Creators scamming with no refund policy for re-purchase

[Lord Derryth]

This is in regard to inworld purchases.  I strongly feel LL should put an end to the creator scam of the policy for double purchasing.  I purchased the Legacy MeshBody for my alt not knowing I had purchased it in November of 2021.  When I contacted the creator, they respond with this.

" Hi there. Our policy is that both purchases must be made within 30 days of reaching out to us. As the initial purchase is over the 30 days it is outside the range of refund"

My response was this.

"I just want to point out sometimes people make mistakes.  I've been here nearly 19 years and I've seen it.  I've also seen creators honor it.  There is no harm done, no labor work or a loss on your end.  It's poor customer service.  It's a virtual world, not an item that was used and hard to resell.  Common sense.  The way I see it.  It's free 5,000L for you and a loss of $22.31 for me.  Basically, an extra product as a redelivery that cost me that price.  I know it's a scam to take lindens from people because that policy makes absolutely no sense."

Tell me please, how is it an inconvenience for them to refund a mistake made?  This policy needs to be banned from LL.  We're talking about $22.31.  This not chump change.  That's actually a lot of money made for a purchase that is virtual and does not require restock.  I believe creators use this policy to make extra Lindens from the customer.  It should be banned and not allowed.  Creators must honor the purchase.  You can say "NO REFUNDS."  At least honor a mistake made by re-purchase.  I basically did a redelivery for $22.31.  This is not something that's small.  That's someones real life money over a product that was created once and automatically sent to the customer without labor or hassle.  It's as simple as choosing the cutomers name and refunding 5,000L.  It's not hard.  

I feel really sad I lost $22.31.

Edited March 23, 2022 by Lord Derryth

[bigmoe Whitfield]

been around 19 years like you have,  you already know the answer you are going to get from the lab on this, they are not going to get involved,  resident to resident disputes are something they try to always 100% stay out of,   I've been here 15 years and sadly have done what you have several times...  not with legacy but with another creator and they did the same exact things to me, so I learned some lessons and stopped reaching out to LL to try and get help for them, since they will not help in any way.

[Lindal Kidd]

It's not a scam (although some would say Legacy mesh bodies are a scam in themselves, but that's another rant).

I've learned through frustrating experience to check my inventory very carefully whenever I see something and think, "ooooh, shiny!" More than once, it turned out that I'd had the same reaction to the same thing years before, and it was already buried in my pile of Stuff.

[Kathlen Onyx]

3 hours ago, Lord Derryth said:

It's as simple as choosing the cutomers name and refunding 5,000L.  It's not hard.  

I feel really sad I lost $22.31.

The creator is probably thinking the same thing. It's a matter of doing a search in your inventory or pulling up the redelivery page from their store.  Accept that this was your mistake. November 2021 was not that long ago to have completely forgotten. Maybe organize your inventory better and put things in folders so you can quickly check.

[Rowan Amore]

Always try redelivery if you're unsure.

[Lord Derryth]

3 hours ago, Sam1 Bellisserian said:

The creator is probably thinking the same thing. It's a matter of doing a search in your inventory or pulling up the redelivery page from their store.  Accept that this was your mistake. November 2021 was not that long ago to have completely forgotten. Maybe organize your inventory better and put things in folders so you can quickly check.

How would the creator feel sad if I already purchased their product?  I literally handed out $22.31 for free.  That's almost half a gas tank.  This is ultimately not fair and I will push forward to make sure this ends.  We all make mistakes and 5,000L is a HUGE mistake that should be refunded.  

[RayaNiles]

Some creators have a thing so you get the money back if you already bought it yes They all need it. 

[Lord Derryth]

It's not the question if they need it.  It's a question of do they have morals stealing from customers?  Linden Labs is allowing them to get away with this.  As I stated before.  This is not a physical product that needs to be restocked.  This is not an item that was shipped physically.  It's as simple as clicking my name and paying me back my 5,000L that a lot of creators do for good business ethics.  I have 8 avatars with the MeshBody I purchased.  That's 40,000L spent on that creator.  The least they can do is show some respect and return the money that does not belong to them.  That's considered stealing.  Linden Labs should be held accountable for it.  Shady business!

[Kathlen Onyx]

6 minutes ago, Lord Derryth said:

It's not the question if they need it.  It's a question of do they have morals stealing from customers?  Linden Labs is allowing them to get away with this.  As I stated before.  This is not a physical product that needs to be restocked.  This is not an item that was shipped physically.  It's as simple as clicking my name and paying me back my 5,000L that a lot of creators do for good business ethics.  I have 8 avatars with the MeshBody I purchased.  That's 40,000L spent on that creator.  The least they can do is show some respect and return the money that does not belong to them.  That's considered stealing.  Linden Labs should be held accountable for it.  Shady business!

So what about the creators that sell no copy items? I know that when I was new I bought a very expensive "no copy" bed and lost it or deleted or whatever but I didn't have it anymore. They had the receipt of my purchase yet I had to buy it again at full price. Would you call that stealing as well? 

[Rowan Amore]

Is their refund policy posted anywhere?  Creators profile?  In store?  On a notecard?  If so, the onus is on you to check before repurchasing.  If not, it would be good customer relations to refund for double purchases.  However, remember what company we're talking about.  Anyone really surprised?

[Alwin Alcott]

6 hours ago, Lord Derryth said:

That's almost half a gas tank.  

you'r clearly not in europe

btw, i think it's not to blame the seller that you didn't check your alt's inventory. It would be nice if they refunded, but as always, with pointing fingers to somebody, one is at them, and three at yourself.

[Jules Catlyn]

I will refund if i can find the double purchase in my records. Caspervend allows me to detect double purchases made in their system and will refund my customer and send a redelivery. I do not think Marketplace has that option yet. So it is pretty much "Buyer be aware". Calling it a scam is a bit much for my taste.

[Alwin Alcott]

4 hours ago, Jules Catlyn said:

. I do not think Marketplace has that option yet. 

i don't know since when, but for very long time,  when visiting MP items i see a warning/sign that i bought it earlier. ( click that banner and you'll go to the order and see if it's been a gift or own purchase)

Edited March 31, 2022 by Alwin Alcott

[LittleMe Jewell]

3 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

i don't know since when, but for very long time,  when visiting MP items i see a warning/sign that i bought it earlier. ( click that banner and you'll go to the order and see if it's been a gift or own purchase)

That was added at least 3-4 years ago, maybe a bit more.  I remember commenting on it in the forums when they put that feature in.

[Jules Catlyn]

15 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

i don't know since when, but for very long time,  when visiting MP items i see a warning/sign that i bought it earlier. ( click that banner and you'll go to the order and see if it's been a gift or own purchase)

And people still miss the green banner. What i referred to was that they simply block duplicate purchases. Because even though that banner is there, people still buy.

[Alwin Alcott]

8 hours ago, Jules Catlyn said:

And people still miss the green banner. What i referred to was that they simply block duplicate purchases. Because even though that banner is there, people still buy.

I think blocking it is less simple, as in this case, it will be registered on your account, also when it;s gifted .. blocking means it's end of that .."you have it, you don't get a second one" ..but also not fo other alts/friends, there are quite some if this/then that issues to think about and implement.

[Richardus Raymaker]

Think like a creator that sell expensive copy item.

And then people want a refund on the copy item because the already own it. In many cases that sounds like the seller get scammed by the buyer to try to get a free expensive item if there's no proof. And because linden lab not keep buyer history and many not save the history to disk you see the problem.

There's one  option that would make a refund possible without problems. If both sides have a proof that you already bought it before and it's the same item and not a new version you normal need to buy. Because lack of free update policy.

[Rya Nitely]

On 4/1/2022 at 5:43 PM, Richardus Raymaker said:

There's one  option that would make a refund possible without problems. If both sides have a proof that you already bought it before and it's the same item and not a new version you normal need to buy. Because lack of free update policy.

^this

The transaction history only goes back one month unless you are premium, which could be why the seller has a one month refund policy. So the seller may have no proof that you bought the item twice.

It's not such an easy thing to click a profile and give away such a large sum of money without sound proof.

Even when customers show me proof I wonder how easy it might be to forge a transaction history, so there is that too. But I refund because my items are not expensive. With such expensive items it would be very hard.

[Mayumi Hirano]

[EN]
For you, it is a L$5000 purchase, but
If you buy from the marketplace, you'll have to pay a commission.
The seller has only received a deposit of L$4,500.
I think it is possible to get a refund if it is minus Linden's commission.

And you have to take into account if the product sales are divided to related parties.
Especially with older products, it may not be possible to contact the distributor.
If sales have been divided, the work of refunding will be laborious.



[JA]
あなたにとって、それは5000L$の買い物ですが
マーケットプレイスから購入した場合は手数料がかかるので、
販売者は4500L$しか入金がありません。
Lindenの手数料を引いた金額でなら返金は可能だと思います。

そして商品の売り上げを関連者に割り振られている場合も考慮しなければなりません。
特に古い製品では分配している対象者との連絡が不可能な場合もあります。
売り上げを割り振られている場合は、払い戻しの作業は労力がかかるでしょう。
 

[Coffee Pancake]

It says a lot about a creator when they are unwilling to refund duplicate purchases (especially when that creator is a leading brand).

Buyer beware isn't really acceptable.

[Studcrusher]

Well for what its worth, in world there is this vending system thats made by a person whose name i will not mention (cus he no longer deserves my respect) that has a setting for the merchant to block duplicate sales. Block meaning taking your money twice for the same thing, If you bought an item and try to buy it again the same day, next day or the next year it will notify teh buyer that he or she already bought it  and are you sure you want it again? Regardless if u say yes or no it will refund your lindens and give u the copy anyway. But this is only if the merchant activated this option. Most have. Some have not. (If the merchant does not turn that option on then what does that tell you about that person?  id call that person a consciously calculating greedy pile of nasty pixelated ... well anyway ..)

I have over 100k items in my inv, (Im not bragging im whimpering) and I have a few dupes in there because I duped myself. So I developed a habit of tapping every redeliver terminal in every store I visit and see if it lists anything for me. It adjusts your shopping strategy, no? ... (Sometimes I hear myself saying 'Oh yeah huh!' Other times i hear myself saying 'Oh no I didn't!') ) If you cant find a re delivery terminal  but u find an item you want to buy then right click then select re delivery instead of buy. That's another way of checking.
Also as has been already mentioned a few times, check your inv first when you see that purty sparkling shiny thing and suddenly feel that overwhelming desire to take that precious home.  Check by object name and/or creators name, the latter doesn't always work if the merchant  that is selling is not the creator of teh precious sparkly thing.

Its teh nature of teh beast for double purchases to happen in sl as well as some greedy B$^%!@# merchant to not return your money as well as, when u report it to  LL be turned around and tell us to go back outside to play and fight amongst ourselves.

So how much was that, $20.31? Is that all, really?. jeeez.. A hard lesson learned, hope u r taking notes. (Notes can be taken under that tab named "Notes" on their profile. Its very handy)

Oh damn my coffee got cold

[Studcrusher]

On 4/3/2022 at 5:11 PM, Coffee Pancake said:

It says a lot about a creator when they are unwilling to refund duplicate purchases (especially when that creator is a leading brand).

Buyer beware isn't really acceptable.

Aint that teh truth in its entirety. Maybe we should compare notes!

[Studcrusher]

On 4/3/2022 at 6:25 AM, Rya Nitely said:

^this

The transaction history only goes back one month unless you are premium, which could be why the seller has a one month refund policy. So the seller may have no proof that you bought the item twice.

It's not such an easy thing to click a profile and give away such a large sum of money without sound proof.

Even when customers show me proof I wonder how easy it might be to forge a transaction history, so there is that too. But I refund because my items are not expensive. With such expensive items it would be very hard.

The merchants customer records or store purchases in MP and in world (using one particular vending system that I use) go back,  All The Way Back, to teh day they first opened with name of buyer, item bought and date and amount ect. Any merchant that says they don't is a out right liar

[So Whimsy]

18 minutes ago, Studcrusher said:

The merchants customer recordsgo back,  All The Way Back, to teh day they first opened with name of buyer, item bought and date and amount ect. Any merchant that says they don't is a out right liar

Please show me where, I'm quite interested to see all of these records.

Edited April 9, 2022 by So Whimsy

[CarlaWetter]

In your Merchant Dashboard (My Marketplace -> Merchant home) the link: Transaction history. You can search for customer name and/or order ID. 

[Rya Nitely]

On 4/10/2022 at 6:43 AM, CarlaWetter said:

In your Merchant Dashboard (My Marketplace -> Merchant home) the link: Transaction history. You can search for customer name and/or order ID. 

The OP is talking about an inworld sale, not MP