We want to know what others do

[William_firefold]

This is addressed to anyone currently running Able7.

We are trying to decide how we want to handle certain tasks and we need some ideas.
If you are running Able and perform one of the following tasks in your company, please let us know how you do it.

Returns on orders: How do you handle them? Do you handle them through the website? Are returns handled automatically or
is there someone who does it?

Out of Stock products: How do you handle customers who try to pre-order an empty item or wait until the item is back in stock.

Quote manager:How do you make quotes for customers who place large or custom orders. Do you do it through Able or another program?

Free Shipping: If a product has free shipping on it, how do you get Able to handle the shipping calculation automatically.

Thanks in advance for input.

[calvis]

For Quotes we have found that Quotewerks is a very capable product:
http://www.quotewerks.com

They have a SDK/API which could be used to tie into the Able Commerce database if so desired.
http://www.quotewerks.com/sdk.asp

[bluecherry]

This is addressed to anyone currently running Able7.

We are trying to decide how we want to handle certain tasks and we need some ideas.
If you are running Able and perform one of the following tasks in your company, please let us know how you do it.

Returns on orders: How do you handle them? Do you handle them through the website? Are returns handled automatically or
is there someone who does it?

Out of Stock products: How do you handle customers who try to pre-order an empty item or wait until the item is back in stock.

Quote manager:How do you make quotes for customers who place large or custom orders. Do you do it through Able or another program?

As far as a quote manager...it may be too big of a beast just for quotes but we are most likely switching from Quickbooks to Visioncore and the end of this year. Visioncore is a full blown accounting, ERP / CRM program that integrates with AC7. So if I do a quote for customer X and customer X logs into the AC7 website he can see the "quote" as a unpaid order.

Visioncore is neat and has a ton of features. It's not badly priced for what it does and I'm hoping it will increase our productivity once we switch to it.

Inventory manager screen shots: http://www.comtechsolutions.com/VCmodul ... ryctrl.htm
Sales / quote screen shots:
http://www.comtechsolutions.com/VCmodule_sales.htm


There is also a free single user demo if you wanted to play with it. Any questions my contact is Chris Rollwitz: crollwitz@comtechsolutions.com
http://www.comtechsolutions.com

[AbleMods]

Returns on orders: How do you handle them? Do you handle them through the website? Are returns handled automatically or
is there someone who does it?

When I receive a return request, the first thing I do is change the status of the order to "RMA Requested". Once the item to be returned is determined, I submit the request to my distributor. An RMA # is issued by them with return instructions - this is all forwarded to the customer.
Once I'm notified the return is complete and I have been issued the refund, I add a new line item to the order with a negative quantity for the same SKU. I then issue the refund from AC7 and reset the order status back to shipped. At this point, the return is complete.
Part of my daily routine is checking the RMA Requested orders list for any returns received and refunded. Everything I sell is dropshipped, so I don't physically handle returns.

Out of Stock products: How do you handle customers who try to pre-order an empty item or wait until the item is back in stock.

Happens to me all the time. The killer here is authorizations expire after a certain period of time. So I created backorder-Full and backorder-Partial order statuses to keep better track of these orders. If an order is placed for an out-of-stock item, my company policy dictates we will only hold the order 30 days. Otherwise the item will ship after my authorization for payment expires and I'm hosed.
My daily procedure involves a quick check of all orders in the Backorder-Full status to be aware of any looming authorization expirations. Any orders getting close are changed to "response" status and the customer is contacted with the choice of cancelling or renewing their authorization. Most cancel.
If the customer pays by Google Checkout, I do an immediate capture. GC only allows 7 days for authorizations. A few customers have complained but I have it well documented in my site terms and conditions.

Quote manager:How do you make quotes for customers who place large or custom orders. Do you do it through Able or another program?

I do estimates in QuickBooks. Fast, easy and looks professional with a good template.

Free Shipping: If a product has free shipping on it, how do you get Able to handle the shipping calculation automatically.

I use coupon codes, not really any other way to do it so far as I can tell. I have a "Latest News" section on my home page, so I created a featured news article advertising the coupon code. I probably should do a graphic for it to promote it better but I haven't had time.
But I'm doing free-shipping-over-certain-dollar-amount for the order total. I haven't tried free shipping on one particular item while other items are still calculated.

[Robbie@FireFold]

For Quotes we have found that Quotewerks is a very capable product:
http://www.quotewerks.com

They have a SDK/API which could be used to tie into the Able Commerce database if so desired.
http://www.quotewerks.com/sdk.asp

Got the demo going. Seems good so far!