LOT LIMITS - "how to" (without upsetting customers!)

Graham

This is mainly aimed at some of the newer members, who may be used to imposing lot limitations elsewhere…

As you know things work very differently here on BrickOwl - much cleaner and overall better - stores cannot "hide" fees or add "other" charges (including PayPal fees) - and customers like that.

Now if you wish to have lot limitations (as in value per lot rather than number of lots) - all you need do is set your bulk quantity to reach your desired minimum per lot value.

I would highly recommend NOT canceling orders arbitrarily - for obvious reasons! - Altho I would be happy to fulfill those orders

Graham

BrickTakeover

Dear Graham,

I reserve the right to cancel all orders with than 2 euro per Lot. Furthermore there is a huge frame of software bugs I must solve with my sync also. I cannot implement bulk on 19500 lots. Furthermore for sync reasons I will dump my entire inventory and reupload the good one from BrickLink again and in the near future I dont plan to implement a bulk system for bricklink, the lot fee works a lot better since customer can buy whatever they want. If I cannot charge fee, then all orders not fulfilling 2 euro per lot will be canceled. Today I had to cancel ca. 80 % of my orders.

kind regards,
Stefan
Brick Takeover

Hoddie

Stefan the problem you have is that there is currently no mechanism to check that your customers have read and agreed to your terms and conditions. They could have arrived at your store, placed an order and paid for it, all without visiting your store's home page or reading your terms. The fact that you actually have terms listed somewhere on your store means absolutely nothing if you cannot confirm that your customers agree to them. You would be in breach of an implied contract if you take payment but then fail to supply the goods - a customer could seek damages if they have to pay more to secure those items from elsewhere.

Hoddie

To be honest this is a wider issue with Brick Owl. Most EU stores on here will be failing to meet EU consumer regulations. For instance, payment can be taken at the point of ordering without it forming a contract providing it is acknowledged in the terms and conditions of sale, and subsequent confirmation email, that the order has been received but remains subject to review. If it cannot be proven that a customer has been given the chance to read the terms and regulations - the usual "tick this box to accept" thing - they could argue that they didn't accept them and, instead, an implied contract exists which requires the seller to honour the order.

EU regulations also require that once an order has been accepted, a customer must be notified of that fact and, furthermore, of their cancellation rights. Failure to do this can result in higher costs for the store should a customer exercise their right to cancel.

Technically speaking, a company in one EU country that trades to another EU country also has to meet the requirements of the legislation of that country. The often quoted example is that businesses who trade to customers living in France should ensure that their terms and conditions are available in French, else they can be ruled invalid by the French authorities. A business trading to the UK should ensure that their postal address (and registered address if different) is shown in a prominent place on their website, together with an email address and any relevant registration numbers.

There are 28 different countries in the EU and each will have little things like this that could allow a determined buyer to catch a business out.

Further afield, stores retailing within and to the USA should have a prominent limited liability clause in their terms and conditions, and I'm sure I read something not long ago that said this needs to be in bold capital letters in order to be valid. You could argue that US law has no jurisdiction in the EU, and you'd be right - to a point. It wouldn't stop the customer bringing a case against you in an EU court, and some jurisdictions here are required to give consideration to consumer law in the destination country.

It's a minefield out there! Who in their right mind would want to be a seller!

Basically, Brick Owl as a platform will never be able to cover all bases for every seller, but there are a few things that could be incorporated to help sellers help themselves. A priority must surely be a requirement for a buyer to confirm that they have read and agreed to the store's terms and conditions before being able to submit an order. Whether those terms and conditions are valid and/or exhaustive enough would be a matter for each individual seller.

Hoddie

ps one final thing - the latest EU Directive on Consumer Rights is currently being transposed by all member states. By happy coincidence the new rules apply in the UK as from today (13 June 2014). I don't know what the dates are in the other EU countries.

There are several changes that online retailers need to be made aware of and those with registered businesses should ensure that they have read and understood the current rules. A good outline is here:

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/templates/asset-relay.cfm?frmAssetFileID=75284
(this is a pdf file you can save and/or print for future reference)

Note that although these rules will generally apply to e-retailers across the EU, the actual specifics may be different in some countries.

pmitch

If new customers experience the lot limit cancellation policy described above, I wonder if the customer's feelings (confusion, irritation, exasperation, or possibly acceptance) are focused on the seller in question or if there is a conscious or unconscious negative reaction toward BrickOwl and/or its other sellers. To put it bluntly, would the buyer be likely to return to BrickOwl to place the order with another seller? I hope so.

KyleJohnson11

@noteworthys I agree whole heartily with you on that. At the end of the day, it is about customer experience. No customers means no sales.

BrickTakeover

these are a lot of points all mixed together. Lot fee might be somehow implemented . all these EU regulations is another point. I have put all the terms on my page and do my best to cover everything. In the end to do a good customer experience is better.

Graham

@Hoddie - those regs would benefit from another thread.
Is that what distance selling regs are called now?

@All (and Stefan)
Here are the main reasons I stopped buying "elsewhere" - or at least very rarely...

In order of irritation as a "buyer" (customer)

1. Charging (passing on) 4% Commission Fee (i.e. same as Brick Owl commission)
2. Lot Limits - & per lot fees
3. Charging £1 to reprint an order after being invited to add more to the order for same post costs.
4. (Un-disclosed) Shipping and Handling Fee
5. PayPal Fee

1, 4 & 5 are making their advertised prices deceptively low

I ended up with a list of "least favorites" there…
and a list of favorites (who got 99% of my business)

and then there is BrickOwl - the only things I find here, are some sellers postage fees - but at least I know in advance and I can choose to go elsewhere.

Unfortunately if those practices take root here, then as mentioned by @noteworthys ^above^ it may well reflect on BrickOwl as a whole - I have even received a check, fortunately made out to my name, sent to "BrickOwl" at my address.

Now there is a way around this as I mentioned - set your bulk amount on parts at a reasonable number (Dad's AFOL are a good example). All fees go where they should - in the pricing of parts - that is your cost of doing business.

I am certain some of you bigger sellers also sell on Amazon and/or eBay - there's no lot limits or adding misc. fees there - you set your product price to include your costs and profit.

In fact I have yet to come across ANY other market place that allows what happens on BL… and I **hope** Lawrence won't allow anything like that here…

Graham