Pet Peeve with Vendor Sites - Vendors, you should read this

[NGAHaze]

Personally, I hate having to 'register' in the first place! They should have a default setup so that you can check out without signing your rights away. Anybody ever bothered to read those service agreements? I just pointed out to a vendor recently that his privacy policy was anything but ... he basically had a loophole in it that allowed him to do anything he wanted with your data for any purpose. I chose not to do business with them although I've not heard anything negative about them. I just think we as consumers need to take back control of our personal data and that includes the products that we choose to purchase. I heard recently on the news that insurance companies are now mining consumer data looking for shopping habits of their policyholders ... some have even gone so far as to suggest to them that they are consuming too much alcohol, red meat, etc! Remember when you signed up for that loyalty program at your supermarket, pharmacy, etc, well guess who doesn't have your back and is looking to make a profit off you!

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Nope I only do business with those vendors that have a pre checkout shipping calculator UNLESS it's a GREAT sale
Just as bad are some sites that have repetitive popups asking if I'm 18 or if I wish to be added to their mailing list.

 

[BostonVape]

the worst is when you are already registered with a site.. you browse something and put it in your cart.. but don't buy it

THEN, 1 hour later... i get all these emails saying 'we noticed you still didn't purchase the items in your cart - blah blah blah'

won't say any vendors by name.. but god this is annoying!!

 

[Oktyabr]

No super website IT magician required... I have over 30 vendors bookmarked and I do business with about six of them. The one thing they all have in common? A single line of text, either at the top of the page or embedded in a header graphic that simply says "All orders over $___ ship for free!" or "Flat rate shipping on all orders only $xxxx for a limited time."

That's it. I know how large my order has to be to have shipping be ZERO and this in turn encourages me to spend more... with THEM... before I ever stick even one thing in my cart.

Pet peeve? Vendors that advertise an item on sale or "New!" but don't tell you it's sold out UNTIL you try and put one in your cart!

Makes me happy? Vendors that tell you it's out of stock at a glance. Even happier? An actual count of how many units are left in stock, especially in regards to hardware... "Oh, look! They have all the colors *in stock*, even purple!!!" OR "They have all the colors, 195 of the blue but only 3 of the purple ones the wife wants are in stock! Better hurry up and order NOW!"

Even happier? A short list of products I have recently looked at on their website and to compliment that perhaps a list of suggestions like "Similar products you might be interested in." or "Others considered this one as well."

Pet peeve? Vendors that have a poor sense of inventory categorization, right at the home page. A study was done years ago, when I was dabbling with web development, that basically indicated that you loose something like 90% of your page's visitors after the first click and then 90% of what remained of them at the second click and so on. A website that makes it next to impossible to find what a potential customer is specifically looking for will not get as many sales as one that is easy to navigate. Same thing goes with trying to list every single item you have ON the home page! That's called an "index" folks and is usually found at the back of a book, for a reason. Take the book analogy one step further and have the home page be a clean, easy to read "table of contents" with a short list of general but concise categories instead, i.e. "e-juice", "starter kits", "atomizers", "cartomizers", "advanced PV", "accessories", "batteries and chargers", etc.

A website "Search" option is nice to have but no one should HAVE to use it to find what they are looking for! (Yes, there really are some vendors that have what I want... but you wouldn't know that without playing detective for half an hour.)

Last but not least... OK, I know business is booming and you are super busy. Great for you! But honestly, your website is the heart of your business (unless you do the majority of sales out of a B&M... which might indicate the problem even more clearly!) Spend a little quality time UPDATING it, at least once a week, or pay someone to do that for you. One of my favorite vendors (who shall remain nameless) ranks up there for me for several reasons... but their inventory changes so rapidly, including new additions, that I am often left feeling like I need to harass them with a phone call every time I order because the website is so out of date. Vendors? Don't be "that guy", please.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

When I was planning on becoming a Vendor about a year ago I had certain ideas that would be implemented into the website one of which was a page suggesting additional products the customer could compliment their purchase with...example- when buying a Vivi Nova they might also want a sleeve/ cone to cover the threads. Had a bunch of other ideas that I haven't seen vendors implement. If it wasn't for ECF these Vendors CS would be SWAMPED with user/ customer questions/ advice as user manuals in the Ecig industry seem to be sorely lacking. Must say though my Vamo User Manual was the best I've ever seen and should be a benchmark for both Manufacturers AND Vendors IMO.

No super website IT magician required... I have over 30 vendors bookmarked and I do business with about six of them. The one thing they all have in common? A single line of text, either at the top of the page or embedded in a header graphic that simply says "All orders over $___ ship for free!" or "Flat rate shipping on all orders only $xxxx for a limited time."

That's it. I know how large my order has to be to have shipping be ZERO and this in turn encourages me to spend more... with THEM... before I ever stick even one thing in my cart.

Pet peeve? Vendors that advertise an item on sale or "New!" but don't tell you it's sold out UNTIL you try and put one in your cart!

Makes me happy? Vendors that tell you it's out of stock at a glance. Even happier? An actual count of how many units are left in stock, especially in regards to hardware... "Oh, look! They have all the colors *in stock*, even purple!!!" OR "They have all the colors, 195 of the blue but only 3 of the purple ones the wife wants are in stock! Better hurry up and order NOW!"

Even happier? A short list of products I have recently looked at on their website and to compliment that perhaps a list of suggestions like "Similar products you might be interested in." or "Others considered this one as well."

Pet peeve? Vendors that have a poor sense of inventory categorization, right at the home page. A study was done years ago, when I was dabbling with web development, that basically indicated that you loose something like 90% of your page's visitors after the first click and then 90% of what remained of them at the second click and so on. A website that makes it next to impossible to find what a potential customer is specifically looking for will not get as many sales as one that is easy to navigate. Same thing goes with trying to list every single item you have ON the home page! That's called an "index" folks and is usually found at the back of a book, for a reason. Take the book analogy one step further and have the home page be a clean, easy to read "table of contents" with a short list of general but concise categories instead, i.e. "e-juice", "starter kits", "atomizers", "cartomizers", "advanced PV", "accessories", "batteries and chargers", etc.

A website "Search" option is nice to have but no one should HAVE to use it to find what they are looking for! (Yes, there really are some vendors that have what I want... but you wouldn't know that without playing detective for half an hour.)

Last but not least... OK, I know business is booming and you are super busy. Great for you! But honestly, your website is the heart of your business (unless you do the majority of sales out of a B&M... which might indicate the problem even more clearly!) Spend a little quality time UPDATING it, at least once a week, or pay someone to do that for you. One of my favorite vendors (who shall remain nameless) ranks up there for me for several reasons... but their inventory changes so rapidly, including new additions, that I am often left feeling like I need to harass them with a phone call every time I order because the website is so out of date. Vendors? Don't be "that guy", please.

 

[DeeDee1234]

I have noticed that some ebay sellers automatically block you from bidding if you ask a question. I think they run their business by the 80/20 principle: 80 pct of your profits come from 20pct of your customers. 80 pct of your time answering questions and giving support comes from 20 pct of your customers. The theory is if you can concentrate your time on the 20 pct of your customers that bring most of your profits, and ignore the 20 pct that take the most time, you maximize your profits. My guess is they are willing to let the most time consuming transactions go. As in, maybe that is an intentional strategy?

But, with the learning curve of ecigs that would be stupid.The can get new customers from helping people and being suportive

 

[ScottP]

One thing that might be causing delayed responses is some of these places are not really companies with lots of employees. They are more likely one of two people running the whole show. It is easy to get swamped with fulfilling orders and handling post sales support and returns etc.

 

[BillyTheWild]

I think they run their business by the 80/20 principle: 80 pct of your profits come from 20pct of your customers. 80 pct of your time answering questions and giving support comes from 20 pct of your customers. The theory is if you can concentrate your time on the 20 pct of your customers that bring most of your profits, and ignore the 20 pct that take the most time, you maximize your profits. My guess is they are willing to let the most time consuming transactions go. As in, maybe that is an intentional strategy?

Maybe it is a an intentional strategy but it is a very short sighted one. Yes, they may be able to maximize the profit in a short run, but their business will not be able to survive very long, leave alone to thrive. The reason is that the 80% potential customers they ignore and leave behind (sounds a bit like Mitt Romney) are going to tell everyone how bad they run their business, on forums like ECF or social media like Facebook or review sites like Yelp.

 

[BillyTheWild]

One thing that might be causing delayed responses is some of these places are not really companies with lots of employees. They are more likely one of two people running the whole show. It is easy to get swamped with fulfilling orders and handling post sales support and returns etc.

While that is true for most smaller vendors, i do think that it is a chicken and egg kind of thing. I mean, if the site is well designed and managed to begin with, you will not see that many support requests, product inquiries and returns/exchanges.

From my own experience:

I mentioned that part of my job is to manage and maintain a large, high-volume e-commerce site. When I first started this job years ago, the site was horrific. The company was inundated with complaints and questions and returns, etc., just horrible. Customers sent us emails or called to yell at us about how bad the site was on a daily basis. And there was a lot of exchanges and returns b/c we hadn't done our part to make things clear on the site which caused mistakes/false expectation on the customer's end when they ordered. Every day I would spent most of the time dealing with these B.S.

So, I told the company that it was time to switch to a better host, to redesign the site, etc. Once that was done, the effect was instantaneous. Immediately, support requests, product inquiries, returns/exchanges and complaints dropped at least 80%. It was a grueling process I'd tell you that but it was well worth it! Now, we have time to concentrate on growing the business instead of just merely and barely surviving.

 

[John Alexander]

This happened to me this morning. Site advertised free shipping and the cart said "free shipping" all the way through my order. That is, until I hit the final button to confirm my purchase. That's when I got a popup that said, "Based on your location, shipping charges have been updated." They were now almost $6 for less than $5 worth of merchandise.

 

[patkin]

Already said but having just been through a week of tons of bookmarks traveling around trying to get simple spec info I'm exhausted and frustrated.

1. Answer your "contact us" or emails! and do it fast or you'll loose a sale and, consequent, return customer! Come on already... customers can't hold the item, read the back, see the size in their hand.... which brings me to:

2. Give good specs.. the mah included! on a 510 vs 510 mega or their PCCs, I don't want to hear "twice as long"... what the #@$% does that mean if you don't give the mah on either one!!!! Don't make assumtions on what your potential customers know. Just because the 510 has been around a long time doesn't mean there aren't noobs to it out there. New vapers are coming into the market in droves and older ones are looking at 510s to use out instead of their Provari. So, if you don't like answering questions... just give the info needed on your site for pete's sake!

Edit: just an added note cause now I'm ticked ... I couldn't even find threading info (like on Volt, Bloog, Smoove, etc) without hours spent finding youtubes that gave the info so they all lost my business opting instead for 510... the name of which at least gives me the threading.

 

[grandmato5]

Pretty simple for me, if a website does not list any one of these I simply will not order from them: a physical address, phone number, warranty policy, or return policy.

I will not order attys or cartos or clearos if they do not list aprox ohms of the product on the site. Even just saying LR or SR or HV does not tell me what I need to know as MY expectations of LR or SR or HV may be very different then the vendors.

I will not order if I have to go all or even almost all the way through checkout until "just before" confirming an order to see how much shipping will be without giving me any clues beforehand. Even if ones software doesn't give that information until almost the end point it still can be listed in a basic information part of the website so the customers knows what to expect- example being if they have a $5 flat rate charge OR $3 shipping with over $75 purchase being free, or 1st class postage based on weight with priority mail used over 13 oz, ect.

Too many good websites and vendors to deal with those that for ANY reason will not provide basic information that customers need to make an informed decision before placing an order. Being a small vendor should never relieve a business from providing basic information that a customer should have before placing any order.

 

[Racehorse]

I have noticed that some ebay sellers automatically block you from bidding if you ask a question.

No, EBAY has set it up so it affects your DSR ratings IF there is communication between you and your buyers. Can you believe it?

In other words, they want the transaction to go thru w/out ANY communication, as communications back and forth might indicate a problem rather than a smooth sale. Loook it up, I'm not kidding you.

I used to sell some stuff there many many years ago when it first started, and still buy a few things, and read the forums.

 

[Racehorse]

One thing that might be causing delayed responses is some of these places are not really companies with lots of employees. They are more likely one of two people running the whole show. It is easy to get swamped with fulfilling orders and handling post sales support and returns etc.

Im sorry Scott, but if you can't run a business like a business, then dont' open a business.

People can sell stuff in the classies or something then, or sell to friends and neighbors. Once you put up a shingle, you are in business, and you had better start acting like one. You hire somebody to answer emails if you're too busy mixing, and you hire somebody to ship if you don't have time to ship and mix and answer emails.

that's WHY it's called a business, and paying employees is a customary business expense.

I've seen many, many businesses go under due to this, penny wise and pound foolish. We live in a fast paced world, esp. out on the internet.

ONE CLICK and I have left "your" site and gone to somebody else's.

I sometimes wonder if vapers aren't yet aware of the actual $$ that comprises the ecig business. Sales of blu eCigs contributed $14 million to Lorillard's total net sales for the quarter (Well over $61 million since they bought it). Even little companies are reporting growth rate of 600+ percent between 2011 and 2012.....

the way some vapers talk about vendors it makes it sound like they are little old ladies barely getting by........not true. This industry is a huge money maker, don't kid yourself. In 2012 sales of e-cigarettes in America were between $300m and $500million, say analysts and expected to rise.

http://www.statisticbrain.com/electronic-cigarette-statistics/

This is precisely WHY they want to tax it. Lots of sales, lots of taxes.

 

[piggy]

How about getting a juice that tastes nothing like it's described, downright nasty, and nothing left to vape. Organic green apple my ...!!

 

[BostonVape]

Im sorry Scott, but if you can't run a business like a business, then dont' open a business.

People can sell stuff in the classies or something then, or sell to friends and neighbors. Once you put up a shingle, you are in business, and you had better start acting like one. You hire somebody to answer emails if you're too busy mixing, and you hire somebody to ship if you don't have time to ship and mix and answer emails.

that's WHY it's called a business, and paying employees is a customary business expense.

I've seen many, many businesses go under due to this, penny wise and pound foolish. We live in a fast paced world, esp. out on the internet.

ONE CLICK and I have left "your" site and gone to somebody else's.

I sometimes wonder if vapers aren't yet aware of the actual $$ that comprises the ecig business. Sales of blu eCigs contributed $14 million to Lorillard's total net sales for the quarter (Well over $61 million since they bought it). Even little companies are reporting growth rate of 600+ percent between 2011 and 2012.....

the way some vapers talk about vendors it makes it sound like they are little old ladies barely getting by........not true. This industry is a huge money maker, don't kid yourself. In 2012 sales of e-cigarettes in America were between $300m and $500million, say analysts and expected to rise.

Electronic Cigarette Statistics | Statistic Brain

This is precisely WHY they want to tax it. Lots of sales, lots of taxes.

Very well said RaceHorse.. companies need to ASSUME they will get swamped with orders and need to be prepared.. otherwise did they just expect to only sell a few things a day?

what happens is they usually will get swamped.. but then not get extra workers for another few weeks because of training, and then by that time, customers have already moved on to sites that can fulfill their orders in a reasonable time..

I mean some juice vendors take 2-3 WEEKS to process orders? I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous! (unless of course its only the shipping that takes that long coming from overseas which is understandable)

 

[oldsoldier]

One of my pet peeve's is searching thier site up and down looking for thier location. I want toknow where they are shipping from first!

ECF Registered Suppliers are required to have a physical location on their contact page. Whether it be a street address or a mailing address. If it is a mailing address you at least know the general area the business is located I'm sure most will not have a NYC mailing address if they are located in Los Angeles


ETA: there is an exemption to this rule for Canada, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia etc.. But ECF members from these regions already understand it and these Suppliers are in their own seperate areas of ECF, not likely to be accidentally used by folks outside of their region.

 

[oldsoldier]

Very well said RaceHorse.. companies need to ASSUME they will get swamped with orders and need to be prepared.. otherwise did they just expect to only sell a few things a day?

what happens is they usually will get swamped.. but then not get extra workers for another few weeks because of training, and then by that time, customers have already moved on to sites that can fulfill their orders in a reasonable time..

I mean some juice vendors take 2-3 WEEKS to process orders? I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous! (unless of course its only the shipping that takes that long coming from overseas which is understandable)

As a consumer I definitely agree.

But... I also think we have become spoiled. When you order by mail or off the TV it is standard to expect a delay of several days to a couple of weeks. Just sayin...

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Already said but having just been through a week of tons of bookmarks traveling around trying to get simple spec info I'm exhausted and frustrated.

1. Answer your "contact us" or emails! and do it fast or you'll loose a sale and, consequent, return customer! Come on already... customers can't hold the item, read the back, see the size in their hand.... which brings me to:

2. Give good specs.. the mah included! on a 510 vs 510 mega or their PCCs, I don't want to hear "twice as long"... what the #@$% does that mean if you don't give the mah on either one!!!! Don't make assumtions on what your potential customers know. Just because the 510 has been around a long time doesn't mean there aren't noobs to it out there. New vapers are coming into the market in droves and older ones are looking at 510s to use out instead of their Provari. So, if you don't like answering questions... just give the info needed on your site for pete's sake!

Edit: just an added note cause now I'm ticked ... I couldn't even find threading info (like on Volt, Bloog, Smoove, etc) without hours spent finding youtubes that gave the info so they all lost my business opting instead for 510... the name of which at least gives me the threading.

Yep pretty sad when I have to go to a Chinese ECF listed website for technical details. In regards on how to setup a website Healthcabin Electronic Cigarettes - Wholesale and Retail has it all- tech data, tutorials, etc.

 

[Satava]

Things I wish all vendors would have: (Some mentioned already)

1- Physical sizing in mm and inches. IE Smoktech Natural. 22mm diameter, 108mm length max.

2- Quantity in stock. Yeah, I wanna know if I should order today or wait til that other item I'm holding out for is in stock also.

3- Single listings for multiple color choices. Dropdown options for selection. Quantities of each in stock.

4- Expandable Menus for browsing. IE Batteries&Mods->510/Ego/VV/Mechanical/Replacements(18650&18350 etc)

5- Plays into 4- Clear menus that aren't taking up a whole page or limited to weak choices. IE:
Batteries | Atomizers | Tanks | Carts | Rebuildables | Rebuildable Supplies | Liquid | DIY Supplies | Accessories
With good expandable menus a simple line browsing setup could be ideal.

6- Allow guest checkout and have passworded invoicing for viewing order status. (RTD does this)

7- Free shipping on orders over $xx and upfront shipping costs. First class / Priority / UPS / FedEx options