Your Description Is Laser Cut & Dry

I took a laser cutting class a few years ago and, now with the lack of work due to the health crisis, I’m reworking some of the art I cut into jewellery. I’ve listed on a few online selling sites, including a second-hand clothing one, just to cover all my options.

I only get a few bites, but one comes from across the country, ordering a cutout of a pair of one-inch-tall boxing gloves hanging from a chain.

One morning, I get a rather angry message from the buyer saying that she didn’t get what she ordered; they were supposed to be 3D gloves.

Me: “But, it says, ‘laser-cut,’ in both the title and the description. The image looks a bit 3D because of the design, but you can see by the shadow that it’s a 2D cutout.”

She then sends a photo of herself holding the gloves, complaining that it looks nothing like the listing’s photo; I take it and paste the listing’s photos side by side. They look identical.

Me: “I don’t see a difference here.”

She then complains over and over that it has “holes” in it, which is part of the design that gives it the 3D feel of highlights.

We went back and forth for hours over the website’s complaint chat until I stopped responding.

Later, in the afternoon, I got a resolution email from the company ruling in my favour. I knew that the company would be watching the chat and considering the buyer’s complaints. I kept the whole conversation VERY (almost too) professional, while she came off as a petulant two-year-old.

I hate selling my art because people are so disrespectful and many know how to game the faceless, online system. Before all this, most of my work was sold by commission through stores, and then by my friend who travels around offices in our business selling her art and mine during the Christmas season. We usually make an absolute KILLING, raking in thousands of dollars throughout the month and the present-buying rush. But now, these desperate times call for desperate measures.