Over the last few months we have noticed a significant rise in the number of abandoned orders placed through our web site whereby the customer cannot be reached so that we can review their billing information with them. Usually, this issue arises with new customers, who seem to think that by placing an order at the time they see the item on our site, that they will get the product right away. Usually they do not check the anticipated date of availability of said item, which can oftentimes arrive several months after the fact, in some instances years later. Friends, as I’ve said before, these are collectibles, most of which are made in Asia, that can and oftentimes are adversely affected by global market conditions, weather, logistical issues, et al. We have no control over when the product finally comes to market and if you do not understand this then I would suggest taking up a different passion and looking into a different hobby.

We are going on our 23rd year of doing business and our stated policy has always been that the customer is charged at the time of shipment and not before. From our standpoint, walking away from an order is no longer acceptable. When we receive product, we are essentially laying out money on behalf of the customer with the idea that we will be reimbursed at some point down the road once the item comes in and is ready for shipment. If a customer prepays for an item using either PayPal or AmazonPay, then it is with the understanding that they are paying for the item well ahead of us being able to ship out the item to them. We do not encourage this type of behavior nor have we demanded payment at the time the order is placed. If a customer feels more comfortable pre-paying for an item (which means they are not sharing their credit card details with the merchant) then so be it.

However, we have run into more and more situations where a customer places an order using their credit card, and then disappears at the time we require them to provide us with their complete details so we can obtain a new authorization code from the credit card provider. Sometimes, the customer can be reached, who them hems and haws over why they must provide us with their billing information or swears that the item has already been paid for without so much as checking their credit card statement. I’m not certain why this occurs, but this too is unacceptable behavior on the part of the customer.

Right now, we are mulling over different policy options that can potentially include taking payment from EVERYONE at the time their order is placed. Another alternative is taking a substantial, non-refundable deposit at the time the order is placed so that we are at least covered for the wholesale cost of the item. Or we could adopt the physician’s model, whereby the customer’s billing information must be provided first before services are rendered in the form of accepting a pre-order.

Naturally, selling collectibles that oftentimes do not come in until a later date presents a bit of a problem in its own right but so too does this issue of order abandonment. Thus far, we are contacting anyone that refuses to pay for an order that not only is their order cancelled but so too is their account with us. When an account is closed, you will not be able to purchase anything else from us ever again, including through our marketplace sites. Why do we resort to such draconian measures as to close a customer’s account. It’s simple. We feel that if a customer is unreachable the first time we request his or her billing information, then they will likely be unavailable a second or even a third time, and that is unworkable for us or for any business for that matter. That said, in the next couple of weeks we will decide what to do to combat this growing order abandonment problem. Stay tuned…