Flakey Buyers

I hate it when someone shows interest in an animal you are selling and then disappears off the face of the earth. Recently I had a person inquire about one of our dragon's we have for sale on our site. He seemed very interested and wanted to know if it was still available for purchase as well as what the shipping cost would be. After a few email exchanges that answered his questions, the correspondence on his end stopped. Perhaps I am overreacting and he got caught up in some important matter to where he can not respond to his emails. I just wish that the potential buyer would at least have the decency to say they are no longer interested.

Even as part of a magic show I do not care much for disappearing acts. It would save the effort of me typing and sending an email that they will inevitably ignore and delete.

I posted about something similar to this... depending on how "comitted" the person becomes they should inform the seller of any changes regarding the purchase/interest in an animal. It is a huge waste of time and energy when someone acts interested and then basically writes you and your help/curtousy, not to mention it's rude.

This happens all too often and is definately annoying. One inquiry then disappearing is one thing, but numerous emails asking details abotu the animal, how you ship, what payment methods you take etc, then just being gone is very rude. When you get another interested party you almost hate to sell it thinking the first person may have wanted it.
Just a while back I had a guy email about ordering some roaches. It was going to be a $20 order, nothing major at all. Over several emails he asked various questions anf finally mentioned that somewhere else he found them would include a sample of food with the order and asked if I'd match that. I told him no, it was just chicken feed and there was no point in increasing my shipping charges to send him a ziplock bag of it. After that he disappeared. No problem for me, roach orders aren't like selling individual snakes, so I wasn't left hanging or anything. WHat got me though was abotu two weeks later he emails agian telling me he wound up buying them somewhere else, but he had a list of questions regarding their care and how to get them to breed the quickest and all. My only thought was what gall. Quiz me, then buy from someone else, then come back to me for support. I couldn't even formulate a descent response that wouldn't be rude, and not wanting to be that way I just trashed his emails.

Originally Posted by Clay Davenport

One inquiry then disappearing is one thing, but numerous emails asking details abotu the animal, how you ship, what payment methods you take etc, then just being gone is very rude.

I agree, but lately I think it's more annoying when they reply to a PICTURE AD with a few questions, you answer them, then they continue to ask questions one at a time, then on the 9th email they ask you for pictures even though they saw them in the ad AND on your website, and after your polite reply they start asking the SAME questions over again. Am I being rude if I stop responding? I mean c'mon already... the picture and all previous emails are still attached to the most current email!!!

Originally Posted by Clay Davenport

This happens all too often and is definately annoying. One inquiry then disappearing is one thing, but numerous emails asking details abotu the animal, how you ship, what payment methods you take etc, then just being gone is very rude. When you get another interested party you almost hate to sell it thinking the first person may have wanted it.
Just a while back I had a guy email about ordering some roaches. It was going to be a $20 order, nothing major at all. Over several emails he asked various questions anf finally mentioned that somewhere else he found them would include a sample of food with the order and asked if I'd match that. I told him no, it was just chicken feed and there was no point in increasing my shipping charges to send him a ziplock bag of it. After that he disappeared. No problem for me, roach orders aren't like selling individual snakes, so I wasn't left hanging or anything. WHat got me though was abotu two weeks later he emails agian telling me he wound up buying them somewhere else, but he had a list of questions regarding their care and how to get them to breed the quickest and all. My only thought was what gall. Quiz me, then buy from someone else, then come back to me for support. I couldn't even formulate a descent response that wouldn't be rude, and not wanting to be that way I just trashed his emails.

You could always hint that he should be getting customer service from the place he bought from.

It IS pretty rude!

once it occurs from one person more than once they are simply listed as a "junk sender" in Outlook and any and all correspondence from that point on, sent to any of our addresses, goes right into the trash and we never have to be bothered by them again.

Problem solved.....

I think it's all just a part of doing business, especially in the reptile trade, and even more especially in the roach trade. I answer every e-mail I get asking questions and don't really keep track of who I'm replying to. I don't consider the person e-mailing me as a buyer until I get the payment. Yes, I do spend hours typing up e-mails to people who never respond and to people who probably had no intent to buy from me anyway, but I hope they do at least find my information useful.

The only one that ever got to me was a guy who e-mailed me Saturday afternoon saying he wanted to buy some roaches for me to ship the following Monday. Now, I work a solid 13-hour shift without a break and without access to a computer on Saturdays, so I didn't even get his e-mail until the evening. He had sent a couple of subsequent e-mails urging me to respond because he wanted to be sure that I could ship the following Monday, and basically the last one said that he had decided to order from somewhere else. He seemed pretty happy to rub in the fact that my competitor could reply to his e-mails (a few hours) sooner. But I went ahead and responded to the questions in his first e-mail anyway, because that's just the type of responsibility I took on when I began BugChick.com.

It is amusing though when customers talk about one roach source being better than another, considering how often roach sellers will drop ship for each other.

Originally Posted by Clay Davenport

WHat got me though was abotu two weeks later he emails agian telling me he wound up buying them somewhere else, but he had a list of questions regarding their care and how to get them to breed the quickest and all. My only thought was what gall. Quiz me, then buy from someone else, then come back to me for support.

I've had this happen to me but with lovebirds. This lady came in and played with my tame lovebirds for 4 days in a row. She asked question after question after question all of which I answered. She then calls the following Tuesday and tells me she bought a lovebird at Petco over the weekend but she has a bunch of questions. The bird isn't tame so how does she tame it? I asked her if she saw the little sign right by the price tag at Petco that said the birds were parent raised? She said she saw it but didn't know what that meant and neither did the person catching the bird for her. I said it means the birds are not tame. I did give her a few pointers on taming her bird but it's really, really hard to tame a parent raised lovebird, it can be done but it's hard. I tell her this too.

A few days after that she calls back and says her lovebird bites and brings blood. She wants to know if I'll trade her not tame lovie for one of my sweet, tame ones. I said NO, not gonna happen. She then tells me that her bird is worth more than mine are because she paid $99 for hers at Petco and mine are only worth $60 because that's what I charge. I told her that she was pretty rude and I said I was sorry for her bird and I asked her to not call me any more.

A lot of times I have inquired about animals for sale from several different people at the same time. I get the price of shipping and availability of animal(s) I'm interested in and I go with whomever I've chosen to buy from for whatever reason. I feel bad because I didn't inform the others that I wasn't going to buy from them but I didn't ask question after question after question, it was only one email. I will change my practice in the future and give those people I don't buy from the courtesy of a simple email.

It's wonders what that one email can do. It's happened a few times where I've asked questions, or ask to see pictures. The moment I decide I'm not buying from the person I let them know. It's common courtesy, and so far people appreciate the honesty and the fact that I don't waste their time. If I send an email that is just a question (which I have also done) I am sure to say upfront that is all it is and that I appreciate their time they take to answer me.

If you would want an email saying they are no longer interested, that is what you should be doing yourself.