"Do you give my money back?"

[mindstalker85]

Recently, I had a weird experience as a seller.

The "I want more work done for less money spent" is very common on here and I can live with that (I don´t have to sell my work under value at least).

But one of my recent customers for proofreading submitted a text for my proofreading service that already was flawless (didn´t see the text before the order was placed).

I checked the text, detail by detail, and delivered with the message "The text is already flawless. There was nothing to improve." - and right away the customer asked, if I would give him his money back.

"Why? I still worked on the file and checked everything. This still was work, even when there was nothing to correct." <-- That was my answer to his question and still, I´m quite baffled about this mentality.

Am I wrong in just delivering the order? In my mind, I´m still using my time and "horsepower" to fulfill the requirements, even when there is nothing to do.

We´re talking about a mere 5$ order by the way, not something like 100´s of Dollars spent for nothing.

[donnovan86]

3 minutes ago, mindstalker85 said:

"I want more work done for less money spent"

As it is everywhere in the world, not only online. There's a reason why Apple manufactures their stuff in Asia. 

[mindstalker85]

Yeah, sure.

And that´s not the part I have a problem with (from a customers view, that´s a very logical thing to want. More product for less cost...).

[newsmike]

On 6/22/2023 at 2:39 AM, mindstalker85 said:

We´re talking about a mere 5$ order by the way

The single best advice I can give you is to get away from offering any services at $5 immediately. The problem with $5 services is that they attract $5 buyers. I think most of the SR sellers here will agree that as price goes up, buyer quality increases. 

But I do get your point. "Your COVID test came back negative."  Great, do I get my money back?  

Edited June 28, 2023 by newsmike

[smashradio]

Selling anything for five bucks is asking for trouble. 

If you hire a mechanic to check your car and they find nothing wrong, they don't generally refund you the cost of the inspection. 

I'd take this as a learning experience: don't sell anything for five bucks, ever, and perhaps your gig description, FAQ, and custom offers could be more detailed next time around.

It's always best to have clear expectations on both sides. Perhaps you could add a line that even if no errors are found, the cost is for your time spent reviewing and ensuring the text is indeed error-free.