A funny thing happened when I tried to close a sizeable purchase.
This dealer had a high s/h cost ($3.95) and a high additional per stamp charge on top ($0.05)
Saving grace, he offered free shipping for orders over $50.00
So I have been accumulating stamps for a while in my cart. Got to $70 plus, which because there are always some stamps no longer available after a few months of sitting around in the cart, was probably enough to guarantee $50, and free shipping ooooh boy!.. Many stamps list at 8-12 c so if you add the 5c per stamp...it takes a while to reach the magical promised land of negate outrageous S/H. Now I feel I am back at ebay!
There were several stamps at $5-$10 as I was eager to finish, so it was not all low cost items.
Well imagine my surprise. The deal is off. The free shipping is gone. The terms have been changed. Additional charges would have added another $6 or more so a total of at least $10. For probably a 2 oz envelope shipped in the USA.
This dealer lost my order, and lost me as a customer for life...but I did not think he cared, given the new language of his S/H contract.
Now the downside, apart from all my wasted time finding the stamps over months, is that there is no way to delete items in bulk from your cart. You have to do it item by item, and the unfriendly Hipstart software (for the cart) sends you to the top of the page after each cancellation...not even to the top of this sellers page. Who ever dreamt of this software? Certainly not someone making any use of it! Try doing it 100 plus times and tell me how YOU feel! I wish Mark would start implementing all the suggestions made over the last few years, to make the software more friendly to buyers (and less click intensive and absurdly impractical for simplicity).
So now I am really weary of accumulating much in my cart to meet what could easily become empty promises, by the time I am ready to buy. I also have to revise how I do business here, and what to do with the 1000 or so items I keep in my cart. That does not change my dealings with my regular dealers, but accumulating a critical mass in the cart of new sellers to me is what opens up new relationships in time, and I would say that it is at risk here..because I don't want to waste my time like I just did. If only attrition over time took care of it, but for this seller in particular, I doubt that anyone is spending time buying his low cost items....and he is undercutting others who price a bit higher but without the added per item cost (my big beef always).
Disappointed? You bet!
rrr....
Saving grace, he offered free shipping for orders over $50.00
So I have been accumulating stamps for a while in my cart. Got to $70 plus, which because there are always some stamps no longer available after a few months of sitting around in the cart, was probably enough to guarantee $50, and free shipping ooooh boy!.. Many stamps list at 8-12 c so if you add the 5c per stamp...it takes a while to reach the magical promised land of negate outrageous S/H. Now I feel I am back at ebay!
There were several stamps at $5-$10 as I was eager to finish, so it was not all low cost items.
Well imagine my surprise. The deal is off. The free shipping is gone. The terms have been changed. Additional charges would have added another $6 or more so a total of at least $10. For probably a 2 oz envelope shipped in the USA.
This dealer lost my order, and lost me as a customer for life...but I did not think he cared, given the new language of his S/H contract.
Now the downside, apart from all my wasted time finding the stamps over months, is that there is no way to delete items in bulk from your cart. You have to do it item by item, and the unfriendly Hipstart software (for the cart) sends you to the top of the page after each cancellation...not even to the top of this sellers page. Who ever dreamt of this software? Certainly not someone making any use of it! Try doing it 100 plus times and tell me how YOU feel! I wish Mark would start implementing all the suggestions made over the last few years, to make the software more friendly to buyers (and less click intensive and absurdly impractical for simplicity).
So now I am really weary of accumulating much in my cart to meet what could easily become empty promises, by the time I am ready to buy. I also have to revise how I do business here, and what to do with the 1000 or so items I keep in my cart. That does not change my dealings with my regular dealers, but accumulating a critical mass in the cart of new sellers to me is what opens up new relationships in time, and I would say that it is at risk here..because I don't want to waste my time like I just did. If only attrition over time took care of it, but for this seller in particular, I doubt that anyone is spending time buying his low cost items....and he is undercutting others who price a bit higher but without the added per item cost (my big beef always).
Disappointed? You bet!
rrr....
Comments
Doesn't it make sense that the cart is for use short term (IE within hours to within a few days) as it's implying that you would be buying these items fairly quickly as opposed to the watch list which by nature implies that your not looking to buy those items in the short term (weeks to months)?