Online shop opinions please

[league_of_ordinary_men]

Hi all

I am very close to lancing my web store and I would like your opinion on some of the features of the store:

Ordering a product: When a client orders a product from us and go through the hole ordering process they will in essences be placing a order for a quote from us for the products and the cost of shipping the products to them,so they see a product they want to buy adds it to the shopping cart go's through all the steps necessary like a normal shopping cart except for payment and then in essence place an order for a quote(they will know they are placing a order for a quote),the reason we want to do it this way is to make the shipping cheaper instead of just charging a "flat fee" for shipping so we can be more precise on shipping fees so we can charge cheaper for shipping like instead of lets say charging a R100 we can be more precise/cheaper and charge the actual R75 it will cost and the client can save money.But our response/turn around time will be as fast as possible to not keep the client waiting and in the dark.So please give your opinions.

Receiving/waiting for your products: We will be work on an EFT payment system just to get started and then later credit cards....etc.We will process the orders as fast as possible but we will need to wait for payments to clear.....etc so clients will some times have to wait a day,a few days....etc for there product to arrive it depends on a hole lot of factors as some of you know like waiting for payment,shipping takes a day or so depending on were you live,stock availability...etc so that can add up to a few days some times,so what I would like to know is what is your experiences on waiting for products to arrive or how long is a tolerable time for you or your clients to wait for there products to arrive?

So please give your opinions,suggestions...etc

Best regards L_O_O_M

[adrianh]

Depends on the product. Our products are handmade and we've had customers wait for months.

If you sell something that the customer can buy from the corner shop or local shopping centre then its a different ballgame.

[IanF]

No matter how you explain this to your customers some won't understand. These guys only read what they want to so be prepared to explain this to them. Also it does depend on what you are selling.

[bjsteyn]

Hey L_O_O_M, i am doing a website that will also require stock checks on some items. I have opted not to use a payment processor to get the product to the customer as at the best price. I might later on use payfast, but will see how it goes. Eg. Payfast takes 2% on all incoming funds. On R1000 that is R20, but i would rather let my customer save that R20 and pay via EFT as orders will be processed quickly, just like you are planning. Although R20 is not a lot, some of the products I will be selling for around R5000 to R10000. That is R100 to R200 that payfast take that my customer could have saved. In some markets that R200 can make or break you price and customers will be willing to pay via EFT as it is quick. Only if they have a different bank account than yours and they want to clear the payment now, it will work out more expensive. To counter that you could open a bank account with all 4 major banks. Or give them the option to pay via payfast but charge a fee.


That is what i am planning anyways.

BJ :-)

[league_of_ordinary_men]

Hi,adrianh,IanF and bjsteyn.

Hope all is well,adrianh we are planning on selling anything from PC hardware to flat screen TV's(anything from R50 to R70000 <--- for a new Samsung smart TV) so it's a pretty common item's but at the price we are selling it I think it will be worth while waiting a little.IanF looks like I might be looking into a per made response LOL.Bjsteyn that's exactly why I am going to use EFT to start with because I also looked into payfast but it's like you said it's not worthwhile if your profit margins are to small maybe if you handle a massive amount of orders to make up for the loss in profit to compensate for user friendly nice and ease of using your website to attract more customers.What I was talking about waiting a day or two more before receiving your products is that extra day it take for a client to transfer the money from another bank to your but I think the best thing to do is just keep the client up to date and not in the dark.

Have a great day and keep the comments coming.