Press Release: LOS ANGELES, Calif., June 20, 2006 - HostedSupport.com, a leading provider of affordable automated online customer support solutions for web businesses, today announced ezSupport for eBay v2.0, an upgrade to its automated customer support solution customized specifically to the needs of eBay sellers.
ezSupport for eBay v2.0 helps sellers deal with the overwhelming volume of repetitive email questions from buyers by automatically answering 80 percent of incoming questions. Since ezSupport for eBay v2.0 is a web-based, hosted product and is delivered via the Internet, it is immediately available to all current customers at no additional cost.
With 193 million users worldwide, eBay has become the standard in online auctions and the vehicle for millions of entrepreneurs looking to build their own businesses. HostedSupport.com has established a unique partnership with the online auction company and is the only developer of an automated customer support solution that has integrated into the eBay API to support "Ask Seller a Question."
ezSupport for eBay v2.0 is a web-based, hosted solution with no special software or hardware to purchase. Targeted to eBay sellers and ecommerce companies that sell on eBay, ezSupport for eBay v2.0 enables sellers to focus on increasing their listings and sales rather than dealing with redundant and time consuming customer emails.
"eBay sellers deal with hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of email questions on a daily basis that are redundant and time consuming to answer," said Steve Yeich, chief executive officer. "As the volume of email grows, the time devoted to responding to these repetitive questions hinders the sellers' ability to focus on the needs of the business. ezSupport for eBay v2.0 is proven to respond to a very high percentage of these repetitive emails faster than would be possible manually by the seller. A recent analysis showed that Eforcity, eBay's largest seller in the world, was able to automatically answer the vast majority of buyer email by using our product."
Typical questions received by sellers include inquiries on shipping policies, and questions about products like size, weight and color. Through a set up wizard, sellers develop their own list of questions and answers and ezSupport for eBay v2.0 can be up and running in less than 20 minutes.
One eBay seller that found himself bogged down in the volumes of buyer emails is Bob Allen, co-founder of MyGolfBallStore.com. MyGolfBallStore.com is an online retailer of sporting goods and an eBay platinum power seller. Allen and his customer support team utilized email, spreadsheets and paper files to attempt to track customer issues. As the business grew, this manual process became too time-consuming, complex and costly. Allen turned to HostedSupport.com to automate his customer support process and adopted ezSupport for eBay v1.0.
According to Allen, "HostedSupport.com was the answer to my prayers. We were suffering severe growing pains trying to keep up with our customer support workload. Since using ezSupport for eBay, 70 percent of our workload has been eliminated by the system, and our customer relationships have never been better."
Allen now uses two HostedSupport.com products - ezSupport for eBay v2.0 and ezSupport Pro for his stand alone website, and has realized the following results:
- Less than 10 emails per day require manual review and response
- 75 percent reduction in buyer phone calls
- 70 percent reduction in overall customer support tasks
- No need to hire additional support staff to manage high volumes of emails
- Improved customer communications channels resulting in greater customer retention.
- 90% of buyer emails automatically answered.
About ezSupport for eBay v2.0
ezSupport for eBay v2.0 is priced at $9.95 per seat per month and is available on a month-to-month subscription basis. ezSupport for eBay v2.0 supports Windows and Macintosh and is compatible with Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Firefox, and Safari web browsers.
One of the main features of ezSupport for eBay v2.0 is the ability to handle post-auction email. Previously, email from active auctions could be automatically processed, and post-auction email required a manual response. In addition, the upgraded product uses a new eBay API, which allows for significantly faster processing of communication between buyers and sellers, with most answers automatically replied to in under an hour.
HostedSupport.com offers two products customized for eBay sellers - ezSupport for eBay v2.0 and ezSupport Lite for eBay, a free introductory solution that also integrates with "Ask Seller a Question." HostedSupport.com also offers ezSupport and ezSupport Pro, their automated online customer support solutions that work with any website. Many eBay sellers use our eBay products for their eBay business and our other products for their "standalone" website business.. ezSupport and ezSupport Pro feature auto-answer email, FAQs, ticket tracking, live chat, advanced reporting and POP email importing, as well as free training and set-up assistance. Pricing is $49.95 per seat per month for ezSupport and $79.95 per seat per month for ezSupport Pro.
About HostedSupport.com
HostedSupport.com is a leading provider of affordable customer support automation for web businesses. Its easy-to-use system can be set up in 20 minutes and eliminates many of the customer support "pains" involved in answering and tracking customer questions and problem tickets. Businesses using HostedSupport.com's products automate most customer support tasks while improving customer retention. HostedSupport.com is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Its clients and partners include: eBay, Administaff, GotVmail, E! Online, TicketWeb, NetMagazines.com, BrandMuscle, MyGolfBallStore, ePublicEye, and Eforcity.
http://www.hostedsupport.com
