In a message dated 8/20/98 10:54:27 AM, D1ARCHER wrote:

<<You'll charge a 100% deposit and recieve NO business from me.
If a business needs to charge a deposit (?!) for merchandise you are supposed
to have IN STOCK, you don't deserve to be in business. As for the practice of
charging you card before the merchandise is shipped, you can dispute that with
your credit card company or ask them what the specific law is on this
practice. This has come up before on another list I'm on, anyone know the
specific agency that governs this? At any rate you can always decline the
charge for the date listed if that was not the date shipped.
David >>

We're not talking about in stock items, or at least I'm not.

If I'm going to order a bunch of Carver heaters from England, I have a couple
of options available.  I can front all the cash for these, and then add the
associated costs to the purchase price, or I can get payment in advance, and
pass the savings on to the customers.

I have a lot of requests to honor credit cards.  I don't think most people
understand how credit cards work.  The banks charge the retailer a percentage
of the sale on each transaction.  When a business accepts credit charges, they
have to raise their prices on all sales, cash or credit, to offset these
costs.  Even if you pay cash for an item, you still are paying for the
privilege of the business offering the credit option.  Remember when gas
stations tried to offer a cash price and credit card price?  This seemed fair
to me, but the government made them stop.

I require a full payment in advance on any special order items.  If you want
to pay by credit card, then I will need to charge your card when you place the
order.   If I have an item in stock, then this is a non-issue, since it would
ship immediately.

I need to purchase the Carver heaters in quantities of at least 10.  If I have
to sit on this inventory to offer these as an in stock item, I would have to
raise the price considerably.

Steve Lashley
"74 Campmobile
SKL Enterprises
Importing German Side Tents and Accessories for Bus, Vanagon and Eurovan, and
Carver Propane Heaters
http://members.aol.com/tentinfo