Request to sellers

As a buyer who has done a lot of business recently, can I vent a few small frustrations that I'm sure other buyers must have experienced at some time. I am receiving vast amounts of parcels lately (for a new project) and most parcels arrive with no reference to the supplier and no shipping list. Unless I can remember what I ordered from whom, I have to open all my orders one by one to discover who the sender is and check the quantities received.
The service I have received here has been far superior to any other site I use, indeed I prefer to order using Brickowl suppliers.
All the orders have been exactly what I ordered and of the highest quality until now. In the last month I have had 4 orders arrive with incorrect quantities...I hope this trend isn't going to continue. Hopefully it is just a blip to what is normally a quality service.
I would implore suppliers to include a packing note though.....please!!

Comments

  • 39 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • I have to admit, I may be one of those sellers : (

    I only normally include a list if it's over about 10-15 items otherwise I use a lot of paper sending a list out with each order. Point noted though and if you order from me again, I'll include a slip.
  • I would agree with JHawkins, while some may complain about the cost of printing an invoice...it really should be standard. I order from all sorts of places online and an invoice included in the package is a must for me. I would like to verify my order is complete without having to log on to a computer. Not everyone is connected via tablet/smartphone all the time like some. It is important to realize you may be sending orders to people with no immediate access to internet....some people have focused on disconnecting from the WWW as opposed to the new generation that wants the net always on :) Even just an order number or vendor name is not good enough for me as I can not check the qty of pieces or lots without the order invoice. I think NOT including an invoice must be a growing trend on part selling sites as I have gotten more notes attached to orders, both here and elsewhere, asking to please include an invoice inside the package, which I thought was kinda weird as it is standard for me...but seeing this post and others elsewhere I understand why the feel the need to ask for an invoice to be included.
  • The concern is fair and noted. However, Amazon, possibly the most consumer-centric company in the world, does not include a packing slip or invoice in their shipments. I bet it is because someone did the math and figured out how much they would save in paper/printing costs.

    If you order from my store I will be sure to add one though.
  • edited December 2014 Vote Up0Vote Down
    Duly noted. I can't bear to send an entire invoice but would a small info slip or business card suffice?
  • I think when you only have a couple of outstanding orders, just a slip saying who the sender is and or the order number would suffice for me. This has only become a real issue lately due to the volume of orders I've placed. But as pointed out by pumbaugh, one has to log on in order to check orders received if there is nothing included in the package to indicate quantities etc.
    Em, your orders have never been an issue as I always know it's from you.
    At the end of the day, I have to log on anyway simply to leave feedback.
  • As mentioned about Amazon not using invoices, we are not a follower but a leader. We send invoices in every order, even if it increases wait for shipping. We also send a business card with our contact information and a reminder of our loyalty program on the back of the card with your percentage off on your next order.
    I think every order should contain an invoice. It is just plain good customer service to me.

    Do these increase our costs? Yes
    Does this make packages heavier? Sure does
    Are we going to still do it anyways? Most definitely!

    Chris
  • Is there anyway we can put a note against certain customers for things like this, i.e. needs an invoice, needs a packing slip?

    As a rule I won't print this stuff, hey save the planet, go green, the digital office and all that :)

    But will make exceptions for those who request it.
  • I agree that sellers should at least put the order number somewhere, that's a minimum! I have placed about 20 orders in a week before, and it was painful to figure out.

    I generally include the packing list, except when it would push the weight into the next bracket and increase postage.
  • @sophiesbrickshop apparently there is, if you go onto the customer, there should be a tab for it, I don't think it will show up in the order details page though, so of limited usefulness
  • Maybe this is generational, but I am amazed that this is an issue.

    When asked at a store where I have purchased a few items, watched the info appear on the screen, and signed/approved the purchase, I usually decline the paper receipt.

    However, if I receive a package in the mail containing (hopefully) what I ordered and paid for several days ago, if I don't have a packing slip (minimally) or and invoice (optimally), I do not have a feeling of closure like I do with the B&M transaction. What DID I order? What did I pay for each piece? When did I place the order? Of course without the invoice, I can see all of this info by logging in and searching for the store name or some other identifiable info in in/or the package.

    Finally, I form either a positive or negative (rarely neutral) feeling about the transaction and the seller. With an enclosed invoice, I can quickly see what I wanted, what I paid for, what I got, and how quickly I got it....AND who did that for me.

    If I have to dig and search and finally resolve that I got what I paid for, well...I usually wonder why the seller didn't try to make the END of the transaction more pleasant and satisfying. This is the easiest objective for sellers to achieve: when the buyer receives and opens a package of Legos (!!!), providing confirmation rather than frustration will cement a positive closure...and (I hope) lots of repeat business.

    Anyway, as my daughter reminds me more and more...I'm getting old. Maybe, but it may pay off to retain some things.

    Also, if I didn't enclose a paper invoice, where would the handwritten 'Thank You' note go? (Yes, I also send an email with 'thanks' and the tracking info. A foot in both worlds. :-*
  • edited December 2014 Vote Up0Vote Down
    As a buyer who has done a lot of business recently, can I vent a few small frustrations that I'm sure other buyers must have experienced at some time. I am receiving vast amounts of parcels lately (for a new project) and most parcels arrive with no reference to the supplier and no shipping list.
    Well, I guess the million dollar question is; Did you ask for it? :)

    If yes, fully agreed with your point. If not, hmmmm... disagree. I think it's a bit much to expect a seller to print out a packing list on their own accord. Digitalisation is getting more and more the standard in life by now. If I want monthly bank statements, I have to explicitly ask for it. If not, it's assumed that a digital version is enough. Digital invoices are preferred over analog ones by the authorities as well. If there's something that'd bother me, it be sellers that do not send a legal invoice at all - neither digitally or on paper. Well, I don't know if people ever do that around here because I haven't bought here yet, but elsewhere that has happened a few times.
    I send out legally correct digital invoices and will include a paper one on request. In my experience it's extremely rare for people to ask for it or to tell me they would've wanted that. Not saying that it's not totally OK to want it, just that it would be shooting at a mosquito with a shotgun to do it every single time, as we'd say that in Dutch ;) Poor trees.. and fishies who drink our ink..
    I get that if you place a lot of orders it's tough to figure out what is what. I have that experience too. While it's a biiiit of a.... well... first world problem ("oh no, I have so much stuff, I have to look at it to see what is what") :D I do agree it's a bit of an issue. Yeah, I think I will write the order number from now on (that is, paste the address sticker besides the number I had written on it instead of over it :D )
  • edited December 2014 Vote Up0Vote Down
    Is there anyway we can put a note against certain customers for things like this, i.e. needs an invoice, needs a packing slip?

    As a rule I won't print this stuff, hey save the planet, go green, the digital office and all that :)

    But will make exceptions for those who request it.
    Excellent idea :) Let customers walk around the store with a "I want paperwork" cap on :) if they could set this in their profile settings, and it would be clear to see for the seller, it's all fixed and everyone is happy. The majority wouldn't care and we won't have to waste paper, and the minority that does care won't have to go and ask for it every single time, which must be tedious too.

    (Besides, the population that wants to be able to check for fraud fall under the digital category, because a seller could easily change that in the paperwork. So the uses of the paperwork are limited to checking for errors and identifying orders)
  • Teup...did I request it? No. I don't see that I should have to to be honest. I have asked in my original mail for some reference to the supplier or an order number. A packing slip would be beneficial and for me, preferable but not 100% necessary. However, I do not see the logic in sending out a parcel with no reference to the seller. In the UK at least, if a parcel is undeliverable for whatever reason, the Post Office will attempt to return to sender. If there is no reference to who sent the parcel, the contents end up lost and we end up with an unhappy seller and an even more upset purchaser. If was never my intention to cause a divide between different sellers on here on the rights and wrongs of what I consider to be basic customer service (I run my own business so I am fully aware of the benefits of good customer service) Those sellers who can't or won't supply basic information, that's their choice, equally it will be my choice not to deal with such suppliers.
  • edited December 2014 Vote Up0Vote Down
    Teup...did I request it? No. I don't see that I should have to to be honest. I have asked in my original mail for some reference to the supplier or an order number. A packing slip would be beneficial and for me, preferable but not 100% necessary. However, I do not see the logic in sending out a parcel with no reference to the seller. In the UK at least, if a parcel is undeliverable for whatever reason, the Post Office will attempt to return to sender. If there is no reference to who sent the parcel, the contents end up lost and we end up with an unhappy seller and an even more upset purchaser. If was never my intention to cause a divide between different sellers on here on the rights and wrongs of what I consider to be basic customer service (I run my own business so I am fully aware of the benefits of good customer service) Those sellers who can't or won't supply basic information, that's their choice, equally it will be my choice not to deal with such suppliers.
    Ohh, as for reference, for sure, I always have a reference that has my zip code and country. Fully agree that that is an essential part of shipping an order correctly! :) It is the seller's responsability to provide a return address and to notify the buyer in case anything bounces.
    As for recognisability, like I said I agree an order # could be convenient. Like I said I think most customers don't care but the effort+cost of it is really minimal, so why not.

    As for the fully fledged packing list / invoice; Another idea (besides letting customer specify it in their profile) could be allowing customers to add it to their cart or to provide a checkbox for it at check-out. Optionally at a cost for the seller to specify. (Some sellers have cheap copying methods and ship out mostly large orders and may want to provide it for free, while I have this expensive ink printer that I have to keep switched on day and night because otherwise it's going to clean and waste a couple of bucks worth of ink for each task before even starting to print :@:P)
  • As for the fully fledged packing list / invoice; Another idea (besides letting customer specify it in their profile) could be allowing customers to add it to their cart or to provide a checkbox for it at check-out. Optionally at a cost for the seller to specify.
    Now that is brilliant. I probably wouldn't even charge for it but I would want to know that it's going to add 0.2oz to each order for a 1 page condensed invoice. Is there a way to print an itemized invoice sans pictures?

  • IMHO - it should be standard practice to include an invoice - who knows which customers are a "business" themselves?

    I find it annoying to NOT get an invoice from internet sales - anywhere.

    TLG include such. Contrary to above 90% of my Amazon orders have included a receipt/invoice. Even eBay sellers generally include same… so why should it be different here?

    To those worried about "the Planet" - simply reduce invoice to 2 pages per page and print double sided, to those worried about cost - print using draft quality in black and white… now I am assuming y'all use the "invoice" tab to generate the list without pictures?

    @JHawkins - I always include an invoice unless asked not to - or on occaision "forget" - then I usually catch it and send a pdf of the invoice to the customers PP em address.
  • As a buyer building large projects involving many orders I find the shipping list invaluable. I definitively favor vendors that consistently send one.

    As a seller I include one no matter how small the order is. I actually use the list as a final check that everything is in the package and manually mark each item. Nobody has complained so far about receiving a shipping list.
  • I usually do not include an invoice but rather a small sheet thanking the customer for their business with the order number written on it. I don't see the point in including a packing list when it can be easily found online. I believe it should be a standard to at least include the order number in the package and a reference to what marketplace it came from.
  • In my experience most buyers try to make the most of a postal band's weight restrictions, which means adding more weight in the form of a printed invoice would probably not be all that welcome.
  • In my experience most buyers try to make the most of a postal band's weight restrictions, which means adding more weight in the form of a printed invoice would probably not be all that welcome.
    Simple. Drop the tolerance on your bands to account for the weight of a sheet of paper. What is it 5-6g per sheet?

  • Yes about that. I always send a picking list. Have been caught out a few times when there's been a small packaged order of 4 sheets or more because the customer ordered 1 of everything. 2 per page helps.
  • In my experience most buyers try to make the most of a postal band's weight restrictions, which means adding more weight in the form of a printed invoice would probably not be all that welcome.
    Simple. Drop the tolerance on your bands to account for the weight of a sheet of paper. What is it 5-6g per sheet?

    Well yeah, but that still means less Lego for the buyers.
  • I don't send an invoice with my orders. We live in a digtal world today. And to be honest: Who gets his order from the buyer on a paper? Nobody. :-)

    If a buyer explicitly asks for an invoice, I will send it with my order (and with the big ones, when the shipment is by parcel, because weight does not matter in that case.
    An A4-paper weighs more than a Minifig. In the lowest shipping band I can ship 2 minifigs. With an invoice included just 1 (max 20 grams). So it's pretty critical with those small weighbands we are using in the Netherlands.

    Frank

  • IMHO - it should be standard practice to include an invoice - who knows which customers are a "business" themselves?

    I find it annoying to NOT get an invoice from internet sales - anywhere.

    TLG include such.
    Well, if the customer is a business themself, they will probably prefer a digital one because it's much easier managing your administration that way.. who owns a filing cabinet these days? ;) I understand how a paper packing list can be convenient (especially for advanced projects) though. But talking business invoices, I think more people will prefer a digital one. Anyway I agree though that an invoice should always be sent one way or another - that's a legal obligation so that is of course not even a question. But as steendorp said. we´re living in a digital age, monthly bank statements are digital, so digital invoicing makes sense to me.

    It's funny though you should mention TLG..... out of all the places I have ever ordered anything, TLG has been the only one to consistently NOT send an invoice. At all. Weird or what?? I stopped shopping with them because I simply can't get my tax returns if they're like that. It's pretty weird because they're violating the law and you would think they´re a pretty professional biz..
  • TLG always includes an itemized packing slip in my orders. Is this a regional thing?
  • Don't think so, always included in my orders from TLG.

    But a packing slip is not a 'bill'(or invoice), so I understand Teup's concerns as he runs his store as a 'business' and needs to attach such to his book keeping.
  • If a VAT invoice is required you should always ask for it.
  • I always receive a packing slip with my TLG orders, but it always shows the total price as price for each item ordered and then totaled. If I used my VIP points to pay for part of the order, the packing slip never shows this. So the totals are very often wrong.
    I can however go into my account and print out any order which does show all important information, and hopefully that is enough for the tax man.

    And yes, it is always hit and miss if I'm actually going to get the order confirmation email or not.

    Katie

  • @Admin Perhaps consider adding a "send invoice" (digitally) button - at the moment it's only possible to send a digital invoice to buyers who use PayPal, and then it requires a print to pdf before locating the transaction and sending an invoice to their PP email address.

    Personally, I would still include a list with the order as it provides a physical means to check an order received by a customer.
    Unless you could provide the customer with a sorta "reverse" picking list with check boxes.

    The only place I shop where I routinely DON'T get an invoice is(was) "you know where" and on occaision Amazon's robots forget to stick it in the package.

    TLG S@H even provide a pict-o-graphic list for ease of checking!
  • edited December 2014 Vote Up0Vote Down
    I always send an invoice by message. I let my software generate a html (by lack of proper programming skills to output a nice pdf.. :D) and send them a link. I agree with Graham that it'd be nice if there's a better way of doing this because it looks a bit messy.
    If you're a registered business, you are legally obligated to send every customer an accurate invoice on every sale. Otherwise if the tax agency comes and check on you, you're in trouble. The only exception being if you are explicitly recognized as a small guy who only does it more on a hobby kind of basis. - That's the rules here in the NL, at least, but I assume it's similar in the rest of the EU.
    Every business I have ever encountered in my life outputs a proper invoice when I buy (anything from a webstore to your local bakery) save for TLG. I find that really surprising and pretty awkward..
  • It is an EU requirement for a VAT registered business to issue a VAT receipt whenever a sale is made unless the goods are zero-rated. However, some countries, including the UK, don't require all businesses to be VAT registered. In the case of a non-VAT-registered business it would be illegal to issue a VAT receipt - even if it was generated automatically by software.

    Where a VAT invoice is required it is permissible to issue it electronically.
  • edited December 2014 Vote Up0Vote Down
    It should be pointed out that some EU states require that VAT invoices be provided in the local language, irrespective of where the buyer is located. This only really matters if the buyer is intending to reclaim the VAT.
  • To clarify, in the UK, if you are a VAT registered store, you only must give a VAT invoice when requested to do so by the customer. You do not have to unless requested. You can if you wish regardless, but it is not mandatory. Many receipts in the UK are not VAT receipts, and a VAT receipt must be specifically asked for.
  • Yes I should probably have clarified that.

    It is technically a requirement to issue a VAT invoice if your customer is a VAT-registered business irrespective of whether they ask for one, but the way the legislation is set up allows you to assume that your customer is not VAT-registered.

    I think the point is that VAT record-keeping is complicated enough to make it outside the scope of Brick Owl.

    From a customer's point of view, as I said above, if you require a VAT invoice it is always better to ask before placing your order, because the store you're buying from might not be able to comply.
  • To clarify, in the UK, if you are a VAT registered store, you only must give a VAT invoice when requested to do so by the customer. You do not have to unless requested. You can if you wish regardless, but it is not mandatory. Many receipts in the UK are not VAT receipts, and a VAT receipt must be specifically asked for.
    Is that really true? Wow, I believe you but it sounds very strange. When there is no invoice, what record is there really of a sale? If the tax amount is not written down and publicized, what is to keep the business from not paying tax at all? When TLG sends me my order and no invoice is sent, I seriously question whether they pay the appropriate tax amount. I thought the idea of invoicing is that at the end of the quarter you add up all the VAT amounts of that period and the numbers are public. If they're not public, you can basically make up any amount. As far as I know in the NL an invoice is required for every single sale with the sole exeption of consumptions within hotel/cafe/restaurant settings. It is also required to assign a correctly incrementing invoice number to each invoice so there are no ghost or skipped transactions. (well you can still be fraudulous of course, but it makes it a slight bit more consistent). Sorry for taking this off topic. But not making the invoice public sounds really illegal to me.. apparently it's not.. at least not everywhere :?
  • It has to be recorded whether or not you issue an invoice or a receipt. There are various ways of doing so depending on the size of your business but you're pretty much trusted to do it correctly. Random checks and enquiries that are cross-referenced with your suppliers and customers are not unheard of, and VAT fraud carries some severe penalties up to and including imprisonment.

    Until just a few years ago VAT was part of Customs and Excise, and that department was notorious for chasing down every last penny of money owed and twisting your arms until you paid up! It has since merged with the Inland Revenue and resources have been drained from its enforcement arm. Nonetheless, most businesses and sole-traders who have been around long enough to experience the old department often give meticulous attention to their VAT record keeping :)
  • Just checked the tax agency website and it's actually true you don't have to write an invoice for consumers, contrary to what I believed. Unless I am selling a vehicle that is "new or almost new".. which randomness reminds me of the Commandment "thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's ox".. It's also again a reminder of how weird, interpretable and gray-area'd all these rules are..

    So apparently it's true TLG can sell me things and the sale can never be cross referenced and it's just up to them to keep a record of it or to have the system "accidentally" eat it.. ;)
  • This whole thread now seems to be concentrating on whether a seller should include an invoice or not. Whereas that may be a concern to some buyers, it was not the topic of my original request. All I requested was for some visible reference to who the seller is and the order number to be included in the parcel and the suggestion that in my particular case, I would prefer to receive a picking list with the parcel.
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