Wow, where to start?  We might be getting bigger, but we’re not that big.  It has to do with credit cards, PayPal, card quality, and the (usually) unique nature of each item.

Carts suggest to us that a website offers one-stop shopping:  see, select, give your details, and pay, all in one seamless transaction.  Don’t we wish!  To start, we don’t take credit cards due to the bureaucracy and fees involved.  PayPal may not be our favourite method either, but until now it is definitely the most convenient, and buyers can use their credit cards to pay through that–we think.  PayPal also offers certain buyer protections similar to those of credit cards.  And believe it or not, some people prefer to pay in cash.

But here’s something even more important.  Let’s say we described and graded a card a long time ago, but for some reason the card’s condition has deteriorated.  One of our key promises is not to let a postcard go out at the original price if its condition has changed significantly–and clearly, conditions can’t improve over time.  This is not fine wine we’re talking about.  If we had a shopping cart, the customer would be paying the list price through PayPal before we had a chance to verify the condition.  Of course we could then issue a refund, but even with good intentions, that’s disappointing to both sides and leads to unwanted correspondence.

Finally, though we do have multiple copies of many cards, most are unique.  Pre-order correspondence gives customers the chance to ask about the card’s condition or history, and many people do that.

So that’s why we don’t have a shopping cart built into Global Postcard Sales.  Not because we don’t want your orders, but because we want to offer the personal touch.  So there!

Until next time …