What do you look for in an online tea retailer?
I came across a few things recently that prompted my to put my two cents out here on Steepster.
I don’t like false praise—-as in stores which rate their own stores in the Places tab, or stores which tout what they do on their website with flowery, insubstantial language. That makes me question their integrity.
Also, I like transparency; what I mean is, I like to know whom I am dealing with when I make a purchase. I don’t want to do business with a nameless, or faceless, proprietor—-some websites provide no names of any of the owners or anything about the people who run the company, and instead provide very general information about why buying quality tea is a good thing to do, and then state that they provide quality tea. If I am going to trust them with my personal information, and possibly my credit card information, then I like to know whom I am dealing with.
After recently running into this false praise, and a lack of transparency, I chose not to do business with one particular tea company.
Anyone else feel this way?
Agreed! Personally, I don’t mind if a company reviews their own tea, it’s easy enough to see that they are the makers of said tea. I do hate when they rate their own tea…and if I see that they do do that, I don’t buy from them. I also hate the certain tea companies that come into the forum and reply to just about every discussion with “Oh, you should try our tea, it’s the best! Oh, I think our such-and-such tea is the best on the market!” Now, if it’s relevant, that’s a different matter. But seriously, companies, that just makes you look bad.
As for the other, it doesn’t bother me not to know the names of the owners of the companies. But I will say that I’ve had a few conversations with David of Verdant Tea and the owner of Butiki Teas, and this makes me want to buy from them even more. They’ve both really impressed me with how they run their company.
As opposed to Harney & Sons, so send me to customer service agent after customer service agents. They eventually told me that Mr. Harney would reply to my emails “some time next week”, and this was months ago. I never heard any more from the company and I will never buy directly from them.
@aisling of tea: I am saddened to hear about your experience with H&S. I understand your desire to avoid purchasing from them in the future.
I have also had lots of good correspondence with David of Verdant Tea. He impresses me too (out of communicating and doing business with roughly a dozen or more tea retailers over the past year, so far I feel he is the best at customer service). And I know there are others out here like that (I am tempted to name a few, but I am afraid I will miss one, as there are many I’ve had a positive experience with).
Again, for me, putting a face or a name to a company makes my experience communicating with them more personal, and therefore, more meaningful, and I tend to feel more comfortable with them, too.
Right now, as a “tea novice” what is important to me now may change down the line. For now….
A) Reasonably priced samples. I don’t know tea, so I have no basis on which to judge what I will and will not like. I want to taste many teas without spending a fortune. If a company offers no samples, or expensive ones, I’m moving on for now.
B) Good descriptions of what the teas actually taste like. I love the backstory (like Verdant) as well, but if they don’t actually describe the flavor of the tea, I’m lost.
C) Reasonable shipping and reasonable prices on full sizes. I want to get my samples affordably and know I can come back for full sizes without breaking the bank. For companies who sell expensive, premium teas that cannot be sold under a certain price point, I like to see that I can buy a smaller amount of said costly teas.
D) Good selection of black teas and flavored black teas. I don’t object to green, but the blacks appeal to me more right now. I like strong teas, and I like flavored blends. If they specialize in green tea, free or low shipping on small orders is likely to move me off the fence; I’m not spending $50.00 on green teas or forking over $6.00 to have $20.00 of samples shipped.
Great post.
We are with you on the postage. One thing we hate on any site is spending more on postage than the product we are buying. We hope we have addressed that by just covering the postage or part of the postage vs postage and packing.
We would like to ask the readers of this threat for some feedback – we suspect we can improve in this area: do you like to see a table of the postage? If so where should the link to it be e.g. contact us? We have this in our FAQ, but is it too hidden? The challenge is to keep the site simple but have the right information quickly available. Our cart allows you quickly see you postage if you are signed in, but doesn’t help newly arrived visitors.
Based in the UK we get great rates to the US/Canada, but we feel that most visitors from the US, take one look at our contact us page and dismiss us before looking at the postage rate. Any suggestions how to grab you US/Canada guys attention long enough to see we probably beat some inter-state shops rates?
Contact us is an interesting point. In the UK we are controlled by very strict laws and have to state at least in our T&Cs our trading address & contact info. None the less, we state on every page our telephone number with a link to our contact us form. Plus every page has a link to our contact us page with phone/email info. This is a basic need for anyone shopping online – where is this company based. Can I trust them? Always surprising how many international companies miss this.
Thanks again for this hugely valuable thread. It is great to hear so many tea buyer perspectives in one place. Hope the discussion continues and more people get involved.
Just notice on our site that some text is missing on the first step of the checkout as a result of a recent update. Should say, please login or continue to checkout for international shipping options.
Will get our web helper on this at the weekend.
I don’t have a large tea budget so price does matter to me. I also have to have access to some way to sample the tea reasonably – I’m too picky to order full quantities and not like it. International Shipping doesn’t bother me at all since I prefer to order in the US anyway, but I do have to pay attention to shipping charges.
Just to let everyone know, in-light of this discussion we are currently running a trial of the free world wide shipping for all new account holders. Please visit our home page and click on the offer. I will also post the links etc. in the promotions pages of the Steepster for direct access.
Thanks to everyone that commented on this thread and inspired us to set up this offer. Happy tea drinking.
In order of importance to me:
1. Shipping cost. I live in New Zealand and I am used to being charged more for shipping than the products themselves.
2. Tea accessories. If I’m already paying for shipping to NZ, it is always lovely to find I can bundle a new mug or infuser into the order, or small things that get lost or worn like teabags and tea-portioning spoons.
hm.. I guess that’s only 2! I’m not too picky. I only really order online for special blends (have a certain cinnamon roll honeybush in the mail), I buy the basics at my local shop. :)
Here is a great example of one of the things I have recently discovered I really like in an online tea retailer: detailed information about who owns, manages, and maintains the online store. Since I can’t meet them in person, this is the next best thing (well, next to talking to them on the phone, anyway).
I am very new to loose leaf tea. I have always enjoyed bagged tea and iced tea. In my area we have quite a few tea shops with in a reasonable distance, no more than an hour travel time. However, my only shopping experience has been with Teavana. I have bought more tea online for that reason.
Price vs quality is my number one concern. I need to see independent reviews of the tea or tea shop before I want to buy there. I don’t mind paying more for tea as long as I can be reasonably sure its a really good tea. Sales and discounts make an impact but not a huge one. At some point the sale will end. I’d like to know I can get tea for a good price with out the sale or discount.
Customer service rates as my second concern since I have to trust the tea shop in question with my money. For me communication is very important here. It’s okay to not be able to ship with in two hours of receiving my order as long as I know my order got through. If I have a problem, I like to be able to contact someone who can help me with in 24 hours of noticing the problem. Even if it’s just an email that states we are aware that you had a problem.
I really think web design is important. I want to find pertinent information quickly. I really want a list of ingredients and a small, practical description of the teas. I don’t want to carve my eyes out with a spoon after looking at the web site for more than 5 minutes either. Recently I was made aware of a local shop who sells tea online as well. They don’t have all the whistles of a normal site, but their passion for tea and customer service make me more likely to try them out. That being said, I think a good website is indicative of the types of decisions made in general. A good web site is more likely to be connected with people who sell good tea.
I look into shipping rates last. I have to admit that reading through these posts, David made a good point about free shipping. I have never really expected it though. I expect to have to buy a certain amount before I can get free shipping. I have run into the flat rate shipping. It seems to be decent for buying smaller amounts for the most part.
Missy: Thank you for your input.
Its sounds like what you value in an online tea retailer is very similar to what I value: good, fair prices for quality tea, professional communication, and a website that makes me feel that they know and care about both Tea itself and those that want to share in the experience (namely, the customer).
You make a very good point about sales. In over a year or so looking for quality tea for a good price it sounds like I have discovered the same thing you did: “At some point the sale will end. I’d like to know I can get tea for a good price with out the sale or discount.” Very well put. While I still look for and take advantage of sales when I can, I don’t think they do much to help build quality, sustainable relationships between the customer, the seller, and Tea.
I don’t know if you are aware of it, but there is a way to check out reviews of online tea retailers: http://steepster.com/discuss/2134-help-me-review-online-tea-retailers
There are a number of reviews there that, IMO, address many of the things you seem to value in an online tea retailer. Good luck!
Thank you for the information SimipliciTEA. I will definitely take a close look at the reviews.
First and foremost : being honest about tea quality. Meaning – a retailer should not hide origin of the tea and time of its picking behind generic “AAAA”, “Top”, “BEST”, etc… (it’s utterly confusing when TOP, BEST and PREMIUM are actually different teas even though these words mean pretty much the same). Now that I am spoiled by steepster I no longer accept such descriptions as credible XD On a side note however, I know of at least one place in Moscow that has rather good tea despite it being graded only by “1st category, 2nd category…. etc” Strange but true. maybe they opted to do it like this for simplicity’s sake though.
Next, sadly, goes shipping. However good the tea is if shipping starts at 20$ and grows linearly with each next tem – chances are – I will not buy. I am simply not paid enough XD
Availability of sample packs is a big plus for a retailer. This means I am much more likely to order from them just to find if I like anything in particular.
Good reviews on steepster ;) Seriously, now that I have found this place I am going to try a lot of things that I can physically order that are high rated by the community:)
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