So, here’s a good one for you … LAST January CafePress automatically billed my credit card for a website that I no longer wanted. Billing the credit card was quickly resolved. However, they took the cash balance that I earned through my sales and applied it to the credit as well. It’s been TEN months since this error occurred and they STILL haven’t returned the money to my account – even though I’ve been told that this money should have been returned to me a number of times. If you have experienced the same or similar problem, PLEASE SEND ME A NOTE! I want to see if this is a common practice by the company.
Since I have been calling more often, I’ve also started noticing that not all of my images and products appear in the Market Place. All of my photos are tagged with my name, so there is no reason why they shouldn’t be appearing. If you sell products in the market place and have noticed the same error, please SEND ME A NOTE.
I really am interested in seeing how wide-spread this problem is. Thanks!!!
Here’s why I’m writing this blog … the only time CafePress pays out is if a seller earns $25 or more in sales; companies don’t want to cut checks out whenever someone has made $1 in sales! However, for a company to ignore refunds under that $25 also means that it will take much longer for sellers to reach any amount to be paid out. PLUS, the company can SAVE money by not refunding money.
ReplyDeleteCafePress has around 40 million people who sell on their site. If they make 400,000 people dissatisfied by not refunding money or paying out for amounts smaller then $25, that means that they MAKE anywhere from $4,000 (that’s assuming that all of those people earned ONLY ONE penny) to $9,200,000 (assuming that the people earned $23 each). Also, by postponing payment until a base is meet, that money can be rolled into a high interest account in the meantime; thus making the company even more money. This additional “revenue” also means that they are able to expand, hire new employees, increase their pensions, and on and on … From the standpoint of a company, ignoring 400,000 complaints is not really that bad. It means that only 1% of their overall shopkeeper base that is dissatisfied. So, from the percentage perspective, the company believes that they are doing quite well. So, why WOULD a company refund money?
If you’ve experienced this or a similar problem with CafePress, please send me a note! Thanks!