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Post by PickyChicky on Feb 1, 2015 18:10:48 GMT -6
I have a customer in Ireland who's interested in buying one of my vintage shirts on Etsy. She requested a shipping quote, so I got it from the PO's site and was in the middle of typing my response when I realized that if the customer wanted to return it, it would cost more than the item itself -- whether she or I paid the shipping both ways.
So, my question is, should I risk it? I do provide all of the measurements in the listing and will remind her to check and make sure it fits her husband before buying it. However, even if it does fit, I don't want to find myself dealing with a con looking to get something for free -- especially considering her comments in her email about needing to win the lotto before she can buy it.
Even while typing this post, I'm inclined to decline. LOL What do y'all think? I have my response to her already typed up. I just haven't sent it, yet, because I need to think on it. I don't want another customer being stuck with something they can't use; nor would I be able to recover the cost by selling it to someone else. Of course, I don't want to be out the money AND the item. So I'm seriously leaning towards telling her that I cannot ship that item internationally.
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Post by PickyChicky on Feb 1, 2015 21:55:11 GMT -6
Okay, too late...I made up my mind. LOL I thanked her for her inquiry and explained that it wouldn't be worth it to either one of us to take the risk. It would be a minimum of $15 to ship a 13 oz. item to her and round-trip shipping (in the case of a return) would be more than the cost of the item itself.
I told her that if round-trip shipping didn't cost more than the item itself, then I could afford to extend the return service to her. However, since I can't, then I'm not willing to take the risk for either her or me. I mean, if it turned out that she wanted to return the item for whatever reason that meant I had to cover the round-trip shipping, I would just tell her to keep it because it would cost me less money. So I would be out the initial shipping and the product.
Even if I had her return it at my expense, I would lose money even if I had sold it to someone else. I would have to raise my price by at least $10 to make it worth the effort and I feel it's already at the highest reasonable price possible. So, no, I cannot afford the round-trip shipping if she decides to return it.
That's what made up my mind...if I can't afford to extend the return service to a customer, then it's not worth the risk of selling an item to them. Plus, I felt her message was trying to hint at me sending it to her as a gift so she could avoid the tariffs. She went on about how if she won the lotto, she'd buy the shirt, wrap it in a golden bow, and give it to her handsome man so they could be the best-dressed in the land.
So, it wasn't just the inability to extend the return service. Her email was just a bit too fishy for me because I felt like she was trying to get me to break the law while also hinting that she'd end up conning me into giving it to her for free (since it wouldn't be worth paying the return shipping).
Yep, too many red flags.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2015 15:12:27 GMT -6
I had one once that outright asked me if I would ship it as a "gift." I told her no and also declined the sale. This was on eBay about 7 years ago .
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Post by PickyChicky on Feb 3, 2015 18:15:21 GMT -6
It's still difficult to turn down a sale, but one has to be realistic. LOL It's interesting that I haven't heard back from her.
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Post by cindybear on Feb 4, 2015 9:34:09 GMT -6
In cases like that, I make sure that the person knows everything there is to know about the item and then, if we come to an agreement, which includes returns not accepted. I send a separate invoice through paypal (there is a box to add your return policy, which boldly states the buyer agrees to no returns)
I have a buyer in Croatia who always wants me to remove items from original packaging because it can save up to $10-$12 on international shipping, and we agree that once I remove it, he cannot return it. So far, he has been quite grateful to get the items and things have worked out well.
I also had a buyer in England who agreed to the terms for cheaper shipping if I removed item from original packaging...
I will work with the international buyer, but there are some that do make me hesitate and those I back away from
He even promos my store for me on flickr, twitter and his other sites
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Post by PickyChicky on Feb 4, 2015 17:32:08 GMT -6
Yeah, I was considering working with her, but there were too many red flags. I wasn't aware of the option on PayPal, though. I'll have to check that out.
I just checked my Etsy policies and I do say that I will ship to Canada, Australia and the UK upon request and instruct them to request a quote. I wonder if I should say I'll "consider shipping..." or if I should say that returns to international locations are not accepted.
I'm just not sure how Etsy feels about circumventing fees. I would think they have a policy against handling transactions offsite, which means I wouldn't be able to state my full terms in the policies section or even discuss them within Etsy email to let them know that the transaction would have to be handled directly through PayPal.
Although, I wonder how protected I would be if I allowed the customer to buy the item on Etsy, not including shipping, and then invoice them separately via PayPal for the shipping. I could include the PayPal transaction number from the item purchase as being the related transaction and then state the return policy.
Would that still be going against Etsy policies? They don't charge their FVFs on shipping, so that wouldn't be the problem, but they might want the whole transaction to be handled via Etsy to protect the customer. I would ask in the Etsy forums, but I wouldn't want to give myself away in case that's something I would do in the future.
I'm not even sure if that would be allowed via eCrater, but I don't have international shipping set up on either site, so I would basically have to invoice them separately for shipping. Especially if the transaction went through via the site without shipping added. Although, I'm not sure if they would even be able to buy the item on either site if I'm not set up for shipping to their country.
Hmmm...what to do, what to do? I've only had ONE international sale in all these years, so this is all new to me and is obviously something I should consider. One thing is for sure...I need to add in my store policies that I do not send items internationally as gifts.
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