One of the things I help my entrepreneur friends with is about leveraging their business through social media marketing. Not only that, I also give tips and advice on how to take care of their client pool. One of those tips, and I’d say, the most important of them all, is treating their clients in special ways that would set them apart from competitors.
When I buy from Shopee or any other selling platforms, I have the tendency to automatically audit product descriptions, photos. And if I bought from any of them, I also look at the way I was handled as a client. I’ve had satisfactory and bad experience with Shopee Sellers, the worst one was a Seller who asked me to receive the items even though it was incomplete; shipped out past deadline; and refused to reply to my messages. I paid for the items but Seller didn’t confirm my refund request for the missing items; and had the audacity to ask me (when she finally replied) to wait for Shopee to refund it instead rather than accepting refund request herself (which meant I had to wait for days). I was so dumbfounded by the Seller’s rudeness, I blocked her shop and reported her to Shopee Customer Service. Customer Service confirmed that Seller had multiple prior complaints.
But I am not writing this to rant about bad sellers. I’m actually here to rave about a Seller on Shopee who has become the epitome of my ideal Store Operator/Owner. Before I reveal who that Seller is, I want to briefly discuss my metrics for choosing great Sellers:
Fulfillment Rate – this is basically the metric for fulfillment of order.
Packaging – earth-friendly packaging rates high for me while absence of proper packaging earns a thumbs down.
Friendliness – my metric for when Seller replies to me whenever I have a question about a certain product. Getting a “thank you” note and shipping update from the Seller are plus points for me.
Product Listing – while this metric probably does not matter to most people, it does matter to me. I love reading product descriptions because it’s the only way I’d know if the product being described satisfies my need. The information has to be complete so I don’t need to ask the Seller a lot of questions which can be annoying at times because who has the time to ask plenty of questions, right?
Have you noticed how I excluded good photos as part of my metric despite me writing about photographs as part of marketing strategy? While product photos do matter to me, I also acknowledge that not everyone has good camera or can afford a photographer to capture great product photos. A lot of Seller in platforms like Shopee are small businesses, majority of them appear to be newbies in the retail business so I tend to be lenient about this. That said, I do steer away from Sellers who use stock photos and don’t even bother to take and post actual photos. I’ve had one bad experience with a Seller who posted stock photos of a gouache set that I bought despite of and received a set that’s different from the picture. Since then I have steered away from Sellers like that unless reviews are great. Speaking of Reviews, I also look at them but I excluded it as part of my metrics because trolls who make a living out of posting bad reviews are everywhere, yes, especially on Shopee. So I take reviews with a grain of salt.
The Big Reveal
My favorite shop since I got into watercolor painting is The Yellow Violet House. Before I proceed with why I chose this shop as personal favorite, please take note that I don’t personally know the Seller; she or he has never asked me to write a review about his/her shop; and that this review is based on my personal experience as Buyer. She or he doesn’t even know I’m writing this blog about him/her! If you know the owner, feel free to forward this review. The Yellow Violet House or YVH is my favorite shop for purchasing authentic art supplies. I’ve bought my Silver Black round brush, Princeton Neptune brushes, Princeton Velvet dagger brush, and Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils from YVH.
Purchases from YVH
In terms of fulfillment rate, the shop ship out fast. In my last purchase, I checked out the Derwent and dagger brush on Monday morning, the items were picked up on the same day by Ninja Van (a local courier). The items were then delivered to me the very next day! Kudos also to the friendly Ninja Van rider.
YVH put their items in brown envelope. But here’s one ingenious way they package the brushes – each brush was inserted in a plastic straw (for milk tea) which is then inserted in a colorful paper packet. I’m new to watercolor painting so this gave me an idea on how to pack my brushes for when I travel. So I’m definitely reusing the packet envelopes and straw!
YVH Seller is also friendly. I got a “thank you” note for each order I made plus a ton of cute freebies – mostly paper products such as envelopes, customized paper clip, envelopes and paper samplers. She/he also wrote my name on the envelope in beautiful calligraphy so I am guessing the Seller is a fellow crafter.
Photos below are screenshots of her product listing for Silver Brush Black Velvet. See how detailed the description is? I have bought from her/him multiple times but I never had to ask about a product because the description is complete. The photos are not “stock” too , but actual ones.
The X-Factor of YVH
Okay, who doesn’t like freebies? No one. Aside from the Seller’s attributes mentioned above, YVH gives freebies to every single transaction made with them, based on personal experience and buyer reviews. And these aren’t just freebies that you give away because you didn’t like them. YVH’s freebies are cute as buttons and ones that an artist or crafter will surely appreciate. Let me show you in pictures:
I have used the freebies to write cards and personal notes to my members at Oilista Manila, friends, and family members, as well as tags for my Christmas gifts. I also plan to use some of them for marking my books as well as accents on my journal notebook- yes, I am now customizing my own bullet journal starting this month. I used to collect papers, stationery, and envelopes when I was a kid. YVH’s freebies brought back those memories and reminded me big time on how collecting beautiful paper products was so much fun!
How about you? Who is your favorite Shopee or Lazada seller? Do share in the comments section!
If you liked this article and read this far, thank you so much. You might be interested to check out my latest creative works.
The Fabulous Scientist 
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