I have seen some posts about refunds scattered through out various topics, but I was curious what everyones thoughts are about refunds. How do you go about handling them; especially when people are paying for the "secret" just as much as they are paying for the physical item (at least from the pitchman's standpoint).

-Clay

I don't get much of that but when I do I look behind me and than say

" do you see a Wal Mart sign...no me either...we don't give refunds" Or say:

"Gee I can't without the boss saying OK...he just went that way,hes wareing a white cowboy hat...if you hurry you might be able catch him" and off they go not to be seen again.

Don

I agree, in my limited experience I have not had many requests for refunds, perhaps five or six in the three years I have been doing this. Don's line about the boss is good, I have used that once or twice before.

I happen to use a price list because I sell about five different tricks. On the list I also have a "No Refunds" statement, something to the effect that "once the secret is told, the trick is sold, so choose carefully before you buy." It's my understanding that in New Jersey, there is no requirement that a store give a refund, but you must post whatever your refund (or no-refund) policy is for it to be enforceable.

Some of the tricks I sell are either shrink-wrapped or bubble-packed, and if they have broken open the package, I can't resell it, and that's what I tell them. Sometimes they just haven't read the instructions and get frustrated, they think they are going to be David Blaine in 60 seconds . . . . If it isn't busy, I give them a real short lesson and often that solves the problem.

Although my normal policy is no refunds, I have on occasion let a kid exchange one trick for another if the return is resaleable. And I did give a refund to one woman who was very unhappy to discover that her son's Magic Worm was not really magic (!?!), and very loudly said so. I decided it wasn't worth the time and effort to argue with her, plus she was wasting my time that I could spend selling to other people instead. I just used her return as another sample demo, so it was OK.

While I don't want to be known as a patsy, I do want to have satisfied customers and don't want complaints to the show organizers. So I have the general no-refund rule, but I still try to find out the reason for the refund request, handle each one individually, and then use my best judgment; generally it works out well. I figure that just one refund per 1,000 Magic Worm sales isn't too shabby! SETH

Refunds fall into common sense circumstances.

Don

Thanks for the lines Don and thanks for the infor Seth. That is the kind of stuff I was looking for. In my general retail experience and ebay store I have a no refunds policy but didn't know how it is handled in pitching. I wasn't so much concerned with the decks but the worms had me wondering. I could easily picture a situation as you described Seth where the customer is surprised that the worm isn't really magic or motorized.

Thanks again. And Don thanks for getting back to me on the e-mail so quickly.

-Clay