So, your listings are live, orders are coming in, and you are already shipping them to your first customers. But have you prepared for returns, claims, and customer questions?
All marketplaces have service quality standards, and some of them can be challenging to an extent that your account may be at risk if you don’t execute properly.
Just like order management, after-sales processes are very standardized in nature, and it’s important to put them on solid ground.
Returns
When a customer asks to return, most online retailers provide a shipping label to ensure the product is going to end up in the right location. If you want to use the same process, your customer service team has to be trained to generate labels and provide them to customers. Some marketplaces (e.g. Otto) will demand that you generate and upload a return label for every order – this way the customer can download an use it without reaching out to anyone.
In categories with high return rates (e.g. Fashion) it is common to generate and insert a return label in the package. By doing that, you can save quite a few customer service tickets.
If you want the customer to return at a drop-off location (which can be both cost-saving and convenient to the customer), make sure you specify this in your Return Terms & Conditions to avoid issues with the marketplace. Most marketplaces give you freedom with return options, so take advantage of them.
If you are selling bulky goods that require specific handling (e.g. Furniture), you need a pick-up arrangement with a carrier company. The customer needs to know that the carrier will reach out to them for a pick-up appointment.
In any case, make sure you return process is well designed and covers all possible common situations.
Tip: If you have the opportunity to talk to the customer before a return, you can offer them to keep the product in exchange for a partial refund (e.g. 80% of the paid price). This way you can save operational costs which can be higher than the lost margin. In cases of very cheap items (under 10 EUR), it is probably not even worth asking the customer to return, unless they are paying for the return costs.
Offering free returns
Almost all marketplaces will allow you to charge return costs to the customer. But offering free returns can be a very appealing selling point which will increase your conversion rate, especially in categories like Fashion. Deciding whether to charge for returns depends on several factors, including competition, category, and product margins.
Charging for returns may discourage some customers from returning, so it’s worth giving it a thought.
Whatever you decide to be your policy, make sure it’s specified in your Return Terms & Conditions on the marketplace. Otherwise the customer can successfully claim return shipping costs, if they complain to the marketplace.
Refunds
Usually the marketplace requires that you refund the customer within 30 days of the reception of the product, but some of them can impose a tougher deadline – sometimes as short as 2 business days. Keep in mind that a timely refund is a good practice to avoid claims, negative feedback, and poor performance indicators. For those reasons, many marketplace sellers refund the customer when they see that the return shipping label has been used – this means that the product has been shipped back by the customer. Of course, this carries risks (e.g. receiving a damaged product, or a different product altogether), but usually the benefits outweigh the risks. Unless you are selling high-value products, it’s definitely worth refunding before receiving the product back.
Smooth returns and refunds require a good collaboration between your customer service, logistics and finance teams. Make sure they are on the same page when it comes to registering new returns, checking return status, physical product reception, and refunding.
Claims
This is an after-sales process with many variations. Customers can file claims for various reasons – they received the wrong product, the product arrived damaged, delivery took longer than expected etc. Claims can also occur in relation to products that were sold some time ago – this is the case with warranty claims.
Many marketplace sellers try to simplify claims processing by offering either a refund, or a replacement of the product. This is also the easiest way from a compliance perspective, and usually comes with less negative customer feedback. Of course, not in all product categories this is justified – if you are selling large appliances, for example, you might be better off sending a technician on the spot. This is also better from a customer satisfaction perspective.
Claims can also be settled with partial refunds – if a product arrived with scratches due to damaged packaging, customers could be likely to keep the product if they get a discount.
Tip: Check if the marketplace supports partial refunds via their platform. If they don’t support this, it might still be possible, but you will need a modification of the process.
Customer questions
Those do not necessarily mean problems, but your team still needs to be prepared. Are they educated on the products you are selling? Are they responding timely? Can you solve this in one response, or the customer will come back with more questions as a result of your response?
Ensure that the team has access to all important information:
- order shipment status and tracking
- product information database
- contact persons from vendors or departments, such as Product Development and Compliance
General practices
It is a good idea to keep track of the returns, claims, questions and other customer interactions, on a product level. If you can combine all this in a single database, this can significantly boost your capacity to make your products better and reduce returns and claims. Amazon, for example, offers the Voice of the Customer (VOTC) dashboard, which combines information about returns, claims, and negative feedback on SKU level. This information is valuable to your Product team, so make sure they have access to it.
Need help setting up or customizing your after-sales operations to meet the requirements of a particular marketplace? Contact Marketplace Agents for help.