do.

Thanks

Steve Schindler

Steve,

How much money are we talking about here (shipping included)? What kind of a set-up?

Regards.

We have a sign at the shop. "All Animal Sales Final". We have our health guarantee in place but this covers "My wife decided I can't have it, My wife says it's too big, My kid is tired of it now" type of returns.

That said, we spend a lot of time letting people know what the animal is going to become before selling (ie showing a full grown female colombian when they are looking at a baby).

If I do decide to take it back 99% of the time it's for store credit only (and at a rate that is favorable to me) unless it's something I'm looking for or can move quickly.

No equipment returns unless they are manufacture defects or still in the original packaging.

It's my job to provide all the information I can about your future purchase (adult size, cage requirements, husbandry information, special issues etc). It's your (the buyer's) responsibility to know (armed with the data I've provided) if that fits in your lifestyle, budget and housing situation.

As was stated, I think it depends on the reason for the desire to return the products or animals. Used equipment is absolutely worthless as you said. Any store needs to have a return policy that's clear, avaliable to the customer at the time of purchase (like say... written on the counter by the cash register. In bright colors) and covers the assorted reasons a return might occur for. The same should apply to animals. After which it's entirely your choice and your discretion if you want to violate the return policy in favor of the customer.

If you have a time limit, you then have the choice to go outside of it. If you require a receipt and original, undamaged packaging for unused items, you can later choose to ignore one or the other if you feel it would be in the best interests of customer service. If you have a stated policy for how defects are covered you can always choose to go outside of it if you feel the situation warrants it... BUT you are under no obligation to do so and such policies prevent you, the seller, from being taken advantage of.

I've worked in pet related retail once or twice in my day. I always felt that I had an obligation to educate the customer to the best of my ability and to inform them of what they were purchasing before doing so. Livestock, drygoods, feeders, whatever. That's where your responsibility ends though, you can make sure they know that a leopard gecko lives for a decade and a half or more but you can't make them take responsibility for themselves and you shouldn't be expected to clean up their mistakes. Their daughter lost interest... the money spent is already gone and you're well outside of any obligation to the sale. If they don't like your offer, which is most fair I might add, they can try to sell the entire setup in the newspaper or at a yard sale. If they expect to get full retail, then they're in for a nasty surprise, but they can ask whatever they want under those circumstances.

Daniel,

No shipping, 10 gallon tank, screen lid, heat lamp, water dish, hide log, and I suppose anything else she may have purchased over the years time. I told here I couldn't make an offer without seeing the animal but she wanted a guesstimate before she would bring it in. SHe did say she thinks it is an albino but I didn't have any albinos last fall so I don't know. If she calls again I might offer $25.00 credit for the whole works (after I see it of course) I know I can get that back out of it pretty quickly but it is amazing that people expect us to buy anything back for what they paid for it. Now if it were an adult female corn or king snake that might be a different story. Like Dan said I am always looking for those.

No one buys a pet from me without knowing exactly what they are getting themselves into but I feel I am going to have to start printing my receipts directly with all of my return policies and that could get a bit cumbersome.

Thanks for the responses

Steve

Steve,

Is she making a big deal out of her situation (notice the situation is hers, not yours. You can help her as you see fit but that's what it is, helping her)?

We post the policies at the store near the register. You could print out a book with every receipt concerning your policies and retail customers wouldn't read them..... until they have a situation.

She is not making a big deal out of it. She called once, I told her the situation and she said she would let her daughter know. My guess is that they will try to sell it to a friend or someone else on their own.

Steve

I know one herp store I used to frequent had a bulletin board up for customers to post adoptions on. I don't know exactly what the risk of abusing that system is, or where liability lines would be drawn, but it seemed to work pretty well to me. It seemed like a nice gesture on the store's part to help out customers who had some trouble or other down the road.

As for taking back animals. I normally wouldn't want to. You'd have to quarantine it, and care for it for the entire quarantine period (which, depending on your protocols could be several months or more), and probably end up losing money on the deal. I'm not selling yet, but I'd be leary of out of TOS returns, b/c it's impossible to gauge the level of care the animal has had or what it has been exposed to while in someone else's hands.