FAQ

GENERAL QUESTIONS

1. Who is OfficeA2Z.com?

OfficeA2Z is a venture capital funded eCommerce Company and a leading provider of stationery products and services. We adopt innovative internet-based electronic procurement to facilitate business to business (B2B) transactions with integrated fulfillment and electronic payment systems.

2. How do I participate as a trade buyer or seller of OfficeA2Z?

You can fill up the online enquiry form or send email to sales@officea2z.com and we will process your enquiry accordingly.

3. How long do I have to wait to be a trade buyer of your hub?

Typically, if your requirement is only to conduct purchases in our hub, your company account can be activated within a few days (but subject to the time needed for credit assessment by any of our member banks).

4. Is E-commerce trading secure?

Our e-commerce site, implemented using Vchain technology (send your email to solutions@vchain.com.sg), provides a high-level of secure trading environment over the internet. Under this secure environment, only registered participants are permitted to trade in the community.

5. What is the mode of payment in your B2B electronic commerce trading environment?

We are in the process of building a comprehensive range of online payment methods for our B2B communities. These include Purchasing Cards, Credit Cards and other online banking facilities.

6. How do I set up a trading relationship as a trade seller?

We allow supplier members to publish virtual product/services catalogue and to conduct online contract management with buyer partners. This allows negotiated terms and contractual prices to be established between Buyers and Suppliers. This unique arrangement could privately be executed between you and your partners only. For enquiries, please mail to sales@officea2z.com.

7. How can I control the purchasing limits of my company purchasers who sign up as members of your trading hub?

We have a powerful feature that monitors and controls your purchasers' buying capabilities. These include limiting maximum amount of purchases per day, per month or per year; and it also allows you to present only the selected product types to the purchasers through our unique virtual product catalogue to the purchasers.

8. I need to make recurring purchases every month, how do I simplify the steps with your system?

We allow users to save purchase orders as templates so that these templates can be recalled and automatically be activated as and when required.

9. How easy is it for me to post my products/services catalogue to commence trading with my partners?

All you need to do is to create your catalogue in a predefined Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and upload it onto the system and this will automatically be made available to the buying communities once it is uploaded.

10. What more can I expect being a member of your community?

We will be linking OfficeA2Z with other trading communities in the near term. You will soon be able to trade with other business communities from different trades or industries of different countries in Asia.

PRICES AND PAYMENT

1. From a list of items, how can I differentiate items which are on contract prices and those which are not?

The contract items (with contract prices) have a Contract Reference Number displayed next to the stock code. Similarly, items which do not have a Contract Reference Number are non-contract items (displayed with list prices).

2. Can changes be made to the prices of items on the contract list?

Yes, however, this cannot be done by the trade buyer and you will have to contact your designated salesperson or the OfficeA2Z helpdesk to negotiate changes to the prices.

3. Are the prices of items reflected on the contract list fixed?

Yes, contract prices are fixed. Only our company's authorised personnel are allowed to make changes to the contract prices.

4. Why are the prices of some contract items different from the actual agreed prices?

If you encounter such discrepancies, please email to sales@officea2z.com the contract details and the actual price as agreed with the sales representative. We will look into it immediately and make the necessary changes.

5. How do I make payment ?

The normal procedure is for the supplier to invoice the customer. The customer should stamp and forward the invoice to the customer's finance department for settlement with the supplier.

RETURN POLICY

1. What is your return policy?

OfficeA2Z honours goods exchange or returns from our customers if done within 7 days from date of purchase. Please call your sales representative, or contact the helpdesk at 6846-6666 or sales@officea2z.com.

PURCHASE PROCEDURES

1.How to search for an item I need?

There are 3 ways to get to a product you want or need:

go to a general product category
search by entering a brand name, model, name or specific item number under "search" located on the right bar
look under corporate list if your purchasing/admin dept has preset the catalog for all users in your organization.

2. How to add items to my cart?

You can add an item to your cart from a page featuring a single product or from a search results page that lists several products. Simply click "add to cart" at the bottom of the page.

3. How to delete items from my cart?

To delete, select "view cart" located on the right of the page. Make a tick against the item you want to delete and update cart.

4. How do I checkout my items?

When you are ready and changes are updated in the cart. Check-out involve:

click "view cart" to retrieve the cart
click "check-out"
enter preferred delivery date (note that order must be submitted before 11am to achieve same day delivery)
click "submit orders"

5. What if I did not complete my purchase and logged off from OfficeA2Z.com?

If you had any items that were not cleared or checked out, they will be kept in our database so that you can continue from where you left off the last time.

6. How will I know an item is in stock when an order is placed through OfficeA2Z.com?

This feature will be included as a future upgrade in our system. In the meantime, if you have ordered items currently out-of-stock, you will be contacted by email and you will also be able to view through "All Purchase Order" that the order has been split into partial and back order.

7. Can I change the delivery date if the order is required urgently?

OfficeA2Z strives to be responsive to customer needs. For such exceptions, please contact the helpdesk at 6846-6666 or sales@officea2z.com and we will try to accede to the request if we can.

8. At what time can I expect my delivery?

Normal delivery arrives in the next working day if orders are received through the web by 11am. In urgent cases, if the order is received before 11am and the customer specifies same-day delivery in the delivery options page, same-day delivery can usually be done.

9. Is there a minimum purchase quantity and amount for orders?

A $10 delivery charge will be applied for any order below $100.

10. What do I do if I cannot find the item I want?

We endeavour to be responsive to our customers' office supply needs. Please contact your sales representative or contact the helpdesk at 6846-6666 or sales@officea2z.com to see if we can assist to source.

11. How do I know if my order has been accepted?

When an order has been accepted in full, an email will be sent to you and the status of the Purchase Order will reflect that the order has been accepted. To view the Purchase Order, select "All Purchase Order".

12. How would I know if my Purchase Order has been received by OfficeA2Z.com?

Once an order has been received and can be fulfilled, it is confirmed and processed. The customer will receive a confirmation email. In addition, the customer will see a status change in the Purchase Order from "Sent" to "Confirmed" .

13. Can I add/delete items if I change my mind?

As long as the customer has not checked out his/her shopping cart, he/she may add or delete items at will. To add items, go to the Buyer page and select the required item and quantity under the appropriate category. To delete items, "View Cart" allows the customer to view his/her shopping cart and delete items from the shopping cart by clicking the appropriate checkboxes (followed by a click on the Update Cart button).

14. Can I add additional items to the order that I have just sent?

Once the order is sent out, it cannot be changed. The additional items will have to go into a new order.

15. If I accidentally purchased some items online, can the order be cancelled?

Items placed in the shopping basket are not considered "purchased" until you check out. Upon check out, a purchase order is sent to OfficeA2Z for the items selected. This Purchase Order is subsequently processed and confirmed at OfficeA2Z. Purchase orders can be cancelled if they have not been confirmed by OfficeA2Z. Go to "All Purchase Order" to see if the Purchase Order has been confirmed. To cancel an unconfirmed order, view the details of the Purchase Order - there is a Cancel PO button at the bottom of the detailed Purchase Order page. If you have sent your purchase order and it has been confirmed by us, you cannot cancel it because the goods will likely be on their way to you. Contact your sales representative to check if they can assist.

16. Can I cancel my orders?

If the order has not been confirmed by the supplier, cancellation is possible: Go to Purchase Order/All to see if the order has been confirmed. If it has not been confirmed, click the Details button to see the full PO. There is a Cancel PO button at the bottom of the full PO.

ADMINISTRATION AND REPORTING FUNCTION

1. How do I create users for my company?

If you are given a buyer administrator login, you will be able to create users within your organization. For clarifications please call your sales representative or our service hotline for assistance.

2. Do I assign User ID and password to a new buyer myself?

As the buyer administrator of your organization, you have the authority to assign all User ID and passwords

3. Will I be able to print out the orders I have purchased?

Printing of PO is done through the print feature of the browser. The customer must be viewing the detailed PO on his browser. To print on either Netscape or Internet Explorer, click the appropriate toolbar button on the browser or select the File/Print menu on the browser.

4. If a monthly expenditure report on stationery is required, how do I go about doing it?

You can print out a report of your organisation's monthly stationery expenditure from OfficeA2Z.com. If you encounter any problems, please contact us at sales@officea2z.com

5. My company requires approval process, how do I configure that in your system?

Our system has the full capability of multiple approving process. It is able to mirror your organisation's purchasing workflow, automate the approval process while eliminating paperwork and enforcing business rules and purchasing policies that apply to each buyer.

TECHNICAL FAQ

1. What is the minimum PC configuration for using the OfficeA2Z service?

OfficeA2Z recommends a minimum configuration of Pentium II 233MHz, 64MB RAM, 5MB free disk space and either Netscape 4.0 and above or Internet Explorer 4.0 and above. At least a 28.8 kbps modem is also required.

2. I encounter problems logging into OfficeA2Z. What do I do?

Please contact the helpdesk at 6846-6666 or sales@officea2z.com after ensuring that your PC and network connection are in order (for example, please help to ensure that you are able to get onto another web site without problems.)

3. I have problems logging into OfficeA2Z.com with my User ID and Password.

Check if you are entering the right User ID and Password (note that both User ID and Password are case-sensitive). Alternatively, contact our helpdesk at 6846-6666 or sales@officea2z.com.

4. The page I am viewing is not downloaded properly and I get some error messages. What do I do?

Try refreshing the screen by clicking the Refresh button on the web browser toolbar. If the problem persists, try logging in again or contact our helpdesk at 6846-6666 or sales@officea2z.com