Update 12/2:  I’m putting this postage thing on hold for a day or two until I can put together a video showing you guys how to use it, how to customize it for your own shop, and how to disable it if you don’t want to use it at all.  Nothing about this is difficult, you won’t need to be any kind of computer geek, so don’t worry.

Update 12/2:  The problem with viewing your dashboards and orders reports was due to that banner I had at the top of the page about the new tracking number system.  It had nothing to do with this new shipping system at all.  Now that the banner is down all dashboards and orders pages appear to be accessible again.

You may have noticed we’re working on adding an additional shipping option for our customers.  Put something in your cart and then view your shopping cart and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  I have tested this.  It works and doesn’t mess anything up as far as the website goes.  Now I need to work out some way to explain everything to the customers, which won’t be a problem.  I just wanted to get something on the page for you vendors before you start asking questions.

So here it is, just my notes, in no particular order…

Update 12/1:  I’ve set up a page to explain this to the customers.  You can read it HERE.

I know a lot of you pay the additional fee for a tracking number on your larger orders, just to be on the safe side, and you do so out of your own pocket.  Now, you’ll have the option to NOT do that.  If the customer wants a tracking number they can pay for it.  I also know this might create some risk for you and I intend to put some strong wording in our shipping policy for the customers to encourage them to pay that additional fee if they want a tracking number.

This is a good time to test this out and iron out any problems.  December is historically a horrible month for sales.  So please, feel free to let me know what you think and what you’d like to see.

I’m going to roll this out with just the $2 fee for a tracking number.  If it works, I think I can also add a Priority shipping option if you guys want it but that’s for later on down the road.

I’ll be putting together a video to show you how this works.  Probably on Monday when the kids are back in school.

Update 12/1:  Still have 3 vendor shops where this doesn’t work yet but I’ll have this fixed by Monday, too.  I just need to add your shipping addresses.  (Coupons R $$$, The Pon Shop, and Smarsh Couponing – if you guys want to see how this works you’ll have to add an item from someone else’s shop to your cart for now.)     FIXED

I don’t expect that a lot of customers will pay the additional fee for a tracking number but we do have some who ask for it. You are not required to offer this option. You can disable it globally in your shop via your Shop Settings tab or you can disable it on individual listings.  (Please do not make any changes to your settings until I have this finished.  It should all be done by Monday.)

The default fee is $2.00. This is for a tracking number only. If the customer pays the additional fee you are required to ship the item(s) via USPS First Class mail with a tracking number.  You are not required to ship via Priority mail. You can completely disable this option globally in your shop via your Shop Settings tab or you can disable it on individual listings. You can also change the dollar amount of the fee, either globally or on individual listings.  (Please do not make any changes to your settings until I have this finished.  It should all be done by Monday.)

The default setting is set to charge only one additional fee of $2.00 regardless of how many of that one item the customer orders. You can change this option globally in your shop via your Shop Settings tab or you can disable it on individual listings.  (Please do not make any changes to your settings until I have this finished.  It should all be done by Monday.)

If the customer orders more than one item from you and they pay the $2.00 fee for just one item, it is expected that you will ship all of their items in one envelope with a tracking number.

You will be required to add the tracking number in the Tracking Number field on the Orders page on your dashboard.

Update 12/1:  At this time, and until the dust settles, you will receive the full $2.00 in your Paypal transfer.  This will probably change.  You will receive $1.80 in your Paypal transfer.  We’re only keeping enough to cover the additional Paypal fees.  If you change this fee in your own shop then we will also adjust the amount we withhold to cover the Paypal fee.

Whether or not we refund the shipping fee to the customer should a problem arise will be decided on a case by case basis.

The shipping fee, whether it’s free shipping or $2.00, will show up on your order confirmation email, on your order when you view it in your dashboard, and it’s included in your commissions due total.

Update 12/1:  If the customer does NOT choose to pay for a tracking number you still have the option of using one if you like.  It’s totally up to you but, as I’ve said in the past, when you’re shipping out large orders would you rather pay a couple of bucks for that tracking number or eat the refund when the customer claims she didn’t receive it.

 

It’s that time of year again.  Time for the manufacturers to publish their Back-To-School coupons!

August is typically the second-highest selling month of the year.  This year we’re putting the Back-To-School coupons right on the Home page.  Here’s what you need to do to make sure yours are included:

Use this tag:  Back To School Coupons

The “Back To School Coupons” tag is already on the list so it should pop up for you after you type just the first 3 letters – B-a-c.  Then, just select that tag and you’re good to go.

When to use the Back To School Tag

Office/School stationery supplies – Notebooks, Paper, Pens and pencils, etc. BIC, Papermate, Five Star, etc.
Lunch box food – Nabisco snack packs, Lunchables, Lance cracker/cookie packages, etc.
Lunch boxes and containers – Rubbermaid, Five Star, etc.
Backpacks

Do NOT use this tag just to make your listings show up on the Home page!  If your listings don’t fall under the categories above then they should not appear under the Back To School tag.  We’ve set this up to make it easy for customers to find Back To School coupons.  If you clutter this category with non-related items then it totally defeats the purpose.

 

There’s a TLDR at the bottom if you don’t have time to read this 🙂

Our system does not automatically delete expired or out-of-stock coupons, it has to be done manually.  If those expired or sold-out listings are not removed from the system they eventually pile up and create problems for the site.

Since most vendors don’t remember to delete expired or out-of-stock listings, I do it – manually – two or three times a week.

BUT – if I just delete these listings I have no way of knowing if you still need them for some reason.  Maybe you got more stock.  Maybe you still have orders to fill.  (Once a listing is put into Draft or deleted, that item won’t show up on the order and you’ll have no way of knowing what the customer ordered.)

SO – I use the OOS tag to designate those listings that are either out of stock or they’ll expire within the next 5-7 days.  I look at every listing, give the OOS tag to those that apply, and then I DELETE those OOS listings 24-48 hours later.  This gives YOU time to decide if you want to keep that listing for any reason and edit it before I delete it.

If YOU are using the OOS tag on your listings – and you put that tag there yourself – then those listings are going to be deleted right along with all the listings that I tag with OOS even if they NEVER expire and even if you have – an unlimited amount of stock.

No, I do NOT look at the expiration dates or stock levels before I hit ‘Delete’.  I look at those things BEFORE I give the listing the OOS tag.  Since I’m the only one who’s supposed to be using the OOS tag, I don’t feel it’s necessary to look at expiration dates or stock levels a second time.

TLDR – Don’t use the OOS tag unless you want me to delete your listings.  If you ARE using that tag, and you put it there yourself –  you need to remove it by 5 am tomorrow morning (5/15/18) or your listings will be deleted.

Tide PODS and Detergent Coupons

Along with every new monthly P & G insert comes the rush of customers looking for those Tide coupons.  Those Tide coupons are great for sales but they cause a lot of problems for the Marketplace.  Problems that generally result in a lot of unhappy customers.  And customers who are not happy generally don’t return.  Worse, they tell their friends how unhappy they are and they don’t shop with us, either.

If you are selling the P & G whole inserts…

Do NOT put the word ‘Tide’ in your listing title unless the Tide coupon is in your inserts.

Do NOT use the word ‘Tide’ anywhere in your product description unless the Tide coupon is in your inserts.

No, you can NOT say, “Tide coupon not included.”  If the Tide coupon is NOT in your inserts, then do NOT mention it AT ALL.

If you DO have a Tide coupon inside your inserts, be VERY CLEAR about which Tide coupon it is.

If you are selling clipped Tide Coupons…

Be VERY CLEAR about which Tide coupon you are offering in your listing.

Do NOT use a picture of Tide PODS if your coupon is only valid on Tide Liquid or Powder Detergent.

Whether you are selling clipped coupons or whole inserts…

Using the word “Tide” anywhere in your listings – especially if you don’t have the Tide coupons – in order to attract more attention for your listing is misleading to our customers and harmful to the entire Marketplace.  No matter how you have it worded in your product title and description, when the customer sees the word “Tide” she automatically adds that listing to her cart.

And, as most of you know, we do not tolerate any activity that makes THCM customers unhappy – regardless of how high your sales are.

I strongly urge you to…

1.  Check all of your Tide listings right now and edit them if necessary.
2. Read our post about Refunds.
3.  Use Priority Shipping with a tracking number for ALL of your large orders, especially if they involve ANY Tide coupon.   Paying an extra $3 or $4 for a tracking number is better than eating a $25 or larger refund or reshipping that order for free.  You are only one seller in this Marketplace so you don’t see all of the hullabaloo that results every time those Tide coupons are released.  Protect yourself and use a tracking number!

OK, let’s talk about refunds today. We don’t think this is a huge problem but some of you might so we wanted to help you understand the process.

First, let’s look at the big picture

We do not see any one individual vendor who stands out from the crowd with regard to refunds. You might think you have a lot but look at your refunds compared to your sales and then look at the big picture.

Currently, refunds are less than 1/2 of 1% of sales. So, for every $1000 in sales we do, we have approximately $4 in refunds.

Also, the average order is currently $6.47 and right now we’re refunding less than 5 out of every 1000 orders. Break it down even further and we’re only refunding one item out of every 670 items we ship.

So no, we are not worried about refunds. But we realize you might be so…

Refunds are a part of every business

It’s a fact and there’s nothing we (or you) can do about it. Orders are going to get lost in the mail and, while that’s not your fault or ours, that means there’s a dissatisfied customer out there. Customers are going to place orders without looking at the expiration date and again, while it’s not our fault or yours, that means there’s a dissatisfied customer out there.

It’s also not the responsibility of THCM to suck up every refund. If you were selling on Ebay you’d be responsible for every single refund, no matter the reason, and it would be your Paypal account at risk.

Refunds you don’t see

THCM issues refunds for any number of reasons you can’t control, such as Paypal glitches, problems with the site, and customer errors. Sometimes we issue refunds just because we want to make that particular customer happy. If there’s no vendor error involved and if it’s not a delivery issue related to the Post Office, THCM eats the refund and does not pass it on to the vendor.

Refunds due to vendor error

We know you’re going above and beyond to satisfy the customer. If you weren’t we’d be drowning in customer complaints and we’re not, so we’re not the least bit worried about that. We rarely get complaints about wrong coupons being shipped, listing errors or bar codes being clipped.

When we do have a customer complaint about something that’s obviously the vendor’s error, we generally ask the customer if they’d like to have the order reshipped or if they’d prefer a refund, before we contact you.

In most cases we contact the vendor to let them know there’s a problem. However, if it’s a timing issue – the coupon will expire or their sale would end before they’d receive the replacement – we generally just issue a refund and then notify you.

What constitutes vendor error?

• Wrong coupon value in Description
• Did not include “DND” or other limitations in Description
• Shipped the wrong coupon
• Clipped bar codes that can’t be used
• Clipped expiration date
• Shipped to wrong address

Refunds that are clearly related to vendor error are passed on to the appropriate vendor and deducted from the next Paypal transfer. You’re welcome to dispute this anytime you like. Seriously. I’m human and I do make mistakes and I’m always happy to correct them.

Refunds due to late deliveries

This is where we get the most complaints and this is where it gets tricky.

We have disclaimers on the Terms page, the checkout page and the shopping cart page stating that we do not guarantee delivery times at all, whether it ships USPS First Class, First Class with Tracking or Priority Mail.

All customers are also required to check the box that they’ve read our Terms every single time they order.

These disclaimers do work. We do occasionally get an email from a customer who says this is the second or third time she hasn’t received something but she didn’t contact us before because of what she read on our Terms page, so we know there are customer out there who are just sucking it up when the Post Office screws up.

Here’s what we do…

Our initial response is always to give the customer all the information we have about her order, when it was placed and when it was shipped, and we also confirm the shipping address.

If it’s been 8 or more business days since the order shipped, we recommend she check with her mail carrier, her local PO and her neighbors to see if it might have been delivered to them.

If it’s been 14 or more business days and the customer is still looking for her order we contact the vendor to see if you know anything about it. If you don’t have a tracking number or any other proof the order was shipped we generally issue a refund, notify you of the refund, and deduct it from your next Paypal transfer.

Yes, we know the USPS is slower than molasses and that eventually 99% of those customers are going to get their coupons and now they’ll be free because we already gave them a refund.

We also realize that many times it’s not our fault, the customer has given us the wrong address but by the time the Post Office returns it marked “Undeliverable” we’ve already issued the refund.

Again, refunds are a part of any business and there times when you just gotta keep the customer happy and suck it up.

Why we generally come down on the buyer’s side

Time is Money – We could spend 30 minutes or an hour researching a problem, which would in turn mean you’d have to spend some amount of time getting us an answer. With you, me and the customer all online at different times we’re talking hours, if not days, spent talking about $2.50.

1. I’d rather not risk losing a customer over $2.50

2. If you’re worried about a $2.50 refund you’re either not looking at the big picture or you have bigger problems to worry about.

Paypal Rules – Paypal will always side with the buyer unless you can provide a) proof the order shipped and b) tracking information.

In the beginning Paypal used to give us the benefit of the doubt. But we process thousands of transactions every month through our Paypal account now. Because of this, and because it’s a business account, Paypal shows us no mercy. If we can’t prove it shipped and if we can’t track it through the USPS system, Paypal will side with the buyer and refund their money every time.

Again, Time is Money. It takes even longer to produce the documentation needed to fight a Paypal Dispute. If we don’t have that necessary proof and we know we’re going to lose anyway, why waste the time fighting it.

How to reduce refunds due to delivery delays

Shipping Address: Always make sure you’re using the customer’s Shipping Address. The shipping address shows up on your Orders Report and on the order confirmation email you receive.

Order Notes: Get in the habit of looking to see if the customer has included any special shipping instructions in the Order Notes. These also appear on your Orders Report.

Give the Customer the Tracking Number: If you have a tracking number, go to your Orders Report and use the Order Notes to send it to the customer. In most cases that does the trick. The customer knows you shipped it and they move on to pick up the discussion with the Post Office.

Mailing Location:  Did you know mail carriers are NOT required to pick up mail from your mailbox – ever? We found out the hard way when our orders sat in the mailbox for 3 days. Carriers are only required to deliver mail – and even that comes with a whole lot of leeway in interpretation.

Did you also know your carrier might not actually move your mail along its way until the next business day after he picks it up? If he picks up your mail right before his quitting time he may drop it off to be processed until the next business day, even if his quitting time is well before the pick-up time at the Post Office.

Outgoing mail gets no priority attention AT ALL unless it’s dropped at a Post Office or one of those big, blue, official USPS mailboxes you see on the corner.

Jessica and I greatly reduced our own customer delivery complaints when we started dropping our orders directly at the Post Office every day. Find out what time the USPS truck picks up and get your orders there an hour before pick-up time. If you’re not near a Post Office, find the nearest USPS drop box and mail at least one hour before the posted pick-up time.

The last time I tried to add some videos to the THCM Ninja blog I realized I’d logged myself out and couldn’t remember my password!  Oh, well, it was time to clean it up, anyway.  So I just moved everything that was still relevant over here.  If you have questions about anything, or if you’d like to see a video about anything, let me know 🙂

Vendor Terms & Conditions – READ THIS!

Banned Customer List

UPDATE:  9/09/19 – How to find and save 500 x 500 images for your listings

Your Vendor Dashboard and Setting Up Your Shop

Add Upsells to Your Listings and Increase Your Sales (Video)

The FASTEST Way to Add Images to Your Listings (Video)

How to Use Your Sales and Orders Reports (Video)

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Title Your Listings

How to Create a Listing for your Coupons – Feb. 6, 2018 (video)

Step-by-Step How To Add Images – FAST and EASY! (video)

Let’s Talk About Refunds

 

Here’s another video to show you how to add images to your listings.  Why?  Well, because I can… and because maybe this one will make it even easier for you!

 

These two videos will walk you through the process of creating a listing.  You’ll also see how to add Categories and Tags, and how to use Attributes to make it easier for customers to find your coupons.  If you haven’t already, I really think you should watch both videos.  They’re very helpful!

 

 

 

Here at THCM we firmly believe in everyone’s right to think outside the box and do whatever works best for their business.  In this case, however, we’re going to insist that you climb inside that box and stay there.  Resistance is futile.

While your focus is on selling your own coupons, our focus here at THCM is on providing the best coupon-buying platform for our customers and the best coupon-selling platform for you. In the end our goals are the same: You want to sell more coupons and we want you to sell more coupons. But to achieve that goal for both of us our focus must be on making it as easy as possible for customers to feel comfortable shopping our site and for the search engines to send us the customers.

Titles for clipped coupons

• MUST start with a dollar sign ($) – Example $1/1
• MUST include a decimal point if applicable – Example $.75/1 or $1.50/1
• Note:  Please do NOT use a ‘0’ as a placeholder.  Wrong:  $0.50  Right:  $.50    —-   Wrong $1.00/1  Right: $1/1
• The dollar sign and coupon value MUST be followed by the name of the product – Example $1.50/1 BIC Disposable Razors
• Next, the expiration date – Example (00/00/00)
• And finally, your lot size – Example Lot of 12

Spacing: I’m one of those oldsters who actually had to take typing in high school but not everyone is a typist. Please check your listing titles to make sure you’re using spaces between dates and words so everythingdoesn’trunoninonelongsentence.

Coupon Description: Where to put all the rest of that information? In the “Product Description” box! That’s where it’s supposed to go and that’s where it appears best for the customer.

 

Titles for whole inserts

• MUST start with the words “Whole Inserts”

Character count: Titles may include up to 51 characters, including spaces.

Spacing: I’m one of those oldsters who actually had to take typing in high school but not everyone is a typist. Please check your listing titles to make sure you’re using spaces between dates and words so everythingdoesn’trunoninonelongsentence.

No More Special Characters

No title can include special characters other than a decimal point, dollar sign, an apostrophe if necessary and a slash mark used to express the coupon value. No asterisks (*), no extended periods (…..), no dashes (-) and no parenthesis other than those used in the expiration date.

Listing titles that do not meet these guidelines will be put into Draft until they’re corrected.

Banned Customer List

Ruqiyyah Abdulmumin
276 Madinah Rd
Commerce, GA 30530

Steven Allen
548 South Simms St.
Simmesport, LA 71369
Also Uses a PO Box
Also uses the name Netia Griffin

Laura Barbee
2920 McClelland Blvd. Apt D
Joplin, Missouri 64804

Suzan Barsik
55 Surrey Drive
Wayne, NJ 07470

Alyssa Beck
324 County Road 145
Wharton, Texas 77488

Katie Behrends
2232 Westbourne Dr.
Oviedo, FL 32765

NEW – Odessa Benbow
2443 NW 8 ST
POMPANO BEACH, FL 33069-2226

Crystal Billups
8177 Jefferson Pk Dr
Baton Rouge, LA 70817

NEW – Princess Boo
4710 fahringer drive
HALLAM, PA 17406

Sharlenta Brown-Phinisee
5410 Towne Hills drive
Hixson, TN 37343

NEW – Stephanie Burse
404 Lesley Dr
DALTON, GA 30721

Maribel Calixto
10281 Old Keeton Rd
Ashland, VA 23005

Melissa Clark
208 Tuckahoe Drive
Barnegat, NJ 08005

Tamecia Clemons
99 Third Street Ext.
Renova, MS 38732

Brian Cohen
9850 Sunrise Lakes Blvd.
#304
Sunrise, FL 33322

Michelle Cooper
6723 County Road 233
Bedias, TX 77831

Tanya Crespo
4255 N. Lockwood Ave, 2S
Chicago, IL 60641

Terry Curry
PO Box 893
Mooreland, OK 73852
terrycurrey1@yahoo.com

Mary D’Agostino
5 Eagle Lane
Fairport, NY 14450

I. Drake
8307 Jameson Pass
Alpharetta, GA 30022

Susan England
6300 W Lake Mead blvd
Apt 2113
Las Vegas, NV 89108

MONIKA FOUSHEE
22500 Leewin Street
2
DETROIT, MI 48219

Amanda Gotshall and Isabella Deleon are using the same Paypal account.  Do NOT ship to these customers!

HIGH ALERT – Amanda Gotshall
35 Covington ct
Mount joy, PA 17552

HIGH ALERT – Isabella Deleon
1513 N Market St
elizabethtown, PA 17552

Jackie Green
359 east 44th Street
jacksonville, FL 32208

Netia Griffin
548 South Simms St.
Simmesport, LA 71369
Also uses a PO Box

Jane Guajardo
630 Fir Street
Woodburn, OR 97071

Leigh Harrell

Leesa Hart
307 SugarPlum St
Houma, LA 70364

Irina Helton
148 E. Lakeshore Blvd.
Kissimmee, FL 34744

Haydee Herrera
4886 Rockvale Dr
Kissimme, FL 34758

Brittany Hoffmann
820 N 5th St
Manitowoc, WI 54220

Sharla Jarvis
95-2039 WAIKALANI PL
APT C102
MILILANI, HI 96789

Joyce Jenkins
1756 Pake Ave.
Mobile, AL 36605

Natasha Jiminez
25636 Vespucci Ave
Moreno Valley, CA 92557

Juanita Jones
5523 irving st
Philadelphia, PA 19139

Laila Khan
245 sunnyridge ave
Fairfield, CT 06825

Pamella Kuduzovic
4431 Chouteau Avenue
Apartment 1120
Saint Louis, MO 63110

Jennifer Lebarron
244 Beartown rd
Painted Post, NY 14870

Brian Kelley
5601 N W Street Lot 35
Pensacola, FL 32505

Mary Kuen
991 Omara Road
Long Eddy, NY 12760

Sothy Kum
17 Farley St
Lawrence, MA 01843
United States

Valadez Leticia
2162 Spring Hill Cir
Spring Hill, TN 37174

Jen Lucianni
8060 Steven David Dr
Strongsville, OH 44149

Amanda May
14715 T Rd
Mayetta, KS 66509

India McKinney
2400 Long Bow Ct.
Charleston, SC 29414

Tara Marzucco
245 N 10th Street
Allentown, PA 18102

Amanda May
14715 T Rd
Mayetta, KS 66509

PATRICIA MCGEE
1425 E TENNIE STREET
GAINESVILLE, TX 76240

LAURA MENDOZA
1311 MELROSE DRIVE
RICHARDSON, TX 75080

Rasheem McDowell

443 Center St
Carnegie, PA 15106

Melissa Morgan
500 Ledgewood Drive
Apt A1
Kittery, ME 03904

Christina Moss
1650 South Fox Run Pkwy
Apt 538
Opelika, AL 36801

Lisa Nguyen
6607 Sunrise Valley Lane
Houston, TX 77083

Brooke O’Connell
20120 Shire Oak Dr. S.
Chesterfield, VA 23803

Sheree Paramore
1320 Brittain Rd. Apt. Dd
Akron, OH 44310

Tawana Posey and Tyrone Hill
348 Carlisle Drive
Dover, DE 19904

Lisandro Quiles
Energia Solar Puerto Rico
PO Box 951
Aibonito Puerto Rico, PR 00705

Jessica Reed
331 Willow Rd
Lakemoor, IL 60051

Maryjane Reeff
1221 A st ne apt c501
auburn, WA 98002

Chris Ridenour
4621 Darlene Street
Charleston, SC 29405

Joel Russo
111 Park Drive North
Staten Island, NY 10314
sijoel2001@yahoo.com

RC Safr – aka: CS Schaffer, C Shaffer, C. Shaffler
731 or 731 1/2 Beverly CT
Neenah, Wisconsin 54956

Gloria Sheffield 
414 Thompson Mill Rd.
Buford, GA 30519

Lashan Skelton
1509 BARBARA DR
LEWISVILLE, TX 75067

 Erin Skinner
125 Colony Pt
Fayetteville, GA 30215

Nancy Smith
Miss Nancy’s Childcare
307 Martin Avenue
Lebanon, TN 37087

Melissa Spicer
7258 S KY 15
Campton, KY 41301

Justin Shreve  OR  Brandy Shreve  OR  Rasheem McDowell

443 Center St
Carnegie, PA 15106

NEW – Myeisha Sturdivant
Regina’s Edible’s Trinity’s Treat’s
253 N 19th St
2nd Fl
East Orange, NJ 07017

Brandie Sullivan
PO Box 387
Roseland, FL 32957

Tierra Thomas
1123 Walcott st.
Columbia, SC 29201

Tory Tortstenson
394 Old Dames Ferr Rd
Juliette, GA 31046
United States

Leticia Valadez
2162 Spring Hill Cir
Spring Hill, TN 37174

Alexis Walters

Tamika Whitley
2428 Laine drv
Granite City, IL 62040

Christy Wise
1682 Range Rd
Wana, WV 26590
christywise80@aol.com

Loren Worley
817 Blackstone Ct
B
North Charleston, SC 29405

Kandace Wright
35305 Chestnut St.
Wayne, MI 48184

Amy Xiong
p o box 2044
Green Bay, WI 54302

Geo Yang
1979
1416 Sterling Heights Ct
apt 4
Green Bay, WI 54302

Where do we draw the line?

Customer complaints, rude customers and customers who are just downright nasty are a part of any business. The website has been up for over 3 1/2 years now and we definitely have our fair share. I try to make them all happy but there are some who we don’t care if they’re ever happy and we would really prefer they get their coupons somewhere else.

We’re drawing the line at customers who file Paypal disputes without contacting us first to try to resolve the issue.

We go to great lengths to keep our customers happy, often issuing refunds that you never hear about – out of our own pocket. These customers each found it necessary to file a Paypal dispute and freeze our funds without ever contacting us to let us know there was a problem. We don’t like it when people reach into our wallet without asking and we’re sure you don’t, either.

I compare it to shopping at a department store. If you have a problem with the toaster you purchased you go to the customer service desk and ask for a refund or exchange. You don’t just walk into the store, walk up to the closest checkout stand, reach into the cash register and take out a handful of money.

Yet the customers on this list have essentially done just that. They’ve reached into the cash register to take back their money without ever even notifying us that there was a problem.

Maybe they’ve had a bad experience with another website, maybe they’re the type that’s easily spooked, or maybe they’re just nasty people with everyone they deal with. It doesn’t really matter to me. They reached into my pocket – and YOURS – without my permission and that’s where I draw the line.

What this means to YOU

Bookmark this page and refer to it frequently for new additions.

If you ship to these customers you do so at your own risk. Should the customer decide to file another unsubstantiated Paypal dispute which puts the entire Marketplace at risk, we may be forced to take immediate action against the responsible vendor to protect the rest of The Marketplace.  They’ve already shown they have no respect for THCM once.  Given the opportunity I’ve no doubt they’d do it again.

If you have customers you feel should also be on this list, please let us know so we can warn everyone.

Unfortunately, nothing prevents these jerks from creating a new account and causing us more trouble. We monitor all orders but with the increase in volume we’re seeing and the fact that we all live in different time zones it’s possible these customers may get an order through to you and you could ship it before we see it.

Be aware that these customers may use a different name or a different shipping address, so please read not only their names but their addresses, too.

Help!  All of my images have disappeared!

If you log in one morning and all of your images have suddenly disappeared from your listings it’s probably because they were too large.

We’re adamant about image sizes. Your product listing images must be exactly 500 x 500 pixels.  Images larger than or smaller than 500 x 500 pixels will be deleted without warning.

You may NOT upload images directly from your digital device, they’ll be way too big for our website.

The Happy Couponer Marketplace is extremely image-heavy.  This large number of images creates a load on the site every time a visitor loads a new page, and each image causes the site to load just a tiny bit slower for our visitors.  Larger images cause an even larger load which results in even slower load times.

And slower load times means lost sales!  Online shoppers don’t want to wait more than a couple of seconds for a website to load.  If it takes too long they just go elsewhere.

 

Help!  Orders are disappearing from my Orders Report!

You shipped all those orders yesterday and now they’ve disappeared from your Orders Report.  What happened?  Is there a problem with the website?  And more important – Will you still get paid for those orders?!?!

Don’t Panic!  Yes, you’ll still be paid and no, there’s nothing wrong with the site.

Only orders for listings that are published will appear on your orders report.  If your listing goes into DRAFT or is deleted from the site, that item no longer shows on your Orders Report.

BUT – you still need to ship the order AND you still get paid for it.

Every day we browse the site for coupons that are going to expire 3 -5 days out and we put those listings into Out of Stock status so they’re no longer visible to the customer.

This one act alone tremendously decreases refund requests from those customers who don’t take time to read the expiration date on the coupon listing.  They’re in a hurry to get that hot coupon and don’t bother to read all the information before they place their order.  They also think the US Postal Service can work miracles!

Listings that are in Out of Stock status will still appear on your Orders Report.

However, sometimes, for various reasons, we might put a listing into Draft instead of Out of Stock.  It doesn’t happen often but sometimes you’ll have an order disappear from your report because we put the listing into DRAFT right after a customer places a last-minute order.

What can you do?

If you need that order to come back to your Orders Report, simply edit that listing and click ‘Publish’.  Don’t forget – that listing is now visible to customers so you’ll want to take it back to DRAFT or TRASH again as soon as possible so it can’t be ordered.

You can also get that same order information from the order confirmation email you received, which includes the item(s), quantities and shipping address.

Don’t Worry!

Don’t panic.  YOU might not be able to see that order but we can.  We have access to much more information than you do and we even have a program in place that calculates your sales in real-time.  Nothing ‘disappears’ from this program unless we physically remove it and that never happens.

The only time we take any kind of deductions from your Paypal transfer is when we’ve issued a refund to a customer and this information is kept in a separate report, apart from your earnings, so your actual earnings are always visible.

 

What if I messed up and the customer wants a refund?

It happens.  We’re all human and we all make mistakes.

And then there’s that old adage about pleasing some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but there’s always that one person out there you can never please, no matter how hard you try.  Unfortunately, it seems like they’re always ordering from YOU!

 

How do you handle the refund?

Because all customer payments come IN through the THCM Paypal account, all refunds are issued out through THCM’s Paypal account.  Then we deduct your portion of the sale from your next Paypal transfer.

Refunds happen, and we totally understand.  Please be prompt in notifying us when you need us to issue a refund.  We never judge.  We’re here to take care of YOU and the customers and if a refund is what it takes to make everybody happy and solve the problem, then let’s get ‘er done!

 

 

Now that you have some listings and orders, here’s what happens next!

The customer automatically receives a confirmation email with complete order details, including the names of the shops he’s ordered from.

THC automatically receives a confirmation email with complete order details, including all products, prices, and shop names.

The seller (you) automatically receives a confirmation email with only the products purchased from your shop. You’ll want to keep these emails until you’ve fulfilled the order.

The Sales Report on your Vendor Dashboard is automatically updated each time someone orders a product from your shop.

This report shows the product(s) ordered, the total quantity for all orders of each product, and the total commission earned by product.

To see the individual orders for each product you simply click the link that says “Show Orders.

If you click on “Show Orders” you’ll see all the orders placed for that product.

When you click on “Show Orders” you’ll see all the information you need to fulfill all the orders for each product.

 

All of your orders will always be visible on your Vendor Dashboard.  To see orders for a specific day, or to see only new orders, simply select the date(s) you want to show.

 

NOTE:  When you delete products they disappear from the Sales Report

It’s important to note that when you delete products from your shop you will also delete those products from your Sales Report. Always make sure you’ve shipped all existing orders before you delete a product. (This is why we recommend you keep your order confirmation emails, too.)

Your vendor dashboard is always available using the drop-down menu under “Vendors” in the navigation bar at the top of every page. This is your starting point.

From the vendor dashboard you have links to:

My Shop – This is what the public sees when they come to your shop. You can copy this link and use it in emails, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

My Settings – This is the page where you can create a shop description, explain your shipping procedures, or anything else you’d like people to know about your products/service.

Submit a Product – This is the page you’ll use to enter and edit each product.

Sales Report – Your sales report is always visible on your vendor dashboard. Be sure to read “Your Sales Report and The Order Process”  for more information about Sales Reports to learn what you need to do to get paid.

 

Setting Up Your Shop

Once you are logged in as a vendor your Vendor Dashboard can be found here:  http://thcmmarketplace.com/dashboard/

From your Vendor Dashboard you can access your Store settings tab and the Payment settings tab.

 

Under the Settings Tab

 

Under the Settings tab, the following information is required:

• Your shop name:  Can be multiple words, no underscores or hyphens necessary.  No special characters allowed.   After you’ve given your shop a name, please add a hyphen ( – ) and then add the state you ship from.  Ex: Susie’s Coupon Shop – Ohio.
• Your store country, city, and state:  We don’t need your physical address but your country, city and state are required.  Many of our customers look to see where you’re shipping from so they can get their orders faster.

 

You may not use “The Happy Couponer”, “The Happy Couponers”, “Happy Couponer” or “Happy Couponers.”

No special characters allowed. You may use an apostrophe to designate ownership, such as “Donna’s Shop”.

It’s not necessary to separate words in your shop name with an underscore. Simply type the name of your shop exactly as you’d like it to appear.

Your shop name appears on all of your listings and it’s automatically linked to your shop. When buyers see your shop name on an individual listing they can click that link to view all the items in your shop. Again, this link occurs automatically. You don’t need to do anything special.

After you’ve named your shop you’ll be provided with a link you can use for promotional purposes. The link will look like this:

http://thehappycouponer.com/vendors/name-of-your-shop/

This link is automatically generated. You don’t need to do anything special.

 

Under the Payment Tab

 

Under the Payment Tab, please be sure to provide your valid Paypal address so we can send you your earnings each week.  We will make no attempt to contact you if you haven’t given us this information.  We’re all adults here.  If you want your money, give us your Paypal address.

It’s a fact:  The more time you spend in a store the more likely you are to make an impulse purchase.  You might think you’re only going in for milk, and that’s why it’s at the back of the store.  As you walk by all those other attractive displays between the milk and the checkout stand, something is bound to grab your attention and you’ll toss it into the cart, too – even though you never even thought about buying it.

Give Your Customers Something to Look At

Once your listing is live go take  look at it and see what the customer sees.  It’s pretty, but it’s kinda boring.  Just that one product staring back from the page.

Now, imagine that ‘one product’ is a coupon for Prego spaghetti sauce.  If you went to an actual grocery store to buy Prego you’d probably find a huge display with not only Prego spaghetti sauce but also packages of spaghetti and parmesan cheese.  Maybe even some garlic bread.  And you’d probably buy at least one of these other items.

What if, when the customer clicks through on your Prego listing, they could also see your coupons for Ronzoni pasta and Kraft Parmesan Cheese?  And that coupon you have for New York Garlic Bread?

Get the idea, now?  Good!  Because you could also use this extra space to highlight those hot coupons that everybody’s looking for or those unique coupons that nobody knows you have or those coupons that are about to expire that you’ve marked down.

What Space Am I Talking About?

The Upsell Space!  And here’s how it works!

It’s a fact:  You get the online reader’s attention with an image.  Regardless of how well you’ve written your title or listing description, the first thing the customer will notice is the image you use.   So it only makes sense that the better your image the better your sales.

Size Matters!

The best size for listing images at THCM is 500 pixels wide by 500 pixels high.  Anything smaller or larger – even if it’s only 1 tiny pixel – will appear distorted on the site.

Danger!  Large images, like those you upload directly from your camera or mobile device, will cause the site to load slower for the customer.  And if it takes too long to load they’ll just go somewhere else.  Sooo…

Images larger than or smaller than 500 x 500 will automatically be deleted from the site, without warning, beginning November 1, 2016.

Watch this video and I’ll show you how to quickly and easily add quality images to your listings.  Really.  It’s a piece of cake!