You can thank my hubby for the title of this post. Not even knowing what this blog entry is going to be about, that is what comes out of his mouth. The man and I are soul-mates, I tell you.
It's coming on the time of year that everyone is looking for Christmas gift, decor, etc, and lots of people end up wanting custom, hand-made pieces. Something different, something with more meaning than a gift you would buy from the department store, which is great! This helps crafters be able to provide a Christmas for their
own families, which is a wonderful thing!
But among those honest, good folks that place orders, meet at the right time, or are prompt with their paypal payment there are those who place orders and never pick them up. Or, when you're trying to get in touch with someone who recently made an order and said they wanted to meet sometime this weekend or what have you to get it, and they ignore you.
I'm a merchant who normally goes on the good faith system, but part of what made me take a hiatus from Amy's Creations before was that I had multiple people ask me for custom orders, then proceed to ignore me and
block me on facebook (which only one person has done that), These people make you feel like a fool and like you're bothering them. Guess what. You're not.
They wasted your time. They wasted your money. They wasted your materials. They don't see it that way. They don't
care. But they have the audacity to treat you like you're some kind of annoying parasite when you're just trying to collect what's rightfully yours, and get them their products. At this point, you have every right to ban them from ordering ever again. After all once bitten, twice shy.
I honestly dread dealing with these kinds of people, and there's at least one in every crowd. I'm non-confrontational by nature, so I'm one that backs off after multiple times of trying to contact. I've been extremely lucky and no one who's ever ding-dong-ditched me, so to speak, has ever tried ordering from me again. That in itself kind of solves the stress problem.
But what about those custom items someone ordered that you're stuck with time and money into? At this point, try and sell it any other way you can. There is always someone out there who is interested in the same thing as the person who ordered. You might take a loss, but at least you will make some of your material money back. I have done this, and while profits aren't great, at least your materials are paid for. But unfortunately there are those pieces you made that are personal to them somehow, and not something someone else will pay for, which is incredibly frustrating and maddening on the part of the crafter.
So what I guess I am trying to do here is give insight into how difficult it can be for crafters sometimes. If it seems like they're being difficult about how they take orders, or if they're constantly making sure you're still meeting up - this above might be why. Don't get upset with them, just try to understand. After all, don't you become upset, even paranoid, when you lose money on something or someone royally screws you over? Think about this before you order from someone and change your mind after they have already worked so hard on what you ordered. If you can't pay right away, just talk to them. More often than not, they understand where you're coming from and have been there at some point in their lives. So much conflict and so many misunderstandings could be avoided if we all just talked to each other.
