Question
50% of my International auction winners are creating headaches for me. And as the number of International winners I get increases, the number of headaches is increasing as well. Seriously, this has been on my mind almost constantly the last few days, racking my brain trying to figure out why this is happening and what way I might be contributing to the problems, if any.
For example, I have had 6 International buyers this month - 3 have been flawless transactions. 1 looks like it's going to be troublesome. 2 have definitely been troublesome. This is typical. If I get 2 International winners in 1 week, 1 will be troublesome, like I can count on it.
I have a separate TOS labeled in bold red font: International Customers. I have recently made an update to it to allow only PayPal payments and BidPay from International buyers, for reason #2 & #3 stated below.
They:
1. Want to pay the shipping rates stated under "Shipping and payment details", which are clearly for US buyers only.
2. Want to send checks and money orders drawn on banks within their country. They tell me they have done this after they have already mailed them, give me a song-and-dance about how they've paid every other US seller this way and none of those sellers had a problem with it, yada, yada. Yeah, they've only done it the last month, so the $hit hasn't hit the fan yet. Yep, wait'll those sellers get nice letters from their banks with debit slips for the processing fees, like I did a couple of times before I knew better.
3. Refuse to pay until I have sent their incorrect payment back at my expense. Remember my thread about that one recently? Not the first time this has happened with International customers. Still waiting for that incident to resolve itself, BTW. And that is why I changed my TOS. No International buyer should even be attempting to mail me anything from now on. Of course, that does no good when they admit they didn't bother to read the TOS, now does it?
And the latest, the dreaded emails which put me over the top this week:
Buyer from the UK with low double digit feedback. TOS are the new updated one for International customers that says: Payment must be made online through PayPal or Western Union Auction Payments (BidPay). Payment must be in US funds.
To give him credit, he did ask for a shipping quote to the UK before he bid on the auction. I quoted him $10.00 for Global Priority Mail. The auction closed the next day. 3 days later he emailed me with this:
Just to let you know that I would like to pay for XXX book item number XXX by personal cheque XXX...
Am I correct in thinking that shipping & handling for this item to the UK is $2.75 (£1.47) US Postal Service Media Mail or $4.25 (2.27) US Postal Service Priority Mail?
Please confirm the total payment you require If I were to select US Postal Service Priority Mail
As soon as I know the total amount required I will send payment off to you.
So, after tearing my hair out and ranting and raving in private, I set him straight on costs and payment terms, copying and pasting them from the auction. I even explained about the bank fees we're charged here in the US, so that he would understand. He responded back quickly with:
Thanks for emailing me back. No problem, I fully understand!
I organise payment this end and email you back in the next day or two to
let you know what I?ve done.
This morning I find an email in my Inbox, arrival time of 1:56 AM:
Payment is being posted to you today.
What the #$%& does that mean?!?!?! Posted how? By what means?
I replied calmly:
What method are you using to pay?
Wanna bet I won't hear anything until after he's put a payment in the mail, which he should not be doing.
OK, Brenda, calm down now.
I asked for some help over at the International board on eBay. I suspected that because the info I filled out in the "Shipping and payment details" section was automatically being included in eBay's automatic "Congratulations" emails, that might be causing part of the problem. It was suggested that I discontinue filling it out and just list all the details in my auction descriptions.
I did list some auctions yesterday like that. The only thing I don't like about doing it that way is that now I will have to input the S&H charges for my domestic customers before sending out my eBay invoices, which seems rather ridiculous since they comprise most of my customer base. Also, if anyone wants to pay with PayPal now without waiting for an invoice, they will now have to reference the auction for the S&H charges, because it will no longer be prefilled for them. Again, it seems silly to have to inconvenience over 90% of my customers to try and avoid misunderstandings for the other 5 to 10%.
I will try it for a short while though, if you think it will help, if you've also found that omitting that section has made a difference in your problems with International buyers.
But I really am desperate for a solution. Otherwise, I will have to stop selling to International buyers.
In another thread, Kevin expressed some dismay because sellers are not willing to take the time to educate buyers. I cannot afford to have these hassles all the time. I spell out in my auctions how they can pay and what the shipping charges are (when possible). If they do not know what PayPal is, or BidPay, then they can ask me and I'll gladly help with that part of it. (Preferably before they win the auction and then decide they can't or won't pay that way.)
It is obvious that the International marketplace is swelling tremendously and that is a good thing, and one that should hold lots of promise for all sellers. As I said, many of my International buyers are new. The problem is - to put it bluntly - the new ones don't know what they are doing. They do not seem to understand or care that they cannot just disregard a seller's TOS and send off a check or MO drawn from within their own country!
One thing I am learning, is that the foreign institutions are somewhat at fault here. My International customers have told me that they go to their institutions and ask what payment methods they can send me that won't cost me any fees to cash. I do not know why they do this to begin with, when the TOS clearly stated - well, we went over that already. They are assured by their bank that my bank won't charge me fees to cash the money order. The banks have no business telling them any such thing, because it is not true. And by then, the damage is already done, because the payment has already been mailed!
And now I have a potential "lost" International order that I will either have to refund for in about a week or risk that the buyer might do a PayPal chargeback if he's not willing to wait beyond 30 days from shipment to see if it turns up. He's been nice, but he was overanxious, having emailed me the first time about a week after shipment because he thought he should have had it by then. Don't need this.
I want to do the best for my customers, but International buyers are quickly becoming my "demon customers", and fluffy knows exactly what I mean by that. I do not need or wish to spend inordinate amounts of time trying to sell $3 to $10 books to a customer base that clearly needs more help than I can provide. I do not wish to exchange 4 to 6 emails to complete a simple $3.00 transaction, which this latest one is turning into. I should not have to beg, plead, demand, etc. that these customers follow my payment terms.
Answer
Well, at least I got my answer. He sent cash. Which is OK of course, if it gets here alright. If it doesn't, he's out of luck. And I'll probably get a neg because he'll think I'm lying about it.
Again, from above, my terms stated in the auction are:
International Customoers: (after shipping info...) Payment must be made online through PayPal or Western Union Auction Payments (BidPay). Payment must be in US funds.
He wanted to pay by personal check. I told him he couldn't. I told him to pay using PayPal or BidPay, like it says in the auction. Now I find out he sent cash.
I am sorry for my piss-poor attitude, but why do they feel so free to ignore my explicit payment instructions? If they know they can't accomodate my payment terms, then why are they bidding on my auctions!!!! I know, it's a cultural thing. They think everything is negotiable.
Payment must be made online... does that sound optional or something?
I feel like International buyers are hijacking my auctions and taking control, and I don't like it. I do not have these problems with domestic buyers.
Since I posted last, I had a newbie UK buyer put in a bid on one of my auctions. From the bidding history, I'm their first US seller. I will try to be nice. Promise. Give me strength.
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International winners (non- USA address): Online payments (PayPal or BidPay) ONLY.
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Kathleen, thanks for the suggestion. But I've changed my wording so many times it isn't funny:
Checks and money orders must be drawn on a US bank.
No foreign currency, checks, or money orders.
Currently: Payment must be made online through PayPal or Western Union Auction Payments (BidPay). Payment must be in US funds.
NOTHING helps! Nothing.
I might just add that "ONLY" though. And "NO EXCEPTIONS!
I don't advertise cash as an option because I don't want to be held responsible for encouraging such an unsecure payment method.
I like cash if it gets here OK.
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I like the wording change idea too. Its hard to know what is the right thing to say.
I think eBay could use the member id info to allow sellers to specify what the shipping charge and method should be depending on where the buyer is. i.e. if US then these options, if Canada then these, all others then these. Then you could always preload your specifics, the invoice would always show only the specific info required etc. I know I dream in Technicolor but it sucks right now. I'm in Canada and have to deal with my Canadian customers as the exception to the rule.
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add to it all another little international nightmare
customs charges
all my packages are shipped from the US tho i am canadian
today i got mailed a customs form for a shipment expecting me to pay
now this one is going to take some special sorting out i see
i dont know how this particular issue got to me as it should have gone directly to the customer
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shockeymoe , I made that suggeston over at the eBay board. Not that I think it will happen anytime in the next year or two, if it ever does. But that is really what needs to be done.
What really should happen is that buyers read, understand, and make sure they can comply with a seller's terms before they bid...but that is not what happens. And it's a universal problem.
Many sellers have much stricter requirements than I do, like not accepting personal checks at all, or only shipping to PayPal confirmed addresses, etc.
And I know those restrictions create problems with buyers who don't read or pay attention to them, or think they should be the exception to the rule.
A basic problem is efficiency. Let's say that a seller has been burned too many times with bounced checks, so decides not to accept them anymore. Then I guarantee s/he gets buyers who send them anyway, thinking that their feedback is good enough, etc. etc. Maybe so, but the problem is that requires the seller to stop and check each buyer's history to make that determination. Someone running a one-person operation does not have that kind of time, if they want to run their operation efficiently!
Same thing here. With that one I'm waiting to resolve, her bank told her that my bank wouldn't charge me a fee. They had no business doing that and they were wrong. She admitted she didn't read my TOS first before getting it and mailing it. It arrived and I had to spend 20 minutes on hold with my bank to read them the numbers at the bottom of the MO to find out if they would charge me a fee. Then she refused to make another payment until I mailed the money order back at my expense. Her mistake, but I have to pay for it? When the time for payment had come and gone, I filed an Unpaid Item Dispute. She still would not budge in her position. She had opened up a PayPal account, but refused to pay until she got her MO back, which she claimed hadn't arrived yet. A few days later, she emailed me that she had paid through PayPal. Uh, well, it's an echeck, which still isn't going to clear for another few days according to PayPal, total of 8 days clearing time in all. So, by the time I get paid for this transaction, it'll be about a month after the auction ended. I spent 20 minutes on the phone to investigate the MO, received 8 emails from this buyer, and had 2 additional exchanges through the Unpaid Item Dispute. She has easily eaten up an hour or more of my time with this one transaction for a $7.25 order.
Now, my UK buyer, nice as can be in his emails.
But, the auction ended Friday. He first contacted me 2 days ago, on Monday. Already 6 emails from him because he didn't read my TOS or didn't pay attention to them or thought he was the exception to the rule, I-don't-know-what. 6 emails to try and get paid. Time spent, well, not an hour, but too much already IMO. He bought a $3.00 book.
Multiply that number of emails by 2 or 3 buyers per week and you get the picture.
If I have to spend this much time educating these buyers, they damn well need to start paying me a better rate!
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Originally Posted by BJGrolle
If I have to spend this much time educating these buyers, they damn well need to start paying me a better rate!
You could try that. Just say that your international shipping includes an additional $8.00 handling fee. That way maybe you'd get multiple sales for your trouble.
I do think that Kathleen's wording suggestion is much better than any of the ones you mentioned. American English words and phrases that seem very clear to us don't always translate clearly...such as the "MUST" phrase.
Hope you find a workable solution.
Elaine
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Good advice above. I tightened up our terms as well. Non insurables shipped at buyers risk.
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Brenda and others:
You're assuming all buyers read payment instructions. Daaaaahlings, write what makes sense to you and then don't worry about it. The simpler the better, but it doesn't change the fact that most simply are not going to read what you write.
In the words of the immortal Curly: "It duzzin't mahdda!" :p
I have found the best way is to have 1 or 2 choices for payment, 1 or 2 shipping options, and strangely enough, to use eBay's invoice system instead of sending my own email.
Good luck!