If there is one downside to selling on Facebook, it's is when customers don't pay! I can't tell you
why they don't as I've heard many simply never reply to your emails.
I personally have not had too much of an issue with this...but I have had friends that have had horrible luck with non payers! But recently, one customer, Teresa, got herself into some hot water...bidding and bidding and bidding...from MANY of us. We often started chatting two by two... "How much does she owe you?" "I heard she owes _____ about a hundred too!" And then it turned into a massive chat with a bunch of sellers griping and she got wind of it and blocked us all.
All these items remain unpaid for by my customer and will be the focus of my Facebook sales this week.
I'm not proud of having participated in that chat...but this is after her being weeks late owing me - and many other at least $100 each. She owed one $200. (And I have no issue using her name here...she's messed with my income and when you do that, I have no problem embarrassing you!)
She had gotten banned from three sites when I first met her. I campaigned to an owner I'm friends with to please let her back in..."she says it was all an misunderstanding"... She bought from me repeatedly and I was happy with her business. Until she just kept adding and adding and kept pushing her pay-by deadline.
I really don't mind running a tab for regulars. I sell more and they save on shipping; I save on Paypal fees... win / win! But most have a comfort zone of when they pay. For some it's $50; others $100. But when she stopped communicating and cut off contact... I was done.
OTHER Blocks...
One part of the problem is that some people have their privacy
settings so that strangers can't contact them on Facebook and our
emails often go to the OTHER mailbox. Facebook literally has a mail box
called "other!" How lame is that???
I cannot tell you
how many sellers and customers alike have NO IDEA there is the "other"
mailbox! When you click on your mailbox icon on Facebook, next to the
word inbox is the word other... check it! You may have some mail that is
years old!
The forever lame "other" mail box. Gee, thanks Facebook!
And then you get into people who block...
when you block someone on Facebook, not only can they not contact you,
both of you cannot see what the other posts. You could be commenting in
the same thread... bidding on the same bead and you cannot see it!
Bottom line, if you want to buy on Facebook, you shouldn't block
people.
The Artist's Way...
As an artist, we are often mentally paying our bills as we sell. For those of you with real jobs, this may not make sense. But as someone who has always worked freelance, I never know when the money is going to come. It's often feast or famine! Boom or bust!
When someone commits to buying a bead, I'm mentally paying down a credit card, or knowing I can run my dog to the vet, or buy that new tool I've been dreaming of for a year! YOUR commitment to buy MEANS something to me! A hundred bucks may not mean much to Teresa, or anyone else...but to me it does!
Teresa Baze is a liar and not a friend of artists. She commits to purchase things she has no intention of paying for. Is she cares to pay me the $98 she owes me plus shipping and taxes, I'll be happy to remove this note!
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