Y'all may have noticed some changes around here lately as I update the website and work on procedures that will allow me to streamline things. I just have to say I am so so grateful for y'all who stick with me through these growing pains!
It's not easy and as this small business grows from just a few orders per week to sometimes hundreds per day it has been a challenge. The more orders that are being processed means the more that there may be mistakes, especially when others are helping you. I am having to learn that I cannot control or do every single aspect of this business with this volume (which is difficult for me because I want to ensure that every single thing is perfect).
At this time I have removed the review app from the website because of two reasons. Some people who hate an author that I work with have decided to flood my reviews with fake one star reviews. These individuals have never purchased, and all of the reviews are not attached to an order. Some of the reviews were on products that I had never sold any of! They were mostly on that specific author's merchandise, but they did begin to branch out to other products as well. Since the review app has no way to limit reviews to only those that have a verified purchase I made the decision to remove it.
If I find an alternate review app that only allows verified purchases then I will re-add it, but at this time it's taking me several hours each morning to go through all of the reviews to ensure they are from a purchase and that's just time I don't have that I need to dedicate to something more productive, like pressing tees and packing orders!
I have added an email specific for customer service issues as we receive sooooo many emails from vendors, sales people, etc. I never want to lose an actual customer email, so LustandLoreCSR@gmail.com was born. The business email shoplustandlore@gmail.com is only going to be checked once per week, so that we can focus on customer service and decreasing processing times. The customer service email will be checked at least once per day (during business days).
You'll also be seeing a few of the fandoms leaving the shop or only staying for a limited time. We are working harder at promoting the things we love, and finding ourselves as a shop while also respecting copyright and trademarks laws.
Thanks so much to everyone who continues to support me! I appreciate y'all 100%.