Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: enderforhegemon on November 29, 2011, 03:21 pm
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Howdy folks,
So after all this talk on here of early finalization and strict use of escrow, I'm presented with my first quandary.
I have a customer who placed an order from me with no prior contact via PM. Also, his/her username does not match up with anyone on the forum, though that doesn't mean much.
Anyway, I shot them a message thanking them for their order and requesting that they acknowledge that they would finalize with me as soon as they get their order. I've sent a follow-up message, but to no avail: neither has been read yet.
My question is, with my cut-off time rapidly approaching, do I ship the order today? I simply can't afford to have my money sit in escrow for long periods. Part of the reasons I've streamlined my process is to have the absolute fastest shipping available. Someone who won't even check their messages worries me.
To me, I guess I can't understand a person parting with $170 to a third-party and then not logging on to check their messages at least once in the next day or so. My original reply was 6 minutes after the order was placed.
Whadya think?
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I really can't speak as a Selling Vendor, but Communication with "Whom" your doing these types of Transactions is key. If you have a bad feeling or your not getting Responses. I do think you have Right as a Vendor to Cancel an Order. As I said, I dont know what circumstances merit Cancellation, but I'm sure you can get the skinny on that fairly quickly. Also, you may not be aware of this, but lots of folks are having a Bitch of a Time logging into SR. Your Guy could be chomping at bit trying to Log In and maybe cant? I dont know Bro. Tough Call,
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BTW, I sent you a PM to respond to one of the questions you asked me.
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What do the buyers stats look like - lots of orders? Any autofinalize? I think you just have to go with the info you are given and with your gut. Especially with how hard it is to get on SR recently.
Note: I am not a vendor, so don't listen to my advice. ;)
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Zero auto-finalizes, but not what I would consider a lot of orders. I'll wait another day and if they message me back any time soon, I'll just upgrade their shipping to get it to them on the same day it was ordered.
Cheers!
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Haha! Well, I think I need to be more patient. He replied to my PMs while we were having this little conversation. Everything is cool with him and I bumped him to overnight delivery for free just for assuaging my anxiety.
Cheers everyone!
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Howdy folks,
So after all this talk on here of early finalization and strict use of escrow, I'm presented with my first quandary.
I have a customer who placed an order from me with no prior contact via PM. Also, his/her username does not match up with anyone on the forum, though that doesn't mean much.
Anyway, I shot them a message thanking them for their order and requesting that they acknowledge that they would finalize with me as soon as they get their order. I've sent a follow-up message, but to no avail: neither has been read yet.
My question is, with my cut-off time rapidly approaching, do I ship the order today? I simply can't afford to have my money sit in escrow for long periods. Part of the reasons I've streamlined my process is to have the absolute fastest shipping available. Someone who won't even check their messages worries me.
To me, I guess I can't understand a person parting with $170 to a third-party and then not logging on to check their messages at least once in the next day or so. My original reply was 6 minutes after the order was placed.
Whadya think?
Read the other threads I've posted. If you are a legit vendor, you can count on cops buying from you, their packages disappearing w/o you being able to look up the DCN, and them smearing your feedback score till you're out of business. Who knows, maybe SR likes it because it almost forces legit vendors to buy from themselves a bunch and make SR tons of $$$$$
Your best bet is to not sell to anyone who doesn't communicate with you.
You should also vary which post offices you use if you can because once LE gets one of your packages, they will alert the P.O. it was sent from for the next order they get from you (usually with a different user).
I'm also going to start asking for references from buyers of who they have bought from. If they've bought from just cop vendors than I know not to deal with them.
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Mister Dank, don't worry. I read almost all of your posts. I usually barely resist responding to them, but since this one is to me, I'll give it a whirl.
You're fear-mongering, paranoiac polemics serve no purpose here. Every single one of us is already looking over our shoulder at every turn. We're all engaged in calculated risk-taking and we understand what we're up against: legally, socially, and financially.
You are the ONLY one who is just absolutely flipping his shit about "federal smear buyers" or whatever you call them. Your feedback is shit. I imagine, since, like I said, you are the *only* one on this war path, this is because you're not a reliable dealer.
Get your shit together, man. You're making the rest of us look good.
Cheers!
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Mister Dank, don't worry. I read almost all of your posts. I usually barely resist responding to them, but since this one is to me, I'll give it a whirl.
You're fear-mongering, paranoiac polemics serve no purpose here. Every single one of us is already looking over our shoulder at every turn. We're all engaged in calculated risk-taking and we understand what we're up against: legally, socially, and financially.
You are the ONLY one who is just absolutely flipping his shit about "federal smear buyers" or whatever you call them. Your feedback is shit. I imagine, since, like I said, you are the *only* one on this war path, this is because you're not a reliable dealer.
Get your shit together, man. You're making the rest of us look good.
Cheers!
I'm the only one on the warpath because most vendors just gave up after getting trolled. If you really are legit, you'll see.
enderforhegemon, are you really so fuckin naive that you don't think cops would infiltrate this site and use every resource at their disposal to do so? Maybe I'm just the only one who's smart enough to see through their shit. If I have the budget cops have, I would set up a bunch of vendor accounts, and have buyer accounts set up and buy a bunch from all my own vendors with the buyer accounts to prop up the ratings to unbelievable figures, while at the same time taking out non-cop vendors with feedback smears. Seems pretty easy, and it appears to be what has happened because the parties involved are acting defensive and making irrational attacks and smears against me. Ever heard the saying "Thou dost protest too much"?
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The issue isn't that we don't understand the gravity of the situation.
It's that we fucking get it, man.
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@Mister Dank - We have all decided to Vend here. We know the risk. Quit making taking over threads. The OP asked what the recommendation would be given the choice to wait it out, send it, or cancel it. Stay on topic and be helpful.
On that note, I would suggest waiting for his response before it's sold. Let him know that as he is a new buyer, you need to at least make sure he will respond to messages before you send it, as at this point only you are taking the risk in sending. If he does not respond then do not send it.
Peace,
DigitalAlch
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I've got this whole 'I'll ship the same day or refund 1/2 your order payment immediately' thing going, so I always ship right away.
I also send out Certificate of Posting references after the items are mailed.
Right now, I've got about a dozen of those unread, even though there were sent within a few hours of ordering - that's with about 60 outstanding orders right now - so 20% of my customers haven't checked in within 2 days of ordering.
Keep in mind, lots of clients aren't like us, hanging about and checking our accounts and whatnot. They place an order, and if it's not there in a week or so, only then do they sign in to send you a message and ask about it, and then read your PM.
And yes, you are going to get some clients that never check back in, ever, even once they receive their parcel. It's not in their mindset at all. After all, when you order something off Amazon and it arrives, you don't sign in to Amazon - you open your new shit and play with it.
So you have to build in a certain percentage for all your clients that some of them are going to let it go and auto-finalize, or not respond to or even read your PMs unless they sign back in with a problem.
I realize that is no help with your situation, just saying that personally I recognize that's gonna happen sometime, plan for it, and try to be all zen-like and shit and take it in stride and not let it bother me. Not always easy when you ship a $1400 Airsure priority, it get's there in 2 days, and they never once came back and read their PMs - or bother to finalize their order. Just had two of those finally clear - the bright side is I don't hedge escrow, and BTC has gone waaaaaay up in the meantime, so I actually made about $450 off the delay.
Remember, unless there's a delivery or product problem, consumers are used to ending contact with the website they purchased from once they finalize the purchase.
Edit to add my actual advice/opinion - mail that fucker out now! How is the client going to feel if in a week it's still not here, and sign in to ask you about it, and find you haven't sent it because they didn't read a PM? That turns a good purchasing experience into a so-so one, and means they get their purchase far later than they expected. For me, the customer satisfaction of getting their purchase promptly outweighs my need to have them 'promise' to finalize upon receipt.
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Good advice, Variety.
You may have missed this part of the thread due to the overwhelming inanity of the Mr. Dank discussion:
"Haha! Well, I think I need to be more patient. He replied to my PMs while we were having this little conversation. Everything is cool with him and I bumped him to overnight delivery for free just for assuaging my anxiety.
Cheers everyone!"
You're right to just Zen out and let the system work. Right now I'm just hyper-sensitive; trying to garner business, fill orders, and make sure everyone has a perfect buying experience while still ensuring my safety and monies.
Hopefully that sucker's going to be high as fuck before noon on Thursday.
As always: Cheers!
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Fuck, I absolutely *hate* people that post without reading the whole thread first, and here I am guilty of that very faux pas. Mr. Dank does have the ability to make my eyes glaze over and kinda skim past his vitriol, as in my experience it adds nothing to the subject at hand, and I always feel just a little bit stupider after I read one of his paranoid delusional rants.
Great fucking recovery there, my friend. The upgraded shipping option makes up for any delay, and most likely cemented a relationship that will result in return business.
You have to think like a client, and really empathize with them - they're on some sketchy underground hidden website perusing illegal items, where for all intents and purposes everyone from the vendors to the clients are criminals. They're nervous and excited and skittish, and everything you can do to make it a good experience, hell, a memorable experience, will stand you in good stead.
They don't understand the rules and standard way we'd like them to do things, and our unwritten protocols and expectations, so expect them to do things we'd rather they didn't. Just take it all in stride.
Don't talk down to them, never talk bad about them, protect their identity and information at all costs - never mention their name unless they mention yours first and you're responding to that, and above all realize that if they ask you stupid questions, at least THEY ASKED YOU! Not your competitors here or elsewhere, they turned to you. That's the best time to shine, help them along politely with the information they need, and treat them like a long term client, and they'll become long term clients.
I make a helluva lot of money selling tiny little seeds, and every client of mine is a jewel, even the ones that let their order auto-finalize. (I just comfort myself with the fact they were so ecstatically happy with my service, they had no reason to sign back in!)
I get great feedback, over 90% of my clients send me a PM thanking me when they get their orders, and I spend my days having warm fuzzy feelings about what I do for a living and the people who make it possible.
Finally, the few times I do feel myself getting upset or annoyed, I ask myself if it's going to matter a whit to me this time next month, and move on - because a month from now I won't even fucking remember what it was that annoyed me.
You'll never go wrong always putting your client and their feelings first, and they'll return the favour in spades.
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Haha, the Mr. Dank problem is getting kind of absurd. I do like, however, that most of us adults generally just talk as if he's not even in the room. Makes me feel grown up.
Yeah, I'm stoked about this, and I've been having a great time with my clients so far. Really. An actual blast. There's one guy who can't get the funds together to save his life (you know who you are, buddy), but who has provided nothing but entertainment throughout the entire process.
I'm trying to make a name for myself by being business-like, likeable, and using the Oxford comma at every available opportunity.
I look forward to chatting with and/or selling to you and the rest of the community.
Cheers!
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, and using the Oxford comma at every available opportunity.
Oh, one of those serial comma guys, are you.
Edit: Probably makes you a cop!
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, and using the Oxford comma at every available opportunity.
Oh, one of those serial comma guys, are you.
Edit: Probably makes you a cop!
Well call me a cop because I abuse the comma like [insert Penn State joke here]! Granted, I've used it quite sparingly in the last sentence, but, generally, I use it like a fiend! Often times I throw in commas where they don't even belong just because they're that awesome!
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Haha, the Mr. Dank problem is getting kind of absurd.
Nyuh-huh...the only thing absurd is you. There's nothing absurd about pointing out what the REAL problems for new vendors are. Sounds like you didn't like the information being given out. Here's a tissue.
@DigitalAlch: I'm not "taking over the thread" - the only one who can do that is you. The topic is about a vendor dilemma with a suspicious customer. My input was very relevant to the topic.
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I'm fairly new here and would be very interested to discuss and/or read about possible legitimate threats to SR users, as MisterDank mentions. Is there a thread where this has been "overly" discussed to the point of annoying everyone, or is MisterDank just extremely paranoid/delusional? Can someone fill me in? Thanks.