2 The Realities of Purchasing On-Line

2 The Realities of Purchasing On-Line

This page is in response to customers who

have had less than pleasant experiences in

purchasing from on-line retailers.

The growing trend among retailers is to have

little or no inventory in stock.

It costs nothing to offer something for sale, it

does take an investment to have the items

on the shelf.

This allows retailers to pop in and out of the

business, ever wonder why so many

e-commerce websites come and go on the

internet?

Many retailers use two common practices in

handling customer orders.

The first is that when a customer places an order

it is held until the retailer can arrange to have the

items drop-shipped from a distributor, if they are

available - and usually with an additional

drop ship fee.

Sometimes you will see a one to two week shipping

time shown on a website.

More often than not there will be no time frame

displayed on the web page.

This can lead to long lead times between placing

your order and receiving it as well as the possibility

of receiving the wrong item.

If there is a problem with the order, who do you deal

with - the retailer or the company that shipped your

merchandise?

This can also present problems when your order

has items that come from different distributors.

The second practice is for the retailer to take a

customer's order, hold it until they have enough

different orders to shop them around with the

various distributors to make up a minimum order.

This procedure can take several weeks and force

the customer to dispute the credit card charges.

I just heard a new one.

You order on-line or by phone and the website or

sales person says the item is in stock.

Two or three weeks later and order has not been

delivered.

You call or e-mail and ask about your order.

The reply is that the item or items are in

"warehouse transfer."

That translates to the item was never in stock.

An old saying:

"We have eggs for a nickle a dozen but we

just sold our last dozen this morning."

Many on-line retailers have surprise shipping and

handling costs.

Now it's time for me to step down off my soap box

and put on my self-promotion hat.

We have hundreds of items on our web-site that

are in-stock and ship from our location.

Many of these items we use ourselves so we

can answer questions about them.

We Do NOT drop-ship merchandise.

When you see an item on this website and it

has a price, it is in stock at our location.

When an item is out of stock, you will know it, as

the price is removed and an "On Order<<<<<<"

note is posted next to the item.

If possible, the due back in date is also shown.

Our website is updated at least once a day.

We want you to know that the item will ship the

same or next day from our inventory.

Our money is invested in inventory, not smoke and

mirrors.

We ship Monday through Saturday and you know

going in what the shipping costs will be - no handling

charges are added to your order.

When you have a technical or application question

you get an answer, not a song and dance routine.

When you call or e-mail about an item for your

application and we do not think it appropriate for

your needs, we will tell you so and if possible

suggest an alternative.

Sometimes we miss sales this way but we do

not get phone calls from unhappy customers.

sincerely,

John Drake II

7/26/08

105 Statement of Policy & Warranty/Returns

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