OT Ordering Fake Bow Samples?

[BowsnBling]

Hey everyone,

I just started a new bow company and have a facebook and etsy site to sell my bows. Yesterday I received an email from someone saying that they wanted a sample of my bows prior to ordering a set of 25 bows. When I looked up the girls name she was a member of a Junior team and not a coach whatsoever. I don't plan to make a sample for someone that does not coach or own the gym. Has anyone else on here heard of this? I feel like she is just looking for free bows and is using the sample reason to obtain them. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[Emily]

Why don't you tell her that she can buy one bow and if she isn't satisfied with the quality and not planning on ordering more, she sends you back the bow and gets her money back (you could even offer to pay for postal charges). That way you don't send out free bows and she isn't stuck with a bow she doesn't want if she really wants to order more from you.

I know that in our teams it is often a team member that takes care of things like bows, practice wear, team make-up etc. For us it isn't unusual that a team member orders for the whole team, so I wouldn't say that she only wants a free bow - but you never know...

 

[Seeker30]

^ agreed. alsoo she could be buying them as a gift.

 

[BowsnBling]

Good Point, but when I looked up her team name on the programs website it was for a junior team so I would not think that she is in charge of bows and stuff, but you never know.

 

[cartwheels&cupcakes]

These get tricky. Usually if someone is asking me for sample, I'll sketch it and take a picture, make it and take a picture of it ( only if they end up not wanting I can still sell it) or if they want a physical one have them pay for it, and if they do order it, they money for the sample goes towards the order.

Does that make sense?

 

[MissBee]

These get tricky. Usually if someone is asking me for sample, I'll sketch it and take a picture, make it and take a picture of it ( only if they end up not wanting I can still sell it) or if they want a physical one have them pay for it, and if they do order it, they money for the sample goes towards the order.

Does that make sense?

That's a good system. Sketch a mock up, or make one and send them a photo. Or, they can just buy it.

 

[cartwheels&cupcakes]

That's a good system. Sketch a mock up, or make one and send them a photo. Or, they can just buy it.

Exactly. And usually with big orders I give a discount so they're getting their money back with the sample they ordered, but I'm not losing money if they don't.

 

[AScheer]

I've ordered a lot of bows from a lot of companies! Some do samples, but it seems to be the norm is you pay for it and then if you order you are comped the price of the sample from your order total.

 

[BowsnBling]

Update on this topic:

I am on another forum for bow makers and this girl has contacted at least 5 other bow makers but with different stories each time, with me she just wanted the sample, with another they team was ( which after researching the program is large Junior 2) is going to worlds and they need bows and then the last story is what upset me the most: she said she needed as one of the girls on her team lost her mom to cancer and they are honoring her. All of the samples were requested in the same week, so one of the stories may be true but not all of them. I just think it is not right to lie to obtain something that you want.

 

[jcheermom]

I think that in this situation, you may want to contact her gym about this. The way that she is trying to obtain bows from people is actually very shady and not morally right and if this girl were in my gym and was doing this, I would want to know that she was using my gym name to try and obtain something for free. I would seriously contact her gym and the owners to give them the heads up on what this individual is doing in the name of their gym.

 

[Cheer Dad]

I think that in this situation, you may want to contact her gym about this. The way that she is trying to obtain bows from people is actually very shady and not morally right and if this girl were in my gym and was doing this, I would want to know that she was using my gym name to try and obtain something for free. I would seriously contact her gym and the owners to give them the heads up on what this individual is doing in the name of their gym.

If you contact the gym I would consider asking the other bow makers to also contact the gym or give you contact info for them so the gym owner can talk to them if needed. This not only helps you but also gives the owner backup if she confronts the child and parents and both child and parent deny and think the gym owner just making up stories.