Merchants with an "attitude" rather than "gratitude"...

Discussion in 'The Chatterbox' started by Primotenore, Jun 20, 2019.

  1. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers


    All I am saying is to look at it from the sellers perspective. He is in it for the money. Granted, having a better personality, might keep long standing customers happy.
    Also, whose to say, the one who bought the brush didnt have it in his cart, longer than you???
     
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  2. Primotenore

    Primotenore missed opera tunity

    Article Team
    The first person to complete the transaction, which means completely enter the payment information and hit purchase gets the item. It’s unlikely that someone had it in their cart longer and still was able to purchase the item
     
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  3. MntnMan62

    MntnMan62 Well-Known Member

    I am looking at it from the seller's perspective. As a seller, I would much prefer to know that my customers were able to both enjoy their shopping experience as well as not feel as though they were robbed from purchasing an item simply because they couldn't type as fast as the next guy. Look at it another way. I won't shop on a website where I know they do as described above. I've lost out on items while putting in my billing and shipping address and credit card information. As far as I'm concerned, I should have a "reasonable" amount of time to enter my information once it is in my cart without having it being sold out from under me. Nothing worse than entering all that information only to receive an error message saying "The item you chose is not available." This is how the ticket operators like Stubhub and Ticketmaster operate. They give you a certain amount of time to process the transaction before it times out. If I try and buy something from a site that was available when I put it in my cart and after trying as quickly as possible to enter my information I find it is no longer available, I'm not visiting that online store again. From my point of view that would not be in the seller's interest.
     
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  4. Primotenore

    Primotenore missed opera tunity

    Article Team
    Well said.
     
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  5. wristwatchb

    wristwatchb wristwatch "danger" b

    Help is available, Joseph. :)
    1.jpg

    Sorry you didn't get the item you wanted and also sorry for the bad experience. I've come to expect little to no personal touch from on-line purchasing. Bidding sites like eBay seem to encourage rapid responses in the on-line world. I can't tell you how many times I've been outbid there with only seconds left in an auction. It is disappointing, but I just move on. There is plenty of other stuff to buy. I'm sure folks more savvy than me have bidding or transaction software that does their heavy lifting. However, I have reached out to several eBay sellers via PM, and they've all been very responsive and kind. I guess most folks assume eBay is going to be a free for all. Enough of that.

    Back to your situation, I'm also frustrated with vendors that don't value past or potential customers. I take that as a sign of uncaring and/or pride and that their business is booming. They know their products or services will sell, and it's all about the $. I always wonder how they'd respond if the competition suddenly got tough. It might be phony, but I'm sure it would be different. I've walked away from purchases in the past for this reason. I've also dealt with some wonderful people that appreciated me and took time to help me even though they didn't 'need' my business...both on-line and in person. If you stick around me long enough, those are the folks you'll hear me recommend.
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2019
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  6. DesertTime

    DesertTime Well-Known Member

    My understanding, and I may be wrong, is this is a three tiered transaction: Vendor -->e-commerce suite -->buyer. The Vendor makes or presents goods on his site and employs a third party e-commerce company to manage sales.

    I would not think this would be a good practice from the vendor's perspective, either. The vendor has an interest in keeping people shopping, adding more items to their cart. If you have to rush to payment, you're less likely to continue shopping after you've already checked out.

    Imagine you're in target and you just put the last Gucci blender in your cart. But you have to race to the checkout area to ensure you can actually buy it (I know this makes no sense, but that's kinda the point). Target wants to keep you in their store as long as possible.

    I don't know the business model for these 3rd party store sites, but my guess is they get paid by traffic and/or transaction, or something like it.

    Others here feel differently, but I believe this is a lame model. The only one who doesn't lose in this model is the e-commerce company.

    Aside from all this, and this really isn't the crux of @Primotenore complaint, the Vendor should have been more sympathetic to his customer's issues. Apparently, not only does he not see how this was a bad experience for his customer (and apparently didn't care much, either), it's also bad for his business on multiple levels.

    And to be clear, there are many ways this could be fixed with software.
     
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  7. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    I dont have experience with 3rd party sellers, except Amazon. I do know one thing, rude sellers lose business, in the long run.
     
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  8. MntnMan62

    MntnMan62 Well-Known Member


    I agree with you. I don't know how these e-commerce companies are compensated but I would imagine that at least some or most of their compensation could come from a percentage of sales. If people don't buy stuff because they don't like the format and therefore don't patronize the online store, then they don't get paid either and are losing out just like the vendor.
     
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  9. Preacher

    Preacher Well-Known Member

    These brushes are in such high demand that there is almost no chance that if one buyer doesn't take it another buyer won't. Set the system up to inform the 2nd buyer that the item is on hold for XXXsec and the alert the 2nd buyer if the item is not paid for during the required hold period.
     
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  10. brit

    brit in a box

    you have just put something in your cart,you have x amount of time to pay.its off the shelf..maybe a restock fee would work. its in your cart your committed .if you change your mind you pay a little..buyers would be a little smarter before buying..sellers would see something for lost potential..
     
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  11. MntnMan62

    MntnMan62 Well-Known Member

    I'm confused. What about putting an item in your cart is unsmart? And why shouldn't you be able to change your mind within the short window we are suggesting to give people to pay for their stuff? Lost potential on an item that is in such demand it will be snapped up within a couple minutes of the aborted transaction? This is getting silly. When you buy concert tickets that are for specific seats, the tickets for those exact seats end up in your cart. A timer begins that gives you only so much time to buy those seats. A window opens that shows the clock ticking down so you know exactly how much time is left to complete the transaction. At any time prior to clicking that final payment button, you can change your mind and there is no fee. If sellers of concert tickets can make this work, so can retailers. Sellers haven't lost anything if a product sits in someones shopping cart for 5 minutes. Also, there is no restock fee if you put something back on the shelf while shopping in Target or any other store for that matter. Restock fees don't come into play until you've actually purchased the item and want to return it for a refund. C'mon.
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2019
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  12. brit

    brit in a box

    we aren't talking about concert tickets..the guys brush was taken from his cart..if its in your cart you have 5 ,10 ,15 minutes .pick one ..to pay for it ..if you go over that time its fair game. if its a slow selling item like a one off shaving brush..and you are busy daudling about and doesn't bother to pay for it..the seller should see something ? or it goes back on the market..there should be a set time to pay is my point..once its in your cart..
     
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  13. MntnMan62

    MntnMan62 Well-Known Member

    Correct. It goes back on the market. I agree with you. The concert tickets analogy is pretty linear, don't you think? You put the tickets in your cart. You have a set amount of time to pay. If you don't, the tickets go back on the market. Brush. Tickets. It's the same thing. You and I are on the same page. ;)
     
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  14. brit

    brit in a box

    i agree..in the old days a guy looks at a car.. says he wants it and gives the seller a small down payment.then goes to the bank for the rest.3 other people look at the car while the first guy is at the bank..there is a down payment on it the seller says,and the other 3 leave..the first guy returns and says i have changed my mind. should he get his down payment back?
     
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  15. MntnMan62

    MntnMan62 Well-Known Member

    It depends upon whether the agreement he/she signed indicates that the deposit is refundable or not. I believe the common practice in the auto industry is governed by each state. Most states tend to be protective of the consumer and require that there be a right to terminate and receive their deposit back. When I was young and didn't know how to make decisions, I signed an agreement to buy a car, only to realize that would have been a mistake and came back to cancel and get my deposit back. Similar with real estate. Ultimately the contract signed prevails and determines who is entitled to the deposit. In New Jersey, there is a requirement that all Contracts of Sale must have a right for the buyer to rescind the contract and receive their deposit back in full within three days of execution. After the three days has passed, the deposit is non-refundable. I'm not sure we can compare a shaving brush to cars and real estate though. And in your example above, the first guy returns, asks for his money back and the salesman then calls one of the other buyers to let them know the car is once again available.
     
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  16. brit

    brit in a box

    fair enough..there are so many variables to my analogy. i wasn't talking car lot.more private sale ,like a neighbor..i do think buyers should be smarter when purchasing something though..cheers..
     
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  17. MntnMan62

    MntnMan62 Well-Known Member

    A private car sale is a different story indeed. If you agree on a deal and you shake hands and put down a deposit, that deposit should NOT be refundable. But again, at least in the US, laws may dictate whether that kind of arrangement is legal. And each state has the right to govern how commerce is handled within it's boundaries. It's one of the things that makes doing business in this country so "interesting." Everyone seems to like to do things differently. I'm in real estate and real estate contracts and transactions are handled differently across the country. NY actually has it's own approach that is referred to elsewhere as the "New York Style closing". But I won't get into that here.
     
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  18. Frijolero

    Frijolero Well-Known Member

    You may have the tech savvy to do that. Your average retailer does not. They have to use what is available to them. And what you are asking for is not available to them. If it is, I've never seen it. Ticketmaster does it, but they are not using an off-the-shelf retail ecommerce system.

    If that happened enough to matter to them, they would fix it. You may have stopped buying from one site because you were burned. But whether you realize it or not, you took your business to another site that works the same way.

    When you put those tickets in the cart, you are shown on the screen how much time you have left. Have you ever seen that on any regular retail ecommerce site? Nope. I can't think of even one. It isn't specific to Shopify.

    Yes, let's not lose sight of this fact. The vendor may have limited options for their ecommerce system. But they have 100% control over how they respond to the customer. This was a customer service fail. No ifs, ands, or buts.
     
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  19. MntnMan62

    MntnMan62 Well-Known Member

    It is available to them. However there would certainly be a cost for that feature. Not just Ticketmaster uses it. StubHub as well as others who's names I cannot recall at the moment.


    It wasn't just one site. I've been burned a few times. And I haven't patronized any of those sites again. Most other sites may work that way but if I lose an item again, I won't patronize that site anymore. And I'm sure I'm not the only one as this thread clearly shows. It's an issue that retailers will need to think about. Obviously if they don't realize they are losing business from people, they won't do anything about it. But if they are reading this thread, they will certainly think about it, possibly for the first time.

    I have not seen it on a regular commerce site. That does't mean they shouldn't consider adding the time to transactions where there are only a few of that item left in their stock.
     
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  20. Enrico

    Enrico Popcorn

    [​IMG]

    I got nothing......

    :eatdrink013:
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2019
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