A Few Bad Apples ...

You know what, I am thoroughly sick to death of a certain minority of customer. Most of my customers are lovely lovely people, but there seems to be a growing breed of customer that basically wants everything for nothing.

There has been heated debate in the past on UK Scrappers about members who persist in posting in the shopping forums looking for the cheapest prices AND free P+P. It became clear that Jo Public had no idea of the overheads involved in running a reputable and legitimate website (VAT, merchant account fees, credit card terminal fees, franking machine fees etc etc etc etc etc) and hence the reason why a lot of us just can't afford to offer permanently free postage. I developed a policy of just ignoring these sorts of posts eventually.

What I can't ignore, though, is the growing number of people who place orders on my website, where it says plainly on the home page that we charge postage at cost on all orders; who click the 'submit' button to place their order, which is directly underneath a line which says 'by clicking submit you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy statement' (said terms and conditions also set out in full that we charge postage at cost on all orders) ... and who then send me rude e-mails when their orders arrive, complaining most bitterly that they have been charged huge amounts for postage! I have had comments like 'all the other websites I shop with do free postage so you should give me free postage as well'; I have been accused of being arrogant because I dared to point out to a customer that she had actually agreed with our terms and conditions not once, but twice (when she registered as a customer and again when she placed her order) and that perhaps in future she might make a point of checking what the postage charges are on a website that she is not familiar with; and I've had plenty of the implied threat of 'if you don't give me free postage I won't shop with you ever again'.

And??

I'm sorry, I hate to complain about even one of my customers, but surely it's common sense to check what the postage charge is BEFORE you start placing orders? I mean, it's the FIRST thing I do before I even start to shop on an unfamiliar website, and surely I can't be the only person that does that. I could understand people complaining if I implied that postage was free; and I could understand them complaining if I charged a huge flat rate when their order cost virtually nothing to post, but I don't do either of those things. I charge EXACTLY what it costs me to post each and every order out. So if the postage is £1.50, for example, that's what you pay. If it costs £10, that's what you pay. Isn't that fair??

And you know, the thing that leaves me most flabbergasted is that without exception, every single person who has complained that I've had the cheek to charge them for postage (shock horror) has only actually ordered stuff that was very heavily reduced in the sale. So there you have it, it really is true that people expect something for nothing. I know, why don't I just invite them round and let them help themselves, huh?

I just can't understand this sort of attitude - I freely admit that like lots of other people I like to get value for money - but never to this extent. What these people don't seem to understand is that Scrapbook Mad is not some huge conglomerate - I am one woman trying really hard to provide the must-have stash that people want. I can't even lay claim to it being my livelihood as I have never been in the position where my monthly turnover was so huge that I could just give up my job and run the business full-time. Yes, it all ticks over very nicely indeed, but once the bills are paid - advertising, web hosting, credit card terminal, franking machine, VAT, accountancy fees, merchant account fees etc etc etc, and I've ordered new stock each month, there's never very much left. I don't get paid - I get the pleasure of taking what stash I need from stock (though it all has to be accounted for) - not that I get the chance to use any stash very often these days - but that's all I get for the many thousands of hours that I have put in over the last four years. I don't do it because I think I'll make loads of money, I do it because I am passionate about scrapbooking and I wanted to provide the means for other people who are passionate about it too to get hold of scrummy stuff to scrap with.

So my plea to everyone tonight: please please please, on any website you haven't used before, make it a habit to go and check out their postage policy BEFORE you start putting stuff in the shopping cart. If they have a terms and conditions page, make sure you READ IT! Do just these two small things and you'll never be in a position to get a shock when your order arrives and you were charged postage; and you'll also never upset a hard working website owner who could be left wondering why the hell they even bother anyway!

Thank Gawd the majority of my customers are fabulous!