Business owner loses nearly 30k on an Amazon promo.
The dark side of OzBargain-like sites
voltagex on 01/11/2013 - 13:10
Comments
Old mate seems a like a real piece of cake.
Yeah i agree, to start blaming the person who shared it is just bad form. but you know this might eventually have a positive turnaround in regards to brand awareness
Very interesting.
I think the big issue is their items are "Sold by Cruzerlite and Fulfilled by Amazon." So basically all orders will be processed and sent out by Amazon from their warehouse with no chance of canceling. Most stores who run their own warehousing would have just cancelled all the orders.
EDIT: Even more amazing is that people are using G+ to have conversations.
Eh, the fault lies with both sides, IMO. He should be smarter than that, and use single use promo codes - nor should he send people on a guilt trip about the whole thing. Cancelling the orders and sending out a non-inflammatory version of that post would have been the best course of action.
But then I don't really agree with the user side of things either. The OP of the deal shouldn't have posted a coupon that was given on an individual basis - if the company intended it to be for the masses, they would have just shared it publicly (realistically, I know, it is a bargain site, but still). I also really dislike the whole 'it's a price error, but we'll all
exploitgive it a shot anyway' mentality that happens sometimes, too.Apparently Amazon don't utilise single use promo codes. I guess that's a problem with their backend, and a negative for those looking at using Amazon for fulfillment.
Apparently Amazon don't utilise single use promo codes.
then perhaps he shouldn't create those promo codes in the first place ;)
I was merely pointing out the problem with amazon's system. if you decide you want all the benefits that amazon fulfilment offers, then you take the downsides too.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1pmlii/cruzerlite_l…
Dude was warned a year ago that this could be exploited.
Sympathy gone. Learn how to run your business.
Wow that's hilarious. No sympathy for this guy!
He now has a huge mailing/contact list that cost him $30k to build - he should exploit that to recoup his loss.
Something like "Dear customer, we're glad you purchased our product. Here is another discount code of xx% off your next purchase and free gift."
Hurry, while stocks last - limited time offer (before I'm bust).. and then send out a dried dog turd !! if he's still pist.
Get over it - live and learn, but importantly, live.
Also has Joel contacted SlickDeals? We have business contacting us all the time requesting the deals to be removed. We usually comply when the offer is not meant to be for public.
PLOT TWIST: The guy was warned about the issue previously, not even a thankyou to the person who went out of his way to contact many staff members
Yup. See three posts above yours.
He's also commented on Google+ in response to the reddit thread, but only when he was addressed directly about it.
That was a good read. At first I felt sorry for him and slightly guilty because it's something I would take advantage of if it was shared on OzB, but now this seems like a case of him just trying to make some sales out of people's pity to offset some of the loss caused by him and his staffs own ignorance.
In G+ he talks about being a one man shop. This article says he has 8 staff http://services.amazon.com/content/case-studies-cruzer-lite.…
Sounds like naivete on the business owner's part. At no stage did he make it clear to the recipient of the coupon it was intended only for the recipient's use and to further that he apparently used a multi-use coupon.
Edit: The moral/ethical false equivalency propagated by some of the people in that discussion is astounding. In what way is a commercial offer that is unequivocally open ended being accepted by customers on those terms comparable to the trespass of someone's car and conversion of their wallet?