Customer enquiries through Felt are great opportunities to make sales, and there’s a process you should be following to make sure you’re supporting the system and operating within Felt’s terms of use.
When a customer contacts you through Felt to request something that you don’t have listed as a standard product in your shop, it’s a great opportunity to make a sale. There’s lots of reasons a customer might contact you before making a purchase.
For example, they might want:
- A variation on something you have listed in your shop, such as a different colour, material, or size
- A customised version of something you make, such as the addition of initials or a change to the specifications
- A bulk order of something you make, in a quantity you are prepared to offer for an agreed price
- A wholesale order
When you receive an enquiry like this, it’s important to be aware that as part of Felt’s terms of use, if a sale originates on Felt, the transaction must be completed through the Felt checkout. This includes sales that are generated through enquiries on Felt. If you complete a transaction like this outside Felt, it’s considered avoidance of fees and a serious breach of Felt’s terms.
As a seller, you are expected to uphold these terms and guide the buyer by setting an example of what to expect.
So how do you process an order that results from a Felt enquiry?
It’s really easy to process a custom order – you set up a custom listing the same way you normally list an item on Felt, then send the listing URL to your buyer.
- Create a new listing with the title “Custom order for {username}”
- Include any relevant details for the customer in the listing description, and upload a photo – this can be an image of the product itself, a generic photo of your products, or, if you have one, you can use your own “custom order” graphic
- Enter the agreed price and shipping costs
- Publish the listing and use the Felt messaging system to send the listing URL to your customer to purchase
- When you receive the order notification and payment, complete the order as usual
If you need to exchange photos with your customer to compete their order, read more about how to send digital files here »
Why is this important?
It’s important to Felt as a business, because fees are how Felt pays its bills, and without that income, Felt can’t exist.
It’s important to Felt as a community and collective of makers, because consistency and trust are critical parts of the customer’s experience, and supporting the system sets an expectation that everyone works together and treats one another with respect.
It’s also important to you as a seller. Avoiding the Felt process impacts our ability to help you if something goes wrong. Processing your custom Felt orders through the Felt checkout looks professional and increases your sales numbers on Felt, and hopefully adds some nice customer feedback to your shop. Everybody wins!
