Box Scraper Is this SOP in the industry?

[/pine]

Or it could also be because the the business is tired of getting burned by people ordering stuff and not following through with the sale.

Tons of wishy-washy people in the world... "Oh, I found something cheaper", or "different". Or my neighbor's ex dog groomer had an old one they weren't using, etc, etc.

Or they're ordering stuff they can't afford, and their card gets declined when they're ready to ship.

There's more than one side to a story.

When you can't produce a product you are selling in a timely manner (especially when the prices are at a premium) that it gives a purchaser more time for buyer's remorse...especially if someone is waiting 6-8 weeks for something they could get elsewhere without any delay...

 

[fruitcakesa]

Thats usually the shipping department printing the shipping label, slapping it on & dropping it at their loading dock. They have shipped it. However UPS or whoever has yet to show up & load the item on the truck. So they haven't taken possession of the package to update it in their database. Just a difference between dropping it on the loading dock being counted as shipped & the actual shipper grabbing it.

This is how it worked when we used to have an Amazon seller account. Pack and label the item, buy and apply postage and then verify shipment.
With Amazon you need to confirm shipment within 2 days or you will be penalized in some way.
We always actually put the item in the mail within 1 day and had a 100% shipping rating with Amazon

 

[sixdogs]

In those cases a partial payment would cover EA. And I don't think anyone would complain about a partial payment.

Agreed. 20%-25% down is one thing but 100% for a couple months out in not something I would do. I thought there was a law that you couldn't charge for something on a credit card that had an expected delivery date of 30 days or longer. They make good things so just need to figure this out better.

 

[ovrszd]

Agreed. 20%-25% down is one thing but 100% for a couple months out in not something I would do. I thought there was a law that you couldn't charge for something on a credit card that had an expected delivery date of 30 days or longer. They make good things so just need to figure this out better.

And I assume if their build date is that far out they are busy and selling a lot of product.

 

[Bobctat2035]

This is just SOP for any online sale or transaction that is shipped. When is the last time you've purchased anything online that wasn't charged immediately whether it be from Amazon, Home Depot, Tractor Supply or some other smaller company? Regardless if the item is shipped that day or backordered for weeks, your card is still charged immediately.

I happen to own a online based business that makes custom products and we will absolutely not make anything without full payment up front. I don't care if you're an average joe or the biggest casino in Vegas. You're ordering something that we are making for you and only you. A deposit is useless when:
A: You change your mind
B: You disappear
C: You forget you owed us X amount of money and your card is declined endlessly when your item is ready

That leaves us with a custom product that is 100% unsellable because it has wonky dimensions or your logo's permanently built into it. Not to mention the wasted time. Even in the case where it's a standard item but built to order, smaller companies aren't set up to warehouse a bunch of stocked product so it winds up taking up valuable warehouse space for months/years.

You know, or can easily find out, a companies reputation and order with a fair amount of confidence you will get what you paid for. We, the businesses, have know idea who you are, what your financial situation is or if you will ever make good on paying the balance for made to order item.
You, the consumer, have all the power when it comes to credit card transactions. If you never end up receiving a product or it's not what it was supposed to be, you've got 120 days to make a five minute phone call to get the charges reversed.

It boils down to this: Would you personally do thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of work for someone 2000 miles away that you don't know, have never met, never will meet, based solely on their word? Probably not.

Another sort of "rub" at least for me is the, "your order has shipped" e-mail..... But when you check tracking number you get " tracking number issued and carrier awaiting item".....

Dale

That is due to how online store notifications are sent out. We pack your item, make a label for it and your tracking info is put into your online order then an email is automatically sent. Nothing will appear in the freight company's systems until it's picked up and taken back to the local terminal and processed. If the freight company has already picked up for the day, or isn't scheduled until the next weekday then obviously the tracking info won't show anything.
So many people email or call literally seconds after receiving our shipping notifications and say "Fedex/UPS/Freight Companies don't show anything for the tracking info!" even though it clearly states right below the number "If you recently received this notification, the shipping company may not have picked up or processed your shipment yet. Please wait until after 7pm ET for it to update." Talk about "rubs". :mur:

 

[ovrszd]

I compassionately hear what you are saying.

In the design of a custom made product I agree.
In the design of a cookie cutter BB that can easily be sold to the next customer, not.

 

[Frankenkubota]

I don't think this is good business practice but if people put up with it then buyer beware. Generally when someone bills your card that far in advance, there are underlying factors to the business cash flow that necessitate it. To me its a red flag. My biggest concern would be with that kind of advance billing, you could get stuck with the charge if it didn't get delivered in time. I build custom cars as a hobby. I have seen this happen in a several similarly sized businesses that sold motors and other high end accessories for custom cars. Both times, the companies were around a number of years and had zero problems. They did a lot of business and provided high quality merchandise. Then for one reason or another, they got into a cash flow situation they couldn't get out of. They started using current sales money to pay for orders they had already taken becuase they were behind in their cash flow. In just a matter of weeks, a lot of people lost a lot of money becuase all of the sudden quit shipping anything, even though they continued to take orders. Basically overnight, they suddenly closed up and declared bankruptcy.

The one thing that made me think of it was that was that we had several Internet car forums that were larger than TractorbyNet.com and when it first started happening everyone was defending the vendors because there had been no serious issues in the past. I'd say for a good month or two, people were still defending them on the forum because the vendors were well liked. In fact, one of the vendors was a big financial supporter of the both Forums. They advertised heavily which helped pay the cost of operating both forums for a long time. Anyway, in both cases, the next thing we knew the businesses had shut down and quit returning calls and correspondence. Losses ranged from hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands.

The Fair Credit Billing Act allows you to file a dispute with your credit card company for undelivered merchandise, so long as you inform the credit card company within 60 days of the first bill that has the disputed charge on it.


So if the order drags on a couple of extra weeks you can find yourself in a situation where your time to dispute the charge has past and you are out of luck. No matter how great you think a company is doing, you really don't know. If they are charging you 30 days or more before they even ship, then you are taking all the financial risk for them and essentially financing the equipment build or acquisition for them. The one taking a risk in that situation is the consumer. If they decide one day to close up shop suddenly, you can lose your money. Been there, done that, have the T-Shirt.

If it were me, I'd dispute the charge on day 45 if it hasn't arrived and let the credit card company pull the money back until it was ready to ship. That way you have some protection. I imagine the business will fuss saying they have never ever missed a delivery which may or may not be true. You really don't know. And as I mentioned before, even if it is true, when the music suddenly stops in a financial deal like that, the last customers get left holding the bag. They may be great people but it's a risky practice for a consumer to pay that far in advance.

Regarding the fair credit act etc.

6 months sent the cc co. a note disputing a charge. No reply. I called and begged them to stop charging me interest and late fees. They continue to charge interest etc and have recently turned me into credit reporting agency. I don't need their credit but, it does affect your insurance rates, yup!

I read Mexico has both the most highly regulated financial system in the world and also, the most corrupt.

Regulations are meaningless unless someone wants to enforce them and that takes a little effort.

I spent 30 minutes clicking the fed consumer protection complaint web site and just as I was finishing, their site crashed. Now what, call my senator? Amazon never crashes.

There's 2 worlds out there. They way it's supposed to be, and the way it is.

I always think of what I was told by a big time litigator. J.P. Morgan interviews the top 2% graduates coming out of the best of the law and business grad schools. He said, even if you don't get hired you are guaranteed a job simply because you were asked to interview.

Those J.P. Morgan guys are negotiating with our fed govt lawyers. Now this is from his mouth, if a lawyer can't get a job or wants to go into politics, they work for govt.

Now, who wins that negotiation, JP Mprgan or the govt lawyer?

 

[bearthebruce]

Thats usually the shipping department printing the shipping label, slapping it on & dropping it at their loading dock. They have shipped it. However UPS or whoever has yet to show up & load the item on the truck. So they haven't taken possession of the package to update it in their database. Just a difference between dropping it on the loading dock being counted as shipped & the actual shipper grabbing it.

Not always... EA had our forks finished. Sent the email. And then nothing.. We called. "Oh. The guys forgot to put a shipping label on it to get it shipped."

 

[Ford850]

EA emailed me at 4:40PM on a Tuesday stating my order would be shipped that day. At 8:00AM on Thursday the trucking company called me to say my order was there and ready for pickup. That might have been the best experience I've had with any freight shipment.

 

[deezler]

Am I the only one who would actually prefer to be charged immediately? I don't want a big expense that I forgot about to hit my credit card or checking account two months later. If I choose to buy a custom made-to-order product, I fully expect and desire to pay for it right away. So long as you trust the manufacturer/seller, of course. In this case EA is a huge seller of implements and has a reputation to maintain around here.