So, recently I sold an item from one of our online shops, which was certainly cause for celebration!
So the normal sequence of events when a sale happens is that you're notified of a sale by the marketplace bot, and then I head off to my stock box to find the item in question so I can ship it to the purchaser.
Simple enough, right?
Now we keep pretty elaborate records when we are at outside events and shows, to make sure that whenever something is sold remotely it gets removed from the website listings as soon as we get home from the event. That way we end up avoiding the possibility of something being "double sold."
By double sold, I mean selling an item that's still listed for sale on one of the marketplaces that has already been sold at a show.
Wait... What?
In this case, something else happened. And, sadly, it's not the first time I've encountered this!
I went to the appropriate inventory bin to find the stone I needed to send out... and I could not find it. Thinking that I might have misplaced it in the wrong category I carefully looked through all the other bins but still came up with nothing.
Sadly, when I encounter this situation there is only one possibility left: It means that the stone was stolen and slipped into somebody's pocket without being recorded at an event. And, it would have to be a fairly recent event because I go through the inventory in its entirety at least once a year.
Seriously? You've actually chosen to steal something from a (likely) struggling artist at an event? What sort of person does that?
Back when we had our brick-and-mortar galleries — in both instances — shoplifting was generally a problem.
Now, I'm not so naive that I'm not aware that large chain stores like Wal-Mart and department stores have a problem with shrinkage. And I sort of understand the underlying mechanics there, in the sense that a person nabs something without paying for it and then turns around and sells it because it's a relatively standardized item whether we're talking about... a food mixer, some electronics, clothing or some other "common" item.
But stealing a piece of art? What is that about? I guess the person who stole it must really have liked it because there is certainly no aftermarket for my work!
Regardless, it's a very annoying thing because subsequently I had to notify the buyer that the item they had just purchased was unfortunately no longer available, and that's why we're giving you a refund.
Even if the sale is promptly refunded it usually works out to be a strike against you as a "flaky seller" because you had something listed that wasn't actually available for sale.
Even if your listing includes wording to the effect of "subject to prior sale."
Sometimes it just makes me feel like I should give up this whole venture!
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2024.08.22 AS-TXT-273/243