posted on September 11, 2007 03:16:26 PM
just had to share. bought two postcards from an eBayer with a feedback of 1 (now amazingly up to 16). the postcards came...in a small pizza box full of blue peanuts and the two postcards. he spent $1.64 to do this. almost left him a neutral saying "don't mail postcards in pizza boxes," but decided not to bother. someone else will tell him.
the next day, i had a buyer who sent a check for $24.99 for the postcard instead of the $26.99 it cost with shipping. he supplied a stamped, self-addressed envelope, a hard postcard sleeve and a soft sleeve. had it been a $10 sale, i would have refunded his money.
our packing is actually better than his and who wants to be told at this late date by a presumptuous customer how to pack a postcard? this kind of penny pinching just left a bad taste in my mouth. we're sending the card and putting him on our blocked bidder list. it's a shame, because he does have an eye for postcards but he's got "trouble" written all over him. what's next, a $20 check for a $25 card? no thanks.
just thought i'd share for fun. neglus and pixiamom, have you received postcards in pizza boxes yet? adds a new twist to the "false economy" term, lol.
posted on September 11, 2007 03:23:54 PM
No postcards in Pizza boxed yet but I am pretty sure I have sold to your buyer who sends a rigid sleeve and a SASE...can't remember his user name or his exact last name but it is Wm Nor-something. Same one?
-------------------------------------
posted on September 11, 2007 03:44:02 PM
My unfavorite shippers are those who use corrugated cardboard for backing postcards. Don't they know it messes with the post office machinery and grinds up cards? And yes, I get the SASE with postcard sleeve guy, too. My favorite is the guy who sends cash and unused postage stamps for the exact change (usually 94 cents in teeny-tiny denominations).
[ edited by pixiamom on Sep 11, 2007 03:46 PM ]
posted on September 11, 2007 04:55:45 PM
I would email them this note; Because you have chosen to use your own mailer VPC.org wishes to inform you that you do so at your own risk and you also give up the right to file a claim against VPC should the package or contents arrive damaged.
posted on September 11, 2007 06:05:26 PM
hi neglus,
yep, bingo! you've got the right guy. do you still sell to him? so far, i'm thinking this is going to be our only sale to him. the type of stuff he bought from us is a good seller and not worried about losing him that way. most of all, i just don't like the...whatever it is...the slight attempt to scr_w the postcard dealer...the "i know better than the postcard dealer" or whatever the deal is with him.
pixiamom,
i've had several "send the postcard dealer annnoyingly small denominations of stamps" people but (so far), i've lucked out and haven't had the corrugated cardboard people yet.
the absolutely _dumbest_ seller i ever had was a guy who took oh, about six weeks to send three postcards - which were, drum roll, please, packed in between layers of ***plywood*** roflmao. i forget how much postage he paid, but it was a lot. he had duct tape all over the plywood. it took a long time to extract the postcards from the mess. i must say though, that packing postcards between sheets of plywood does ensure that the postcards won't get bent <grin>
alldings,
that was my hubby's thought too - you don't want to use our packing materials which we know work, we aren't responsible for what happens to your postcard. i think i will just take the $, block him and move on.
i forgot about mr. plywood 'til just now; we laughed our heads off over that one. has anyone else had mr. plywood yet?
not sure if this will post 2x; server is barfing as i post.
posted on September 11, 2007 06:34:00 PM
You may want to wait until he posts feedback for you before you block him. I had a customer a few years ago who got pissed after we provided a refund (of his entire purchase price) that he gave us a neg because we didn't want to deal with him in the future.
It was his attitude that I didn't want to deal with and his neg proved that he was going to be a problem child in the long run. He had been a customer in the past with no problems, but then blamed us because e-mail wasn't getting to him in his "in" box - instead going to his spam folder. He blamed us - and had an attitude in the process.
Wayne
Never explain -- Your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.
~ Elbert Hubbard
posted on September 11, 2007 06:39:50 PM
We occasionally sell New Zealand postcards and always state in our auctions that we always ship with them sandwiched between two pieces of heavy card and with pictorial NZ stamps. Never, ever had a complaint or anyone try to send a SASE (except the occasional US financial company that thought US metered postage labels could be used abroad - DUH!). We always ship by AIRMAIL letter (which includes US$200 postal insurance) so usually no customs holdups or delays in delivery, infact some items have been delivered in the UK within two days of posting in NZ.
The only thing we ship in pizza boxes are the occasional LP or coffee table book and only in new boxes...
posted on September 11, 2007 06:59:25 PM
I buy more postcards than I sell. A lot are from the UK. My most recent transaction from Hades was a very nice real-photo card that came in an envelope with a sheet of bubble wrap around it. No cardboard of any kind, just bubble wrap. In fact I have the envelope in front of me right now to remind me what a trans Atlantic trip can do to an envelope with a postcard and bubble wrap.
I cried when I opened it. Left the card inside a heavy book for a week and it is almost flat. Of course the photographic emulsion will never be the same.
The seller had good feedback so I can't explain it. I kept writing emails them erasing them until I finally just gave up and let it go.
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
