The Enquiry That Never Becomes an Order

Most sellers have one. Someone who messages regularly, asks detailed questions, is perfectly pleasant, and has never once bought anything. They are not a time waster in the way that phrase is usually meant, and treating them like one is a mistake. But they are a cost, and the cost is worth naming.

Work out which kind it is

Some enquiries are genuinely close to an order and stalled on a single detail. Others are people who enjoy the conversation and have no intention of buying. The difference shows in what they ask about. Someone circling an order asks about price, timing and postage. Someone else asks about you.

Answer once, completely

Give the full answer the first time, in a form you can reuse. Most of these threads run long because every reply raises a new question by leaving something out. A complete answer either produces an order or ends the exchange, and both are better than a fortnight of instalments.

Put a decision in front of them

Not pressure, just a line that makes the next move obvious. If you would like it, I can have it out on Thursday. An enquiry with no proposed next step will sit there indefinitely, because nothing in it requires anyone to do anything.

Decide what is free

Answering questions is part of selling. Photographing something specific, sourcing an item, or holding stock is not, and it is reasonable to say that the next step needs an order behind it. Sellers usually discover this boundary long after they needed it, having given away an afternoon first.

Let some of them stay

A few of these people buy eventually, sometimes a year later, and a few recommend you to someone who buys next week. Being briskly polite to someone who is not spending is cheap. Being visibly irritated with them is not, because they talk to other buyers and you will never see that conversation.

The problem is almost never the person. It is an open ended thread with no proposed next step, and that is yours to fix in one sentence.