HC Blog

I am very sorry for the downtime tonight. I was really optimistic that the code changes I made would make these super-stockings possible. They certainly improved things, but the server eventually succumbed to the 400+ ravenous hyenas.

I’ll be working with our super-sellers to come up with stocking strategies that will prevent downtime in the future. Thank you for your patience as we work through this.

Also — those of you who are still trying to access the Mutt store. It has currently been disabled to keep the server stable. It will come back online when Michelle has had a chance to unstock her store.

Thanks everyone and sorry for the inconvenience.

Hi everyone,

I realize we have been experiencing some server slowdowns and other issues which have caused HC to be inaccessible from time to time. These are related to some hyena stockings with extremely high traffic loads. I’ve contacted our host to see if we have any options to prevent this from happening in the future. If this isn’t possible, I may have to ask some of these mega-supreme-hyena sellers to use different stocking strategies to even out the load. I’ll keep you all updated as the options become clearer.

In addition, the database that counts users online seems to be corrupted. I’ve disabled the “Where the Hyenas are” feature until we can get that fixed. You’ll also notice that on each individual store page, the number of shoppers online isn’t listed. Hopefully that won’t last long.

Finally, the feedback system seems to be working well. Thanks to all the loyal hyenas for leaving such glowing feedback for all of our sellers I’ve just realized that auction and lottery sales have not been showing up in shoppers’ purchase histories. I’ll be working to get that fixed in the next week or so. In the meantime, feedback for those types of sales will need to be left in the feedback forums, the old fashioned way.

Thank everyone. I’ll be sure to keep you posted!

OK — based on all the input from last December, I’ve implemented our new feedback system.

Here’s the scoop:

• The buyer can leave feedback for a transaction from his / her Purchase History. The “Feedback” link now takes them to a user-friendly form in which they can fill out comments on customer service as well as a product review.
• If the transaction was a negative one, the buyer can mark it as such. In this case, the seller will have the opportunity to respond to the negative feedback. The buyer can then make a final comment about the resolution of the transaction and has the option to remove the negative flag. The entire conversation will be viewable from the Store Feedback page.
• At the top of the Store Feedback page it lists the total number of feedback comments a store has received as well as how many of these comments were negative. If a transaction was negative at first, but was then resolved, it is not counted in the “negative” total, but is marked resolved, and, as mentioned above, the entire transaction comment history will be viewable.
• HC Multi shoppers who do not have an account or were not logged in at the time of purchase will receive a link in their purchase confirmation email which they can use to leave feedback.
• Sellers, you will see a new column on your order history page for Feedback. It will show whether or not feedback has been left for your transaction. In the event that a buyer marks a transaction negatively, you will see a “View & respond” link which will give you a form in which to respond to this feedback.
• When negative feedback is left, a sellers responds to negative feedback, or a buyer enters the final resolution comment on a negative transaction, the other party will be emailed as a head’s up.

In addition, I have added a flagging system for sellers to use to flag buyers who do not honor HC’s purchasing agreements.

• To flag a buyer, use the Flag link on your order history page. You will be asked to describe the situation.
• The flagged buyer will receive an email, with a link to a form in which he / she can respond to the flag. The buyer will also see the Flag on his / her purchase history page.
• The buyer can respond to the flag using the form link.
• The seller will then have the option to remove the flag, with a final comment on how the situation was resolved.
• The flags will not be publicly viewable, but the HC admin will monitor them for shoppers with a history of bad shopping behavior. If a shopper is flagged too many times, he / she will be blocked from further purchases on HC.
• As in the feedback system, when a user is flagged, responds to the flag, or when the seller makes the final comment, an email will be sent to the other party.

To test out the system further, feel free to make purchases from the HC Multi test store: http://hyenacart.com/HCmulti/ you can then leave feedback (positive or negative — I promise not to be offended ) and view it here: http://hyenacart.com/feedback_view.php?vidn=1 As the shopper, you’ll see that you can also resolve the negative feedback, even if the seller does not respond.

As for the old feedback system:

• All feedback left in the forums is still intact and is counted towards the total number of feedback comments.
• The forum feedback system will still be kept running (for now) for trades and sales made through emails, PM’s etc.
• Note that on the buyer’s Purchase History page, if feedback is left under the new system, it will be marked as “Done.” If feedback is (or was) left in the forums, it will look like feedback still needs to be left. Please ask your shoppers *not* to C&P forum feedback into the new system as it will be double-counted and duplicated on the feedback page. However, if you have had shoppers email you feedback or leave it via the “Comment” function, now would be the perfect time to ask them to go back and leave it via the new system.

Three more comments (sorry for the novel!)

• If you have an HC Multi and have shoppers who have past transactions in which they *didn’t* log in, they will not be able to leave feedback for these under the new system. They will need to use the forums. Moving forward however, for all future purchases, even if a user does not log in, he / she will be able to leave feedback via the link in their purchase confirmation email.
• For those of you with multiple storefronts (i.e. one in a congo, and one standalone), I am still putting some thought into how to combine the feedback for all your stores on one page. For now, feedback left at your congo, will be separate from feedback left at your standalone store (except for forum feedback, which should show up in both if you have everything linked up already).
• ETA ~ I will also be working on the feedback system for Spot’s Corner. It will integrate the feedback from the forums and set something up similar to the store feedback system.

One last thing — those of you with HC multi who are using product listings as information items (about me’s, policies, etc.) — make sure to mark these with quantity of 0. Otherwise, if you have no shipping listed for them, it is possible for a shopper to put your info item in his / her cart and then check out with no shipping on the entire order. Just something to keep in mind.

So, clear as mud? I think this will be a very simple system once we start using it. Please encourage your shoppers to use the new system for all purchases from here on in rather than the forums (this will give the mods a much needed break too!). Just tell them to go to their Purchase History pages and leave feedback from there.

Thanks everyone — please post all bugs to this thread: http://hyenacart.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=72356

Oh, just as a side note — as I researched feedback systems, I came across an interesting journal article which claims that text comments are a much better reflection of actual store performance than “crude numerical ratings.” If anyone is as geeky as me, you can check it out at: http://isr.journal.informs.org/cgi/content/abstract/17/4/392

Are you sick of hearing about Spots? I’m sure you are. I’ll try to keep this short.

Here are the new new Spots rules:

Please use Spots for:

1) Bookmarking items for future drooling and / or purchase (these can be special items or everyday items)

2) Highlighting something so special and amazing that you want other shoppers to see

Please do not:

1) Use Spots as a means to advertise, market or promote your business

2) Solicit Spots from shoppers or friends for any particular listing (your own or otherwise)

I am not going to be prescriptive about who’s items you can and cannot Spot. Just please use your judgment in following these guidelines.

There has also been some confusion about Spotting amazing items versus run-of-the-mill items. Either type of item is totally fine *as long as* it fits in with our new Spots rules.

As a gift for putting up with all this Spots nonsense, I’ve increased the number of Spots retained for each shopper from 10 to 20. Hopefully that makes up for some of the mental stress and silly emails regarding the “Great Spots Debate”

And just a little update — I’ve been progressing on coding our new feedback system. Hopefully it will be installed within a month or so.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I honestly had no idea that changing the Spots policy would cause so much turmoil. It seemed to be the simplest way to keep Spots from becoming overrun with spam. I see a few options moving forward and would love to have your opinion here. In the meantime, the restrictions on Spotting are lifted. Please do keep self-promotion to a minimum though. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to let you know of a policy change regarding Spotting items. I originally intended Spots to be a way for shoppers to give kudos to great HC sellers as well as a way to bookmark items for later. It’s come to my attention that many HC sellers are using Spots as a way to promote their own stores and congos. From here forward, I’d like to reserve Spots for the original purpose. Please be respectful and understanding of this change. If Spots continues to be used for self-promotion, I will most likely need to remove the “Most Spots this Week” list from the calendar.

Thanks!

There has been a lot of good discussion regarding a new feedback system for HC.

There was the original thread

A thread discussing an entirely different system

And I’ve just posted a poll to gauge your overall opinion of our different choices Now’s the time to make your thoughts known and help shape the future HC feedback system.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

As HC keeps growing, it feels like it might be time for a professional re-design and also an integrated feedback system. I’ve started two threads on the forums to discuss these changes:

Re-design: http://hyenacart.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=65438

Feedback system: http://hyenacart.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=65441

I would love to have your input and ideas.

Thanks!

So, looking back, I see I am delivering this at least 3 months late. Hopefully, late really is better than never

The HC Multi cart now has the capability of tracking inventory on individual choices. This means if you have the same item in small, medium, and large, but limited quantities of each, you can now combine them all into one listing. However, this is still not a good choice for high-demand items. Anything OOAK and high demand should still be listed via Buy Now, Hold, Auction or Lottery.

As you probably noticed, I took my own sweet time testing and re-testing this code. Now that it’s live, there’s still some possibility that bugs exist. If you find one, please post about it here.

To use this new feature, just go to your item listing page as usual. You’ll see on choice 1, that there’s now an extra field for quantities. Note that if you leave this field blank, the code will function just as it did before this change. If you fill it in, however, notice that the sum of the quantities you fill into that field will now overwrite the total available quantity for that listing. In other words, if you are listing the quantities of “sm, med. lg” items as “1, 3, 2″, then the overall quantity for your listing will be overwritten as 6. Hopefully that makes sense to you.

If you have 1 red small, 2 green mediums, 1 yellow medium and 2 blue larges, you will need to enter these as 4 separate choices within Choice 1 (as opposed to having Choice 1 be size and Choice 2 being color). Just throwing that note in there as you think about how to consolidate your listings.

Where all the extensive testing came in was ensuring that if you have only 2 larges available, the shopper can’t place more than 2 into her cart. The other thing to check during your first purchases is that your inventory is being adjusted correctly after payment is made. As I said, I tested this as thoroughly as I could, but no one tests the code as thoroughly as you guys!

Also, I know some of you have lots of choices you’d like to be able to offer in one listing. If you find that the fields are too limited in size, please contact support at hyenacart.com with your storename and a request to have your fields lengthened. An estimate of how much longer you think the fields need to be would be helpful too (twice as long, just a bit longer, etc.)

Finally, I edited the code for both HC Multi and HC Standard so that when customers check out with discount codes, the name of the code they used is now recorded in the database. Some of you had mentioned that you use your discount code names to track where shoppers come from and I had never thought of that use before.

If I have time this morning, I will also be adding a “Lost Password” function for HC Multi users. If not today, it should show up in the next few days.

Thanks everyone! Have a great weekend