Okay Guys and Gals, I really need a bit of help here!!! Please Read!

Well, This is indeed been week of a bit of frustration!

4 different times this week, I have received emails from customers who have placed an order via our website at satinsnowglass.com....

As many of you know, I use a paypal shopping system at this time and have for over 2 years now...

These 4 people have emailed me, stating they have not received an order confirmation.......and my stock reply is always, did you get an email from paypal stateing you have made a payment to Ground Glass Specialties?

In every single case, they have got back to me stating..."Oh, my paypal account is tied to an email I don't check very often!" and "Yes, there is an email stating I made and order"

As I said in my other message a couple of days ago, since June, we have received 2200 orders, where the frustration comes in, is if you are using an email address on your paypal account that you don't check, the odds are, your not going to see a confirmation email!!!! If your email address you check all the time IS different than your paypal email address, I have no way in the world to know what your frequently checked email is!!!!

So please pass on the information, if your paypal email is something you don't use often, please check that email address BEFORE you email me in anger! I have no way to know what your email address is, other than the one that you used to make the payment and I depend on my ordering system to email you back acknowledging you have placed an order, if for some reason you DON'T get an email from paypal stating you have sent money at the email address you use for paypal, then please email me, or check your paypal account to verify the order went through...One other thing, when I ship an order to domestic address, I use the USPS system to send out a notification of mailing, so if the email address is different on the order than your regular email address, it is most likely not going to be noticed if you don't check the email address you used to place the order.

But I am not a mind reader, I can't send emails to email addressed I don't have!

Thanks for your support, with the amount of orders we receive, I just need a bit of help here.

Dave Parker
Satin Snow Ground Glass

Dave Parker said:

..and my stock reply is always, did you get an email from paypal stateing you have made a payment to Ground Glass Specialties?

...if you are using an email address on your paypal account that you don't check, the odds are, your not going to see a confirmation email!!!!

Click to expand...

Does your website state or address this on it? Seems it would surely help to state it clear and loud there.

"Dear customer, thank you for your order.
You will receive an email shortly adressed to your paypal account email address stating we have received your order"

Dave, have you considered setting up a commercial bank account - or at least the ability to take 'real' credit cards over the phone or by web interface?? I'm not criticizing you... but easy as though paypal IS - there are certainly disadvantages (!!).

Dave, didn't you get the memo? Sellers are expected to read buyers' minds! Silly boy.

If the buyers aren't supplying a different email address for you, how can you possibly send them a confirmation?

Sparky said:

Dave, have you considered setting up a commercial bank account - or at least the ability to take 'real' credit cards over the phone or by web interface?? I'm not criticizing you... but easy as though paypal IS - there are certainly disadvantages (!!).

Click to expand...

Sparky,

Yes, I have a credit card acceptance program, I take about 100 phone processed credit card orders per month, if I have to go further and have a web interface for what you call "Real Credit cards" I will stop making glass as that type of system is far to expensive to a person whoes average product costs $10 bucks...

I have never found a disadvantage to paypal as you don't even have to have a paypal account to order from us and your NOT required to sign up to order from us..by the way, I have a commercial bank account...

The only problem I am having is people ordering things from one email and expecting to get a confirmation at another email address....I am hear to tell you, IT AIN"T GOING TO HAPPEN!

Dave

blaze-on said:

Does your website state or address this on it? Seems it would surely help to state it clear and loud there.

"Dear customer, thank you for your order.
You will receive an email shortly adressed to your paypal account email address stating we have received your order"

Click to expand...

I have tried to make the ordering process as easy as I possibly can, anybody that uses paypal knows they will get a confirmation to the email address they use for paypal when they send money, but it is not my fault if someone uses a different email address to send money, than they normally use, I don't quite understand how someone can send money to someone with a address they don't check everyday!

Dave

Dave Parker said:

In every single case, they have got back to me stating..."Oh, my paypal account is tied to an email I don't check very often!" and "Yes, there is an email stating I made and order"

Click to expand...

Maybe these people shouldn't be handling glass

Oh, and keep up the work on a GREAT product. I bought a GG from you a couple of years ago and was very satisfied.

Poor Dave. Time to roll another cigey and take a long sip of the scotch. Chill baby! We love ya.

Maybe it would be appropriate to remind people that you can edit your PayPal preferences and have the confirmation sent to an e-mail address you DO read...

I get very little spam from PayPal so there's no real reason not to use your "real" address.

Steve

I'm afraid there is not answer. During my short time in retail, I learned there are just some people who work very hard at being idiots.
juan

"The only problem I am having is people ordering things from one email and expecting to get a confirmation at another email address....I am hear (sic) to tell you, IT AIN"T GOING TO HAPPEN."

Of course it isn't. Why take up space here to tell us something as self-evident as that? You might as well tell us that "if you don't have a telephone I can't reach you by telephone." If this is a big problem then fix it by sticking a line or two on your order form or web site as blaze-on suggested, posting a rant here isn't going to accomplish much.

Campbell said:

Of course it isn't. Why take up space here to tell us something as self-evident as that? You might as well tell us that "if you don't have a telephone I can't reach you by telephone." If this is a big problem then fix it by sticking a line or two on your order form or web site as blaze-on suggested, posting a rant here isn't going to accomplish much.

Click to expand...

Dave is pretty good about keeping his customers informed about what is going on, and a lot of customers of his are on APUG. Hence the message. You just aren't aware of what is going on.

roteague said:

Dave is pretty good about keeping his customers informed about what is going on, and a lot of customers of his are on APUG. Hence the message. You just aren't aware of what is going on.

Click to expand...

I apologize for my ignorance. I just kind of thought it made more sense for Dave to be dealing with the people who actually order something (e.g. by putting a line or two on the order form) rather than by asking everybody here to read his plea for help when the people here can't possibly comprise a significant percentage of his orders (he says he's had 2200 in just three months, I don't think this forum has anywhere near even that three-month number of regular readers who are also going to be ordering anything in the near future). But then as you say, I probably just don't know what's going on, hopefully you'll enlighten me.

Campbell said:

...snip..., posting a rant here isn't going to accomplish much.

Click to expand...

I think Dave just wanted a 'ear' to lean on. You know - to vent to a community of his friends. Give him some slack.

Regards, Art.

Campbell said:

I apologize for my ignorance. I just kind of thought it made more sense for Dave to be dealing with the people who actually order something (e.g. by putting a line or two on the order form) rather than by asking everybody here to read his plea for help when the people here can't possibly comprise a significant percentage of his orders (he says he's had 2200 in just three months, I don't think this forum has anywhere near even that three-month number of regular readers who are also going to be ordering anything in the near future). But then as you say, I probably just don't know what's going on, hopefully you'll enlighten me.

Click to expand...

Well you might be very surprised to learn, that approx 7 out of 10 orders come from people who are a member of APUG, another amazing little fact, is often times when I post a message here, I get quite a few others that will post the information on the other major internet message systems, such as P-net, LF.info, Luminous Light, Etc. so by my posting something here, it does get spread around. As I said, our orders from members here, are about 7 out of 10 orders, and I would guesstimate that 50% of the people shooting LF gear on this website have ordered at least one screen from us. Many have bought mulitiple screens from us.

Dave

Is 2200 orders since June typical of the volume of your sales? Some of these types of orders have the potential of being spam. I have seen this before.

If you know someone who is good at software/web programming, PayPal has the capability of integrating with a verification process you write for your site. For example, this means that the person placing the order must respond to an automatically generated email verifying the order before the order is placed.

Defnately recommend clearly stating your ordering policy on your site.

Good luck. Ecommerce is always a fun challenge.

snowymtphotos said:

Is 2200 orders since June typical of the volume of your sales? Some of these types of orders have the potential of being spam. I have seen this before.

Click to expand...

Yes, it is typical, and I would not expect a spam order to transfer funds to my account, the system is set up correctly, as our other business is the web with several hundreds of ecommerce sites on the net for our clients, there is nothing wrong with the system I use. There is no underlying motives here on the part of those ordering...or on me letting people know that their confirmation will be sent to the email they use for paypal.

Dave

Dave, I should have read your original post on this a bit more carefully. It was about getting the word out to everyone and not asking for advice which was what I posted.....my appologies.
Best Regards
Cody