posted on February 20, 2002 10:57:08 AM new
I get the majority of my auctions are paid via the buyer initiating payment soon after auction closes. After they pay I get another email from them stating that they paid via paypal and received WBN later. So I end up filling out their WBN myself with the info provided on their paypal payment. I cant do that with the crappy c2it service...When I get payment from c2it, all that is sent to me is payment amount and name of payee...that leaves me without an address to ship to???
The late "Auto" WBN ends up costing me more time because I have to send a personal email reply stating I did receive payment...that is If payment comes from PayPal.... if payment comes from C2it...errrrrr...I have to send an email asking them for their shipping address. Customers are afraid to fill out WBN if they paid before receiving it. They think that they might get 2 items or get charged twice???
Does this make any sense??? If so, I can't be the only seller having this problem that would like a solution.
Another problem is soon after I have done my shipping for the day. I still receive payments all day and night. So if my customer wants to know if I have received payment that they sent and I have done all shipping for the day or its Saturday night, Sunday or one of a million holidays? they don't get a reply until after I actually shipped item (later on in the next business day) ...when step 6 is done. That could be a long time...toooo long when you have an auction management service to keep you efficient. The customers DO get antsy when they sent money and no answer for what could turn into days??? Should there be another auto email when I click key #3 that automatically sends a email notice saying that "payment was received and a follow-up email on shipment details will be sent soon"??? That little auto message would work for just about everyone using AW services.
Please have a good answer....I am sure that the majority of AW's customers would agree with this message post....I Hope
posted on February 20, 2002 11:51:33 AM new
Hi Dstechnologies,
I would recommend adding text in your auctions requesting that the winners of your auctions wait until they are contacted before making payment, so that the transaction goes as smoothly as possible. It is easy for anyone to make payments on auctions that they have won before getting an end of auction notice so maybe including some instructional text will limit the number of times this happens to you.
I will log your request to have a step in PSM that notifies the winner that payment has been received, and shipment follow up will be sent shortly.
posted on February 20, 2002 12:45:09 PM new
I too would like a payment received notification. I use your PSM - but I manually type a note to everyone that I have received their payment. We ship heavy items like furniture - so sometimes it takes a couple of days to get the item shipped - and bidders want a confirmation that I have gotten their payment. It would be a great idea to have a message go out after you click number 3 - or to at least have the option to send a message.
posted on February 20, 2002 01:39:41 PM new
Thanks for the quick response. Have it covered...the winning bidder will see it 4 times. My notice is included in:
-My auctions
-My WBN via AW
-eBay's "Payment Instructions" section.
-eBay's "End of Auction Notice". I can't stop a high bidder from receiving the notice...It's their option to receive eBay's "End of Auction notice" not mine. So I put a notice in it.
Maybe the notice that I use may not be written well, I don't know??? Here is the one I include in eBay's end of auction notice. The 3 other notices are very similar. Should be effective but, it just doesn't work.
[ Congratulations winning bidder!!! Please do not respond to this e-mail. This winner bidder e-mail notice was sent to you from eBay because your personal eBay Preferences were set to notify you at auctions end. <My Company name here> will send an e-form/link shortly after auctions close with all payment and shipping options available for this auction. For faster processing please use our (Company name here) notice only to complete this transaction. ]
I have been using the notices from my very first auction that I have ever listed. It was managed with auctionwatch and I still use the service today...what I am trying to say is that I noticed this problem as a novice seller in the online auction world... that it might occur if WBN's are sent out late. Many auctions later I didn't think it would be as big of a problem as it is. All because the WBN's are not sent in a timely enough manner that the online auction world expects...INSTANTLY!!!
If the notices that I include are needed by the vast majority of AW's users and have to be placed as many times as I place it in front of the winning bidders face...something is wrong? Answer: Late notices
posted on February 21, 2002 06:45:59 AM new
I agree all the above can be very frustrating. And I have, over time, come up with a few simple solutions that may or may not work for y'all, so here they are:
1) In your "Check-out option text" when creating your listing, make your statement short and clear "SELLER WILL CONTACT WINNER WITH ALL NECESSARY INFORMATION WITHIN 24 HOURS OF AUCTION CLOSE". Period - that's it.
2) Send your WBN's yourself. It's soooo much easier now with the new PSE, going to "WBN's To Send", "Select All" & click "Send" - why have it be automated? And they go out RIGHT THEN!
3) Create letter's in your Word Processing that addresses common customer questions or problems, i.e. for customer's who pay prior to getting shipping info, etc. Then, when it happens (and it will still happen even with all your efforts) just copy & paste that little blurb into a reply to them.
4) I changed my "Shipment Notification" to be a "Payment & Shipment Notification". It tells them I received payment AND APPROXIMATELY when I will ship. Kills 2 birds with 1 stone. Making an approximation allows you a margin for extra time too. Don't say: "We will ship immediately", or "within 24 hours of payment". No one is going to care if you say "Your item will be shipped within 1-3 days" or something like that. I HAVE NEVER HAD ANY CUSTOMER HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS. It's pretty much an industry standard. You buy something on-line, then you get an order confirmation that states your payment and shipping info - all in one. Rarely do you ever get them all separate. I sure don't want 3 separate emails being sent to me if I'm the one buying!
Well, I hope this has helped some of you. It takes a little adjusting of what some software gives you sometimes to tailor it for your specific needs. Keep fiddling - something will come to you! =)
posted on February 22, 2002 09:09:20 PM new
Key here is to contact the customer before he contacts you...if not, your behind from the start.
The whole post sale process works much easier if customers had a WBN to respond to. even so, the ones who do receive read my notices for them to wait for WBN to respond with info, still email and ask "when are you sending the WBN?" errrrrrr.
#1) Should not have to put a notice in every auction, for almost all the AW users who probably need it.
#2) Nobody can be at their PC 24/7 to manually send WBN's...Isn't that the main reason why we use AW? BTW, I think the buyer will get 2 WBN's if you send it manually and have your AW settings set to "Auto send WBN"
#3) The object of a management software is to help cut down on some of the manual tasks. "it will still happen even with all your efforts" it wouldn't nearly as much if notices were sent out on time.
#4) Can't change notice to "Payment & Shipment Notification" because the tracking/confirmation number has to be inserted into notification before sending it out. That would be like I said earlier...That could be a long time from payment made to the time you get a confirmation number and worse if weekend or holiday.
