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Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. - HOW DOES YOUR SITE WORK?
A. - Briefly, the way my site works is this: You have a really neat Christmas product to sell. Together, you and I agree that your Christmas item would be a good fit for the Ultimate Christmas Page. I make a page up for you. You give me a wholesale price, I then mark it up and list it on the page. When a order comes in, I notify you, you make it and mail it out to the customer, tracking that it has been delivered. You send me an invoice form (I will provide this to you) and I have 30 days to pay that invoice.
Q. - WHAT'S A WHOLESALE PRICE?
A. - A wholesale price it the amount that you want to make on the item. I want you to be happy doing this, so keep that in mind. The retail price is the price that I will list on the page, the price after I add my margin.
Q. - WHAT'S YOUR MARGIN/MARK-UP?
A. - That is determined by your wholesale price. My margin is based on a grid. The lower wholesale priced item, the higher my mark-up, the higher your wholesale price, the lower my mark-up. A standard mark-up is 50%, I don't mark my items up that much, because I don't have the overhead that is included in a retail store. When you give me your wholesale price, I can then determine the retail price. I'm not trying to be evasive, I just can't tell you that info without a wholesale price to base it on.
Q. - HOW DO YOU MAKE MONEY?
A. - I don't, unless you do. My page is free for you do be on, I only make money if we sell your products. I chose it do it this way as I want my vendors to be happy. I know some sites where you pay to be on the site regardless of whether you sell one item or not.
Q. - WHY DON'T YOU JUST BUY MY PRODUCT OUTRIGHT?
A. - I do not have a retail store. I work out of my home and only through the internet. Therefore I'm not in the position to buy product from my vendors and store it.
Q. - WHO SHIPS?
A - I ask my vendors to ship the product directly to the customers. When determining a price for your items, please also determine a price for shipping and handling. You can combine the prices or you can keep them separate. Some vendors may need a shipping grid, that's fine. But, please try and be as accurate as possible as, you are responsible for shipping.
Q. - HOW DO I KNOW HOW MUCH TO CHARGE FOR SHIPPING?
A. - Package one up and weigh it. You can either take it to the post office and have them help you or you can get on the internet and check out the UPS site at http://www.UPS.com, the Fed Ex site at http://www.FedEx.com and the United States Postal Service site at http://www.USPS.gov. They should all have info to help you determine your shipping costs. Some items are better to ship UPS and some are better priority two-three day with the post office. But, again, please be as accurate as possible, as you are ultimately responsible for the shipping. If you did not include enough shipping, I will still pay you what the customer paid me. If you find you have undercharged for shipping, please let me know asap and I'll change the price on your page. You will still be responsible for all items ordered under the incorrect shipping charges. Please bear in mind also, shipping outside of the USA. I'll put on your page the shipping price is within the USA only, but please be familiar with shipping outside the USA as we have had orders from other countries.
Q. - WHAT DO YOU NEED FROM ME?
A. - I will need a wholesale price that you'd like for your item, shipping charges, a detail description of the product, a scan (JPEG or Gif) or photograph to put on the page, delivery time, and a sample of the item. I also need a completely filled in vendor agreement. It needs to be on the exact form that I sent to you. It needs to originate from me, then be sent back from you. I will provide this form for you when you request it. I can't start working on your page until we get this done.
Send photos and items to:
Kim Flynn
4017 S. Chapman Rd.
Greenacres, WA 99016
(509) 893-1716
After receiving this information, I can then review it to determine if your product will be a good fit for the Ultimate Christmas Page.
Q. - WHY DO YOU NEED A VENDOR AGREEMENT FORM?
A. - Couple of reasons:
1. I need to be able to contact you if the need arises. E-mail is convenient but SLOW. So I need all the info to reach you.
2. I also need to know your exact wholesale price so I can pay you. Before I had the agreement in place, I had a discrepancy with a vendor concerning their wholesale price after I received an order. I need us both to know exactly what wholesale and shipping prices we agreed upon.
3. It clarifies the process for both sides.
Q. - WHY DO YOU NEED 30 DAYS TO PAY ME?
A. - After an order has been shipped, you need to track the delivery to verify that the customer received the items. I have a 14 day return policy, if for any reason the customer needs to return the item, this will all fall under the 30 days. I feel that is good customer service and is really important for me to do.
Q. - WHY DO YOU NEED A 25 DAYS GUARANTEE FROM ME?
A. - I offer a 14 day money back guarantee, this extra 11 days allows time for the product to be returned to you. I feel that the internet is new enough that it's very important that the customer be guaranteed they will be happy with the items they ordered. This return policy does not apply to shipping charges.
Q. - WHY DO I NEED TO LET YOU KNOW IF I'M UNAVAILABLE?
A. - I only really need this info during the Christmas season. It got really busy after Halloween, and it's frustrating when I'm sending out orders and it takes days to receive an order confirmation from one of my vendors. When I send out an order, I need to know that it has been received and the date it will be shipped. If you are unavailable, I will assume that something is wrong with the e-mail and continue to send the order form to you. This gets frustrating on both sides. All you need to do is send me a quick e-mail asking me to hold your orders for a couple of days. I can then send the order to you when you get back.
Q. - WHY CAN'T I INCLUDE PRODUCT LITERATURE IN MY PACKAGING?
A. - I work really hard to make this a good Christmas site. I want the customer to continue to come to me to order items. If you include your own product literature, name, addresses or phone number, the next order from that customer might go directly to you. If this happens, we all lose. Not only do I not have the customer coming back to my page, but the other folks on the site don't get the customer coming back and possibly buying their items. I'm really sticky on this one, if I find this happening, I'll have to discontinue our business relationship. You might gain one customer, but you will ultimately lose out on the opportunity to get many more.
Q. - SHOULD I EXPECT ORDERS ALL YEAR LONG?
A. - Not necessarily, the orders started in late summer and fall. A few came in earlier, but the majority started in the Fall. It would be a good idea to spend the early months doing your prep work. How well your items will sell is really a mystery, I had some items that did very well and I had some items that didn't do very well. I would prefer that you not make a lot of product ahead of time and store them. This puts too much pressure on both of us. I really can't guarantee that an item will sell and would feel bad if you had made a large supply ahead of time. However, I will do all that I can to make your page attractive and easy to use.
I hope I've answered all of your questions. If you can think of any that I didn't list, please e-mail me and I'll answer it and also post it to this page.
Thanks and I look forward to doing working with you.
~Kim