Official Blog of the Tophatter Auction House
And low and behold, the ever so important follow-up after a sale.
This is the last and final segment of a three-part series that explains the importance of customer service from a Seller’s perspective: before the sale, during the sale and after the sale.
Part III: After the Sale
- Communicate! When you’ve received the customer’s payment, send them an e-mail telling them thank you and letting them know when the item will be shipped, or if it doesn’t ship immediately, when it will be shipped.
- Nonpayment. New buyers can’t bid on a second item until they’ve paid for the first one. So, maybe they aren’t sure how to get in touch with you? Maybe they don’t know where their invoice is? If you haven’t heard from them in 24 hours, send them a personal email with a friendly reminder. If they need help, direct them to the right place.
- Updates. If there are any issues that cause you to have to delay shipments, please email your customers and let them know. That way, they don’t leave you negative feedback because they can’t find you and need to ask a question.
- Feedback. The incentive program will be reliant on customers reporting that they had a great shopping experience with the first Seller they dealt with. Tophatter will be sending out Feedback reminders, so sending out a bunch of requests for Feedback probably isn’t the best approach. If you do send one, please be gentle in asking and point out how important it is for you to hear from them so you know how you’re doing and if there are any areas where you could use improvement.
As mentioned at the beginning of this series, these ideas work for new and “old” Buyers alike - the transaction and experience is almost the same. If you keep these ideas in mind, you might be amazed at how many new sales and customers you end up with!
By Katie Nelson
