Eight Best Business Practice Tips for Online Merchandise Sellers

The business of selling merchandise online has its own particular challenges. One must become an expert in safe packing and shipping. One must be good at judging the tone and intent of e-mail messages from customers, and one must be able to describe items so that a customer is willing to take a chance on purchasing something they have not seen in "real life."

As a longtime online booksellers, we have developed the following list of best business practices that have contributed to our good reputation and our bank of repeat customers:

1) Be detailed and explicit in describing what you are selling-- flaws and all. Particularly if you are selling used items of any sort, it is of the utmost importance that you detail any and all damage, dings or drawbacks to the item.

2) Include as many high quality, high resolution photos as possible. Fuzzy low resolution images will not do the job.

3) Present your return and refund policy in brief and simple language. Do not go into exhaustive detail; do not present a paragraph-long set of rules for customers to read. In our experience, this puts off honest customers who will feel distrusted and bullied by such long statements. Most customers will likely not read long statements of policy. Difficult and contentious people will find the overly-detailed policy to be a challenge and will be more likely to buy from you and then present problems.

4) The tried and true adage "the customer is always right" still holds true. Do not argue with customers, even the irrational ones. Of course, If you believe that a customer is actually effecting an unethical scheme, get advice on how to take legal action. Otherwise, regard the necessity to occasionally provide refunds as part of the cost of doing business. In most cases, the best policy is to take the loss and move-on. Recoup your losses by putting your time and energy into the rest of your business, rather than in disputations with customers.

5) Package with the utmost care to avoid damage in shipping. While shipping insurance is a good idea on expensive items, claims will be denied if the shipping company believes an item was inadequately packaged. It is still best policy to package with the worst possible shipping conditions in mind. For fragile items: double boxing, with packing materials between the two boxes will almost always do the trick.

6) Keep neatness, aesthetics and basic good taste in mind when packing. Do not use strange or odd materials to package items, such as old socks, paper with stains or any hint of food or garbage. Only use printed newspaper to wrap items that will not be negatviely effected by the rubbing off of ink.

Do not use packing matierals that have any kind of strange odor. Never, never, include scented dryer sheets to mask a strange scent given off by the item or the packing materials.There are online sellers who recommend this terribly unprofessional practice. Dryer sheets have strong perfume that many people find to be either offensive or allergenic. If an item has an offensive odor--do not sell it!

Print neat and totally legible shipping labels; do not write the address is a scrawling or unusual handwriting. Remember, the visual impact of the package itself will set up a positive or negative expectation as to item they are about to unpack.

7) Correspond with customers when the purchase has been made, when the payment has been received, and when the item has been shipped. Also check e-mail regularly and respond to all questions from buyers as quickly as possible.

8) When problems occur on your end: i.e. you find that an item is out of stock, lost or damaged; be honest, apologetic and provide all refunds immediately. Do not make up fake reasons for your own mistakes. Doing this will lose credibility for you with your most valued customers. Tell the truth and make quick restitution. Most people will appreciate that you are being straightforward and will not hesitate to shop with you again.