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Got another pathetically incomplete order
It's not just a minor count off, out of an order with 17 lots, 4 of the lots were completely missing. Most stores where I've ordered many more lots of parts than that have gotten the orders 100% perfect.
Then there's packaging. The better stores separate into clean baggies & add extra cushioning, include a copy of the order in the package, order # to reference (on the package sometimes which is really helpful when I get a lot of packages I need to sort), store name on packaging. Hand-write a quick note. Add a business card.
The stores I will not order from shove everything into 1 plastic bag (new & used, no separation), cat hairs included, no reference to the store that shipped it (so I have to look up by sending address), and have massive incompleteness. Thankfully it's only about 10% of stores. No idea how they sustain any repeat business.
I've got 90 orders now & will be doing all my feedbacks this weekend.
Then there's packaging. The better stores separate into clean baggies & add extra cushioning, include a copy of the order in the package, order # to reference (on the package sometimes which is really helpful when I get a lot of packages I need to sort), store name on packaging. Hand-write a quick note. Add a business card.
The stores I will not order from shove everything into 1 plastic bag (new & used, no separation), cat hairs included, no reference to the store that shipped it (so I have to look up by sending address), and have massive incompleteness. Thankfully it's only about 10% of stores. No idea how they sustain any repeat business.
I've got 90 orders now & will be doing all my feedbacks this weekend.
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And yes, beats me how some sellers keep getting away with the things you describe, at least on BO you have the option to leave honest feedback, without risking to be retaliated on it.
So take the time to evaluate each order and make your feedback reflect your opinion in all fairness ;-)
So I'm curious how other sellers do this. Do you strictly do "one lot one bag" or is there some flexibility?
You the buyers, do you want "one lot one bag" or is some combining ok if it makes sense?
I want to provide the best service possible so knowing things like this help both me and you
Here is what I think the perfect delivery is:
- Lots in separate baggies but doesn't have to be overkill, lots can be combined if they are equivalent "new" or "used" so long as they're not the type of shapes that will rub against each other to gauge or scratch
- All the baggies then wrapped in bubble-wrap (1 layer thickness is fine) before being put into the envelope.
- A copy of the order printed and included inside (including the order #) - can be printed half-page size to conserve paper/ink.
- Name of store on the outside of the packaging.
- Order # written on the outside of the packaging.
- No deliveries without a tracking #. I've gone ahead on a small number of orders here where tracking wouldn't be possible, and it's not the greatest of decisions.
- Bonus: No cat hairs, human hairs or rug fibers on the parts. A couple of sellers I've bought from must not understand the idea of creating positive impressions.
- No missing parts. I know this isn't the easiest thing for everyone but it's not that hard to notice when 30 pieces of something are requested and the actual included is 10.
- For large orders (over 800 pieces or over $50 not including shipping), some extra token of positivity is cool (gummy bear example, or if new customers some kind of welcome letter describing the store - personalize the owner & their staff to me).
Regarding tracking.. I know tracking can cost very little extra in some places. For me, packages have tracking automatically included but cheapest is 25 Euros and more likely around 30 - 40 so not exactly practical for the majority of orders.
For letter shipments it's 5 - 10 Euros for some kind of tracking but only to some countries it seems so again, not practical for most orders. I envy sellers who have a postal service which is a help and not a deterrent to ship things...
So far though after posting nearly 800 orders only 1 package has failed to be delivered and that was an order less than €10. Fingers crossed....
Recently, I have been concerned about packaging costs and environmental responsibility. I prefer to pack type of item to bag but this is not environmentally friendly and adds additional costs to shipping, which at the end of the day, the customer pays for.
To remain competitive, I've started using fewer grip-seal bags, filling them with similar items and not just exactly the same type of items. Still, I do not over-fill the bags and I like to keep printed parts separate. In addition, where appropriate, I will use boxes for shipping.
It is great to read all this feedback and these preferences because obviously it helps me provide a better service, but I would add, that at present, everything I do thus far (re Lego Sales), is small fry and I'm keen to pass savings on to the customer, especially while competition continues to grow.
Being 'small fry' I cannot afford to buy any packaging in large discounted quantities. It is almost a catch 22 situation. I say almost, because I can make small inroads - it's a gradual process. Good job I enjoy it!
In regards to tracking:
This is very expensive at my end (UK) and for the average order size I receive, it's not worth it. I don't currently offer it but of course, if a customer was to message me and/or request a quote with such a query, I can and will oblige. Only recently, I had an order that cost (excluding my packaging costs) approx. £2.75 to ship on a standard service (3-5 days). The same service, with tracking was almost £5 more expensive. Maybe, I need to investigate different couriers?
To summarise, you've all given much food for thought and your comments won't be wasted on me. I've a lot to think about.
Happy building!
P.S. Order checklist always included - common courtesy.
Ideally I'd like to be able to export just the basic list and then easily paste it into my own store template.
Meaning, my order included:
4 arches, tan
3 arches, white used
7 arches, white new (I got these in gray instead)
1 arch, gray (I didn't care which gray this was)
He messaged to let me know about the 1 gray one. I said I didn't care which gray that was & to make sure the rest of the order was correct before shipping because the white ones were way more important to me.
I know this is really a small matter but this is why I count every piece I get & will usually not order from stores again who mess things up when most stores here send PERFECT orders multiple times without a single issue, no delivery delays, careful packaging, etc. Why even be in the selling business if the one part of the job to get right - sending people the right bricks - is gotten wrong? I've been keeping a spreadsheet of flubs from all the stores I've ordered from (I've made 111 orders so far since early January).
This is why this site needs a private rating system. I have to specifically avoid putting together orders from stores who can't fulfill properly, or to rate stores so I order from the reliable ones first. If we had some private ratings it would help a lot. Here are the things that can go wrong:
- Late shipping (took way too long to ship out)
- Missing pieces, minor
- Missing pieces/lots, major
- Color/part screw-ups
- Poor packaging
- Vague packaging, making it hard to figure out which order it is to verify contents
- Listing as "used (good)" but get "acceptable" (stained, dirty, not much clutch power)
So of all the other orders (20 out of 21), every single one arrived by today while that last one just sat until today.
Yes, it's likely not a huge incentive for someone to put together such a small order & ship out but it shows me how pathetically slow a particular store can be versus the vast majority of others. I saw someone leave a poor rating for the seller - a sole poor rating complaining about delay in prepping an order for shipping - I was not surprised.
I read here recently that stores want feedback - claiming most people who leave feedback only have an incentive when it's negative. I don't see that. I see almost all stores getting near-100% which is pretty ridiculous, it seems nobody wants to give someone a bad rating. I don't want to bash someone's store over a hobby, but I prefer to be honest. I've really only dinged a couple stores and gave 1 a neutral. The others I've held back because I think I might leave too harsh a review but I think it is important I do. I really don't want to buy from spaceshots whose cats use their Legos as litter boxes and if this is just a hobby for someone then maybe some stores should be designated as "hobby" so I can lower my expectations for those stores. It's either that or we need private ratings to be able to know which stores to avoid, which ones to use more and also sort the results.
While we're at it, would be good to have a "cart rating" method - I need to buy carts with the pieces I want the most first because often by the time I finish putting a cart together someone else has scooped the prime pieces I wanted. Cart rating could include settings like "how good of a deal" the parts are versus average pricing, what the proportion of "rare" parts is, whether the parts in the cart contain mostly wish list, proportion of part cost vs shipping cost, etc.
For your information if you click on the owner of the store, there is a member notes feature to save a private note against a user. This can be used for your own records and will be displayed to you in a side box on the store.
So step by step...
Your observation above doesn't say a thing about the store settings this seller has. If you want to deliberate the seller in question, you also need to check the stores details, and give a background on it in regards to the store settings.
Current settings are 1-2 days, 1-3 days (ok, now when was that added?) 2-5 days, 6-14 days.
Now if the store is set to ship out 6-14 days, then IMHO there is nothing wrong with the shippingdelay, because that is what the seller indicated...
If the seller has a setting of 2-5 days and indeed shipped 'way beyond' it (without prior notice or notification) then I believe a message to the administration is in place so an eye can be kept on it, if the seller does not fulfill his settings on frequent bases, then at least there should be a warning sent by the site (as a sidenote: there is also an automated banner, so any seller who passes the presetted deadline will get the banner)
Needles to remind sellers can get sick or have unforseen circumstances that might cause a delay, but as can be expected from any seller, a simple mail to warn the buyer should be the path to use. > An informed buyer gives clarity on the situation.
You may have placed orders with 15 stores who run this has a hobby or sidejob, they might not have many orders, they can deal with it timely, or you may have placed a couple of orders with another 5 stores who run 'full time', so yes I assume they can ship timely. That last store might be running a storewide sale, run things as a hobby, and might have indications for longer processing times, have a whole load of orders and just processes in order of 'payment received'.
You may consider the order 'small', but if the seller has 10 open orders with larger 'quantities' and processes them fairly (first paid, first out) then yes you may perceive it as 'slow', while the store is just being honest (as long indicated shippingdelays are respected) towards every buyer.
Bottomline: put things in perspective, there are +2000 stores around here, so +2000 ways of running those stores ;-)
Obviously those stores that get 'dinged' a little more will be less happy, but in the end it should give them clues on how to improve. I don't think however the 'cry' from sellers to get more feedback is about that, it's more to gain more credebility...
The near 100% is normal IMHO, most stores around here are experianced, many newcommers as well offcourse, and most do their outmost best, and take care of their customers, why wouldn't a near 100% be unnatural then? As Admin indicated, negatives are for unresolved matters (neutrals don't influence a FB score anyway).
I agree that in the long run there should be a clear indication whether a store runs as a hobby or whether under professional bases...
That said, I've sold for over 8 years as a hobbiest, I always acted in a professional way, I run things now as a professional, and I still deal with orders in the exact same way as 8 years ago ;-)
How one runs his/her store is usually not related to a store setting or a business setting, but is directly related to 'who a person is'. This is also proved by a recent thread on this forum about a seller who *IS* a professional seller, but clearly doesn't act like that...
If you want my personal opinion: you're more likely to be served 'very well' by a hobby store with low amounts of orders, compared to 'some' professionals who are flooded with orders and who take 2 weeks to ship... Luckely so far on BO the average is 'good' (between both type of sellers), so yes, the % stays fairly high... That's a good thing, it's good for buyers, sellers and the site as a whole & I assume sellers who get really bad reviews do not stay on for ages either (compared to some sites) - but that is for admin to enlighten - so you wouldn't encounter them (or the chances are smaller) ;-)
Are other FB systems perfect: No, so endless discussion ;-)
But that doesn't mean a site can't work on improvement, an improvement that would allow buyers to still leave positive as a whole, but leave additional 'criticisms' to indicate a seller has 'points' that need to be worked on to improve in the long run (and which the site could monitor as a matter of fact).
I've placed about 30-40 orders so far this year and I don't think I've looked at it once!
I've had a few orders take longer than I expected and then looked at 'Dispatches In' a week later, but what it's set to could be completely different to when I placed an order.
It needs to appear with the shopping cart and just above or below the 'Proceed to Checkout' button.
It also needs to be recorded with the order for future reference.
- First contact the owner & only then based on what happens leave feedback. Otherwise I leave positive feedback.
- If I get a poor response, no response after adequate time or the problem doesn't attempt to get resolved, I'll leave public feedback
- If after I leave a non-positive feedback the store finds a way to help me, I delete the feedback entry
So far 90% of my orders/stores have been 100% perfect, even with USPS as the primary shipping, even European orders. Of the rest, 5-7% seem to be OK who manage to correct issues and I don't mind ordering from again. The final 3% are just... potheads who can't get their act together.
The late shipping thing is just me grumbling. The store in that example had a 2-5 day dispatch window so technically wasn't really hugely out of the window of expectation, just seems silly to see 20 other orders made the exact same day arrive (with a mixed bag of dispatch estimates) while that one kind of missed the boat.
The example of the store that didn't deliver the correct parts, which I've run into a few times here, that owner contacted me ahead of shipping to let me know about 1 lot issue of 1 part. So as part of my reply to him, I told him hat was OK but also emphasized the importance of getting the rest of the order correct before shipping. Then the order still is done incorrectly. I would be less annoyed if I simply just got an incorrect order - so it tells me that some of the stores here who get things wrong will always get things wrong. That's my opinion anyway - I sometimes give people a second chance when they seem genuinely helpful.
That's why it would be useful to have a simple private rating system for buyers - that way we can not have to be too harsh in public feedback on minor issues (late shipments or minor part discrepancies, or maybe not want to deal with stores who do "shipping quotes") but it would allow us to make better buying decisions. If I have to choose between stores who otherwise can supply me the same parts, I will choose the more reliable one even if they're slightly more expensive.
On Amazon and eBay you miss the "deadline" your performance takes a hit, I imagine down the pecking order in visibility.
Most customers will expect that level of service regardless of the "dispatches in" setting.
I've had very few orders that I couldn't get out next day, even with the snow.
Maybe there are a few places in the world where it is difficult? Then set a standard per country.
First off all, the standard exists: Sellers can select the timeframe they usually ship in, that's what it serves... The only thing needed is to show it during the checkout process.
Sellers who run this near full time can spend their 'working day' on it, sellers who run their shop in addition to their regular job also wanna have an evening with the family a few times per week you know ;-)
My timeframe is set to 2-5 days for more then one reason: I have a day job, it can be very stressy several times per week/per month, when I get home on such days, I really don't wanna pick orders as they are bound to have errors due to fatigueness. Secondly my local postal service is closed half days several time per week, those closing times differ from other postal offices (so even per country won't work), and thirdly, I simply do not longer ship 3-4 times per week, as each receipt needs to be processed by the bookkeeper, so I prefer only having 1 or 2 per week compared to 3 or 4 ;-)
During spring and summer I also have a lot of things to do in the garden, I need to give that priority when the weather is good, if a few hundred miles away it's raining cats and dogs and people decide to 'load' me with a couple of orders while I need to work outside, well then the presetted timeframe allows me to 'schedule' picking orders, again, that's what it serves for.
Amazon is mainly 'professional sellers', obviously most can maintain those timeframes, Ebay: I believe the settings arechoosable, as last few times I ordered some stuff, I was given time frames between 5 days and 2 weeks for 'delivery' even from neighbour countries...
- While I'm shopping for parts, I usually will add things first based on who has the best price but not if I'm not getting anything else from a certain store, or if they are a store I don't want to buy from - it would be helpful to have an icon next to the store names as I'm browsing as to whether I have anything in a cart for them as well as if I have that part already in the cart.
- Going by "from $0.XX" is confusing when it's color-independent. If I'm trying to search for a part with a specific color, I want to know the "from $0.XX" of THAT color - as of now I need to whittle down to the color-specific lists of which stores have the parts.
- When browsing, it seems complicated to switch to a different color without breaking my navigation and forcing me all the way back to the starting point if I want to switch part type. Being able to switch things like part type & color without breaking navigation & starting from the beginning will make part-hunting easier. I often have to open multiple tabs and use them as starting points based on what I'm browsing for (by color or by part).
- We can sort the final completed carts (purchases), why can't we sort the open carts? I would particularly like to sort by (and have columns added for): # times of purchased from certain stores, dispatch times, have shipping costs separated, sort by lot count, sort by part count, sort by average part cost, etc.
I'm now up to 141 orders placed here and am pretty confident I'm picking out the things that likely other buyers run into which would make the site much easier for them to shop on - and possibly increase the sales volume here. Not that I want to compete with more buyers for parts, but if it means it's more encouraging for sellers to ramp up their offerings then it means I'd be more likely to get the kind of parts I want more often for less and with a better shopping experience.