Post Charge Back Thoughts and Decisions

I will admit that any hope a seller may hold onto of winning a charge back is pretty hopeless.  However, as a frequent optimist (all business owners better me mostly optimist), I was holding on and hopeful that American Express would decide in my favor.  I knew the sign had been delivered, and I had provided the bill of lading number for the AMEX review.  The check and loss had already been accepted, but I still gave myself a chance of “winning”.

About a week ago, the debit to my PayPal account took place.  I had already accepted the reality of it, but the finality made me crazy.  Not only was the the sign and shipping credited back to the customer, but PayPal charges $20 for the pleasure of taking your money.  And, as the pessimism snuck deeper into my head and heart, I added up the material cost and labor cost.  These cost with the shipping that won’t be refunded totaled more than $500 more than the charge back.  Bottom line:  I felt pretty beat upon.

[Aside:  My ebay store that had  100% feedback also took a hit last week.  A customer who bought a $5 item felt the need to refer to my customer service as “terrible” and to “question” how I could have 100% feedback.  Well, he took care of my perfect feedback. (I filed a complaint, so we will see if it sticks) He got a refund plus got to keep the product I shipped despite his late request for a refund.  One more customer incident last week and my “Why do I deal with customers and make so little?” would have have had me the “why” with a “no good reason”.  But, yet I hung on….]

One friend felt badly that I was dealt such a bad deal with the magnet sign, that he decided to help me recover a portion of the charge back.  He posed as an insurance claims adjuster.  The conversation went something like this:

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“Hello, Eddie”, said Claims.
“Yes.”
“We have paid SignsSeen off for the charge back you filed against them. We would like to pick up the sign.” stated Claims.
“What sign?”
Claims replied, ” The sign you purchased and filed a charge back over.  You claimed the sign was poorly made and of poor quality.”
“Oh, that sign.”
“Since the sign is damaged and you are unable to use it, we just want to pick it up to try and get some of our money back on it.  You also mentioned the letters were not working for you.  We will pick those up at the same time that we pick up the sign.” informed Claims.
“I did try and use the letters.  What will you shipping cost be?”
“Do you still have the box the sign shipped in?  If not, it would cost us about $250.” replied claims.
“If it is just $250, I could pay that and save you the trouble.”

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So, if my friend gets $250, he will give me the check.  But, this issue combined with the small ebay issue has left an extremely bad taste in my mouth in recent days.  Working nearly full-time for “hobby income” is stupid.  So, the net results of these events, my thoughts and other business & personal issues are I am turning my business of 7 years back into a hobby.  The phones will still ring, but we may not pick up as often.  The orders will still be processed, but they may not ship same day.  And, I am cutting expenses and likely selling less, but I figure I will still net more money.

I can’t think about that charge back without getting very angry.  But, if God needed to use the charge back to nudge my “job” back into a hobby, then I think it can still be a good investment!

 

Credit Card Chargebacks

I will be one of the first to admit that my products are not perfect.  And, not every customer will love the item they purchased right out of the box.  Since I want to try and keep customers happy, I will try and work with them when this happens.  As the seller, I usually think I get the worse end of the deal, but if the customer is mostly happy, then it hopefully all works out.

As I opened my email this morning, I received one of the worst type of emails I could receive. A customer had initiated a chargeback for the item he purchased.  Because I had no idea of the problem he had with his sign, this was very disturbing to me.  I immediately emailed the customer to try and find out what problem  he encountered.  I also logged into my credit card processor to provide the proof of shipping and receiving information that they required.  I then went about my day with a less than positive attitude.

When my email was checked a few hours later, the customer had responded.  He let me know he had emailed me 10 days ago and addressed his concerns.  (I never saw it until this morning.) After I did not respond, he told me he had no choice but to file the chargeback.  Did he have the right to file the chargeback?  Of course!  Did he have a choice?  Well, if his phone worked he did!  It is hard to try and resolve an issue if you don’t know the issue exists.  And, if you are about to make a decision that affects another persons ability to do business (my credit card company haq “frozen” funds for the total cost of his purchase until the issue is resolved–sometimes this takes 2-4 weeks), it seems like a phone call and voice mail is the minimum step any customer should go to before choosing to initiate a chargeback.

I have filed chargebacks in the past.  Before I have done it, I have sent numerous emails and left several messages.  If they don’t respond to voice mails, then the assumption is they don’t want to be reached.  Rarely (if ever), do I send one email to a person and automatically assume it goes through.  If they don’t respond, I send another or I call.  When you assume, neither one of us is completely innocent.  And, I believe customers need to take some responsibility…especially if the sale is over $1,000.

The additional irony with this sale was this:  After the customer placed the order, I called him (yes, with a phone) within 2 hours of the order being placed to confirm what he wanted with the sign.  I guess he didn’t remember my phone worked after the sign arrived….

Can I give you a tip…..??

I purchased a business a few years ago on eBay, and, for a few years,  the boys helped operate it.  I was preparing to hand it off to my daughters, but my experience of yesterday will probably prevent that from happening any time soon….
The day started with the train ruining my dropping off of my daughters at school.  After running slightly ahead of schedule, the “train” completely ruined any opportunity of being early.  After making a “U-ee”, we navigated to get around the stopped train.  Is a train really allowed to stop for over 5 minutes on a train as traffic continues to pile up?  Just FOUR more train cars!!!!  I still had to modify my “commute” after dropping them off–the train was still sitting there.
After having been gone for a long weekend visiting Harding University, my laptop was anxious to be fired up.  But, it did not want to be fired up to allow me to do any “work”.  It was excited to let Norton scan all of its necessary innards for a FEW hours.  I was not completely unproductive due to my “backup” computer, but it was much less productive than normal.  And, it was the need to fulfill the filter orders that have allowed me to “provide” my tip….
The business in question is providing carbon pre-filters to customer who use small home air filters.  The carbon filter is purchased in bulk, and the filter is cut using circular scissors.  Each filter size has a separate template to ensure the filter is cut correctly.  If the scissors attempt to cut the filter but are not able to make complete contact with the filter, often the template needs to have the scissors ran along its edge more than once.  (The surface we cut on is not completely even, so we generally kneel on the template while the scissors run along  the edge.)  As I was cutting one order yesterday and feeling a little frustrated about my morning, I was doing one of those “secondary” cuts.  Unfortunately, the middle fingertip of my left hand was slightly outside the protection of the template.  It happened pretty quick, but it will be hard to remove the view of my fingertip (very thin, but yet recently a connected part of my body) setting on the cutting mat.  Since the injury was not cauterized immediately, my immediate concern became stopping the bleeding.  And, it took awhile….
  • Paper towels:  These were a constant part of the process.  The fingers are full of blood vessels, and the contents of a few of them flowed out my fingertip.  A few paper towels were soaked on that day!
  • Pressure:  I tried pressure, but since a tourniquet was not going to be self-administered, I moved on to plan C.
  • Cold:  Since it was on the fingertip, I put ice in a cup of ice and made my finger dive-in.  This had some success, but besides fully numbing my finger, it did not adequately slow the flow…
  • Elevate:   Finally due to boredom with the entire bleeding process OR an actual outwitting of the individual blood cells, this solved the problem.

Thankfully, this allowed me to “sort of” get some work done.  Not smoothly or without hiccups, but progress was made on my swelling list…  Two bandaids were needed–one over the top and down the sides and one around the tip.

A bandaid change and a bit of hydrogen peroxide and the finger was put to bed for the night…only a little seepage.  Handwashing has do be done to prevent gravity from prematurely soaking the bandaids, but the temporary modification shouldn’t kill me.
And, why do I write this out?  As on many days when I hope to be productive, God proves he has a sense of humor.  He reigns in our ambition and forces us to accede control to Him!

Supplier Purging

Never an easy thing to do, but over the past week I have purged a few suppliers from the websites.  (There may still be some residue of their presence on a site or two.)

Most of these suppliers have been on the site for 2-4 years.  They were good suppliers.  They shipped promptly.  They provided tracking information once the items shipped.  And, they were easily available by phone and/or email.  So, why were there products removed from the websites….

  1. Lack of sales – I would love to say every supplier that allows me to put their product on my site is guaranteed LOTS of sales.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.  My websites have been around a few years, and despite the efforts of my SEO folks, some keywords just have never gained traction.  They know the right way to attach this dilemma, but after a few years of uncooperative sales, it is time to retire the suppliers.  In most cases, I have maintained the category and referred the web customer directly to the suppliers website.
  2. Infrequent orders = Ineffective Process – This may come down to some degree of laziness, but it is a fact that cannot be ignored.  Both my assistant and I “dread” the order coming in from a supplier where the last order was more than 3 months ago.  In many cases the margins may not be as high due to the product being a less expensive item.  And, with the additional effort needed to “remember” how to place the order, the profit margin on the product goes down even more.  The supplier this most strongly applies to was a good supplier, but when the profit is less than $10 per item, it is hard justify.
  3. Web Maintenance – There are two parts to this problem…both revolving pricing.  When orders are placed infrequently, the supplier does not think of you very quickly when they have to raise their prices.  When an order comes in, often customers need to be called back to make sure they still want to make the purchase.  And, of course, once the NEW price sheet arrives the web pricing needs to be updated.  If the price sheet is over 800 items, their is considerable time to update ALL items.  If only we knew which items were to be purchased, we would only up date those….
  4. Ineffective Marketing Efforts – As I seek to use blogs and Facebook and articles etc to highlight the products I carry, SO many products make the marketing inconsistent.  My goal continues to be marketing the products where my margins are highest.  My incentive goes WAY down when I make so little on each sale.  This is more an indictment of me then my suppliers.
I am fortunate that many other products continue to sell well on my various websites.  And, when I am not learning and growing, I am growing bored and burnt out.  I may regret my recent purging, but it has reinvigorated me (at least temporarily) to dive back in with more passion.  Feel free to contact me!

Something about Friday

My sign business had a pretty good day today largely due to a museum that bought 10 signs off me.  Unfortunately, the museum was a museum that included the oldest profession and other related topics.
And, as if the museum was not enough, I received a tech support call from a “ranch” in Nevada that also engaged in the oldest profession.

Any lessons to be learned here?  None other than the downward spiral of society in general.

Chaos

As I took my walk today, I did my normal stuff:  mostly hoping and praying the whole family makes wise choices and seeks guidance when making those choices.  And, my a moment, I thought “I like a little chaos in my life”.  Then, I had to scale it back to, “I like a little unpredictability.”  And, finally, I had to settle for, “I can handle my car keys in the wrong place once MAYBE twice a week.

Honestly, I am probably a little more flexible than that.  But, the goal of flexibility is leaning on the ONE who can give you guidance.  And, when Mr. Flexibility demands a visit, you will ride out the chaos just fine.  Fine?  Hopefully, fine enough that next time there is a struggle Mr. Flexible will be greeted with same attitude of “I knew you would be coming, I just didn’t know when.”

Parents with Kids on PayPal

I had one of thos random calls from PayPal today trying to upgrade my service.  It started out the service rep asking about the person who owned SignsSeen.com over 5 years ago.  And, a little detective work, and she ended up talking to me.

Apparently, PayPal now offers a “feature” for folks who own a few websites but get tired of managing all of the websites separately.  One of the accounts can be set up as the “parent” account and the other accounts are set up as children accounts.  The biggest benefit is all of the “children” accounts have the funds sent up to the “parent” everynight.  And, I did confirm that reconciling the accounts is still a fairly easy process.  So, we will see if I agree when I reconcile next month.

Of course, I couldn’t avoid asking a “cute” question.  My children are my existing accounts and my parent is my NEW account.  My question, “So, which comes first the parent or the child?  The child.”

Stop That Computer Fretting

I did it yesterday!  I supposedly solved all of my web server problems.  I have been dealing with VERY slow loading web pages on SignsSeen for almost 6 months.  Numerous culprits have been blamed:

  • The Google tracking codes
  • Adding images in a non-normal way
  • Database being too full of products
  • Too many categories
  • Too much happening on the front page
  • Too many custom modules
  • Too many simultaneous visitors

What did I do?  I added more memory–2 GB to be exact.  And, all of that would be great if the site indeed loading more quickly.  I did choose to have the server upgraded mid-morning–even though it would cause customer problems.  Fortunately, my consultants did confirm the web server effectively resuscitated. And, after the consultants get back from their Indian holiday on October 6th, I am sure my web server will finally achieve its own nirvana.

My mobile office

I have had built my business to be mobile over the past few years, and that mobility allowed it to move to Texas from Ohio with very few snags. But, when I built the mobility in, I did not realize how I was accident-proofing my business. In the past 6 months, both my hard drive and video have gone out on my computer. And, although I (rather my business) purchased a new computer today, these are the things I have done that have prevented the problems from crippling my business.

  1. I have both a 2-Gmail accounts and 1 Yahoo account. I have had a couple of different internet carriers, but I always felt more confident sticking to an email I could control after I left their service. The assistant I hired shared the one Gmail account with me as we track customer issues, and the other Google account is my personal business email. The Yahoo account is almost exclusively personal with a couple of exceptions.
  2. I set up an Efax account. The allows me to fax and print from whatever internet connection I am using. I also have a MyFax, but only for sending faxes like email addresses – sometimes the MyFax is just easier.
  3. Carbonite has saved me twice just this year. After losing some pictures a few years ago, I was not going to be in that position again. As I write this, my 2nd full restore is taking place this year. If I was relying on my backup harddrive or DVD backups, I would not be nearly as calm as I am now.
  4. Citrix for my Quickbooks. If my Quickbooks went down and I lost records, my business would suffer greatly. But, after downloading a file and relogging in to my account, I have full access to ALL of my business records again. And, the chat that is available within Quickbooks is also secure.
  5. Google Apps: Both of my Google accounts share some files, but MY stuff stays away from my assistants view. And, what we both need to see can be shared. Yet more calm when a PC crashes. And, the “Task” list is not necessarily an app, but it does provide a way for my assistant and I to keep track of open issues.
  6. I operate more than 5 websites. My consultant wrote a custom application for osCommerce that allows me to have a “Super Admin”. I can change orders and download customer data from one application. It prevents me from having to have multiple browser tabs opened for each website.
  7. Google Voice and 1stVoice: They both allow me to provide one # that forwards to wherever I am. A must when you move states, AND when you are not always in your office.

I may have missed something, but if anyone else has any other thoughts or ideas, let me know.

I did hire someone…rather a consultant…

Well, it has been quite awhile since I did a post. But, since it has, it is convenient that the subjects are tied together…

During September of 2009, I did begin the process of training a backup. It has had its ups and downs, but this is why it has been successful:

  • I hired the right person – I interviewed a couple and considered a couple of others. I allow the person to work during the middle of the day while her kids are at school. The flexibility is fantastic for her, and I am able to do both business and personal things while she manages things.
  • Flexibility – Although the training had its challenges and occasional frustrations, we both had the end goal in mind. The present arrangement allows her to log in from her office to both the phones and the accounting program. We chat on line if issues come up, but daily she gains a little more knowledge. And, she has every Wednesday off. This allows her to still “feel” like she is a stay-at-home mom one day a week.
  • I hired a consultant – I did not want the headache of an employee, so from the start, she had the option of the hourly wage if she were an employee OR if she was a consultant. And, since the consultant wage was higher, she chose this. If she were an employee, I could dictate her hours better. Fortunately, things have worked pretty well.
  • Have plenty of work for them to do – Last March, I hired a consultant in India to help with my website. She was very good at doing exactly what I told her to do. However, when it wasn’t clear, the 10 1/2 hour time difference had me on Skype far longer than I would have desired – often until midnight or after. Now, when my “American” consultant isn’t answering the phones or placing orders, she can update websites and do other minor changes to fill the slow times.
  • Be honest – If they see you being dishonest with customers, they question if you will always be honest with them. And, during the training period, she saw how I tried to keep the customer in the forefront of business decisions. If the sale is not right for me or the customer, she saw how I directed the customer to a site or company that might better meet their needs.

What was the driver in hiring a consultant? Beyond the possible burnout, my wife wanted to take a family vacation over Christmas. Prior to this hire, I had always taken my laptop with me. But, on this vacation, I could leave the laptop at home and know that all customers and orders could still be addressed. It was a VERY good feeling!!