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FIB - Scams 101 - Ye Olde Archives
Posted By: Jim Kaiser <jimkaiser@cox.net> In Response To: Two eBay (Life!) Tips.... (MaaMaw)
Thursday, 19 January 2006, at 6:03 p.m.
You just gave a combination of really good and really bad advice.
> Maybe I go overboard, but... I email when I receive payment and tell the
> customer when it will be shipped; I email when my husband leaves with the
> package in the morning and tell them it is on its way to FedEx but they
> won't get the tracking number til the following day; and I email the
> tracking number when I get it, in addition to putting it on PayPal and
> relying on them to transmit it to the customer.
One transaction here and you've wrote out a shipping label, manually sent 3 emails and posted the tracking number to paypal - YIKES! We need to talk.
What happens when you get to shipping 20 packages a day? That would equal 60 emails and 20 postings to paypal and 20 shipping laabels and a mound of paperwork to sort out.
I suppose you also thank them for leaving feedback and follow up once their package is delivered.
Understand that the key to this business or any business for that matter is TIME. Doing the most amount of work in the least amount of time is critical to your success. Systemize and automate everything and it will set you free. Do it all manually and it will eat you alive.
Let's take this step by step using your example.
"I receive payment and tell the customer when it will be shipped"
I do too, only it is an automated email - super simple to set up.
"I email when my husband leaves with the package in the morning and tell them it is on its way to FedEx but they won't get the tracking number til the following day"
I ship by USPS through Paypal. No need to fill out anything - they have your customers information and it is prefilled on the label. A couple of clicks and I have a shipping label printed. Even with your husband's discount you probably can't beat the rate of the USPS flat rate boxes. My mailman picks up the packages every day, no need to go to the Post Office.
"I email the tracking number when I get it"
I don't have to. Shipping through Paypal, again they already have your customers information and the tracking number is automatically sent the moment you create the label.
"When it comes to customer service, OVERKILL is not a bad thing. "
Unless you are doing it manually, then it's a very very bad thing. (for your business at least)
So, in a nutshell, I do everything you do here as far as customer service but I don't lift a finger to do it.
Doing business on eBay can be as easy or difficult as you'd like to make it.
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