First of all let me say that this post was just now brought to my attention almost a year later. If any of you members ever see anything regarding my company and want an explanation please do bring the thread to my attention.
Our shipping policy has been the same for several years. It is structered by paypal's recommendations as that is how all payments are received by us including credit/debt payments. The only exception are for cash purchases made in our store.
1. If shipping to a commercial location, apartment or similar, a signature is required.
2. Signature is required and insurance is included for All orders Over $250 at no additional charge to the customer.
3. If a customer requests a signature confirmation for an order Under $250 it is included at no charge to the customer.
4. If a customer requests insurance for an order Under $250 it is available for an additional charge to the customer.
That said customers get upset with us often for requiring a signature because they are not home when USPS or UPS run. They end up having to make a special trip to pick up thier packages. It is impossible to please everyone but we do our very best. Damned if we do and Damned if we don't. At the same time we do have to protect ourselves. There have been countless cases where a customer claims they didn't receive their package even when we have a copy of their signature showing it was delivered correctly. Unfortunately there are people out there that consistantly scam companies. I Do Not believe that is the case on this one we helped the customer best we could. We cannot be held responsible for theft, law enforcement is responsible for helping in that situation.
I was able to pull up this customers order.
Order placed 09/02/2011 via ebay for $249.96. We printed the shipping label electronically from paypal and shipped the item to the customers confirmed shipping address. Paypal sided with us on the dispute/chargeback because we did everything correct on our end. I agree that the cost is very very close to $250. After this incodent I did tell employees if close to go ahead and require the signature and insurance. But realistically insuranse does not help if a package shows delivered and the customer claims it has not been. The insurance only helps if the package tracking shows not delivered or if the package is damaged. The address on this order does not have an apartment, duplex number, suite number etc. So we were not aware that is was shipping to a duplex until the customer contacted us after the fact. When googling the shipping address it is an entrance to a nice gated community.
That said when this customer called we recommended that he speak with the Post Master at his post office, the carrier that delivered the package, roomates, neighbors, check property behind bushes etc. If no luck to file a police report as the package was more than likely stolen. We gave him a $56.39 discount on the second order he placed which was at our dealer cost and below dealer cost after processing/shipping the order. He chose to upgrade shipping to UPS 2 day select which cost him an additional $22.95. To you guys that think that motorcycle shops are marking items up 300-400% your sadly mistaken. The motorcycle aftermarket industry standard is 25-30% mark up to retail. A physical motorcycle related store front which involves a ton of other overhead is required to obtain dealer status. This is only for lower priced items. Once you get into the higher priced items it is not uncommon for the dealer margin to be 10-15% from retail. 90% of items online are already discounted below retail making the margin even less. There are exceptions but just letting you know that our shops profit margin is very very small and we work in volume to pay the bills. Overhead is very high and profits very low, realistically we are only in the green 3-4 months per year and are in the read the other 7-8 months.
We ship several thousand packages a year and have been subject to every scam known to man. We do our absolute best to make shipments smooth for the customer and also protect ourselves. Shipping is free on
www.BallZmotorsports.com for 95% of orders over $50. That is the same with orders over $250 but these also inclued signature required and insured at no expense to the customer.
Hope this helps you understand. If not sorry.
Kind Regards,
888-511-BIKE(2453)
