I was asked to order in this fabric now buyer will not answer emails

Hi I am a hobby seller - pretty small really - however a buyer, who had bought from me before asked me to provide a larger amount. I explained that I would have to order it from the US and it would be here at this time.

I have now sent the buyer emails and they will not answer. Do I have any recourse?

I ordered based on a request which can be validated by the email and because I stupidly trusted this buyer - I now have a particular piece - 2 yards of fabric - that will probably be hard to sell because it is designer and not a run of the mill.

Could an experienced seller give me some advice of what to do now - but more importantly what to do in the future should the situation arise again. Thank you in advance.

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I was asked to order in this fabric now buyer will not answer emails

You can list it with a 20 day handling time so once it has been paid for you can then order the fabric in.

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I was asked to order in this fabric now buyer will not answer emails

Sorry this has happened to you....but you only have recourse once an item is sold on Ebay & not before....try listing it anyway ๐Ÿ™‚
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I was asked to order in this fabric now buyer will not answer emails

This can happen quite a bit in my categories - both with custom handcrafted pieces, and special order supplies. Due to personal preferences*, I do not request payment of any kind in advance (be it payment in full or a partial deposit), unless the material is an extremely high quantity or value, like sterling silver. Many other sellers, however, will require at least a deposit on special or custom orders, to prevent situations where material has been ordered in exclusively for someone, or a custom piece made that can't really be sold to anyone else, in case the buyer doesn't follow-through; so that's something you may want to consider in the future.

 

If you can guarantee dispatch (to the buyer) within 20 days of their purchase, you can list it as a pre-sale item (making sure to adjust the handling time in the listing).

 

There isn't really anything you can do to force the sale with the current buyer, though, but as it sounds like the fabric may be a little harder to source here in Aus, hopefully you'll still be able to turn it around fairly quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

*This is due to a few reasons - the primary one being I don't really like to take payment for items unless I can guarantee their supply. I have some customers that insist on it sometimes, for their own reasons Smiley LOL but I tend to worry about what would happen if something goes wrong. Case in point, earlier this month I received a custom order request, the sale amount was/is the largest sale I've made on eBay to date, but the order is contingent on one of my suppliers getting a key component to me on time, as I have a deadline to deliver the order to my buyer. I advised them that payment wasn't required until the order was ready to ship, but they preferred to pay all at once up front. Now my supplier hasn't gotten the item I need to me yet while that deadline is getting closer and closer. Smiley Surprised I personally prefer to avoid situations like this, than situations where I have some extra product that doesn't sell straight away. 

 

 

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I was asked to order in this fabric now buyer will not answer emails

List it for sale on eBay.

And in future if you take a pre-order, get a deposit.

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I was asked to order in this fabric now buyer will not answer emails

I personally would do as kopenhagen suggested and get people to pay a deposit.

 

As for the present situation, it seems almost a certainty to me that the buyer no longer wants it & is avoiding having to tell you that.

They probably won't be game to buy from you in future either, even if they see something that tempts them.

 

I don't think there is much you can do in this instance, except relist on ebay and make sure to mention how exclusive the material is etc

Hopefully you'll make a sale without too many worries.

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I was asked to order in this fabric now buyer will not answer emails

We take a 50% non refundable bank deposit for special orders if they are going to take a while to get in. For ebay sales once the stock arrives in it can be listed and when the buyer completes the purchase they pay the balance.

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I was asked to order in this fabric now buyer will not answer emails

My apologies for my ignorance - how do I do that? get a deposit? I mean if they have not purchased how do I get a deposit?

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I was asked to order in this fabric now buyer will not answer emails


@springyzone wrote:

I personally would do as kopenhagen suggested and get people to pay a deposit.

 

As for the present situation, it seems almost a certainty to me that the buyer no longer wants it & is avoiding having to tell you that.

They probably won't be game to buy from you in future either, even if they see something that tempts them.

 

I don't think there is much you can do in this instance, except relist on ebay and make sure to mention how exclusive the material is etc

Hopefully you'll make a sale without too many worries.


If you listed it for sale under a different ID (if you have one already) the buyer may see it and not know it was you and re-buy anyway. If its rare and hard to find and if they happen to be still interested but a tad embarrassed to tell you this could work.

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I was asked to order in this fabric now buyer will not answer emails

Hi and thank you for your reply. I did have the fabric within ten days but I do not understand how I can sell it as a pre sale item.

 

Does that mean that I can list the fabric for the buyer and expect them to pay the full amount? I am thinking that if I can guarantee it will be here for me to post in ten working days?

 

I did not think I could list on ebay unless I had the physical product in my hand.

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I was asked to order in this fabric now buyer will not answer emails

You can list it with a 20 day handling time so once it has been paid for you can then order the fabric in.

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