Free Marketing: 101 Low and No-Cost Ways to Grow Your Business, Online and Off

CHAPTER 5

INSANE REFUND POLICY PROFITS

Give speedy refunds to those who request them. Refunds are no longer only for those who deserve them, but for anyone who requests them, and often even for undeserving customers.

Perhaps the greatest secret to my success in guarding my reputation has been to give quick refunds to anyone who asks for one, no matter how irrational or irresponsible the customer's request is. This is the case even when I'm going to lose a lot of money to an unrealistic or rude, undeserving customer.

No matter how expensive the refund is to me, the cost pales in comparison to having comments from an angry, ranting customer show up on page one of any search engine when a search is performed on my name or for the name of my business.

Bottom line: A generous refund policy is vital if you are to avoid getting negative feedback left against you online.

Here's how extreme this policy can be:

One high-volume eBay seller I coached sold expensive collectible items. These were all one-of-a-kind items that weren't easy to replace if they were broken or damaged in transit. The items were also difficult to describe perfectly to his buyers, so post-purchase disputes occasionally arose. He was having trouble haggling back and forth with customers who wanted full or partial refunds on items, and his eBay feedback score (reputation score) and website reputation were taking a hit as a result of what he called unreasonable customers.

I advised him to implement the most generous ...