I think you were considerate to your customer for trying to save her money. Kudos on that.

But that being said, I think you should have shipped the package whole because the customer should be savy to what international charges are and she could have asked that you send it in two packages. I think it's the buyer's responsibility to know shipping and custom charges ahead of time.

Since she did not respond to your email in 24 hours, you should have shipped as ordered.

I agree with others that you shouldn't beat yourself up over this...you did what you thought was the right thing at the time, and there's something to be said about that.

Take care, Dani

To me, the key thing is that she did not respond to your e-mails. Therefore, my inclination would have been to send the un-cut yardage at the full rate. If you had done that, she would have had no right to complain. I understand your reasons and that you are not obliged to know all the import fee rigamarole for everywhere, but you had all legal & moral right on your side by sending it in one package. By doing it the way you did, you left yourselves vulnerable to the customer's displeasure.

Ooops, I need to add a p.s. I see in an earlier comment that the shipping price would have been $15.00 more than she had agreed to? I don't understand that, but that doesn't matter. It does change my response to your question. I would not have sent the fabric without getting further instructions from her.

You are wise to do this research to avoid a similar situation in the future.

I think the shipping was going to be more than authorized/expected? So the seller didn't have the funds to send it in one piece?

When I order over the net, it is MY responsibility to check that you have recieved my order, and to see if there are any issues. If I don't get off my behind and do this, then caveat emptor.
I purchased some printed T Shirts on line, and when I checked my order email, the seller wanted to know if I would accept another colour or wait 2- 3 weeks. It was a gift, so i chose another colour. If I hadn't checked, I would have waited, and been frustrated.
I think you did the right thing - it is a simple seam to sew it back to one big piece if that is what they wanted.
Thanks for asking us, and giving us the opportunity to talk about these things.

Sometimes when you think you are doing a good deed, it backfires on you, as in this case. It would have been safer to ship it as odered. Count this as a learning experience.
This does not mean I think you did the wrong thing, you did what you thought was best for the customer. But sometimes what we think is best for the customer, is not. So the learning experience is, do not think for the customer.

Usually, when I order online I receive an email saying they received my order, then I get an email saying it shipped. If I pay by PayPal, I get an email from them too. If I DON'T get the confirmation, I start email, calling or whatever to make sure they received it and if it was mailed.

I would not have shipped until I heard from her and than after tooooo much time had lapsed would of canceled her order.

Your web site is great, very easy to find what you want.

Since the Business sent an email to this person and she didn't respond I would have cancelled the order. Maybe she does this to other Businesses and expects them to refund some of her money, as a credit on her credit card. I'm not sure I would sell internationally, may be too hard to get paid, sometimes.

I think as a Business owner you did as good as you could.
You can't please all the people all the time. Period.

Being an International customer myself I don't think it is fair to say don't ship to us because of a problem with 1 customer. I buy 95% of my fabric from the US and never have any problems. I have bought enough to know that on some of my packages I will have to pay a little extra for the PO handling charges and GST but often I get packages with no extra charges. For example today I received 3 medium flat rate boxes and was only charged the extra charges on 2 of them. I have recently ordered from this lady's store and was aware of the limits in the envelopes when I placed the order. Maybe because I have received so many packages I always read the shipping information because I want to make sure that my fabrics come by USPS and not UPS as their customs charges are outrageous (Having learned the hard way once) I think that they did everything they could to contact the customer and I ordered from them because of all the good comments I read about them on this board. I have yet to receive my order but I just placed it recently. Anyone who buys from the US should familiarize themselves with the ins and outs of buying internationally before they do so and if they don't I feel that it is their problem when things go wrong not that of the business that tried so hard to contact her. Sorry I rambled on for so long.

I would have waited for a reply from the customer before shipping anything.

Diane

I always calculate everything before I order, so that there are no nasty surprises at the end. Surely the tax on the two items would not come to more than the expense of the extra postage that would have been incurred? If so, there is very little point in importing.

I agree.

I agree...smart idea about giving her a coupon for future purchase.

If I ordered 12 yards, I would want it all in one piece.

WOW!!! I just went to your business site and....OMG!!! WOW!!!
It is amazzzzzzzzzzzzzing. It clearly states whatever needs to be stated and even gives a space for additional info from the buyer. Well, I HAD to place an order............you twisted my arm...hhmmmmm.....right? I HAD TO DO IT!!! I am overwhelmed in the most pleasant way with your selections for me to pick from. (I'm so delightfully exhausted!)
I did put a limit on for me and I will wait until next month or so to find more fabric ,of course. I find I like buying the fabrics more than I even like to quilt! I have to get people to sew for me! I just started making pillow cases and will be teaching my quilting class how to do that as well. Here's a secret.....making a pillow case uses up a nice bit of fabric so I CAN BUY MORE!!!
You are a VERY responsible, caring owner and it is a pleasure to deal with you. (NOW< please remove yourself from the computer and cut my fabric and send it to me so I can make pillow cases, use up lots of fabric and buy more!!!ONLY KIDDING about telling you to get off the computer! What do you think I am doing for half the morning already?) LOL

Phyl,

Thank you so much for your kind words! And your order!

I'll tell the staff to get RIGHT TO WORK on it. We're moving you to the head of the pack.

I can't get away from the computer, though, right now I'm placing an online order with Benartex. We need more fabric!!

And we have IrishNY in the shop right now, she decided to swing by and see what our fabrics look like in person. (Hi, Irish!)

You obviously care very much about your customers to even go through the trouble of emailing her to try and save her money.

BUT, I would be very upset if I had ordered 12 yards and it came in pieces, even if it was just 2. Imagine if it were someone posting on this board that they walked in Joanns and asked for 3 yards and were given two 1 and 1/2 yard pieces. We would all be saying, "no way".

Personally, I would have LOVED that you emailed me trying to save me money on shipping! That kind of personal service is very hard to find these days. But, if I hadn't responded, for whatever reason, I would rather you go ahead and sent it exactly like I ordered instead of making that decision for me, even though it really was a "better" decision.

Don't beat yourself up over though, you are obviously a very caring business owner and I would love to do business with you!

I feel the order should have been sent as a whole 12 yd pc. reasons:
1. you as a business can't ALWAYS choose options based solely on "what is cheaper". For yourself OR the customer.
2. Not everyone, myself included, checks email daily. I travel alot and don't worry about email until I return home and even then I consider it a "catch-up" task.
3. If I order something online I figure in the cost of delivery and my purchase according to my own budget.

And I have to add; OMG! finnally a sit that has great fabrics! EVEN the purples I have been seeking.

Well... I have a weakness for anything purple. Or mauve. (I inherited this trait from my mother-in-law. Go figure!)

You should not have your shipping costs figured that way. It should be calculated for one package. Then, you might put some instructions on the order page about how shipping can be reduced if the customer will accept the yardage cut in pieces. But, most people who order large amounts of yardage usually have long projects that are ruined if they have to be pieced.

If you have it posted prominently about shipping in 6 yard pieces though, then she should not have reason to complain. Do you have it posted?

Been in this position more than once.

What I want: exactly what happened in my shopping cart and with zero contact. If the shopping cart made an "error" then seller eats the loss or the order is canceled.

I've never had it go down in email but I don't answer unknown calls. I've had sellers call with blocked numbers as though they were creeps, political surveys or telemarketers. Smooth move.

I only want to be notified in case of backorder or the shop's burned down with my package inside, etc.

We have it posted on our website that each envelope will hold up to 8 yards of fabric, and that shipping costs are based upon how many envelopes will be needed to ship the order.

Now, thanks to suggestions posted here, we also post that if any item is more than will fit in one envelope, the customer will be e-mailed to see if he/she wants it shipped in one piece (at an additional cost). And that if we don't receive a reply within a week, we will cancel that item from the order and ship the rest.

I'm wondering why 2 packages ship for less than one, if the contents both equal 12 yds????

That has puzzled me, too.

I could/would have understood that "up to 8 yards in one envelope" would mean that more than 8 yards would go in some other sort of packaging - not that the "more" would be cut up to fit into more than one envelope.

Or I could/would have understood it that it meant that several short lengths that would/could total up to 8 yards could be stuffed in one envelope.

It's challenging to write something that is impossible to to misunderstand.

I work in refrigeration, I ship countless packages all day long, I never ship unless I have a postage/shipping confirmaiton and/or what we call a release from the customer in my hand. I few times I thought I was going to be fired for shipping without this.

That is one you couldn't win eather way you did it she would have been mad if you sent it all in one because of the price what you did was what you thought was best just chalk it up to a no win situation

This has been a really interesting thread.

I am an overseas purchaser, and have bought fabric from the States for over 10 years now. Over this time, and with my interactions with other local quilters I have learned that there are 2 types of overseas purchasers; those that want to maximize the postage (e.g. cram in as much as you can), and those that want something so specific they will pay a fortune for postage.

You can never know what type of customer you have.

From my personal experience - I would value something on my customer profile (don't know if you store has them) where I can state what's important to me. For me, I want to cram as much into an envelope. If an item is not available I would want the option to look for something else to fill up the envelope before shipment.

What I must also say is that when I am shopping online, I ALWAYS check the shipping page and the postage rates, how many yards (of standard width 40-44" cotton fabric)will fit, and the other terms and conditions.

I am also fully aware that my country may charge additional levies/taxes, etc.

If I have any questions about my order, e.g. can I buy 7 yards, and can you squeeze in a ruler, thimble, pencil (whatever) would it be included in the postage amount? I ask BEFORE I make the order.

And it's also challenging to write something that is impossible to misunderstand, about something that is hard to understand in the first place!

A couple of years ago, when fuel prices went sky-high, the Post Office changed its rate structure from one that was (mostly) based on weight, to one that's based on the volume/size of the package too.

Keep in mind that most of the packages sent through USPS are Priority Mail now because you can make the labels and pay for the postage online. I believe this streamlines things for the Post Office and keeps some of their labor costs down, because now the customer does all the data entry and paying without taking up any of the Postal clerks' time.

Priority Mail packages travel by air. And there is a limited amount of space available in the cargo hold of an airplane.

So USPS must have figured that the flat-rate envelopes and boxes are the way to go because they're all uniform in size and can be machine processed and, with all that uniformity, it's probably easier to pack them in the cargo hold too. (I suppose.)

And so, they reward you financially for using the flat-rate products and kind of penalize you for anything else.

Suppose we want to ship a 15-yard bolt of fabric from the US to Austria (or Australia). It's too big to fit in a flat-rate envelope (they only hold 8 yards). The fabric plus the weight of a box will be 7 pounds. If we leave it on the bolt the size of the box needed to hold it will be about 24" x 10" x 4". The longest USPS flat-rate box is only 13 5/8" so it won't fit in a flat-rate box.

So if we send it on the bolt, in our own packaging, it will cost $43.99 to ship to Austria, or $54.72 to Australia, plus about $1 to cover the cost of the box. (Boxes are expensive!)

If we take it off the bolt, we can fold it so that it will fit in a flat-rate box, and will cost $41.28 to ship.

But a flat-rate envelope only costs $12.78 to ship; two of them will cost $25.56.

So if you cut that length of fabric in two and ship it in two flat-rate envelopes it will save about $15-$29 in shipping costs.

Go figure!! It's the exact same amount of merchandise being shipped, nearly the same weight (the two envelopes will weigh a bit less than a box).

Hard to comprehend the pricing, isn't it?

Oh... you DO get a little bit of package tracking if you ship it in either a flat-rate box or a box of your own. You can see when the package leaves the US and what city it left from. And a little bit of insurance too.

Big whoop! Is that worth $15-$29 extra?

(By the way... you can't insure those flat-rate envelopes through the Post Office but you CAN insure them through a third-party insurer such as Shipsurance. That's particularly important for those of us who don't like unpleasant surprises such as lost packages.)

So tell me... how'd I do on explaining this? Did anybody follow me? Or did I lose you?

It's challenging to write something that is impossible to to misunderstand.[/quote]

I meant to say:

It's challenging to write something that is impossible to NOT misunderstand.

I think I understand what it was that you thought you meant to say.

:wink:

'Nother words... it's hard to write VERY CLEARLY.

Right??

:-D

Thank you - yes, that was what I was trying to say. :oops:

Hey Nancy! It was great to meet you in person and of course hang out in your fabric. ;-)

You have a great shop - I highly recommend it to anyone who is passing through the area. I spent most of the ride home (in the driving rain) dreaming of quilts I could make with the fabric I bought. However, as soon I got home, I hoped on the computer, not the sewing machine. This board is a bad influence on me. :thumbup:

IrishNY,

It was wonderful to meet another board member... having you stop in today was a pleasant surprise. Somehow I thought you lived closer... maybe in Colden, because there's an Irish Road there and well, I just mashed it all together in my mind.

You were a couple of hours too early, though; you missed the carrot cake & ice cream party we had for our neighbor upstairs! And he took the leftovers with him, too.

Did'ja know that we're specialists at the Happy Birthday song? We do it in HARMONY! And with practice we're really getting much better at it. We have cake or pie for everybody's birthday around here. And chocolate the rest of the time.

:lol:

Nancy,

I couldn't afford to live in Colden. Between you and The Quilt Farm, I would be broke!

Cindy

Without reading all the posts or looking at your site, do you tell customers on your site that there may be additional import fees and taxes on top of the shipping? I don't do much with ordering from overseas businesses and wouldn't think about that myself. Other than that, I think you did due diligence, and the customer must take responsibility for her lack of communication.

This is what we say on our "international shipping page":

The price we charge for shipping just includes the cost of sending your package. Your country may charge Customs fees and/or duty and taxes; these will be collected in your country when the package is delivered. All international shipments must be accompanied by a customs form. We are required by law to list the contents of international shipments and the value.

You are probably the exception to the rule on customers most do not know what they realy want I use to do a lot of buying in ebay from Japan and they asked how you wanted shipped, it was pricie to have it sent by air.

I wouldn't have shipped without confirmation, or would ensure shipping policy is solid prior to allowing an international order.