A Few Common Sense Rules:
Special Orders must be prepaid before the item will be ordered from the supplier.
All orders must be picked up and paid for within 30 days.
I've been simplifying and upgrading the supplies here.
More local.
More fresh.
More fair trade.
More certified and organically farmed.
More glass, less plastic.
More top food grade, less cosmetic grade.
Some supplies will now be on a SPECIAL ORDER only basis. This means your order will be in in about a week.
I've learned a few things already, mainly that special orders must be pre paid.
The reason rant:
It's enough of a hassle to create and pack and order and contact the client for pick up before finally giving up and restocking my shelves. It's quite an order of magnitude more infuriating if I've special ordered the items in - these are items I don't want to stock for good reason. Usually the reason I don't sell the item is that it does not sell well, or that I already have a better alternative. In any case, i get stuck with special order items that cost 20% plus shipping to return - and only if the supplier will accept them. Or I end up trying to sell the item, which involves writing and posting a page on my website etc = hours of work. Honestly. Just so that I don't lose money. When I was doing someone a favour. Boo!
I was a fool. I didn't think it through. So from now on...
The Rules:
Special Orders must be prepaid before the item will be ordered from the supplier.
All orders must be picked up and paid for within 30 days.
The reason: Most orders that are placed and take weeks or even months for the person to pick up result from sales. People naturally want to get the clearance and on special items before I run out. But then products can get stale and are unsaleable. I don't get paid for clearance items on time, if ever. And most orders not picked up after a few weeks never get picked up or paid for. Boo again!
Of course, whenever I get frustrated with clients I recall all the times I've been a difficult customer. Thank you for helping me resolve my customer behaviour karma!