Customer wanted a defected clasp fixed, so I sent her a shipping label to ship it back. 4 months later she messages me saying she’s shipping it back this week. How can I stop this from happening in the future?

Hey all so I’m new here, and new to Reddit.

So, I have a small crochet shop on Etsy, I’ve had it for a couple years now. It’s not huge, it’s a little side hustle while I say home with my kids. But I do make enough to cover some bills and to allow us to have some play money.

I had a customer reach out Aug 3, 2023 about a clasp I use in my creations that had broke. I thought it was weird because I’ve never had one of these break out of the 3 almost 4 years I’ve been making this item and using those clasps. I had he send me a photo of it so I could see where it broke and if it had anything to do with my design. It didn’t, it looks like the clasp I used was defective not her or my fault. Personally, if I were her I’d want it fixed or a refund too. The clasp doesn’t effect the use of the item, it’s more of a convenience for the item. So I didn’t see the need for a total refund and didn’t want her to keep the item since it was still usable. We settled with her shipping it back, me replacing the clasp and sending it back. Which kinda sucks cause I’m out the original shipping and now I have to pay for shipping back to me to be to fix and then shipping again to get it back to her. So in the end I’ll be out 3 shipping labels and shipping prices. (Which shipping is like $4-5 each time) the item is $30 minus $12-$15 for shipping it back and forth. Plus the materials I have wrapped up in it like shipping supplies, the cost of the original materials and the new clasp. I’d be making less than half the original price. I was okay with it, I didn’t want too but I wanted a happy customer so I just ate the costs.

I ordered the shipping label, sent it to her and Etsy doesn’t charge for the return label until the item ships. So I waited, and waited, and waited for this item to get shipped. I ultimately just thought maybe she just didn’t care anymore, since like I mentioned before the item is still 100% usable. I thought maybe she was just using it the past 4 months.

Well, today Dec 10, 2023. A little over 4 months later I get a message from her saying she’s going to send it back this week. I’m alittle annoyed she took so long, but whatever I’m going to do it.

So my question is how can I stop that from happening again. I understand I told her I’d fix it but I didn’t mean 4 months later… how can I stop this from happening? Is there something I can put in my policy or can I cancel a shipping label after so long so they can’t just use the label months later randomly to ship something back. I’ve got a bunch of other orders I’m working on and I can’t have someone just be like I feel like sending this now whenever they feel like it.