Consumer Help...

[Former_Member]

I have a customer that I posted a reserved listing for and it's been two weeks and she still has not purchased the listing nor has she contacted me. I sent her message letting her know how her order was coming along and mentioned that she still needed to purchase her listing or else I could not send them once they were done, I still haven't heard from her.

I'm trying to be patient. I'm hoping she'll purchase this week since it will be the first week of the month and maybe she was waiting to get paid... But if she doesn't, I don't know what to do...

Help

[Former_Member]

My guess is, if she still wanted the listing, you would have received payment or at least would have heard from the customer by now. I would send her one final message saying payment must be received within a very short time (like 24 or 48 hours) or the item will be relisted. I included in my shop policies that if payment was not received within a certain time (3 days, I think), the item would be relisted. You might want to add such a policy to your shop policies so you can avoid this problem in the future.

Sorry this happened to you, but live and learn, right?.

[Former_Member]

I would convo and say that if you don't get payment by the end of the week the listing will become unreserved. But like in a nice way obviously :)

Its possible some sort of emergency came up for the customer. But its also possible that she changed her mind and was just embarrassed to cancel.

[Former_Member]

I had a customer who really wanted a item I made it custom for her after 20 messages back and forth she never purchased the listing. I left it up for 3 weeks before I finally used the listing for another custom order.( I wanted to make my 20 cents useful)
It turned out she had a problem with her paypal and I guess never got it fixed. I had offered to let her pay with a money order but never heard back.

It makes me feel like in the future I would rather have someone buy listing before I make a custom order. Luckily I had no problem selling it.

[RiverGirlsSoap]

I have done a few custom orders here (10 weeks into listing), so far all successfully. I tell my customers that I will commence work on their order immediately after I receive payment. I try to avoid finding myself in a situation where I have invested material and time in an order that may not come to fruition.

[Former_Member]

I would just edit it for another listing. :)

[Former_Member]

How do you do a reserve listing? Why would you do a reserve listing as opposed to a purchase flat out?

[artangel]

What stellaspace said!

Angel19 - sometimes a buyer asks for a custom order, or for you to reserve an item for them (perhaps until they get paid or something). I just add "reserved for..." to the listing for them.

It's also a good idea to ask for a deposit to be paid prior to starting a custom order, especially if the item is something that can't be sold to anyone else - e.g. if it has a name on it.

[Former_Member]

I also think you should send them a final message requesting payment by the end of the week or you'll cancel the reservation.

In my shop policies I state that all orders will be cancelled unless full payment is received within a week. However, I offer the option of waiting a bit longer if the client expressly asks for it. It's not the same knowing beforehand that someone will not pay until (say) the end of the month and having no news whatsoever from them.