Another New Guy says hello

I would like to say hi to you all. I am very new to newsgroups, but am hoping to meet some cool people. I run an online craft supplies company and I am trying to service it through to how crafters and cardmakers want it to be, so I can guess this is sort of market research really. I would love to know, and appreciate any tips or pet hates you may have about buying your craft supplies.

Thanks to you all Ben

Reply to
Ben
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I'd love to have a Wish Lish tab so that I can "window shop" when I'm broke and find what it was I liked when I've got the money.

Thanks.

Melissa in Seattle Pages in 2005: 94

Reply to
mlderr

A good idea and thanks for the suggestion. I have a system at the moment, so when you have logged on, the website will remember the contents of your cart until you purchase of delete them. Would this be the same sort of thing do you think?

Thanks again Ben

Reply to
Ben

Hi Ben, Welcome to our group and hope we can be of use to you. We love answering questions and talking about our addiction!

Hugs, Sabrina in Kentucky

a good friend is a life long treasure

Reply to
Sabrina

One of the things that turns me off about online shopping for craft supplies is high shipping charges and sites where the navigation is poor. I also dislike sites that use frames or use flash or anything else which requires additional programs to view the site. I don't like when a site says monthly specials and I click on it to find an empty page or specials from a month or two before. I will not buy from any site that does not list an address and a phone number in case there is a problem. I absolutely hate when a site has background music. Some of the things I like are when sites have a what's new page and a well functioning search feature. I also like sites that take paypal because I don't like giving out my credit card numbers.

Reply to
Scout Lady

Reading what you wrote I realized that one of the things that really drives me crazy is when the cart empties if you take a break. I was shopping at that website that Jean mentionned yesterday and had the order up to about $86.00 when I was interupted. My intention was to spend another $14.00 to get free shipping. When I came back the cart was empty. I started over and was interupted again. Needless to say I did not order from them at all despite the fact that they had great stuff and I liked the way their website was laid out. There is no reason that they can't keep a shopping card pending for a number od hours or even days.

Since many scrapbookers are people that have a pretty busy life, I'd say make sure that your shopping cart is well placed and stays filled until the person checks out. If they leave and come back, find a way to let them know that they still have items in their shopping cart. Make it easy to add or subtract or even delete items from the cart and if at all possible always provide a link from the shopping cart back to the item.

Just my two cents worth...

Reply to
M-C

I agree with M-C. I hate it when you only have a certain time limit to shop, I usually take longer and my cart empties. This leads to frustration and I'll shop elsewhere! Barb:o)

Reply to
Barb

M-C that feature of web sites has saved me so much money. hehe I don't have time to go back and pick the stuff out a 2nd and 3rd time. I do wish the cart wouldn't empty so I could get the things I thought I needed and wanted.

Reply to
King's Crown

Got to admit it saved me a whole bunch of money too! LOL!

Reply to
M-C

MC.... if you get a username there, it will hold your shopping cart indefinitely.... and she just got a TON of new stuff in.. I'm going to forward this comment to wendy... she will fix that... PROMISE you.. but again, go to the message board, get a username and sign in.. then you will always keep your shopping cart.... you don't have to participate on the boards either....

Reply to
bluejean

Welcome Ben! And good luck on your venture.

Judy, SA

Reply to
JK

Wow! Ditto to most of what you said! And straight to the point aswell! I must say one of my pethates are also that background music! LOL.

I also don't like sites that are too "busy". Keep it simple and rather concentrate on the products with clear pictures and discriptions and for what it can be used, in stead of the "decoration" of the the webpage :) Some sites launch new products and talk as if you allready know what it's all about. This is very offputting to newbies.

Judy, SA

Reply to
JK

I'll ditto the background music issue...it is soooooooo distracting. When I am serious surfing I turn off the sound. Hate it!!!!! Also prefer PayPal payment, as there is so much CC fraud now and if sites don't take PayPal I don't shop. One of the other boards {in UK} I read had many card fraud posts, some being done twice in less than a month. Most of the sponsors of that board take PayPal now! I had just got a new CC and changed banks, so decided I wouldn't shop online with any of the new cards. The PayPal account I use only has small amount I put there for online shopping. Hope that helps!

Reply to
Marilyn

Jean, the third time I tried after getting and signing in with a user name and the same thing happened again. Very frustrating!

M-C

Reply to
M-C

Thats making me wonder if your security settings in IE are to limit cookies.... if you have them set too high it won't work at all... wendy tested it, I tested it, a few others did and its working... I put stuff in my basket a week ago, still there, and I leave stuff in there for over a month sometimes.... weird....

I hope you can get this to work.. wendy is an awesome woman and she will special order anything you want, she carries all the newest stuff, if you check out the message board, she has given us a list of the stuff coming after CHA (and its incredible)

Reply to
bluejean

Just wanted everyone to know that after registering everything did stay in my basket. So I will be checking out this site as I did like the set up and the merchandise. I still can't speak for the prices as I have not compared those. I will be checking those oup via a few of the standard items that just about everyone carries. One of the things I do like is the collections that she puts together with the matching Bazzill. A great way to get things that coordinate, since it is really hard to see the "true" color on a computer.

Jean please let her know how impressed I was with the fact that she checked into this so quickly and increased the timing for guests. I am sure that that alone will help increase her sales as most people shop the first time and then register.

Reply to
M-C

I think I missed something somewhere. What site are you talking about? Sandy

Reply to
Sandy

Glad to hear it - thanks for the response - hope to pick up some good tips!!

Ben

Reply to
Ben

Thanks for the reply, Your post is very helpful. Thankfully I don't have any of these pet hates on my website, so will be sure I do not add any!!

Ben

Reply to
Ben

Thanks for your post. I am pleased to say I have a site that remembers your shopping cart until you empty it or purchase. I appreciate your comments though - all a learning process for me!!

Ben

Reply to
Ben

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