Your customer’s expectations

Think about companies your customers transact business with online. Buy from them yourself and experience what your customers experience and *then* look at your own. You may be dismayed and surprised with what you find.

Most savvy users expect to make a purchase and almost immediately receive an email as a response. If they’ve purchased software or another downloadable item, the expectation is that download information and credentials will almost immediately arrive.

So today I purchased vBulletin (the #1 forum software) and made the purchase through *their* preferred payment method, PayPal. Probably shame on me for using echeck vs. a credit card, but now PayPal is saying it could take “up to three days” to clear the payment because vBulletin is a “non-US-verified” provider.

Huh? I thought that PayPal being their preferred meant that they’d set this up in advance!

I need this software tonight but am probably screwed. Guess how I feel about vBulletin and doing business with companies outside the US?