So the refund process looks very flawed to me right now. Basically I think people are exploiting it, I’ve had a couple of refund requests with the simple reason “Purchased by mistake” which you don’t know how to respond. Furthermore you see they downloaded the item too
What I’m concerned more is refund requests by people who bought because they expected some impossible feature to be in the product then they ask for a refund, even though every feature available is listed and they can see that before purchase.
You could say that I don’t have to refund without valid reasons but if you don’t refund these people they will probably give you a bad review, which I think is really unfair, it’s basically a hostage situation either refund or risk your product
What I would suggest to improve this is the moment someone asks for a refund / review functionality to be locked or something.
Or maybe there’s something in place to prevent this which I don’t know ?
This subject has been discussed over and over again. If you search the forum, you can find similar but the results will be the same. It’s your call. My opinion, do not refund it and in case of bad rating, contact support for removal
You can simply reject these. After an item is downloaded there is no safety for you to know the user will delete that item, therefore, reject the refund request based on this reason alone. It’s like purchasing an iPhone then wanting your money back for no reason. You are entitled to reject these refunds based on your judgement alone.
Again, you can reject these as well as long as those features are not “implied” in your description. You’re even backed up by the Terms of Service in this case, since users cannot force you to add features they just dream about.
Reviews are very sensitive for these sort of buyers. If you get rated for something that is unrelated to the actual item and actual user experience with that item the rating will be removed. Therefore, if you reject a refund request, and you get rated on this reason, the user’s review will be revoked. If he adds that review again and you report again, chances are he’ll get disabled.
Buyers get what the item description mentions, and authors are obliged to provide that, but authors are protected against buyers that try to force their hands. The system is well balanced.
If you get rated for something that is unrelated to the actual item and actual user experience with that item the rating will be removed. Therefore, if you reject a refund request, and you get rated on this reason, the user’s review will be revoked. If he adds that review again and you report again, chances are he’ll get disabled.
Wow, that’s nice to hear. Never knew about this “feature”
Do not refund on that specially when they downloaded the theme. Base on my experience, I did not approve a refund from a buyer but Envato made the refund after the buyer said “Envato, I have no answer 9 days. ask for a refund” then Envato refund it. And now they are still using my Theme.
I did not respond to the refund but Envato still gave a refund to the buyer. I checked the site and they are still using my theme until now. I contacted them but no response.
They might not have given the refund if you had responded. Rather than them thinking that they had a valid refund reason related to the item, they may thought that a lack of contact for nine days may have been a valid reason for the refund.
Agree. If you don’t reply within 5 days they can dispute the refund with support and support will only see the customers story since you never made your case.
For those I do the same, indeed. But if the item is downloaded, there’s nothing I can do about it. I have no guarantee that the buyer will keep or delete the item.
What I understand from reading the rating removal policy is that if an author refuses a refund then the buyer could post a revengeful bad rating with no consequences if he/she focus on the project quality.
For example I ask for a refund after I have downloaded a project, the author denies me the refund and then I go and leave 1 star rating saying that “I don’t like the colours” or something like that.
Do I understand correctly?
No, ratings are analysed if you dispute them by contacting support. If they are “vengeful” ratings, they get removed. If a buyer does this, they risk being disabled. Ratings are treated with much care and attention by Envato support. Cheers!
