Did my order ship yet, it wasn't in the mail today!

I know one of these days I am really gonna get under someone's skin here but I just can't resist because I know other full time stamp and coin dealers get these emails like this one I am going to share here and it drives them nuts as well even though few would publicly admit it.

Here goes,

Dear sir (I'm not a SIR, My name is Victoria, Kitty for short, says that on the site by the way), My stamps were purchased on 04/03/2019 and they were not in the mail box today. And then the obligatory lesson on shipping times as the chaser, he continues, it only takes 2-3 days to ship from Pa to Ohio, oh and your shipping costs are really kind of high when others charge as little as a dollar for a couple of stamps (He bought one small set of 8 stamps, not 10 sets of 8 stamps). And to follow the chaser he demanded to be advised, (Advised, seriously?) I am well aware of what others are charging for shipping, I charge $2.25 U.S for domestic shipping, and then there is the handling. Electric, ink, envelope(s) packaging, gas to the post, the printer, the computers, the labor in cleaning, scanning, listing ( that's called labor)

If I did not have a sense of humor I could never sell online. I get this email every so often and as a full time seller who pays the bills this way I can tell you no one, and I mean no one is racing out of bed at 2am to pull an order that just came in, I personally hob knob with sellers that are long time ASDA members (which I am not) who let orders sit for days before they even look at them, or, they are processing several hundred orders a week (as we are) and pull them as they come in, sometimes that is 25-35 orders a day.

We as our feedback states have some of the fastest turn around times on this site and our other sites. And this customer got the " please feel free to shop elsewhere" reply. I know there will be responses saying you'll lose business responding to a customer that way, or I'd never buy from you again if you sent me that response, That's cool. I've been in business 40 years and can tell you unequivocally that a bad review or the dreaded negative feedback isn't going to stop someone from buying from us if they see something they want, it isn't going to happen.

I think a lot of sellers, full timers or not are 1. afraid to charge for their time, labor etc and 2. are terrified of a bad feedback. I'm not that dealer, everyone gets treated fairly and with respect, until you act out.

Okay I'm done

Ciao

K

Comments

  • 7 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Buyers don't seem to realize that many sellers' costs are fixed. If someone is buying one or two stamps for $1.00 or a different single stamp for $10.00 from me, shipping and handling costs are going to be the the same. I have never understood why so few buyers seem to understand that. Nor do I understand why buyers think that sellers who have a shipping charge of $1.00 aren't hiding their real shipping costs in their stamp prices or are otherwise misleading potential buyers about the actual shipping cost. Also, many buyers don't seem to distinguish between the terms postage and shipping cost. Postage is a component of the shipping cost. Some sellers may use those terms interchangeably as well.

    Neither do I understand why, recently, I've had so many buyers buying single low-value stamps or stamps totaling only $1-2.00 when they're paying my $2.10 S/H fee within the US. I'm no longer collecting. But, when I was collecting, I wouldn't have done that. Maybe I just wasn't as dedicated to the hobby as these buyers are? Part of my listing philosophy has been to sell as many stamps individually as possible rather in groups. I do this to help collectors fill those blank spaces, but that philosophy originated years ago when shipping costs were less burdensome. Our selling environment isn't the same as it was a decade or two ago.
  • Tom, the buyers who don't understand don't sell. They see that postage is 55 cents and that is all that they should pay. It's the same as when they send a check to pay their electric bill. They don't know.

    It's the same as many people who are in the food industry (restaurants). They conduct themselves the same way that they do at home. That means, as I have seen, that a food handler will pick his nose, and then put those fingers in the food that he is preparing to give to customers. When you complain about it, they show their ignorance by saying that they do the same thing at home, and no one at home ever got sick from their doing that.

    We are talking about closed-minded people who do not have a clue of reality, just how they see it up to the tip of their noses.
  • edited April 2019 2 LikesVote Down
    Thomas I agree with you and collect in the same manner. I believe those collectors are having a harder time finding the stamps they want because there are much fewer shows and stamp stores. But now we have the Internet which includes EBay, Hipstamp, and Facebook amongst other venues to peruse. Sellers who ship at cost or below either don't
    value their time or received their
    stamps for little or nothing. Most buyers have patience and respect but desire their purchased stamps swiftly as described without blatant errors.
  • Sellers who ship at or below cost are probably losing money. They haven't figured in all costs such as fees from the selling site and payment collection site, costs of material to pack, wrap and ship. Basically they are working for or next to nothing, or worse.
  • Thomas you raise several good points, as our tag line says " Helping collectors build great collections one stamp at a time" We specialize in single stamps, broken sets, we even break sets for the guy or gal who asks because they need that one stamp to fill that last space. Hey I will sell the rest of them stamp by stamp to someone else who needs one of them.

    Another thing is I didn't even mention the fee's I have on this end, and listen I understand there are costs to doing business I have to eat, it's just the nature of it. And Michael, whose comments I respect very much and follow regularly in the forums makes a really good observation in that buyers really do see the postage rate is .55 and that's what the shipping should be, and when the electric, ink, print paper, envelope fairy starts showing up here then that might be the shipping cost.

    And I disagree with Andrew that most buyers are respectful and patient, that is not our experience, I've had buyers call me a stupid B&%ch over an invoice error, propositioned buy a seller, called every name but Jesus and my own buy a seller all over the most innocuous things. Most times it's something like " Hey stupid, that is Russia 744 not Russia 754, if you can't read a Scott get off the site. Really?

    Maybe it's the volume were selling at that we just pull up these clowns from the bottom in our nets. When your pulling and shipping 100-150 orders a week that's going to happen, and I'll tell you this too, it takes the steam out of an otherwise good day when it happens.

    Well fellas as always it's good to hear from and chat with you all, everyone has value and so do their opinions. If you celebrate Easter happy Easter if you don't have a good weekend anyway!

    By the way someone asked me the other day where David has been, I forget who but he's in Turkey these last 45 days doing post doctoral work. So whoever it was that asked he will be back for our Easter which is a few days after Protestant Easter.

    Caio

    Kitty Rueppel
  • Buyers buy 1 or 2 cheap stamps for under a dollar and then pay 2-3 dollars for shipping because we only need or 2 stamps to complete a series and don’t want to buy a whole series of 10-15 stamps and have 13 left over duplicates. Also, the nearest stamp show is about 75 miles from where I live and occurs once every 2 months, so it is much easier to buy those inexpensive stamps and pay the postage than going to a show.
  • Hi Kitty

    It matters not which industry you are in, there will always be a client or customer that expects miracles. In my day job, (I am only a Hobbiest Dealer - but looking to build something to do when I retire - which is long over due) I have had clients that think I am sat in my office with nothing to do and ready to drop everything to rush to their site and survey their roof or investigate their problem, immediately I have submitted my fee proposal (even though we state our current lead in times - usually 2 to 4 weeks, depending on how busy we are)

    Diplomatic responses are usually issued, but after a while you just have to tell them where to get off or you will drive your self mental. If a client is going to react like that, do you really need to deal them regularly - let one of my competitors have the hassle - I have a relaxed life and thoroughly enjoy what I do in Construction and Philately - Beside both get me out of housework with the wife. If I was looking for hassle and arguments I just have to stay home :-) (only joking dear)

    Enjoy a hassle free live all and relax

    David
    https://www.hipstamp.com/store/the-stamp-cave

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