Do Not Deal Warning, plus Advice needed

[scenceable.livejournal.com]

I guess this post is mostly a warning against dealing with this person. However, if there's anything you can suggest that I can do at this point, I'd love to hear it! :)

Who Kate Sjoberg, AmandaKathryn (Deviantart and ebay), RedWyvrenStudio (Etsy)
Where Ongoing through ebay, etsy, and deviantart
What Well she sells unicorn sculptures that run $100+, but my issue is regarding other parts of the transaction.

I'm just going to copy paste what I wrote in my own journal. I've never posted in this community before so I apologize if I leave out any information.


I'm not really sure what to do with this.

The seller here is an artist who I've been a fan of for ages. (Kate Sjoberg, AmandaKathryn, RedWyvrenStudio) I bought a fairy from her in 2006, and then bought a few unicorns, and commissioned a pegasus at the end of 2008. With the commission, I found her communication a bit shaky, like she wouldn't respond to messages every time and that type of thing. My first issue was a mermaid I bought from her in early 2009, she started the bidding low and the auction ended low. She charged me $35 for shipping, and it ended up only costing $12. I messaged her 4 times over a few weeks to get the money back to no response, and after weeks (I guess after that 4th message) finally I go to paypal and see she has refunded me $14. No paypal note, no reply to my messages, no apology. And the difference in shipping was a decent chunk more than $14, but at least I got some back. So I didn't press the issue, and left positive feedback anyway.

Now ship overcharges piss me off in general so after that I didn't buy from her for almost 2 years. (I should add, money and falling out of collecting contributed to this as well) Then in Novemeber 2010 I bought two large unicorns, one was $135 and one was $125. The description on all her auctions says the items come with a COA (certificate of authenticity) and they didn't. Also, one of the unicorn's bases was broken. I contacted her through etsy about the break and the COAs. At first she had great contact. And then... nothing. However, against my better judgement, I bought a unicorn in February 2011 from her, which was sold with a "new version" of her unicorn tutorial. Here's our entire conversation through etsy.






So, I would like to point out here a few things. First of all, I never got a refund or any sort of money back due to the broken item. She never looked into the claim or got back to me on that (look at the dates on the messages) and I ended up fixing the base at cost to me. The pegs are really expensive and hard to find and I used my own. I would also like to point out that she doesn't apologize at all about an item arriving broken. A few others things... she didn't tell me beforehand that the COAs would be sent separately- I had to ask. The description says they come with COAs. Also, again, she never mentions before I pay that the tutorial would be shipped separately or that it would take time to complete. I knew that info through DeviantArt comments only. Also regarding her last message to me- the COAs were NOT in the box with Dream. I never got them.

After messaging her on etsy and getting no response I gave up. I hate chasing people and figured, whatever, let it go, just don't buy from her again. But it bothers me to this day every time I think about it. It's to a point where I want to sell them because I can't enjoy them properly due to these issues. The two unicorns I need COAs for I bought in November 2010. The unicorn that was supposed to come with a new version of the tutorial was purchased in February 2011.

So recently, as in the end of August 2011, she posted on DA and I commented about something else and she responded. So I figured hey, she's around, I'm going to send her a note. Why not, might as well mend things if I can. Here are those.


The following are messages through DeviantArt's note system






So, I realize the tone in my first DA message was quite different from that last one. But that's it. Not only am I done with buying items from her, I am spreading this to others too. Again, I would like to point out that in the message I got from her in August, she did not apologize ONCE for a huge issue that is absolutely her fault.

The thing is, they're PAPER. To appease me all she had to do was print two pieces of paper, sign them, slap the old tutorial on a disc, toss all 3 in an envelope and send them out! There is nothing hard about that. Ignoring messages and failing to do something so simple for your customers really just illustrates how little you care.

And on a more personal note...
I would also like to mention, because for those not familiar with the artist I think it's important- they're not cheap. I have 8 pieces by her that were $100-$200 each. (Sorry! I put this bit in for my LJ friends, I don't mean to mply that her work is overpriced or anything like that!)COAs and such might not seem like a big deal, but if I want to resell them at any point they're not worth much without the COA. As for the tutorial, she charges $13 for the old version and the price for the unicorn I got was started higher because it came with a tutorial. So I bought it largely because of the tutorial. So in many ways it's not that big a deal, not like never receiving an entire sculpture. However, in principal, I didn't receive what the description stated. In the end, I'm leaving this transaction feeling taken advantage of... it doesn't matter what business you're in, that's never something you want to do to your customers. :(


If anyone has any advice on what to do, I'm all ears. At this point, I'm moving on and never dealing with this person again. It's really unfortunate that things have come to this because I'm honestly a big fan of her work.

Comments

[cissa.livejournal.com]

You shouldn't be eating the cost of packaging. It's a legit biz expense and you should be compensated for it.

I have had some real problems with international orders, because what the USPS site says are options are not necessarily what my local PO says are options. Sometimes that means that the estimate from USPS is low; sometimes it's high, both compared to what it ends up costing when i actually mail the package.

I doubt that a customer would be thrilled about being hit up with an extra $10 because the USPS postage calculator thought i could mail it for less than the PO employees would do. Similarly, if someone accepts $X as a shipping fee- and it ends up being less- i don't see why they should get a refund; they agreed to the cost; it was the best i could estimate; and gods know they wouldn't pay extra if it cost ME extra.

So this is symmetrical. If it costs me more, I pay it; If it costs me less and they've agreed to it, they pay it.

Again- I do my best to estimate tightly. My tools are not always reliable. I do not see why I should ALWAYS be the one to take the hit when I get a bad estimate despite my efforts.

[scenceable.livejournal.com]

In my opinion (and with this issue it really is a matter of opinion!) if a seller doesn't estimate the cost correctly that's their fault. It's the seller's responsibility to determine how much shipping will be, so if they estimate wrong, technically it's their mistake, not the buyer's. This is true whether the estimate is lower or higher. So, if I give a quote that is too high, I refund the difference. If I give a quote too low, I eat the cost, because either way it was my fault for not getting an accurate price.

I'm not sure if you read the whole entry but in this case I asked the seller to let me know if shipping was more than she thought, and I would be happy to send more. She never let me know, but I saw on the postage label it cost more and sent extra anyway. Obviously most buyers don't do that.

I have heard the "you agreed to the cost!" argument before, but the issue is I agreed to pay that for SHIPPING not as a tip for the artist. In the case I mentioned in the entry I wrote, since the item sold for so little, I'm pretty sure that the reason the seller charged so much and was so reluctant to refund is she was upset about the low price and wanted more. Not because she didn't get an accurate estimate. That might account for a $5 overcharge, not for a $23 overcharge.

As a seller I've never refunded for, say, $5, and as a buyer I've never asked a seller for a refund for that little. The case I described was a $23 overcharge.

As I've said in other comments, the shipping overcharge on the mermaid I bought in 2009 isn't really my issue with this seller. I brought it up to illustrate her lack of communication which is the problem I'm having now.

I've discussed the shipping overcharge vs. materials issue on other forums too, and my opinion hasn't changed. I hate when sellers try to make a profit off shipping costs. Anything more than $5, UNLESS it's very elaborately packed, I will ask for it back. If someone overcharged me $23 and gave me the reply you did about symmetry and usps's online calculator, and refused to refund me... uh, honestly I'd probably leave them poor feedback. Don't get me wrong, for small amounts what you're saying is true. And I'm not some crazy buyer who expects sellers to cater to me constantly or anything either, but it's up to me whether I choose to leave a tip.

BUT I'm not trying to be argumentative or anything, everyone has their own opinion. And as I've said the shipping overcharge isn't even the real issue in this transaction at all.