posted on November 27, 2002 04:56:36 PM new
Bidder wins an auction. (I happen to use another auction service whose initials are also AW) Service sends out the usual form letter type instruction them to go to the checkout (even gives a link, and an alternate in case it doesn't work). This was about 1 1/2 weeks ago. Nothing. Then I get an email saying they don't understand the whole "link clicking and cutting and pasting" thing. (how could they have even bid then??) So I resend the notice which states that this helps me keep track and make sure packages are sent to the right places. Basically it also compares it to buying something from Amazon, ya gotta do the checkout there too! So I get another email from them (a re: in the subject line so they must've rec'd my email) saying they've ben emailing me for the address to send a M.O. to. What would you do?
I don't sell a ton, but I work 11 hours a day 5 days a week so using the checkout helps me keep everything straight.
posted on November 27, 2002 05:44:39 PM new
I hate those checkout sytems. It's unfair to the buyer to have to put them through it. It's not the bidder's responsibility to go through some convoluted process to make it easier for you. You've got someone who wants to pay, why not just let them? I have to admit I've not been in the mood to go through that, and have told the seller that I just want a total, and where to send payment to. They always give me that information - Because if they don't, if I don't want to go through that process, I am not going to do it. From my buying account perspective, I could care less if they gave me a neg, they would get one right back.
posted on November 27, 2002 05:50:22 PM new
Yea I also hate those long checkouts. As a seller I would never use them because I can also appreciate the buyers point of view. If it works for you then that is great but I would complain if a few people just e-mail you to get an address. If they want to pay just mail them back and get your money !
posted on November 27, 2002 05:54:59 PM new
Most of us hate "checkout" because it confuses buyers. I tried it once as a buyer and it confused me, too. You can use your word processor to build a "Congratulations! You are the winner of..." letter. Then all you have to do is cut and paste off of eBay. It takes me about 3 minutes an auction and I figure out the exact postage then, too.
Of course, I've had a buyer that couldn't "figure out" PayPal. They said didn't have my e-mail address to use PayPal but interestingly they could e-mail me to complain. Maybe you have one of those. I sent them an e-mail back with a step by step of what to type where and what to click when. Talk about going that extra mile.
[ edited by jensmome on Nov 27, 2002 05:56 PM ]
posted on November 27, 2002 06:02:55 PM new
I'm not complaining, it just seems that this goes in spurts. And I am nice in my explanation as to why I use the service. At some times (depending on my motivation level) I have run about 75 auctions a week. During my peak, @home went out. By having the checkout, it saved me quite a bit of headache since the service had all of the info and I could still ship stuff so there weren't many delays.
posted on November 27, 2002 06:08:20 PM new
I shop at plenty of stores online, but you are not a store. I know when I buy from a store I have to use checkout, but I don't go into an auction think I need to go through that process. These days, most store have simple procedures, I shop at Yahoo stores and all of my info is already saved so it is literally 2 or 3 clicks. I've actually tried some of these automated invoice programs as a buyer and I've become confused as to whether or not I have paid or not. Thankfully very few sellers use this system.
I don't want a difficult process as a buyer when I bid in an auction, I simply want the total and where to send it. If a seller can't provide that information to me when I request it, I am just not going to pay them so it makes their life easier.
posted on November 27, 2002 07:39:12 PM new
I don't like eBay's checkout either. It's about as close to hopeless as it can get.
A week or so ago I wanted to bid on a couple of items in somebody's eBay store. Tried to get through checkout and couldn't get past the address screen.
So I emailed him and he said just send the money through PayPal. Which I did, he sent the items and all's well.
Too bad we can't leave each other feedback but then that's a whole 'nother story...
posted on November 27, 2002 07:43:13 PM new
If you ever win one of my auctions, you will get a personalized email from me telling you exactly what you owe and where to send payment. I could never understand why a seller would expend such a large amount of time to acquire a product, photograph it, write a description and put it all together in a nice looking listing and then try to take a shortcut to save 5 minutes when it comes time to collect the money.
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
posted on November 27, 2002 08:57:27 PM new
"If you ever win one of my auctions, you will get a personalized email from me telling you exactly what you owe and where to send payment.etc." I used to do that also. But by manually billing I found that I made a few but costly errors so I started using eBays invoice system and it cut the time by 75 percent and produced excellent results. Happy Turkey day all.
posted on November 27, 2002 09:20:43 PM new
I don't understand the problem with the "click on the following link" either. Anyone with am IQ above a 60 watt light bulb can "move the mouse cursor over the different colored text" & press the left button.
I use AW's automated checkout feature, 95% of my bidders will use it, 4% click on the Paypal payent button on the auction page. Finally I have to babysit the remaining 1%.
I copy & paste their information onto the shipping labels & that eliminates MY transposing numbers in the address.
No matter what system you use there is always "SOMEONE WHO CAN'T FOLLOW DIRECTIONS"
posted on November 28, 2002 11:30:34 AM new
I recently used the Auctionwatch checkout for the very first time on an item I purchased, and I did find it a bit intimidating. I followed the steps Auctionwatch gave to pay by PayPal, and there were quite a few - more hoops to jump through and it made me nervous that Auctionwatch brought me to the PayPal site to pay instead of me typing in the URL manually - I made sure to check that the URL for paypal was https://paypal.com and not anything else. The auctionwatch checkout was nice in that without it I usually have one window open to the auction page & description, one open to the email giving me the auction total and email address of seller, and one open for PayPal so I can enter the information as required. Auctionwatch filled in the blanks for me. Because I use Auctionwatch to list my own auctions, I trust the site more than I would a checkout from a site I'd never heard of - too many horror stories about information harvesting.
posted on November 29, 2002 04:33:32 PM new
I'm responding to a bunch of different people here............I like efficiency.....
>>I hate those checkout sytems. It's unfair to the buyer to have to put them through it. It's not the bidder's responsibility to go through some convoluted process to make it easier for you. You've got someone who wants to pay, why not just let them? I have to admit I've not been in the mood to go through that, and have told the seller that I just want a total, and where to send payment to. They always give me that information - Because if they don't, if I don't want to go through that process, I am not going to do it. From my buying account perspective, I could care less if they gave me a neg, they would get one right back.<<
That's just stupid, you'd risk sellers filing NPBs against you, just so you can prove to them that you hate checkout? What happens when you get suspended?
Are you going to console yourself with the knowledge that you stood by your principle?
It doesn't make sense that you'll go through checkout for a web store, but not for an auction over some principle that you feel you shouldn't have to. If doing so makes it easier for the seller, don't you realize that it makes it easier for that seller to provide good service to you? To ship your product, keep track of your payments, tracking numbers, etc?
I've had slow weeks where I've made over 100 sales and had to ship well over 200 packages --- store or not, customers using checkout makes it VERY EASY to make sure everyone gets their products quickly, deal with any issues, send out tracking numbers, etc.
The faster and easier it is for me to conduct these tasks, the BETTER it is for you the customer.
But hey, stick with your principles and if you don't mind stay away from my auctions, save me the trouble of having to nuke you when you refuse to go through checkout.
"If you ever win one of my auctions, you will get a personalized email from me telling you exactly what you owe and where to send payment. I could never understand why a seller would expend such a large amount of time to acquire a product, photograph it, write a description and put it all together in a nice looking listing and then try to take a shortcut to save 5 minutes when it comes time to collect the money. "
Umm, not to sound daft but you can save a LOT more then 5 minutes and when you have 70-80-120+ sales/week or just want more free time, 5 minutes per auction can add up.
First of all, automated checkout allows customers to quickly finish the transaction whether you're there watching the store and have prepared a "personal WBN" or not. Two --is the automated WBN going to be all that much different then your personal note? If you customize the automated WBN - probably not.
Two -- isn't it a more efficient Business Process to use an automated process that captures customer information, generates totals, and makes it easier for you to track and ship out products a SMARTER way to run your business?
Everyone's whining about fair and unfair and boasting their personalized e-mails, but I hear very few people talking about efficiency and quality service when it comes to fullfillment.
posted on November 29, 2002 04:38:46 PM new
Well, I certainly would not fear a negative on my BUYING account, you would get one back. I don't care about the NPB (I've never gotten one) because I would appeal to ebay stating that you never gave me the information directly to pay you. I think it is called harrassment if you send out an undeserved NPB announcement. I hope I don't find your auctions either, you talk about better customer service, but it sounds like you are all talk.
posted on November 29, 2002 04:51:33 PM new
>>Well, I certainly would not fear a negative on my BUYING account, you would get one back. I don't care about the NPB (I've never gotten one) because I would appeal to ebay stating that you never gave me the information directly to pay you. I think it is called harrassment if you send out an undeserved NPB announcement. I hope I don't find your auctions either, you talk about better customer service, but it sounds like you are all talk.<<
I think a NPB is a bigger issue then a negative -- and as for the appeal "Click this link to complete checkout" is the information you need to complete the transaction and IS the information you need. I surely doubt that eBay is going to support not using checkout as an excuse not to pay, since they themselves provide a checkout service.
If you want to believe that I'm all talk, feel free --- all I know is, an electronic checkout system allows me to keep track of over 100 sales and well over 200 shipments/week it would take me a lot longer to process an order without it. You yourself even said that you shouldn't have to use an electronic checkout system just because it makes it easier on the seller, so you admit that electronic checkout makes things easier on sellers.
E.g. You defeated your own argument against using Electronic Checkout being synonymous with bad service.
If I can process your order faster with checkout -- that means you'll get your merchandise faster = better service.
So just admit that you're too lazy to go through checkout.
With nothing more then the ID# from an auction or the buyer's e-mail address -- I can pull up their address, phone number, shipping option, shipping cost, item, day they paid, day they shipped and tell them when it's scheduled to arrive.
Takes me about 30 seconds -- so when a customer says: "Where is my package" I can tell them exactly what's going on in 30 seconds.
As in "you won the auction on the 7th, paid on the 11th, it shipped the 12th and will arrive on the 17th"
Man, that's a terrible system.
I guess you're one of those buyers who wins an auction one day, pays a week later and then 3 days later is whining about how it's taking 10 days for their item to arrive. LOL
posted on November 29, 2002 05:00:37 PM new
Well, one day we will have to see if that happens. I've never had a problem before with sellers actually giving me a total when I ask for it, sounds like you won't provide it though. I think that not directly answering a very simple questions (HOW MUCH DO I OWE AND WHERE DO I SEND PAYMENT TO) is probably reason enough to have the NPB removed. Do you really think ebay cares that just because they have checkout, that it makes a difference if a customer does not want to input info in a 3rd party website to pay? I don't think so.
Customer service is more than being speedy (I can access all that info too, it might take me a minute or two, but I don't think customers expect an answer within 30 seconds) - When a customer has a special need, or has lost their payment info and needs it sent again, I try to help them. That is customer service.
posted on November 29, 2002 05:20:00 PM new
My buyers (those that can handle simple math) already know their totals since the cost of the item and the shipping charge is right there in front of them.
Typically they're just asking for the mailing address and I tell them to go through checkout, so I can capture their shipping information for fulfillment purposes. So they go through checkout, get the mailing address, the end.
Other times they want the Pay Pal ID -- I still direct them through checkout.
Now they may grumble about it, but considering my feedback profile is full of customers gushing over fast shipping I think they got over it.
Your reasoning of you shouldn't have to put your information into the system just because it's an auction is completely illogical. I don't see the basis for it, you're still purchasing from a company or a Business (In my case at least) -- they're going to need the same information/tracking system that a non-auction retailer needs.
Please explain why auction sellers shouldn't use checkout but retailers can. It doesn't make sense.
In the end, a person is buying something from a retailing organization of some sort --- the order needs to be handled just the same.
Order fullfillment is a big part of customer service, maybe some customers won't like checkout -- but getting the customer the actual product is the most important part of it.
It doesn't do the customer any goood if I get a money order and need a Psychic to figure out who it came from. Or the Pay Pal e-mail address the person send the money from and the e-mail address they won the auction under don't match and it was a FP/Dutch listing so I can't match it by # and they moved recently, so the Pay Pal zip code and the eBay zip code don't match.
Then what?
Your system takes you a few minutes to handle issues, mine takes seconds. Say you have 40 issues per day to handle related to shipping, payments, various issues, sales, etc.
3 Minutes per issue X 40 issues equals 120 minutes or two hours.
Say 45 seconds per issue x 40 issues equals 30 minutes. Even if it's a minute per issue, I'm doing things faster then you.
Which means I have more time to:
Research more products to sell
List Products
Think of ways to improve my listings
Improve my business overall.
If you're one of my competitors, are you willing to sacrifice 90 minutes/day that I can use to improve my business and become a bigger competitive threat against you?
If so, be my guest.
I believe in efficiency, the more sellers that don't (IMHO) or are less efficient then me, the better it is for my business.
posted on November 29, 2002 05:46:29 PM new
Efficiency is great, but in the quest for perfect efficiency, something is lost. In this case, it is customer service. In a perfect world, we would only interface with computers as it is a lot more efficient, but if I am having a problem with a company, I don't want to talk to a computer, I want a person to answer my questions. My system works for me, your system works for you. I am not going to change your mind, you aren't going to change mine.
I believe in customer service, the more sellers that don't (IMHO) or are less customer service friendly than me, the better it is for my business. They become repeat buyers.
posted on November 29, 2002 06:01:43 PM new
You didn't answer my question: How is checkout a horrible thing when it's an auction seller and not when it's a retail seller?
People answer all e-mails sent to my company, computers are just used as tools to make things more efficient.
If you think electronic checkout is going to keep people from becoming repeat buyers, you're kidding yourself.
Also -- what do you about a competitive advantage a more efficient seller has over you? They can grow faster, won't have to worry about collapsing under their own weight, etc.
It seems to me that eBay sellers are far too hung up on changing/saving the world, principles and the like and not worried about doing the things it takes to grow a successful business.
It still boggles my mind when I hear sellers touting their principles like:
"I'm slow, but I'm more personable"
"I refuse to make money off shipping"
"I'm going to protest eBay by putting my listings on a site where they won't get bids"
posted on November 29, 2002 06:15:43 PM new
I used to have alot of grief over people not doing the electronic checkout, even for a mo or check. Then I realized. If I get their payment and it doesn't bounce, WHO CARES!! In this AW system, you can 'edit' their response. (read this as cut/paste address and payment info from their emials/letters) And then send a payment received notice. If they gave me the wrong mailing address in their email, then its not my fault, and this very rarely happens. (still have one box that the guy hasn't claimed from over 7 months ago, waiting for payment of additional shipping fees)
Good Luck, and relax. Before these auction services, we had to do EVERY auction by hand.
posted on November 30, 2002 12:27:26 AM new
There are simply too many post-sale options nowadays. It is a real pain for bidders. I long for the old days when all winning bidder and seller had to do was email each other with their info. It is getting to be a real pain.
posted on December 1, 2002 04:18:41 PM new
I personally prefer to use the PayPal Winning Bidder Notification and edit the message on file to say that I do not REQUIRE or even prefer that they pay through PP..then I give my address..the link to pay through PayPal is easy ..I even say in my listing that they will be contacted after the auction closes by PP but winning bidders can use any of my approved methods of payment. The PayPal packing slip is a great improvement and i send that with the shipment. I manually update pymt recieved and item shipped in AW post sale system so I can track my non paying bidders - a one click operation. I use AW to notify of pymt reveived, shipment and to give the feedback...it's all running smoothly and I am shipping about 150 items a week
posted on December 2, 2002 12:03:54 AM new
As a buyer, I don't care if sellers use a third-party automated checkout system or not, just so long as they state on the auction page that all buyers must go through their automated system. Those auctions, by golly, I will back right out of and go look for the same item elsewhere.
If I go to Amazon.com and purchase ten books, sure I go through their Checkout, but I've been with Amazon.com for years, and the only thing I have to do is type my password and then do some clicking because my information is already there.
But if I buy ten different books from ten different auction sellers on eBay, and each seller wants me to go through their personal Checkout System, well that is at least 5 minutes per auction, all to get to the Paypal page which sends each seller the information I just typed into their stupid Checkout System!!! Sure, the sellers want to save time for themselves, but hey, what about me - the buyer? Isn't my time valuable?
So no thank to sellers who use automated Checkout Systems! Just state it in your auctions and I won't bother to bid. And if such sellers are complaining about low sell-rates and low prices, well, just maybe there is one reason why!
posted on December 2, 2002 02:27:33 AM new
I too use an automated checkout process. (the other AW)
You too will get an auto-generated email which will include
Bid Price
Shipping Price
Tax (if you are in my state)
Grand total (in-state and out of state)
Mailing address for payment.
All forms of electronic payment accepted and the email address to send it to (paypal C2it etc)
BUT It also contains a message stating that
COMBINED SHIPPING FOR MULTIPLE ITEMS PURCHASES WILL BE CALCULATED BY WEIGHT BY USING THE CHECKOUT PROCESS.
And a link below to that checkout....
Considering 30 of all my bidders bid on more than 1 item.
Considering 20% of bidders, single item and multi-item folks ADD ADDITIONAL MERCHANDISE DURING THE CHECKOUT!!!!
Checkout processes are great.
It is also the ONLY way I can collect and process Visa Mastercard and AMEX DIRECTLY and without needing the paypals of the world as the only way to accept credit cards. For I have a merchant account....
If you only want the SINGLE item you bid on then all info is there and you don't need to do the checkout.
posted on December 2, 2002 02:53:14 AM new
These people who refuse to use the AW system are just stubborn in my opinion. It's a simple matter of lazyness and attitude.
"I don't care if you give me a neg, I'll give you one back." What does that attitude solve?
This is the same type of person who is in line at the 7-11. Can't wait for the cashier to finish waiting on the current customer, and since he only has a cup of coffee, he throws a buck at the cashier and walks out of the door.
I agree with the other poster, the majority of the buyers follow through with the process, and the others, the 1 o/o need baby sitting.
