As soon as your shop has been successfully certified and you are displaying the trustmark within your shop, you will automatically offer your customers the Buyer Protection. Many online shoppers have a strong individual need for security, and this influences their purchase decisions. The Buyer Protection gives your customers the opportunity to secure their purchases and protect themselves against financial loss, which satisfies this need for security. The Buyer Protection protects your customers against the following three risk scenarios:
- The goods ordered from you do not arrive.
- The money is not refunded after the customer has returned the goods.
- Your online shop is forced to register insolvency.
The security connected with the Buyer Protection is one of the reasons why customers trust Trusted Shops, and this is why your shop will experience a noticeable increase in trust once you offer the Buyer Protection.
It goes without saying that your company is focused on fulfilling all orders to the satisfaction of your customers. But even if all the processes in your company are well established, it is still possible that customers may be dissatisfied and want to take advantage of the Buyer Protection for the reasons of their individual need for security mentioned above. It is important to make a good impression at these sensitive moments and to ensure that the case can be resolved quickly. In this article, we explain how best to do this and how to handle Buyer Protection cases correctly.
How can my customers trigger a Buyer Protection case?
Of course, your customers can only take advantage of the Buyer Protection if they have activated it in the course of their order. If this is the case, the Buyer Protection is active for 30 days by default. Your customer will receive an e-mail from Trusted Shops on the 23rd day after ordering and activating the Buyer Protection. In this email we ask your customer to confirm that the order went smoothly.
By clicking on the button “Provide Feedback Now”, your customer can access their personal user account within the B2C platform provided by Trusted Shops. There, customers can give feedback on their order at any time – even before and after the e-mail previously mentioned has been sent. They can do this using the following feedback form:
Within this form your customer has four feedback options.
- Everything okay, I would like to end Buyer Protection: By selecting this option, your customer confirms that the order has been fulfilled to their satisfaction. When this option is confirmed, the Buyer Protection is terminated – even if the 30 days of protection have not yet expired.
- I did not receive my order: This option allows your customer to express that the ordered goods have not yet arrived or the ordered service has not yet been provided. This is one of the two feedback options which cause a Buyer Protection case to be triggered. We provide more information on how you can react to this here.
- I have not received a refund from the shop: With this feedback option, your customer indicates that they are still waiting for a refund after their order has been cancelled. In this instance, a Buyer Protection case is triggered. Here we explain in detail how you can react to this feedback.
- I have a different issue: If your customer does not find an option which suits them in the response options provided, they can contact the Trusted Shops team directly using this option.
The Buyer Protection cases are triggered as soon as your customer gives feedback via e-mail or in their personal user account indicating that the ordered goods have not arrived, or that no refund has been received after a cancellation. Together with this message, your customer can use a text message to describe the process in more detail from their point of view and also upload supporting documents such as the order confirmation. Both the text message and the supporting documents are visible to you in the eTrusted Control Centre so that you can better understand the process.
How do I handle Buyer Protection cases?
As soon as a customer of your shop has triggered a Buyer Protection case, you will be informed about this process in two ways. First, you will receive an e-mail from Trusted Shops with initial information about the case. This will be sent to the e-mail addresses that you entered when you created your contract. The button "Provide your response here" takes you to the Buyer Protection section in the Control Centre, where you can edit the case.
Secondly, all active Buyer Protection cases are also displayed in the Protection overview of the Buyer Protection section itself. On the left side of the Dashboard you will find a list of cases. Click on the "Reply" button to take a closer look at the respective case and define a feedback option.
In the overview that now opens, all necessary data such as order number, date and value, as well as an e-mail contact for your customer, are compiled for you (). To help you better understand the process, in this overview you will also find a text message and supporting documents, if your customer has sent them using the feedback form (
). Click on the "Reply" (
) button to add your comment on the present Buyer Protection case.
In the following, we would like to present the different response options and their consequences in detail.
After clicking on the button "Reply" you will be forwarded to a form where you can give your customer feedback on the triggered Buyer Protection case. First you must decide whether you want to give a refund (). Depending on the decision you make, the process splits up into different versions, which we will explain below. Furthermore, you are obliged to send a message to your customer via the input field, justifying your decision (
). This ensures transparency and enables customers to understand the reasons for your decision. To substantiate your decision, you also have the option of adding supporting documents (
). Finally, click on the "Send reply" button (
).
In the following, we will explain the various further processes for the Buyer Protection case. The further process depends on whether and in what form you would like to make a refund – i.e. on the decision you made in the previous step.
- Version A: You want to refund the money to your customer
- Version B: You want to partially refund the money to your customer
- Version C: You do not want to refund the money to your customer
Version A: You want to refund the money to your customer
If you want to refund your customer, select either "Yes" or "Yes, after return of goods" under the question "Are you going to provide a refund?”. Then the input field "Refund amount" will open. The order value is already entered within this field. But of course you have the option of adjusting the refund amount manually. If you do so, however, the response options for your customer will change, as they must of course have the option of refusing a partial refund. We will go into this in more detail in version B. In version A, however, it is assumed that you will refund the entire order value.
Once you have saved your feedback, your customer will receive the e-mail below informing them about the refund. Your customer will also be informed about how long they have to respond before the Buyer Protection case is closed. The given response time is 20 days. By clicking on the button "Provide your response here", your customer is taken directly to the feedback form in their personal user account. The essential information about the order is also specified in the email.
In their personal user account, the customer is shown the text message you have formulated. The customer also has the opportunity to comment on the refund granted.
- Yes, I have received the refund: If this option is selected, the Buyer Protection case is closed.
- No, I have not received any refund: Since there is a dispute between you and your customer in this case, the Trusted Shops service team is called in to check the facts based on the data provide.
Version B: You want to partially refund the money to your customer
Would you like to make a partial refund? Then please select one of the two options "Yes" and "Yes, after return of goods" first. Using the "Refund amount" input field that now appears, you can then define the amount individually.
As soon as you have submitted your feedback, your customer will receive – as already explained under version A – an e-mail with a link to the feedback form, which they can use to submit their comments within the next 20 days. However, the customer now has a choice of three feedback options.
- Yes, I have received the refund: If this option is selected, the Buyer Protection case is closed.
- No, I have not received any refund: Since there is a dispute between you and your customer in this case, the Trusted Shops service team is called in to check the facts based on the data provided.
- I do not accept the partial refund: In this case too, the process is checked by the service team.
Version C: You do not want to refund the money to your customer
Below the question "Are you going to provide a refund?", select the option "No" if you do not want to provide a refund because, for example, a delivery is delayed but will still take place.
As in versions A and B, your customer will receive an e-mail with a link to the feedback form, which they can use to submit their comments within the next 20 days. In this form the customer has the following response options:
- All right. I would like to end Buyer Protection: By selecting this option, they close the Buyer Protection case.
- I don’t agree with the shop’s solution: In this case, the Trusted Shops service team intervenes to check the facts.
What happens when Trusted Shops reviews the Buyer Protection case?
First of all, a Buyer Protection case is an exchange between your customer and you as the online retailer, which you can use to search for a suitable solution together with your customer. The Trusted Shops service team only gets involved in the process for two reasons:
- You let the response period of 5 days pass without responding.
- There is still a conflict between you and your customer after the versions described above have been gone through. This may be the case when:
- Your customer insists on a refund that you do not wish to make.
- Your customer is not satisfied with the refund amount or solution proposed by you.
The service team checks the facts of the case on the basis of the statements and supporting documents already submitted and then tries to find a mutually acceptable solution in cooperation with you and your customer. If further documents are required for this case, the team will contact you.