I've got this annoying problem and it's been happening for years and I'd welcome any suggestions as to how to go about solving it.
The problem is as follows.
I put a list out at say 10am on a monday morning. At 10.15, someone emails me and says "have you got the ray pollard record" so I email back saying yes I have, please let me know if you want it.
I hear nothing from the person who emailed me and meanwhile 3 other people have asked about the same record.
Usually I give it an hour and then offer it to the next person.
Right, there's a second version of this and it's exactly the same except in their original email, they say "have you got the ray pollard record, if so please reserve it", so I email back saying I have got it and I have reserved it.
I then hear nothing else. They never bother to pay for it and meanwhile I have to put people off because it's reserved for someone.
This is something I should have resolved years ago but I don't know how to get round it. Should I say "If you email me to ask about a record, I will take that as a definite order and charge your card"?
What if I haven't got their card details?
Should I tell everyone that I will not accept any orders unless they are accompanied with either permission to charge their card, or their actual card details?
Or maybe only accept orders over the phone?
I've got records here I pulled for people on monday and they haven't bothered to get back in touch, even if just to cancel the order. So I now have to chase the second person who ordered to see if they still want it.
I realise that this is not a major problem in worldwide terms but it's f*cking annoying.
Any ideas on how to get together a method that actually works?
(Oh, and why do people order records when they have no intention of buying them?)