Deadly Drop Ship Mistakes
Posted by Lily O'Halloran on Mon, Aug 10, 2009 @ 12:42 PM
Are your drop ship sales less than stellar? Believe it or not, you may be sabotaging your own sales. Use this guide to determine if you are making any deadly drop ship mistakes.
Shipping Fees
Reasonable shipping fees are a normal part of business; however, exorbitant fees are not. Sky-high shipping and handling costs do more harm than good. Although you may try to reason that adding a few bucks or more is a reasonable way to up your profits, doing so generally lowers your total sales. The few extra bucks per sale do not make up for total lost sales. Want more sales and repeat customers? Charge reasonable shipping fees, and leave profits to product prices.
Product Details
Forgetting to list important product details? Expect lower sales figures, frustrated customers, and an increase in the number of customer emails and calls. What can you do? Provide as much relevant information as possible in auction listings and product descriptions to decrease the number of customer inquiries. Most customers would rather locate desired information themselves rather than email or call for an answer. Less customer inquiries equals more time for you to focus on growing your business.
Customer Inquiries
When dealing with customer inquiries the most important thing to remember is professionalism. What does professionalism mean in this case? It simply means that you should respond to all inquiries in a timely manner with a calm, courteous response. This is your time to shine. Share your expertise. Be patient, friendly, and helpful to watch your sales grow.
Backorders
Backordered products are stressful to customers, sellers, and everyone involved. Although it is impossible to avoid backorders 100% of the time, it is possible to minimize the number of occurrences. Pay close attention to all inventory counts. If you regularly sell a hot product that tends to run out of stock frequently, then you may want to consider keeping a few of the product on hand. In a pinch you can fill the order, rather than wait for your supplier to re-stock the product.
For more information on how to deal with backorders, check out How to Deal With BackOrders.