I just had the message exchange below with a buyer in Poland who is buying one CD. I usually ship CDs in a cardboard mailer from Bags Unlimited, and they arrive safely 95% of the time. I can't see upping postage costs for everybody so that I can close off that last 5% that end up with a cracked jewel case. But it annoys me that buyers don't realize that if they want to be treated special, there's a cost to the seller. What do other sellers think of this? Am I unreasonable?
Steve
BUYER:
Hello.
Payment Sent
PLEASE SEND IN ONE PIECE ( WITH PLASTIC CASE ) !
Very hard to please and SAFE PACKAGING !
CARDBOARD GREATEST DOUBLE - DOUBLE FOIL BUBBLE !
Sometimes get damaged shipment and I would like to avoid this.
Very Thanks
All The Best
SELLER (ME):
I'm going to send with my standard packaging, which usually does pretty well.
As a suggestion, if you want extra packaging it's good to ask for it before the seller invoices you so he
can adjust the postage charges to cover it. Packaging adds weight and makes the postage costs
increase. I keep my postage charges to a minimum and there is no margin in there for me to pay extra.
BUYER:
well he is - leave alone with the extra charge of money - please to send so that it reaches me safely -
how will come damaged - I will be filing complaints THX !
Not unreasonable. Buyer sounds unreasonable to file complaint with cracked case without paying extra for protection.
If you've got good margin on the CD, as customers like this are so few, I would just use the extra packaging this once. I know it's pretty rare CDs get damaged in your standard packing. Couldve explained the successful ratio with standard packing.
Unreasonable Buyer sounds like a jerk, I had a few of those...
Rather than send the package and get a bunch of BS and probably having to refund him... yata yata yata, I would just refund the buyer and tell him... You don't want to send it without the extra charge of postage and he is getting a refund for threatening you AND/OR that you will be filling a complaint will MS with his "Quote"> an empty threat might make him back down. Your the Seller, it's your item, you aren't a slave to the buyer. There are PLENTY of other people who are reasonable that would love to buy that CD.
I get a few requests like this and I explain it will cost a little more, most buyers agree and the matter is solved. I see this buyer does not want to pay for the better service, probably best to give him what he wants this time and invoice him more for postage if he orders again
It all depends how your postage bands are in the US. In the UK a CD usually fits in the 100g to 150g band. A CD in an air bubble envelope is my standard shipping method & this usually weighs about 110 to 120g. When I get a request for extra packaging I add a piece of cardboard to either side of the CD which adds about 20g to the weight so it's still in the same price band. I only get this type of request on very rare occasions of less than 5 or 6 a year so it's not a big problem. It maybe similar in the US so possibly no extra cost to you.
My thoughts on this? If the buyer don't like the extra prices to ship for safety, then the buyer can take his business elsewhere. They don't have to do business in the U.S. They can take their business to other parts of the Europe, or perhaps the U.K.
What do people expect? Free shipping all of the time? Not gonna happen! Besides, hey if I just had to pay $22.00 in shipping to get something shipped from Russia to here, then too bad, other people have to pay the piper for things they may not be able to get in their country like I had to do! That's life! Oh well.........
The buyer is right on this ocasion. It is perfectly reasonable to expect the item to be packed well enough to hopefully avoid damage in transit. When I get these requests I reassure the buyer that this is how I always pack items anyway.
I'm with Gerry on this one. Some people live in places and have postage carriers who are harder on packages than others. Asking for extra packing isn't too much, in my opinion, and bubble wrap has never increased my rate in the case of a CD. Only once have I had a customer that demanded so much extra packing that it actually increased the postage rate by several dollars; when I explained this, the customer gladly paid the extra fee. I might also suggest that you use the simplest possible language when dealing with someone whose first language is obviously not yours. I doubt that this person is intentionally being a jerk, it seems to me that there is a language barrier involved.
Adrien/JRR
As a buyer myself, I gave it some serious thought to the issue of what's wrong with people who are making such a big fuss over a cracked jewelcase and, honestly, that led to nothing really. A jewelcase can be easily replaced (I 'm not talking about digipacks or box-sets, that's a completely different story) and as
long as the seller is straightforward about the condition of the disc/booklet/back insert, then everything should be fine. Personally, I keep my own stack of jewelcases so as to be able to replace damaged ones. Some people just love to whine about everything, me thinks.
But, on the other hand, I must say I 'm not at all pleased with this latest trend of sellers not being careful when mailing out vinyl. I had some very nasty experiences lately and as I have spent the best part of the last 20 years collecting, it's not something out of my head but a fact.
As long as its in an LP carrier Box w/ cut to size: Cardboard Sheets & Bubble Wrap Sheets.
I've never had problems when I order lps.
But a few people on eBay, not Music Stack, have sent me LPs in between two cut pieces of cardboard and brown paper wrapped. Now that's just lazy & cheap because I opened them an they were warped. Others I've received in between two junk covers and inside a bubble mailer which wrecked the cover & sleeve, almost always broke the LP. Any other Bad Experiences?
Jewel cases are cheap and also break very easily. I offer buyers 2 choices. They can pay postage at the same rate as for 1 7" single if the CD is shipped without the jewel case. If they want it in the original case then the shipping price is as for 2 7" singles due to the extra weight. I have had no complaints and no problems when sending in the jewel case with proper packing.
I'm with the seller. Package it like you always package it. BUT,if something happens to it, then you have to refund the buyer's money. If it was an expensive cd/record then hopefully you purchased insurance on it. I use Stamps.com for everything I mail out. You have the option of buying insurance when you process your order on Stamps.com. I insure every item valued over $25. Good luck. Ben
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