Galaxus customers pay one in four bills late. Online store operators also suffer from customers who never pay.
Sarah Frolik is familiar with customers who order goods, receive them, but never pay. She designs and sells craft boxes for children. Individually or as a monthly subscription. For 10 to 20 percent of all orders, it has to chase money after shipping. First with an email, then with a warning.
The first order was from someone who had not paid.
However, getting started is very time consuming for you to design and send the craft parts and instructions to the dreamcatcher or garden troll themselves. “My business is too small to be worth it, it's not worth it.”
legend:
With 10 to 20 percent of orders, Sarah Froehlich has to run for the money.
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10 to 20 percent: Debt collection expert Raul Egeli is not surprised by these high numbers. According to him, customers know that they are not taking a big risk and will not be prosecuted, especially for small orders.
Egeli gives an example: Order 300 francs, 5 percent margin, so 15 francs left in the store. It is not worth paying the operating costs of 17 francs.
Consumers know that small amounts will not be charged.
Fair trade food retailer Gebana also has experience with people who don't want to pay. According to Managing Director Christoph Schmidt, in Switzerland only a small portion of the goods ordered are paid for, but in the European Union, 6 percent is not paid for.
In one case in Germany, a customer placed 43 orders worth a total of 17,000 francs but never paid. The attempt to raise money failed. “We had to write off the amount,” Schmidt says.
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Online shopping encourages some customers to pay for their goods late or not at all.
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what should be done? Sara Fröhlich only delivers if payment is made in advance. Gebana also introduced this in the summer, but not to delight customers. “It wasn't long before we received complaints from customers who wanted to order on the account without logging in,” says Managing Director Schmidt.
This also had an impact on the number of applications. Four weeks later, the account was able to be requested again – under certain conditions.
After three reminders, debt collection follows
Then there are customers who pay, but only after repeated orders. Example: Digitec Galaxus: Customers who order on account pay one in four late invoices. If payment is not made even after three reminders, Digitec will start collecting the debt.
Store operators and other businesses are increasingly using the services of debt collection companies. Debt collection providers across Switzerland currently have more than 5 million files backlogged, says Raoul Egeli. The total is more than 11 billion francs. Money, waiting for the company they have already served.
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