Really? Questionable Bricklink request.

ecmo47

I received this request today. Here it is verbatim.

Hi there
Is any chance you do free postage ship there 2 sets to Australia if I order in your store?
Please let me know.
Cheers

I must be tired and grumpy tonight because I found the request annoying and a little insulting. Does this person really think that that I will cover $90.00 in shipping costs to get 2 sets from USA to Australia? I was tempted to retort with any number of snide remarks but in the end replied politely. Interesting that the individual does have over 20 positive feedbacks so he's got to have some idea of the cost of shipping. I know "it never hurts to asks" but this seemed a little over the top.

Basta

Can't trust those Australians :P

Not that I can talk, as grammar is not my strong point, but the way the question is written I assume the person may have other origins where negotiating is a big part of the culture.

Renny

That is a ridiculous request.

Shib

Sadly people are so used to seeing free shipping on websites that they think no one pays for it, normally it's built into costs but people don't appreciate that individuals/small companies have trouble doing that because of the smaller amount of parcels sent out.

Gavin83

How much were the sets out of interest?

CCC

I've had similar in the past, a few times on BL. Once you tell them that international shipping is £X, they then reply saying that it would be cheaper if they bought it at a higher price from someone local and didn't have to pay such high postage costs, and that it is wrong to have low prices but high shipping costs. It is a waste of time replying. I've started to just stoplist them and not bother replying.

ecmo47

The sets inquired about were a NIB #71006 (Simpsons) and a used #7632. He is persistent as here is the reply:

Hi
Thanks for reply.
I understand 71006 is very heavy.but 7632 is very light.
Can you do 7632 for free shipping?
Please let me know.
Cheers

Shipping for that set would run about around $22.00. I wonder what would happen if I offered free shipping but changed a small "handling fee" of $22.00? At least the grammer is better!

ecmo47

The price of the Simpson house in Australia is $330.00. My price plus shipping is more than that so this transaction isnt going anywhere. (Altough it is OOS until 20 March, so maybe he's desperate!)

CCC

He'll probably try and get the shipping down further and suggest that it sent the cheapest possible way. No tracking, surface mail or equivalent.

And if it is sent that way, you'll probably end up out if pocket.

CCC

And isn't #7632 over 1kg? I wouldn't call it very light.

margot

This might make you laugh..
http://www.27bslash6.com/p2p2.html

cheshirecat

Personally I don't see anything wrong in a potential customer asking the question - if it annoys you this much I suspect retail isn't for you. Is it a bit cheeky,perhaps but then he might have no real idea how much shipping is or how much profit you're making on the sale.

I had a guy from israel trying to buy some lego off me, on and on trying to reduce the shipping. I told him the bottom price (and as CCC said he tried to suggest surface mail, untracked etc etc) I told him no i wasn't willing to take that risk and the transaction ended. I was out by a few email responses but no great loss, ebay cancelled the sale, I didn't pay any fees. Its just part of selling. No different to any of us asking a store to pricematch when we know something isn't in stock. Its cheeky but part of doing business.

Brick_Obsession

I agree, it is unaccepatable to think you would do it for free.

That being said, there have been numerous times that I have contacted a seller asking them to review the price of shipping listed in their store and almost always they have come back with a more agreeable rate. I fully expect to pay for shipping, I just want a fair price.

This guy was just out right cheeky.

msanders

margot said:

This might make you laugh..
http://www.27bslash6.com/p2p2.html

Love it!

akunthita

margot said:

This might make you laugh..
http://www.27bslash6.com/p2p2.html

LOL! Too funny! :D

margot

ecmo47 said:

At least the grammer is better!

grammar... ;-)

EKSam

margot said:

This might make you laugh..
http://www.27bslash6.com/p2p2.html

@margot‌
Thanks, I can't stop laughing.

LostInTranslation

@margot- that link is hilarious!

rancorbait

margot said:

ecmo47 said:

At least the grammer is better!

grammar... ;-)

LOL That's usually the first word people mess up on when discussing bad grammar!

Shib

margot said:

This might make you laugh..
http://www.27bslash6.com/p2p2.html

Brilliant, but sadly these people are all too common. I work as a sign maker and once had a customer respond to a quote saying "you have the cheapest total cost of any of the quotes we received but you are the only one charging for fitting, can you do this for free?"

Had to explain that we were the only ones telling him how much we were charging for fitting and how much we were charging for the sign, the response was a blank look while the world in his head fell apart around him.

klatu003

@margot
Thanks for reminding me of that site. Missing Missy is one of my favorites. I was wondering if we could entice him to do a Lego riff, but he used already used Lego in one of his stories and it wasn't his best work.

Pitfall69

^Hahahaha. Now that was funny. I forwarded the link to my cousin who loves cats and interestingly enough, his sister is named Missy. I'm still cracking up.

I'm probably going to get a nasty text message about it, but it was worth it :)

rancorbait

Pitfall69 said:

I'm probably going to get a nasty text message about it, but it was worth it :)

It won't be the first will it? ;o)

Pitfall69

^I should have a forum topic of nasty text message exchanges with "Pitfall69".

To stay on topic (that's a novel idea) I have had some crazy requests involving selling/buying Lego. My take, it doesn't hurt to ask.

CCC

It doesn't hurt to ask once. More than once, you become a pita.

ecmo47

Margot: Thanks for the gammAr lesson! (Hate it when you are gripping about someone's shortfalls and you commit the same error!) Also, the link did make me laugh. Funny stuff.

FoxyA19

margot said:

ecmo47 said:

At least the grammer is better!

grammar... ;-)

Oh the Irony!

klatu003

@Pitfall69 David Thorne would have a good time with your pony sniffing in yoga pants. You should be glad that I didn't use the *other* images.

Pitfall69

Ohhhh. Nightmare Moon!!! She smells delicious!!!!

piratemania7

I've actually received a couple requests from the South East Asia area where I am asked what the cost of shipping is, and I went to the post office to get the shipping charge and written back to them only to be told that it's too kick for them. Really! I mean, the shipping has to be paid for, it's not exactly free!

ecmo47

^Why do you go to the post office? Much easier to do estimates on-line.

GIR3691

At least he asked before placing an order. I've had people submit an order, and then ask to verity condition, request photos, and try to haggle shipping.

I swear no one reads the damn checkout page.

BrickDancer

What's worse is when they beg for free shipping, then you give it, only for them to complain about damage during transit (even though it was properly packaged in a shipping box) so they ask for a discount on the sets. Feels more like extortion if you ask me. And they are a new BrickLink buyer to top it off (massimo25).

This type of stuff is what disappoints me about people in general and makes me not want to bother with reselling at all.

cheshirecat

I dont disagree and have come across some disgusting people on eBay claiming stuff didn't arrive when it did but.... Do you feel the same about people who use free shipping from Amazon and phone up hoping for a 10% discount from Amazon customer services? That behaviour seems to be positively encouraged here (and I've done it myself). Sure they offer free shipping off the bat but you wouldn't have agreed to free shipping if you weren't still making a profit on the sale, probably more than amazon does too.

BrickDancer

Profit on this sale, not so much. I'm just getting tired of sitting on inventory and slowly liquidating at cost or worse.

For this sale, it was the 2011 SW Advent calendars and bought them at $20 from TRU plus 1 at RRP of $40. So that's $80 + ~$8 tax for 3. Sold at $90 plus free shipping, which was ~$12. So I'm already at a loss before BL and PayPal fees of another $5.40. In the end, I netted a negative $15 in loss.

I thought freeing up cash flow, selling cheap to other AFOLs, and being nice to a newbie BrickLinker would be a win-win for everyone. But apparently not for the nice guy sometime.

luckyruss

My company's former head of legal had a saying, "no good turn goes unpunished" which is often sadly rather apt in these circumstances.

BrickDancer

^Lesson learned indeed.

Pitfall69

@klatu003‌

I just found this today. The Ponies have taken a back seat ;)

"What a great smell you've discovered"