Refund policy with credit cards

[niche]

When somebody has paid by credit card for something then wants a refund we then have quite a big hit from the card companies as they don't refund the fee they charge. For example, someone buys something from website for £1000 then returns because not suitable (fair enough) the card company charge say 2.3% so that transactions has made us a loss of £23. I know this comes with the territory and morally we have to absorb this. I feel like saying in our terms and conditions that we have an admin fee for refunds over XXXX amount but that would be completely unacceptable from the customers point of view which is understandable. Charging for credit cards is also an option, but this annoys the hell out of me too if Im buying online so not an option really. I wondered if anyone has any bright, but ethical ideas?

[Gillf]

I too find this very irritating. We get a refund fee on top of the transaction charge and unfortunately I think it just has to be added to the trading costs because there is no way you can legally charge the customer (that I know of). It is made even worse (loss wise) when the order has qualified for free shipping! You might offer alternative methods of payment that don't incur charges though. In addition to credit/debit card through Secure Trading we offer PayPal (where all the transaction fee is reversed) and bank transfer where there are no transaction fees. Bank transfer is not used very often but PayPal is quite popular and so goes a long way to lessening the cost of returns.

[niche]

Hi Gill, yes it sounds like we have exactly the same payment methods as you ie Secure Trading, PayPal and Bank transfers. In these circumstances we like it when people have used PayPal! Anyway just have to put up with it as I suspected!!
Thanks for replying.

[cheesemouse]

As others have said Paypal refunds the whole fee. Sellers slate Paypal a lot, but they do have some pluses going for them. When buying from smaller websites I'm very wary if they don't offer Paypal. IMHO it gives buyers peace of mind that the seller isn't just going to disappear with their money.
Speaking of this I got charged recently for cancelling an order. It was a UK company who had not advertised their delivery time scales accurately. They stated it would take around 10 days, which I was fine with. Only to be told after i'd ordered and paid that it'd be 6 weeks minimum! So obviously cancelled and requested refund. They refunded less around 1% for card processing fees! I was a bit miffed but there was not a lot I can do about it, other than never shop with them again.

[Gillf]

As others have said Paypal refunds the whole fee. Sellers slate Paypal a lot, but they do have some pluses going for them. When buying from smaller websites I'm very wary if they don't offer Paypal. IMHO it gives buyers peace of mind that the seller isn't just going to disappear with their money.
Speaking of this I got charged recently for cancelling an order. It was a UK company who had not advertised their delivery time scales accurately. They stated it would take around 10 days, which I was fine with. Only to be told after i'd ordered and paid that it'd be 6 weeks minimum! So obviously cancelled and requested refund. They refunded less around 1% for card processing fees! I was a bit miffed but there was not a lot I can do about it, other than never shop with them again.

You said it - you will never shop there again, and I am pretty sure that they were breaking all sorts of distance selling rules as well!