If you’re a business owner, how your customers are treated can make or break you. For me, Starbucks is almost always a gauge for how I’d like to be treated. I’m greeted in a friendly manner, I’m not made to feel like an inconvenience and the transaction ends with a thank you of some kind. If they make a mistake, they apologize and make it right. Nothing complicated or over the top, just simple courtesy.

I think sometimes we forget we should expect a certain level of customer service from our online transactions as well. Just because there’s no face-to-face doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be valued as a customer. I recently had several transactions that were excellent examples of how we should and shouldn’t be treated.

As I was writing this, I originally shared a lengthy rant on some awful customer service I received from a national craft retailer, who shall remain nameless, both in-store and online.  Instead, I’ll just say they won’t be getting any more of my business if I can help it, and move on to the positive side of my story. 

There isn’t a Hobby Lobby store anywhere near me, so I’ve never shopped there before. Recently, I was searching for an item online that they happened to have the best price on. I placed the order and received it as promised. It was a simple transaction, but what impressed me was the fact that there was a card in the package that had been hand-signed by the person who had packed my order.  That’s a company who hasn’t forgotten that they’re shipping to a person.

I’ve ordered from Spoonflower before, but it’s been a long time.  When I placed my order last weekend, they estimated with printing time and shipping that I would have my fabric in about 10 – 12 days.  I was very happy with that.  I was delighted when my order arrived in my hands in under a week.  Again, my receipt was hand-signed and my fabric was wrapped in tissue.  I know they are a very busy, growing company but I still felt like they cared about my one little bit of fabric.  I’ll be back.

Another retailer I’ve never ordered from before is Pick Your Plum.  I just signed up for emails from them, so every day they send me the deal of the day.  Last week, it was baker’s twine.  I’ve been looking for a spool of red and white for a while now, and was thrilled to find it and at such a great price.  It shipped before they said it would, arrived quickly and was packaged well.  They even included a piece of candy, which having a ridiculous sweet tooth I always appreciate. 

You’ll notice none of my examples include any giant orders, big issues that required direct communication between me and the company involved or anything else dramatic.  They were all small, simple transactions, but were fulfilled by the retailers with a certain level of care that made me happy to do business with them.  It’s what I strive for as an online retailer myself, and what I expect as a customer.  If you’re not feeling valued in your online transactions, it’s time to reevaluate where you’re spending your money.  Just like in the brick-and-mortar world, there’s always somewhere else to shop.

I’m a big fan of shopping online.  I love being able to sit at my computer, in my pajamas, and look for anything I might need.  Or not need.  It also makes me happy that someone will bring it to my door.

You all know I have a shop on Etsy, but they’ve come up with a few new things recently that make shopping there even better.  The big one for me is that you can now purchase from an Etsy shop without using PayPal.  You can simply use a credit card right from the cart.  Yay!

There’s also an Etsy feature I like called “Gift Ideas.”  It’s in the lower left corner of the home page, under “Ways to Shop.”  It looks at your Facebook friends’ interests and suggests related items.  Some of them are pretty good.  Some are just entertaining.  I laughed when it suggested a whole bunch of Strawberry Shortcake items for my son who likes strawberries.  But the chocolate chip cookies are spot on.

I just noticed you can now create a wedding registry on Etsy (upper left corner).  My wedding was almost 21 years ago, but I’m hoping other types of registries will follow.

This might be surprising, but I just recently placed my first order with Fabric.com.  Fabric is one thing I rarely order online, mostly because I like to be able to feel it.  But the prices were too good to pass up, and I’m very impressed with them so far.  I ordered some swatches first, which were much bigger than I expected (about 8” squares) and came very quickly.    They offer very good sales and I found the colors and descriptions to be accurate.  I’ll definitely order again.

My most recent shopping discovery is called Tophatter.  It’s an auction website, but it’s different than any I’ve seen before.  It seems to be handmade, vintage and supplies, and from what I’ve seen so far many of the sellers are from Etsy, looking for a new outlet for their goods.  It’s fun to watch, if only for the little animated auctioneer.

Handmadeology will be hosting a Live Mother’s Day Auction on Tophatter on May 5th, which might be a good time to check it out.  It appears that Tophatter gives you a $5 credit to use toward your first purchase over $5.  I haven’t used mine yet, and it’s only good the day you register, so keep that in mind if you decide to check out the site.

Edit:  When I wrote this post, I had applied to be part of the Handmadeology Mother’s Day Auction, but didn’t know if I would be accepted – I was!  Also, I’ve been given 10 Tophatter invitations, so if you need one, email me and I’ll invite you.

Now I’ve got to give the shopping a break and get back to work.  Let me know if you try any of these out!