Are you losing potential sales?

A little story about Blocked Buyers.

Once upon a time there was a woman from Paris who loved to shop on Ruby Lane. She had purchased 113 items over the course of 3 years. Then one day she went to buy something in a shop where she purchased items often but she received this message:

Just as a buyer may choose not to do business with a retailer, each Ruby Lane Shop Owner has the option of not doing business with a buyer for a variety of reasons.

Shop Owners may also choose not to do business with a buyer that has been blocked by another Ruby Lane Shop.

This Ruby Lane Shop Owner has blocked you from Asking a Question, Purchasing, or Making an Offer in their shop because:

Date/Time: Reason (there are several reasons to chose from)

She panicked, wrung her hands, tears puddled in her eyes, and she exclaimed, "What does this mean? What have I done? Doesn't she like me anymore?"

Fortunately for her, she had the shop owners email so she sent her a note and told her what happened and asked what she had done. She apologized profusely although she didn't know what she was apologizing for. The shop owner was puzzled and set about to investigate and low and behold she discovered the Block tool on her Shop Owners home page. Her block threshold was set to '3' and she surmised correctly that 3 or more Shop Owners had blocked this 'good' customer which is why she was not getting the gals new purchase orders through her shop.

Come to find out the buyer had been blocked by several shop owners for two reasons: One shop blocked her because the gal had the audacity to return an item and perhaps for good reason. (How dare she?) And, two shop owners blocked her because she had inadvertently clicked 'include all addresses in my contact list' when sending out an email to another shop owner. So the shop owners receiving the email decided she was spamming, never thinking it might have been a booboo and they obviously didn't check to see if they had corresponded with her in the past.

The moral of the story. Think before you block and check your block threshold, you might want to change it to a number more accommodatingly than the default of 3. If you stop and think about it, there are over 2400 shop owners on the site and not all are patient and some will block for any reason, including the buyer returned an item (we do allow returns) or the buyer took a little too long to pay (but they did). Can you imagine returning an item to Macy's and they told you you were no longer welcome to shop there?

Carol

Tags: Blocked Buyers, Carol Augustine, Ruby Lane, Shop, Tools

3 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by 2Hearts Uptown @Ruby Lane on March 27, 2012 at 1:43pm

Had a no pay/no response to emails customer two weeks. Considered blocking her, but decided not to and to wait to see if I ever heard from her again. She calls me, and tells me her son had died. So... you never know what is going on in someone else's life. She is going ahead with the purchase. She also wondered why I hadn't called her (I sent 3 emails). I know others recommend calling, but it makes me very uncomfortable. Maybe I need to get over that!

D'Anne Brownell

Permalink Reply by Out Of The Attic 2u on March 27, 2012 at 1:51pm

Yes cause it is so easy to call & talk to them, then wondering if they got the email. I call whenever there is a phone# available to see "what's happening" It seems they are happy campers (umm buyers) when you speak to them personally.

Permalink Reply by 2Hearts Uptown @Ruby Lane on March 27, 2012 at 2:19pm

TOTALLY makes sense - my excuse is that a hearing loss from childhood infections sometimes makes phone talk a challenge with unfamiliar voices, but honestly, not a problem often enough to justify my phone aversion. I agree that people can relate better when they talk to you versus emails. My new resolution is to pick up that phone after no response to first email. Thanks for the nudge!

Out Of The Attic 2u said:

Yes cause it is so easy to call & talk to them, then wondering if they got the email. I call whenever there is a phone# available to see "what's happening" It seems they are happy campers (umm buyers) when you speak to them personally.

Permalink Reply by Ruby Lane on March 29, 2012 at 11:12am

The optional reason(s) for blocking a buyer are:

No payment received
Could not contact buyer
Buyer backed out of Purchase or Make an Offer
Receipt of payment took too long
Suspect Fraud or Scam
Received SPAM
Prefer not to do further business

Carol

Permalink Reply by Granny Wickers on March 30, 2012 at 10:04pm

Thanks for this information. Re-set it to no blocking - we will see how it goes! Also like the tip about a phone call to the buyer.

Permalink Reply by Ornaments on April 8, 2012 at 7:08pm

Well, I was hoping that I would never have to do this, but I just blocked someone. I don't block for non-payment because I've had people back out on a sale and then come back later and be fine customers. But this person, out of the blue just sent me the most incredibly rude email I've ever received. No provocation, just out of the blue. It was enough to convince me that I never want to do any business with this pill. Sheesh. Sorry, but I had to vent somewhere.

Permalink Reply by Priscilla's Woman's World on January 24, 2013 at 11:19am

Thanks for all the input. I had read the RL communication from the customer in Paris and plan to reset my block number higher which I think is a good idea. As far as calling, I'll have to mediatate on that one but my hesitation on the blocking still stands and my instinct is just to relist and get on with selling and listing and packing,etc. etc. Priscilla

Permalink Reply by Priscilla's Woman's World on January 24, 2013 at 11:30am

On a lighter note ! I was watching Google overview last night and I had 4 lookers from 4 different parts of the USA looking at the same item -- is that a record ? Prsiclla

Permalink Reply by COBAYLEY on January 25, 2013 at 12:45pm

I've read through this whole thread. I'm at my volunteer job at church and I have time. I don't feel I'm wrong in blocking a buyer who didn't pay for something. I will continue to block them. I also will block a buyer who returns an item for no reason. I don't care if it is Ruby Lane's quality assurance. I've accepted returns when the buyer found damage that I missed. The few times this has happened, I told the shopper to keep the item and I've refunded their money plus the postage. I never block thos buyers. However, I don't feel that any good shopper has the right to purchase something just to "get a real look" at it. I think that's wrong. They can ask myriad questions, I'm always willing to communicate. I'll take extra pictures. But please, do not buy on approval.

Upon reading this thread, I've changed my blocked list to none. I had it set a 7. I figured if 7 other shops had blocked someone, there must be a problem...but, I'll play it your way Carol, let's see how it goes..you never know, I may make a sale or two...

Permalink Reply by Quirky Antiques on January 25, 2013 at 3:22pm

I'm a little confused at this conversation in all honesty. Surely the whole point of the block system is to block buyers that are problematic and in turn-save yourself from headaches because other shops have found out the hard way? If a buyer doesn't pay for an item in another shop and gets blocked for it-I don't want that customer in all honesty. And while I understand that there may be a situation (illness etc) that may cause a buyer not to pay-I'm not sure I buy that such a customer can have had a bad run of trigger happy customer blocking shopholders........There's usually no smoke without a fire.

Like many other posters here I only block if someone puts in a purchase order, doesn't pay and does not respond to emails or phone calls. In all honesty-if any of those I have blocked had EVER contacted me afterwards with even a glimmer of a plausible excuse for NOT paying, I would have removed the block. Non ever have. And before anyone asks "well how can they contact you if they're blocked?", the shopholders details are in your account purchase history.

Three strikes-you're out. Sounds reasonable enough to me!

Permalink Reply by Ruby Lane on January 25, 2013 at 6:14pm

Hi folks, Let's be clear I am not advocating anyone increase or decrease their buyer threshold. I am sharing information on the pro's and con's - giving food for thought. Ultimately, it is your decision. Carol

Permalink Reply by Alley Cats Vintage on January 25, 2013 at 8:00pm

Ruby Lane recommends you set your threshold at 3 but gives you the option to chose.

You can optionally block buyers from your shop when they have been blocked by a certain number other shops. We suggest a value of 3, meaning if 3 or more shops block a buyer, they will also be blocked from your shop. The lower the number, the more buyers you potentially block from your shop.

Select "Do Not Block" if you do not want to block any buyers just because they are blocked by other shop owners.

Mine is set at 4. I think if 4 Ruby Lane Sellers had a reason to block a buyer, chances are the problem is with the buyer. I still get more than my share of non-payers.