Are customers are always right

Customers are not always right and very often expect more than they are entitled to. If you don't know what your rights are as a seller and the rights of a buyer or don't deal with customers appropriately you could be in a position where your are loosing money unnecessarily or at risk of prosecution.

In the UK the Department of trade and industry regulate and enforce legislation that governs the sale of products to consumers. The distance seller act specifically relates to the sale of goods and services via the internet, digital TV, telesales and other remote media. While the distance seller act gives special rights to consumers for remote purchases a seller must also ensure that they are compliant with the general sale of goods act and may also be required to be compliant with other regulations which govern the sale of product classes or type i.e. food, supplements, cosmetics, Radio frequency equipment etc...

Once you are fully aware of the regulations that govern you and the products you provide to customers, its time to formulate a customer service policy and publish this to your customers. A customer service policy should be firm but fair, ensuring your customers know exactly what you will accept but without putting them of buying in the first place. If you are planning to use this policy for ebay auction there are some requirements that need to be included. To make life easier, especially if you use multiple sales platforms and would like to maintain just one customer service policy then consider using i-Return which has a customer service policy hosting and publication facility.

Customer service software

• Right now - CRM for medium to large organizations
• Kayako - Complete multi-channel ticket/response CRM system
• i-Return - logistics and customer service policy management for small to medium business

Logistic solutions

Small online businesses usually start out by sending there outbound parcels via a local post office, this often restricts the items which a seller is willing to sell due to costs and inconvenience, which creates a considerable time and financial burden on any vulnerable startup business. With many small businesses this scenario continues for far too long into the development of an ebay startup and could be avoided. If you are sending more than one parcel per week than you could be eligible for a courier contract which will allow you to expand your product range and save vast amounts of time standing in post office queues.

A Parcel force contract can be obtained for any one who sends more than one item per week and can allow you to send items upto 30kg for a flat rate. You will also receive many other benefits from a contract like having regular parcel pickups from your place of work, arranging parcel pickups from customers and online tracking information (including proof of delivery). more info and application form...

When your business grows so does your administration requirements. In general sales platform like eBay, Amazon and bespoke web site platforms the order processing systems allow you to operate and deal with pre-order queries effectively, however once the customer has received there item the ability to deal with queries is severely reduced and tends to fall back to you sending emails back and forwards to resolve issues like faulty or unwanted items. i-Return is design to assist online sellers to effectively deal with returns and replacements giving you the ability to concentrate on positive aspects of your business, saving you time, money and stress.

Online payment systems

If you have been selling on eBay you should be fairly comfortable with Paypal, however if you are intending to develop your business beyond eBay into a genuine ecommerce business then you will need to offer a secure credit card payment system like WorldPay. WorldPay is a bank transfer company that will bill individual card holders and credit your account. Every transaction is verified and provides warnings about a buyers details if they don't match with details held by the bank. The system can be integrated with any web site or can be used to take telephone payments... read more about WorldPay...