Require Buyers from Classifieds to be Active Members ?

On July 24 a "member" of this forum bought a shave ready razor from me . July 24 was also the first and(as of today Aug. 6) only day this person was on this forum . The razor was delivered to the buyer's address on July 27 . I always ship using signature delivery confirmation , and since no one was there to sign for it , notice was left , and the razor was returned to the P.O. . 3 days later the razor still had not been picked up or re-delivered , so I e-mailed the buyer asking if he was aware that his razor was waiting at the P.O. . A few days later he e-mailed me back , saying that he didn't want to wait in line at the P.O. , and was going to have it re-delivered . It's been 10 days now , and the razor has not been picked up or delivered . It's pretty obvious that this guy has no intention of taking delivery on the razor , and is waiting for the P.O. to return the razor to me . I think that if the buyer was required to be an active member , with a certain amount of time , and posts to their credit , it might stop impulse buying . What do you think ?

Have you been paid? If so--?

I wouldn't worry about it, Dave. You've clearly done all that you can. The buyer seems quite aware of what is going on, and it's his decision to do whatever he wants.

Also, you have tracking and email evidence that you mailed the razor and that it went where it's supposed to go, so you're definitely in the clear.

It seems to me this case is more the exception than the rule.

Nobody has to be a 'member' of SRP to buy on the Classifieds, they are open to anybody in the world. If a seller wants to screen the buyers they can just not offer the instant payment option when they create their ad and handle everything via PM or email.

I don't think it's worth changing the whole policy that so far has been working quite well, just to avoid some rare problems when there are other solutions that individual sellers can use.

I have to disagree, I made an account on SRP to buy a DE razor, that was over a year ago and since I have been around constantly. If it wasn't for the ability to buy from the classified I might not be here so I have to disagree and thank SRP for the policy they have. I'm sorry you had a bad experience and I can understand being upset but I feel it would hurt more then it would help to change things.

I've sold nearly 40 razors and stones so far without incident (knock on wood). Just an isolated case I think.

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Originally Posted by pcg

Have you been paid? If so--?

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Yes I've been paid , but I'll have to return the money when I get the razor back . The thing is , I included shipping in the price , and I don't think the buyer should get the shipping refunded (and he won't) since he never took delivery of the razor , but he might think otherwise . It just makes me mad , that I bust my butt to pack the razor , and ship it fast as I can , and this guy doesn't have the decency to man up , and pick up the razor .

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Originally Posted by dave5225

Yes I've been paid , but I'll have to return the money when I get the razor back . The thing is , I included shipping in the price , and I don't think the buyer should get the shipping refunded (and he won't) since he never took delivery of the razor , but he might think otherwise . It just makes me mad , that I bust my butt to pack the razor , and ship it fast as I can , and this guy doesn't have the decency to man up , and pick up the razor .

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If the razor is returned and the buyer insists on a refund make him wait a while, charge a shipping fee as well as a re stocking fee (20%) and eventually return whatever is left.

Well, you could be right. He very well may have changed his mind and is playing a game. Of course I think you should give him the benefit of the doubt. There are many reasons why someone might not pick-up the razor. Whatever the case may be you should either supply him with options or tell him you're looking to place the razor with someone else. Be blunt and polite and hopefully he'll answer you in the same manner.

On a side note: To reflect what TheHeckler was saying, I also joined this website primarily because of the classified ads. I was looking at buying an electric shaver after years of shaving with disposables and after a little bit of research online I realized to get a decent shave I would need to spend $150.00 - $200.00 on an electric shaver. While conducting my research I started reading about straight razors, which led me to this site. What I love about this site is I can put in just about any straight razor manufacture/model I see on the internet and get back a first page result linking this website and real information on the razor. That combined with the classified ads is what brought me here. Now I'm looking forward to the nicks and cuts I will surely endure while mastering the art of straight razor shaving.

If he emailed you that he dident want to wait in line at the PO to get them ... well thats that.
VERY unusual to have an issue in the classifieds here.

If your unfortunate to have to refund and relist just know that what you went through was truly rare to happen.

PS.. and if you do loose out on the postage then just bump the price up when you relist. I am sure if it sold once the razor hounds here will snap it up again lol

More like too lazy to stand in line at the PO, I hope you do get shipping cost back! That's very rude what he's doing

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Originally Posted by nun2sharp

If the razor is returned and the buyer insists on a refund make him wait a while, charge a shipping fee as well as a re stocking fee (20%) and eventually return whatever is left.

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That's what I would do if the buyer is going to be a spanner... Definitely don't refund him shipping, there's no reason for you to be out of pocket because he's being lame.

You have fullfilled your end of the transaction,sort of seems like a non-issue. JMO

Thank you all for your input , and support . I feel better , now .

i do think that for trading of razor you should only deal with people that have credibility,for example i wouldent have no trust issue mailing a razor to nessmuck or to glen since there known members and have shown there trustworthy but i might be hesinante chancing a trade with someone that just sighned up yesterday. just me

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Originally Posted by Deerhunter1995

i do think that for trading of razor you should only deal with people that have credibility,for example i wouldent have no trust issue mailing a razor to nessmuck or to glen since there known members and have shown there trustworthy but i might be hesinante chancing a trade with someone that just sighned up yesterday. just me

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Given that there is no BIN equivalent, trading requires people to be in direct contact. That allows ample opportunity to assess the other person before agreeing to a deal, let alone actually mailing anything.

Mate, I wouldn't lose sleep over it. You've done all you can. I had a non posting buyer leave neautral feedback for me a while ago claiming that a razor wasn't sharp. Well, in all honesty, it wasn't. It was advertised as not being shave ready. You can't be responsible for buyers that don't look at the pictures or don't take delivery or whatever.

I'd say you've got an isolated incident. I've never had something like this happen selling on any other forum, but all of them have post count requirements for the classifieds, and the mods even patrol new guys' posts for quality so that there aren't a bunch of "yeah...what he said" posts.

that said, I was surprised that SRP has open classifieds. I have yet to see any other forum with open classifieds sections.

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Originally Posted by zymotic

While conducting my research I started reading about straight razors, which led me to this site. What I love about this site is I can put in just about any straight razor manufacture/model I see on the internet and get back a first page result linking this website and real information on the razor.

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this is why I signed up.

I purchased a razor out of the classifieds here before I even signed up. It's the reason I did sign up. If I hadn't been able to do that I probably would have just purchased one from SRD or somewhere else shave ready and just lurked on here.

Well , it looks like the razor is on it's way back to me . I checked the tracking , and it was never picked up . Thank you all again , for your comments , and suggestions .