missing deadline on shipping...

[reallyretrovintage23]

Over the weekend a person purchased an item.  She paid for that item and paid $22 shipping.   About an hour later, she made an offer on a second item and I accepted.  I messaged her that I'd invoice her once I had the package packed up and that I'd combine shipping.   

The second package made the shipping go up by $1.  I invoiced her for the second item with $1 shipping and waited....

Sometime during the night, she messaged me that if I lower shipping she "MIGHT" pay for the second item.   

I have 24 hour shipping.   I am going to miss my window.  She is 3 hours time difference than me and not the greatest at responding to messages.  

What would you do?   How big of a ding is it to miss a shipping window for customer convenience?  

What do I do if she waits until I ship only the first item and then pays the invoice with $1 shipping?  

[inhawaii]

Ship the first item and treat the second item separately.

If/when she pays for the second item, you may have to ship it at a loss because you already invoiced her for $1 shipping.  Hopefully she doesn't pay and you can cancel the sale after 4 days. Reason: Buyer did not pay.

Don't forget to block this bidder.

[chickadee8618]

" she "MIGHT" pay for the second item.  "

RED FLAG. End communication. Ship the first item. Cancel the 2nd. Block. Absolutely ridiculous a seller must put up with these types. 

[inhawaii]

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@chickadee8618 wrote:

" she "MIGHT" pay for the second item.  "

RED FLAG. End communication. Ship the first item. Cancel the 2nd. Block. Absolutely ridiculous a seller must put up with these types. 

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The trouble is, the OP can't cancel for non-payment until the 5th day.

Unfortunately there is no "buyer is threatening not to pay" reason for canceling a sale.

They either pay or they don't.

[dirk12955]

If I were the OP,  Under these circumstances,  I'd  rethink shipping the 1st order.     I see nothing but 

problems with this "Buyer"    

It seems like every time a seller tries to be fair with a buyer,   It end up coming back 

to haunt the seller.  

The buyer violated ebay rules when she indicated she "Might" pay for the second item

if the seller lowered the shipping costs.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@reallyretrovintage23 wrote:

Sometime during the night, she messaged me that if I lower shipping she "MIGHT" pay for the second item.   

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Wouldn't this qualify for requesting something not included? 

[vintage-camerastuff]

It could be she didn't realize that you lowered her shipping charge for the second item to just a dollar.   Email here again telling her you lowered the shipping charge to just a $1.00.  If she doesn't pay ship the first item, cancel the second item for non-payment and block her.

[m60driver]

Just another scenario as to why having a 3-day shipping time has advantages and no real disadvantages that I have encountered.  Plus, most of my items go out next day and the buyers are usually very happy and note the fast shipping in my feedback.

[duffy4444]

   You put yourself in a corner here by offering 24-hour shipping, which doesn't allow enough time to go back and forth with the buyer on requests or needs to combine orders. Stretch out your shipping time to 2 or 3 days, as @m60driver says, to give you a little extra leeway if in the future you need to work with a buyer on a resolution in a situation like this. Doing so shouldn't affect your overall sales much, if at all, as the vast majority of buyers don't really care about a day or two delay in shipping. They kind of expect it - especially with sales over a weekend.

   In this current situation, I would recommend you ask the buyer to pay for the second item with normal shipping as a separate order, that you would combine the orders, and then immediately refund her the difference. I do this all the time and my customers are ok with it. Be sure to remind her that this is the way you would accommodate her if she can do so within your tight 24-hour shipping window.

    Then get rid of your 24-hour shipping, which puts yourself in a bind on multiple orders that are purchased separately.

Cheers, Duffy

[dirk12955]

The 24 hour shipping attracts buyers and the seller shouldn't have to give it up.

Another simple solution is to ship item #1 on time and then re-invoice this buyer 

for the second item with FULL shipping charges attached.

She can raise Hell all she wants but it's her own fault for delaying the process and

making it more complicated.

[duffy4444]

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@dirk12955 wrote:

The 24 hour shipping attracts buyers and the seller shouldn't have to give it up.

Another simple solution is to ship item #1 on time and then re-invoice this buyer 

for the second item with FULL shipping charges attached.

She can raise Hell all she wants but it's her own fault for delaying the process and

making it more complicated.

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   @dirk12955:

    You're right that it's the buyer's own fault, and she can raise hell all she wants. And you're right that the seller doesn't have  to give up the  24-hour shipping offered.

BUT:

    1.  Your stance on requiring the buyer to pay full shipping on the second item could very well lead the buyer to cancel the second order and possibly give the seller a legitimate negative feedback, and lead to the loss of a potential repeat customer. 

    2.  If the seller wants to keep the customer and provide good customer service on a combined order request that may be impossible to fulfill within a 24-hour shipping window, an extra day or two shipping/handling opens up the window for successfully combining both orders and a happy customer with positive feedback.

   I used to have 1-day shipping times, but extended it to 2 or 3 days after realizing I had put myself in the exact same combined-shipping bind. After I extended my s/h time, my sales were not adversely affected at all; the attraction of such buyers who look for 24-hour shipping made no difference in my sales rate. In nearly every one of my listings, I state that my shipping is "free and prompt". That suffices for all the categories in which I list.

   It's called foresight, good customer service, and a repeat customer who is not insulted and blown off by a seller not going to the effort of combining orders to save the buyer some money when possible.

Cheers, Duffy

[1tuna]

you have a pro chiseler on you hands.

ship the first item and charge full shipping for the second item

discount shipping hunter is what you have here and they are playing games

oh how I woud like to tell this person off but that just me

drop that package in the mail is all you can do

@reallyretrovintage23 

[dirk12955]

"Pro" chisler is exactly right.     She's gaming the system and making the seller squirm to stay within his Service guidelines and eBays rules.

Good customer service should not result in the seller taking a ding on his metrics by shipping late.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

I doubt the buyer has a clue that we have metrics or terms in which we need to ship by.   Since the buyer has NOT purchased the 2nd item, I would simply mail the first one out & deal with the 2nd one separately.  

But, to answer your question @reallyretrovintage23  there is a generous threshold for late shipments, so if you don't make a habit of it, one is not going to cause you any problems.   You can check what your percentage currently is, on your Seller Dashboard.  

I think your buyer is not understanding that you've discounted the shipping. 

[reallynicestamps]

The 24 hour shipping is 24 hours from payment isn't it? Not from purchase.

I find it difficult to understand how a buyer has time to send a Message saying they are going to pay, instead of just paying.

Paypal backed with a credit card. Done.