Big purchase just made from my store and I'm nervous to say the least

[canada_goose_whisperer]

Hi all, this is my first post here - please go easy on me.

I sell sports cards that I ship via lettermail. Most are between $0.50 and $2 in value, though I have some listed in the $7 to $20 range. Shipping I charge is via lettermail: $2.15 in Canada and $2.65 to the USA. I do combine shipping, but I don't have it set to do so automatically, so buyers need to wait for my invoice before paying.

Recently (a few hours ago), a huge purchase was made for fourteen of those high-value 7 to 20 dollar cards I have listed on my account. They didn't wait for the combined shipping invoice to be sent, and paid the $2.15 shipping times 14 cards ($30.10 total for shipping) right away.

To be quite frank, I am worried this is some kind of scam and I am going to end up losing the cards and the money, because why would someone pay that much money to ship 14 cards, without even asking me to combine shipping? The buyer has over 200 positive feedback from purchases and their account is years old, but I remember reading on these forums a while ago that the ones you need to watch out for are the established accounts, as they know how to get away with it, so I don't know what to believe. Furthermore, the name on the account and the name I'm shipping to are different (different first name, same last name) and the account says they're "based in the united states" but the shipping address is in Canada.

Are there some ways I can increase my chances of success with this transaction, or is there any advice you can provide?

I appreciate any help you can offer, thanks.

It is quite late at night, so I'm just writing it all out as I think of it - sorry if it seems like I'm rambling.

[ricarmic]

A great sale! The way they have paid is good news for you, IMO.

What I would do is use the combined shipping they paid to send it expedited (so you have tracking which protects/covers you for any possible delivery issues) and if you feel so inclined refund them the difference you didn't need for the shipping, which would generally cause positive feelings on the recipents end. They may know enough to know that with this large a purchase it should go tracked and paid this way on the assumption you'll do what I would do.

Regarding the names, this happens all the time to me, I have some customers that one purchase is in his name, the next purchase is in her name  or a different fellow's name at the same address. In my world (stamps) sometimes folks are buying stamps for moms or pops who aren't familiar with computers.

Again in my world it is not uncommon for folks to have the item sent to a different country than they are registered to, they'll be working in a different country and getting stuff sent to their new location. At least yours is US/Canada, I have stuff like Nepal/United Kingdom, India/UK, Russia/USA etc.....

There is I suppose a risk of Not as Described, but I don't think you really need to worry about that with $7 to $20 cards, if they were $700 to $1000 cards yes the risk might be higher then.

Keep in mind all the horror stories you read here are the exceptions, nobody posts about the 99.5% of the transactions that go AOK, this tends to bend our brain to think that all customers are criminals when of course they aren't.

[byto253]

As was posted, use the shipping paid funds to send it by a tracked method.  I always refund back the difference as well, but that is just me.  Buyers like to feel that they are being well treated, and it does generate good will.   And for you cards specialty, this is a potential future repeat buyer, so refunding excess shipping fees puts you in a good position down the road. 

As you are in the Toronto area, I recommend you check out Chitchats for shipping, as the cards can be sent to the US for under $6 fully tracked and will be delivered very quickly, usually within a week.  For light goods like cards they are hard to beat.   There may be other similar services in your area that others may recommend to.  

[canada_goose_whisperer]

Thanks for the insight. I'm going to take it over to the post office today and will send as tracked - afterwards I'll refund the difference. Regarding INAD claims,  is there any way I can specifically protect against that, short of filming myself packing stuff at the post office? Thanks again.

[byto253]

If you don't have a small business discount card for Canada Post ask for one when you are there.  It takes a couple of minutes and you will get a 5% saving.  

[marnotom!]

Agree pretty much with what's been said already.  The only thing that might sway me in a different direction was knowing if there was anything about the buyer that seemed amiss, such as what they've purchased in the past or if they registered just the other day.

I checked one of your listings and I don't see anything about combining shipping or special shipping rates for multiple purchases, so I'm not surprised that your buyer made their payment based on the invoice automatically generated by eBay.

[ricarmic]

@canada_goose_whisperer  there isn't anything you can do to protect yourself against INAD claims, filming yourself etc won't help you if the person is intending to rip you off and knows what they are doing, it will only waste your time IMO.  Remember IMO the risk of this is very small for "relatively" inexpensive stuff like this, although I understand to you these and especially the total are not as realatively inexpensive as they would be for larger sellers selling the $100s to $1000s type cards.

To try to distract yourself from worrying about it, see if you have more of the kind of cards in inventory to be listed someday that are like what was purchased. If you put on your optimist hat, this has the potential to be a very good ongoing customer if you have more stock that they like! I wouldn't list more specifically for them until they get these and you get feedback etc saying all is well. I have some ongoing AWESOME customers for many many years that started out this way, and yes as soon as it happens to me I go searching in the warehouse to see if I can find more stuff like it to list!

As a PS, when you refund you might keep a wee bit above the postage to put in your "cookie jar insurance" pot, that, over time should more than cover any INADs you do happen to get. I think CP charges $2.80 per 100 for insurance and you're self insuring so to speak for INAD type claims.

If you haven't seen here is a link to my actual loss rate, although I'm in a different (stamp) world from you.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/RICARMICs-Self-insurance-cookie-jar-statistics-to-end-of...   

[canada_goose_whisperer]

Will do, thanks.

[intimewithmusic]

This is a bit after the fact.  When something like this happens I usually go old brick & mortar and telephone the customer. Their number is there on your order.

Say something like "Hi. I'm Joe from the eBay store" and go from there. You would be surprised at how happy (and surprised) virtual customers are to actually get a call from the human they are dealing with.  It puts your mind at ease and you may earn a loyal future customer.

[ricarmic]

Hah! Contributing to this must have brought some osmosis luck to me too, just had a UK buyer purchase 8 items paid separately like yours did, creating the same situation! (Whilst my stuff is free US/CA shipping international folks pay extra).

I've already refunded them the shipping overage, won't be shipping till tomorrow tho (Mon/Wed/Fri are my shipping days). 

Hopefully this contribution will bring another one!!! 😉

[canada_goose_whisperer]

That is a good point, thanks. I have it explained in my store bio, but I'm not sure how many people actually read that. I try to keep my listing descriptions to as few words and as simple as possible, but if this starts to become a hindrance to my potential sales then I may look at changing my listings to include info about combined shipping.

[canada_goose_whisperer]

That was a very interesting read, thank you for the link.

So far, I haven't had any lost sports cards while sending them via lettermail, so my % of shipments lost (or "crime rate" as you called it) is effectively zero. This was kind of the reason I wanted to sell low dollar cards in the first place, as I theorized that they would be less likely to get targeted by INR scammers.

What I hadn't anticipated was someone buying a stack of solely my high dollar cards, which is I guess what threw me off in the first place.

I've already dropped it off at Canada Post and uploaded the tracking #, so I guess we just wait and see. For someone like me who does this as a hobby though, this is a pretty big single sale so I really hope it goes through.

[canada_goose_whisperer]

That is a very interesting point.

I am actually quite curious to know if that works well, as to me at least, I'd think it'd be like 50/50 whether the customer answers and is happy you called or annoyed that you're bothering them.

[ricarmic]

Generally speaking you would be lucky to have someone who reads the description, I think, based on my own observations that rarely happens; we're lucky anymore if they even read the whole title!!

[ricarmic]

Regarding calls, yes and they can be time consuming then and later. As a good example I had one gentleman in California walk me through what all stamps boxes, collections etc he had on his 4 walls, this took 45 minutes, what are you supposed to say, I was trying to fix a problem and I did not want to offend.....

Generally the vast majority of calls I've ever made have been good, but I only call if there are problems more quickly resolved via a call because of stuff like above.

[canada_goose_whisperer]

Lmao. Thank you for the chuckle. Hope you at least got a positive feedback from that encounter!

[byto253]

Oh jumpin, calling audio guys I may as well make a thermos of coffee and camp out for a while.   I have enough with emails back and forth with some, these are passionate folks!!!!   

But if it works for you customers, go for it. 

[intimewithmusic]

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@canada_goose_whisperer wrote:

That is a very interesting point.

I am actually quite curious to know if that works well, as to me at least, I'd think it'd be like 50/50 whether the customer answers and is happy you called or annoyed that you're bothering them.

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It works better than you may think.

  2 weeks back I pulled an order to the USA for a 1990's T shirt. I've mentioned here before the black band shirts made between 1988 and 2001 may (probably) used a balck dye that was high in sulphur. If those shirts weren't washed at the offset IE. NOS they slowly self destruct. I checked all my stock but missed one from Wynonna Judd's tour we worked on. When I pulled it I did the test for acid rot and it failed. 

   The phenomina is a global problem for vintage shirts. first I messaged her the basic problem without drowning her in details. She messaged me back and instead of sending a long email I told her I was going to phone and I did, immediatley. The result was  if I had cancelled her order any other way she would have thought I was the scammer and sold the shirt to someone else. Instead I found out she wanted the shirt anyway. she is such a big Judds fan she would frame the shirt instead of wearing it. Over the phone I told her I would send her the shirt free of charge less her shipping paid. 

   During that conversation she asked to be on my mailing list. I have other Judds memorabilia not yet listed including concert riders. (contracts) . I shipped her shirt and added some small items of memorabilia to the package. 

   After having a retail store for 30 years I know that the easiest way to overcome distrust is to develop a relationship with your customer. The easiest and fastest way is to speak directly to them. About 5 years ago I sold a very expensive item to someone.

   Like you, after shipping it, I had reservations.  I called eBay.  After hearing out my lengthy story the eBay rep said " Why don't you just phone him?" In my online world that hadn't occured to me.  It's not against any policy to phone your buyer after the sale completes. So I did and we had a great conversation and then he became a very good customer who gave me great feedback. 

  The music industry may be different than those who sell in other categories.  We like to talk about anything music. I like to think if you sell stamps or sports cards or any such thing that youre passionate about the result would be the same. Since then I always get a great response from my phone calls which seem to end in really nice feedback. See for yourself.  Read my feedback. Most of it is very personal and quite different from the usual " Fast shipping. Good price." 

  Like Ringo's song on the flip side of the Beatles' Let It Be 45. "You know my name so look up the number. You Know You Know My Name so Look Up the Number". LOL

   It works!

IT

[intimewithmusic]

@canada_goose_whisperer  @byto253  @ricarmic  @marnotom! 

If you're still a "curious goose" I rec'd this feedback from that phone call today...

"Happy to add to my collection. Shirt is wonderful. The seller went above and beyond to help with my purchase, and even called me due to a couple small holes. We worked something out and I recommend them 110%!!"

WYNONNA JUDD 1994 Single Stitch Tour Shirt MERRITT Mountainfest Xtra Lrg NEW NOS

🙂

[canada_goose_whisperer]

Very cool!

That's the kind of feedback that would make my day. Great to see calling worked well for you!