924Board.org

[ideola]

It's no wonder so few US companies will ship internationally.

Customer places order.

I advise them it will be 2-3 weeks to fill because it is a custom setup that is built-to-order.

The same day everything arrives from my suppliers, customer files dispute with PayPal claiming they didn't get their package (well, duh, it hasn't shipped yet).

I *will not* ship a large, expensive package overseas at risk.

Now I'm stuck with money withdrawn from PayPal, and a custom built setup sitting on the shelf.

One such incident wipes out the profit from 10 orders.

This is why 924 owners can't have nice things, and why no one else will serve this market. Very frustrating. Sorry for the rant, friends. Carry on.
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[Eric P]

That really sucks. It might not do much good, but I would definitely contact paypal and explain the situation. Since it's custom goods, they may side with you, especially if you made it clear what the time frame was on the item you were selling.

Out of curiosity, what setup were you building? Maybe somebody on here would want it and you could both benefit?
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1980 924 NA, US model
1987 924S, US model

[ideola]

PayPal is frustratingly unhelpful. I have the top level account with them due to the volume I do. Doesn't matter. If the buyer files a dispute, you only have three options: issue refund, prove you already issued refund, or prove you already shipped the product.

I could ship the product after the dispute and hope that PayPal sides with me, but then I would really be at risk: full retail price withdrawn from my account, no product to restock or resell to someone else, the wholesale cost already taken from my account for non-returnable items, PLUS the significant additional expense of shipping internationally.

Roughly 60% of my orders are from owners outside of the US. But I've now had this happen 4 times so far this year, each time with a buyer that is overseas.

So far, I've always been able to resell the parts to another buyer, so eventually it will work out. But for a small operation like mine, with such slim margins, when this happens, it creates a significant cashflow crunch.

I don't charge very much profit at all. I do my best to keep prices at or below MSRP, because I don't have a lot of overhead, and because most 924 owners have pretty limited budgets. It's just really painful when this happens.
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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[ideola]

So, yeah, if anyone is interested in a complete Weber 45DCOE conversion kit, I have the complete setup on the shelf and ready to go. PM for details.

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erstwhile owner of just about every 924 variant ever made

[Cedric]

Maybe find a different type of payment for such orders? Bank transfer, credit card?
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1980 924 Turbo
www.instagram.com/garagecedric/

[924-76]

That sucks
Might sounds stupid, but have you try contacting your client via email?
Or did he try contacting you prior to filing a dispute? If not, I bet he is just want to cancel the order because he changed his minde or something.
Regardless, very frustrating, I hope you find a buyer for those.
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1976 924 N/A ROW SOLD
1980 931S
1981 931 Part car RIP

[ideola]

[morghen]

Sucks...sorry that happens...maybe there is some sort of insurance for these things?
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Supercharger and EFI kits
https://www.the924.com

[Kenodog]

We occasionally get customers like that at the shop. It sucks. For larger purchases now we ask for 50% non-refundable deposit paid with EMT or money order. We stipulate this clearly in an email so there is something to back it up if the people try to back out later. Then Visa or M/C for the balance once the product is in and ready to ship. Good people that are serious about buying something will not hesitate to get you a money order for a deposit, flakey people will always hesitate when you tell them the conditions on the phone....it's a good way to mentally vet people you're dealing with.



Me
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1979 Euro 931, Olive
1981 931, Sabine
1991 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4, Ricky
1996 Ford E-350 ex-FedEx Van
2014 Mazda CX-5 (Kinderwagon)
2019 KTM 790 Adventure
2024 KLX300
2024 KLX140

[TJC]

Boy oh boy can I relate to you on this.
I pretty much won't ship internationally any more. I now request a stateside address to ship to or have the buyer arrange their own mode of shipping and have the product picked up at my locale. The customs paperwork has gotten crazier too...I don't need that headache.
I really got tired of international shipping when I was the importer for Revolution Competition Wheels...talk about headaches, whew! One year Fed Ex was my biggest customer because of all the damage claims they had to pay...and that was on product coming in to me!!! It made for some angry customers who had been waiting weeks for their custom applications...cost me a lot of money and reputation too.

As for payment I won't accept PayPal for any large amounts at all unless I know the buyer very well. They have gone WAY overboard with being too buyer friendly in my opinion. My preferred method of payment is by US Postal money order. Back in the day when my business was full time I did have a merchant services credit card account, but that had some drawbacks although I only got burned once or twice in all the years I had it. EFT or wire transfer and certified funds works for me in some cases too.

As far as profit margins are concerned, well what a misconception folks have on that subject, LOL!!! I swear some people thought I was some kind of millionaire or a ripoff artist because of the prices I charged, hahahaha! If they only knew that my GROSS margins were as little as 8% and my max may have been in the area of 30 to 35% and that was on small ticket items like lubricants, adhesives and such!!! I can bet that you Dan are certainly not getting rich off of your business and that's why you kept your day job!!!

Oh well keep at it old boy, this community needs you. Oh, btw, thanks for this post...it allowed this cranky old man to get something off his chest and participate in your rant !
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'95 BMW 318i/5 ..."Pearl"
'87 Porsche 944 NA... "Liebchen"
'02 Porsche Boxster..."Sunbeam"
'04 BMW X3..."Xander"
Still on the Prowl!

www.ttrs1.com