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When you just want to kick yourself

Most of us have been there -- shipping the wrong item.  Well here's what happened to me today.  I am annoyed at myself. I deserve a swift kick in the tush and if I could would do just that -- kick myself!

 

I had two black & green plaid girl's shirts.  They look very similar, but one is Justice girl's size 16 and the other Aeropostale S/P (juniors' small petite).

 

Today someone bought the Aero one.  But I was packaging up my orders in a hurry and for some reason I thought she bought the Justice one.  Bring my sales to the PO around 5:00 (this PO closes at 6:00) and as soon as I get back I realize I made an error and sent the wrong item.

 

I called the PO to see if they could pull the package.  They said it was too late as it has already been dumped into a big bin.  They were unwilling to help.  Suggested I go to usps.com and do an intercept.

 

I go to the website enter in all the data and then see it will cost $12+.  Not willing to pay that.  These are only $8 items with less than $4 shipping.  

 

I emailed the buyer right away and tell her what happened and let her know that I will be sending the correct one tomorrow morning so she will be receiving two packages from me.  I told her to keep the Justice one in addition to the Aero one as it will cost me too much in shipping charges to make a return worthwhile.  I told that I hope whomever she is buying this (presumably her daughter) can still fit into a 16 and can get some use out of it.

 

She wrote back immediately and said she was sorry for the mix-up and thanked me for letting her keep both.  So that part ended well.

 

What didn't end well was I just gave inventory away due to my negligence.  Thankfully it was such a low value item.  But can anyone else relate to a mix-up like this?  Ugh.  I need to pay just a little more attention to detail!

Happy 2018! May this upcoming year be a prosperous one!
Message 1 of 29
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28 REPLIES 28

When you just want to kick yourself

Look at it this way....at least you had "sales" plural to take to the post office. Just keep that up! 

(and forgive yourself--!) 

Message 2 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself

It could have been worse.

 

You could have switched the items and had one of the buyers refuse to return it because it was the more expensive item.

 

 

Been there, done that.

Message 3 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself

I just did the same thing with some martell cognac glasses.  Sent good logo instead of white logo....same shape.  Sent the correct ones when the customer notified me.  I felt like an idiot to make such a mistake

This quest stands on the edge of a blade...stray but a little and you shall fail to the ruin of us all.
"The Lady Galadriel"
Message 4 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself

Yep, it happened to be with a stack of cross stitch patterns.  Buyer got to keep two big stacks.  oh well,  I learned to slow down after that one.

Message 5 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself

That was kind of you to allow the buyer to keep both shirts.  You'll probably have a repeat customer!  However, she could have returned the incorrect package at no expense to anyone.  Just mark the unopened package "refused, return to sender." Of course, she would have to know exactly which one to refuse -- maybe by the postmark date?

 

In more than 30 years of doing mail order, I've never mixed up packages.  I prepare one order at a time, make sure the contents match the itemized invoice/receipt and double-check the name and address.  

 

Came close once though.  Two completely different orders, both customers named Mary and the same last-name initial . . . and similarly named cities in different states that also began with the same letter.  Must have made a dozen comparisons before I dared to seal either package!

 

Then there was the coincidence of getting 2 orders on the same day from 2 different buyers living in the same tiny Missouri town.   Or the avid Steiff collectors in South Carolina who all were bidding against each other on the same 3 or 4 items.  Or the bidding war over 8 similar magazine ads that featured Fiesta dinnerware -- two ladies each won 4 ads and I had to make sure I sent the right combination.  

 

Not so much action these days, but I still write detailed descriptions and prepare each order all by itself!

 

~~C~~

My Glass Duchess
Quoting Mom: In polite society, "hey" is for horses.
Message 6 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself

I did this with swimsuits, sent the correct one after being notified of the mistake by the buyer, asking her to return the other but not waiting on the return. 

She messaged me back that her neice wanted the swimsuit sent by mistake, we made a deal on it and she bought it too (all through ebay of course) 🙂

 

 

Message 7 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself

I don't suppose you can find the same item elsewhere, such as from another seller here, and ship it direct to your buyer...?

Message 8 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself

I can't say been there, done that, but more than once I have opened a package up to double check before shipping to make sure the correct color item was in the box.

 

I print packing slips when I print a label. When I have multiple sales goin that day the labels and packing slips are trimmed, and placed in the box with the selected item.

 

When they go up on the packing/shipping table the label and slip are again cheked to be sure that the name matches, and that the item in the box matches the label.  They get packed, and labeled 1 at a time.

 

My day may come, but I am trying my best to prevent it:)

Message 9 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself

It happens...I've misread a tracking number and labeled the wrong box, and got down to the last label after doing 10 boxes, and ASSUMED it went on the last box because it was the only one left.
Result was cross shipments. Luckily I sell golf clubs, and golfers can relate to stupidity.
Had one even forward a club out of his own pocket.
Message 10 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself

I can relate.  Totally OCD when it comes to packing and shipping and try to be super organized.  Constantly double & triple checking.  And once the box is sealed....still second-guessing myself.  Particularly with multiple orders.  No mistakes yet.  One of my greatest fears....lol...next to SNAD's and scammers, of course.

Message 11 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself

I also had an mis-hap not so long ago.  Buyer purchased two bandanas individually.  This is not unusual (in fact I had a sale like that just today) so I checked everything (or thought I did), popped both bandanas in the same bubblemailer, and dashed them off to the PO.  A week later I got a message that totally ripped me a new one (believe me, the level of malevolence was really uncalled for)--apparently the bandanas were supposed to go to two different addresses. 

 

Now, I have a disability that affects my reading comprehension (hence why I edit a lot of my posts); most of the time I can overcome it and conceal it reasonably but this time it screwed me up.  When I looked at the two addresses, sure enough both went to the same oddly named small town and both went to a woman with the same exact first name--that's all I saw when I looked at it because of my reading issue; it never occurred to me that it was two different addresses.  That's no excuse but it is an explanation.  However, I did Not tell the buyer any of that.  I just apologized and promised to send another bandana free of charge.  Whereupon the buyer continued her stream of verbal unkindness.  I apologized a second time and deferred to her correcting me about the address yet again.  She was ugly yet again.  I mean, come on, give a person a break:  it was a $6 mistake.  Anyway, I said nothing. 

 

BUT I made another mistake--Not one that affected the buyer, thank goodness, but one that affected me:  I purchased a new label on eBay to send the replacement bandana.   Yeah, I got dinged for late shipment.  First time in three years I've been "late" and I wasn't even really late.  Frustrating.  But stuff happens. 

 

I didn't deserve the abuse, though--I would have sent a new item anyway.  People don't need to be nasty unnecessarily but I guess no one ever told my buyer that you get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.  If she hadn't been so ugly, I'd actually have sent here two bandanas to make up for the aggravation.  Her loss:  she just got one. 

Message 12 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself

I am constantly paranoid of having something like this happen, I won't lie.  Just recently I listed two very similar items, and when one sold the other day, I checked it probably five times to be absolutely sure that I was shipping the right one.  I didn't let my breath out until I had shipped the item and then gone back to check to be sure that the one that was left was the one that was still listed!

Message 13 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself


@a_c_green wrote:

I don't suppose you can find the same item elsewhere, such as from another seller here, and ship it direct to your buyer...?


I'm confused.  I am not OOS -- I just sent her the wrong one.  I am sending her the correct one (out of my own inventory) tomorrow morning.  She will now own both.

Happy 2018! May this upcoming year be a prosperous one!
Message 14 of 29
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When you just want to kick yourself


@klassic*kids wrote:

@a_c_green wrote:

I don't suppose you can find the same item elsewhere, such as from another seller here, and ship it direct to your buyer...?


I'm confused.  I am not OOS -- I just sent her the wrong one. 


Whoops, right, I read right through the sentence where you said you had another. My bad. 

 

When I have multiple items to ship in one evening, I make myself do each one separately in a totally linear process, from packing through postage for one item at a time. I am often shipping similar-looking items in similar-looking packages, so I have to verify at several steps along the way that I am sending the right item to the right buyer. Doing them one at a time cuts way down on the chances for a mixup.

Message 15 of 29
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