Yes you need to decide for yourself the character of the customer and if it is worth it. Bad luck it sold out otherwise you could have sent a replacement. But I always try and de-escalate angry customers as soon as possible. Have you tried to phone her? Talking on the phone can sometimes fix everything.

Another angle. Depending on how much $300 means to you vs what your reputation means to you… I would refund her as soon as she has given her account of the scenario to UPS.

I always re-ship out lost packages asap to my customers straight away and I never wait for the mailing company to finish their investigation. I care about my reputation more than a few hundred bucks. Sometimes it really sucks to eat some cost (has happened less than a handful of times in the past 3 years) but those customers always are loyal after, and will give positive reviews and feedback.

It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and 1 second to destroy it. Something my grandpa used to say.

Your decision totally depends on your sector and future outlook. There’s a lot of comments here saying to take it because you “never know the future”.

I think that is total BS. If you’re in a sector that is thriving and growing, then you can continue to grow your company to 3-5M instead of the paltry 900k. But if you think your sector has peaked then sell. Only you can make that call.

No employees just myself and my wife at this time. But next year we might have to hire someone.

I don’t like wasting money and unless we absolutely have to, I won’t hire any employees. Being as busy and stressed as I am is a decision, and a sacrifice, I could hire someone to help with shipping but I’d be losing 30-50k a year, so instead we do it all ourselves and use that money to grow, for R&D and prototypes, and inventory.

I’ve been growing my business for 4 years now, sell physical things on e-commerce only store. I had a terminal velocity moment a year ago when I realized I could own the niche I was in, and my business exploded from 50K revenue a year to 400k after I took some fairly risky moves by majorly expanding using debt, and I’m looking to double again to 800k in 2024 hopefully.

I put everything I make back into the company, it costs a lot of money to manufacture my items, and unfortunately when you sell a physical thing it simply just costs money, it takes money to make money. You also need a place to store items, I’m lucky that I live on an acreage and I run my business from my home.

Struggles? Constantly stressed about competition, but at this point I am the big boy on the block so I have only myself to blame if I give up my spot. I also stress quite a bit about going too slow, so I’m always pushing myself harder and harder to grow faster and faster. If you’re not growing your dieing… and this is what my brain thinks which causes me to grow hard.

Yes I’m profitable, I make anywhere from 100-200% on my products. On average after shipping costs, credit card fees, website costs, I make about 50% of my revenue, so 200k on the 400k this year would be considered profit. but I put every spare penny right back into the company to grow it so I never see that money, I don’t live lavishly, I drive a piece of crap car that is rusting out. I can’t bring myself to spend money on anything other than the company. This life isn’t for everyone, it’s hard, it’s mentally tough and draining, but If you can own your niche you can make the company of your dreams.

My plan after robust growth pays off is to finally rest a few months but let’s be honest, a real small business owner can’t sit still ever, so I might have to sell to relax, not sure. I also have an exit plan should I choose to sell my company in 3-5 years, I already am plugged into the manufacturing supply chain of the company I would court to sell to, to make it easy for them to acquire me.

Sorry I have a lot of stuff to say if you have questions just ask. Made this Burner account to reply.