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Date:         Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:09:06 -0700
Reply-To:     Old Volks Home <oldvolkshome@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Old Volks Home <oldvolkshome@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: eBay Professor for Vanagon parts ...
Comments: To: Mike S <mikes@flatsurface.com>
In-Reply-To:  <20070626001626.A3FA01165C3@hamburg.alientech.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Mike -

No, they don't HAVE to say they ship whatever from they're location, but it goes a long way to customer satisfaction to know where the item(s) come from. Full disclosure is EVERYTHING to me as it keeps customers INFORMED. It matters to me when I order something online to know where, how, when and why my item(s) I want is processed. If I can't have that knowledge, I take my business elsewhere. This comes from having done this mail order end of business for the past 23 of the 30 years I've professionally sold Automotive Parts.

Everything VWG/Airhead sells is normally stocked in the VWG/Airhead Warehouse (I think it's 25,000 square feet) with the exception of some upholstery items such as seat covers, carpet sets, interior panels (so many combinations you'd need a 750,000 square foot building just to stock almost all of them) and in most cases it's indicated on the website and when the customer talks to any of the salespersons. When telephonically taking the order, the Airhead Salespersons tell the customer at the time what the lead time for any drop-shipped item. When the order is done on the net shopping cart, the salesperson (usually our webmaster) generally calls the customer to let them know the same thing. TMI/Sewfine generally require 10 working days to process a drop shipment. That's in addition to the shipment time, which depending on where someone is could be 1 to 6 working days additional.

There are some items on the Airhead website that aren't quite kosher either (mostly data glitches), but they're aware of them and promptly notify the customer to prevent a potential problem and they fix them quickly whenever possible.

Groundship Orders called in by 3:30pm PDT usually ship the same day, Fedex Ground. Fedex Air Shipments have a deadline of 2:30pm PDT to go the same day if the item is in stock and it's not a real huge order (like say 10 to 30 page picklists). Don't be surprised - it happens at VWG/Airhead at least once a week. VWG/Airhead switched to Fedex two months ago and have found their Ground Service to be at least a day faster than UPS and at generally less cost than UPS. Fedex Air has been very cost effective as well. Of course, to save the customer in Canada and outside the USA brokerage fees, most orders go Air Parcel Post. But that's what works for VWG/Airhead and may or may not work for someone else. -- Jim Thompson 84 GL 1.9 "Gloria" 84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt" 73 K Ghia Coupe "Denise" 72 411 Station Wagon "Pug" oldvolkshome@gmail.com http://www.oldvolkshome.com *********************************** On 6/25/07, Mike S <mikes@flatsurface.com> wrote: > > At 07:55 PM 6/25/2007, Old Volks Home wrote... > > The "professor" is not the first and will certainly not be the last > > to engage in e-commerce of this type. > > And what does it matter? From the customer's perspective, it's all a > "black box." As long as they deliver the product described, when > stated, for the price advertised, what difference does it how they do > fulfillment? They have met their commitment. Do they say somewhere that > they ship everything from their own warehouse? > > Do you stock everything you sell? I know that some other VW vendors on > this list use drop shipping for some items.


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