Ebay is doing some funky (and possible flunky knowing eBay) things in the next 12 months, changing the customer experience, fiddling with the feedback and unpaid item process, writing bad automated emails that you can’t change….

The double edged sword in this mix is the eBay shopping cart. On one side its a big ‘YAY’ finally eBay has done this but a big…hmmmm as third party checkouts will be banned from June next year.

We knew that things would get difficult but as an eBay buyer this is a good move, the eBay checkout process is familiar and quick. On the other hand as a seller, third party checkouts let you use other card payment systems other than paypal. From next June it will just be known that you use Paypal for eBay and that’s it.

eBay wants the money to keep within its walls, it has more control over it that way, it can refund a buyer and take the money away from the seller at its own discretion. eBay wants a dictatorship and not a democracy.

Will this totalitarian eBay control be a good thing or bad thing? We can only wait and see, its only the kind of control Amazon has over its sellers and that’s doing okay for itself.

However this move might take eBay away from its community routes which made it great, and this is a shame.

Is this freedom of community a little to hard to control now the hyperweb has become so big? Fraud, privacy and security always feature in the news to terrify people and I wwould like to hear eBay speak at insite about its direction and why it has taken those decisions.

Two great forces on the interweb for me are Amazon and Ratuken which operate a shopping cart. Rakuten are going from strength to strength.

Rakuten are a big lust for me with a fantastic kimono section and for a English site just machine translated is surprisingly not that complicated to buy from. I do think we shall see more of this marketplace in the western hemisphere with their acquisition of things over this way

Rakuten, make sure you let your shop owners have a unique design…I could do with making money from you to buy more kimono stuffs….and err…lets sort that shipping out its like a black hole when you buy if you don’t know how much things cost to be shipped from Japan

*edited to remove the over use of the word ‘however’

1. The food – you are always fed ‘n’ watered well as a sponsor and attendee at Channeladvisor events. This year we had more time for the feeding process (which so happened to be in the room with all the sponsors) so as people eat they like to talk, so potential clients will wander round with their coffee chatting to other attendees and to the sponsors.

2. Other third party providers – Catalyst is always good to catch up with our fellow third party providers and competitors (Grrrrr…arrrrg) to see how they are fairing in business and exchange experiences.

In the Channeladvisor world the third party provider space is not that huge, so we all get to know one another. When you have a network of trusted service providers you can recommend to your existing clients, we all bounce off one another. Even companies who on the face of it are direct competitors, are not normally carbon copies of each other. They can offer and lend services so that the client gets what they need.

3. Other third party providers, that don’t sponsor also attend the event – I negotiated a nice deal and introduction to a newer marketplace (playtrade) that would suit the direction one of my clients is taking. He will be happy with this

4. Potential clients – it’s why us sponsors go really, to get business. The good thing with potential and current ChannelAdvisor clients is that they are pre qualified. When you are speaking to a potential they are interested in moving forward and contracting a company to make this happen.

5. Networking – Talking e-commerce with a few free alcoholic beverages in you is fun. You meet new friends and clients in a more relaxed atmosphere.

6. Ideas – potential clients are brimming with ideas, information and enthusiasm after all the seminars and speakers. They are in the MOOD, and ready to make waves with the help of us sponsors perhaps?

7. CA Staff – I spoke to lots of CA staff, to catch up with personally and to speak about clients. Lots of new introductions too. I had a demo of their new ‘salesforce’ offering which a client of mine wants us to integrate in his store and eBay design. I also got a pair of fresh eyes on a clients SearchAdvisor account because it is driving sales and traffic to a store designed by us. We want the store to be excellent in all things and we take conversion very seriously

Well that is what as a sponsor and eBay/E-commerce design company, CA catalyst means to me.

1. De-bunking the ChannelAdvisor Premium store set up process – a guide for those with little concentration.
2. Breaking down eBay’s changes for real people.
3. How to be the client in a web project (I like this one, no one ever tells the client what they need to do – and you are so important to the development process)

Thanks!

And also acceptance. I have never hidden the fact that socially, I am a bit out of the ordinary. I grab at any chance to don a full kimono or outfits of the gothic persuasion and funnily enough, this tendency does not affect my abilities as a consultant or developer. But some seem to think so

Facebook updates and tweets to the outside world can be misconstrued by sensitive businesses and I can’t always think of every angle to what I say in a random facebook update. It’s probably not about you, unless I call you out by name. But I can’t stop you thinking it, we all have a victim complex from time to time.

So on twitter and facebook Hairfreax is personal and matches my hobbies – you will know what my next outfit is, when I washed my hair and be able to see how my cats are doing or new hairpiece designs. Kidsontalks on twitter (and soon facebook) will be business related musing, and people who are more business friends and connections (who probably don’t really want updates on my cats diet) will be added there.

I apologise to those who have to put up with both, and those who I have removed from my personal facebook page.

I don’t have a lot of time, I work 24/7 and also weekends (today is a bank holiday but I am still at work with a list of to-dos and programming) so this is a slow process.

This year just feels very positive, the business is going well and I have worked with some great clients like http://www.tacklediscounts.co.uk in the last few months. They are experiencing their best ever eBay sales record and we hope the website which is promoted by searchadvisor (a channeladvisor search product) and soon a little marketing creative from CYT will match this.

But as always, with my head deep in XML/SQL files – I need to brush up on my oh so current eBay – a lot has changed this week it seems and I need to play catch up.

I have been doing a mix of projects, from SEO and programming to consultancy and design.

I shall be sitting in all the conferences this catalyst (or as many as I can) so my head will be full of blog-able information soon.

Speak then my e-commerce lovelies.

The third annual Plenty Markets user meeting is behind us and we are very pleased with the turn out. We can boast 440 participants. The highlight of the event, which has offered a total of 26 lectures and workshops as well as 24 information booths, was the awarding of plentyMarkets Webshop Awards.

John Altman, founder and CEO of Shoplupe GmbH, has reviewed the plentyMarkets shops nominated for the Shop Usability Award and selected three winners.

And the Gold went to Createyourtemplate!

Herzliche Einladung zum 3. plentyMarkets User-Treffen!

Zum dritten Mal veranstaltet die plentySystems GmbH am 20. Februar 2010 ihren jährlichen Event im Grand Hotel Modérne La Strada in Kassel. Eingeladen sind alle Nutzer der eCommerce Komplettlösung plentyMarkets sowie Interessenten. In Kooperation mit dem Sponsor Trusted Shops informieren Vorträge und Workshops zum Thema “Neue Chancen im E-Commerce” über die Möglichkeiten zur Steigerung der Effizienz und Leistungsfähigkeit des Onlineauftritts.

Neben den Vorträgen und Workshops wird es auch genug Zeit und Raum geben, um andere plentySeller, das plentyMarkets-Team oder die Kooperationspartner kennenzulernen – sei es beim 3-gängigen Lunch, den Kaffeepausen oder der abendlichen Bankettveranstaltung mit Schlemmer-Buffet und Live-Musik. Dieses außergewöhnliche Event sollte kein Online-Händler verpassen!

Übersetzt unter Verwendung BabelFish, da ich englisch bin und nicht Deutsches spreche – Entschuldigungen für den Computer sprechen!

So what is the value of silence in business? Specifically when dealing with customers.

It doesn’t matter if you are selling a product, providing support or running through a specification with a customer, sometimes silence is the best way to accomplish your goal.

Silence and listening is importing in communication as so often a client has a story or a point that will only be made if you don’t try to second guess them or hurry them along. If we interrupt, we make the story teller rush and they might muddle their point, and most importantly – we as consultants might miss valuable information.

Silence can also be seen as ignorance or lethargy though or even worse weakness. Silence without listening is not constructive.

If you think that your clients are happy with your work because you don’t hear any complaints, think again.

Silence is not a good way to measure customer satisfaction.

Online customers can be more vocal with their discontent, but forums can be cleaned out and bloggers/review posters can be silenced themselves or influenced.

But what you can never stop is mouth to mouth reviews, businesses talking to each other – this can be positive or negative depending on the company in question.

As a consultant, I get recommended in a positive way by clients and third party providers, I am quirky, occasionally outspoken but most of all a supportive problem solver for my clients. I keep in contact with my customers so they know they need never be silent. I will always be there to listen, good or bad.

The fastest way to get a reputation for being a bad company is to:

– send your customers around a electronic loop of voicemail, bad tunes and unrelated staff, when they try to contact you with a problem.

– ignore your customers, or treat them like they are the problem.

– outright lie, customers are not generally stupid and only have YOU as a company to keep an eye on whereas you as the company have many customers. They will notice if you trip up, and tell their friends.

– constantly change your terms of service in response to customer complaints, this is not what its for and soon enough your terms start reading like a rep sheet of why someone should never get involved with you.

– censor your customers opinions, as Princess Leia once said ‘The more you tighten your grip, *insert company here*, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.’

– only deliver approximately what the customer paid for when they complain (this also applies to refunds – why I love Amazon so much you know and trust them)

Once burnt, a client will be more suspicious of any company in the same field (I get suspicious of estate agents, mechanics and insurance companies personally) and it makes the next company on the list open to more fire as they ARE the ones listening and attending to the issue.

Bad companies poison the water for the rest of us (take Northern Rock – can you say you didn’t watch your own bank like a hawk when that fiasco went on? Fortunately, mine didn’t need to borrow any money) customers and companies alike.

That is the value of Silence.

April 12-13th at the Brewery London – http://www.channeladvisor.com/catalyst/uk/default.html

Last year the catering was smashing, and this year again eBay and Amazon will be there!

Topics covered this year will be (according to the agenda)

- General look at online retailing and where we are at!
- Using rich media to improve website conversions
- Consumer panel
- Online priorities for retailers
- Shopping comparison
- Paid search
- Return on investment for display advertising
- Selling with social media

As well as the low down for eBay and Amazon!

It should be a great event for both retailers and third party providers. We shall have some sugar at the Createyourtemplate ‘booth’ (not that they are really booths) so let us talk to you about eBay design, Aspdotnetstorefront and e-commerce design and consultancy while you tank up on the sweet stuff.

*Disclaimer CYT UK is me – oh you noticed that? Oh OK!

Many retailers (eBayers are the most prolific for this) think that simply copying their competitors will achieve results. So here is a list of considerations before you become a carbon copy of your favourite competitor:

- The element you are copying – does your competitor publish results on its effectiveness?
- Has your competitor analysed the behaviour of your customer base and applied it to that element?
- Is your competitor just ‘guessing’?
- Does your competitor monitor their data and evolve overtime? Or are you copying an archaic element that they keep meaning to change?

Most retailers like to keep this kind of information close to their chest, so in reality you will probably not be able to make decisions based on accurate, tried and tested methods. You are just hoping that what you competitor does, is correct.

But lets turn it on its head a little – why do you have to look at your competitors? Retailers outside your category would have exhibited great ideas too and methods that could be changed/modified to apply to your category.

Let pull this to some examples – Sainsbury’s *feed your family for a fiver* campaign – sales went through the roof and Sainsbury’s did very well out of it. Marks and Spencer’s *Two dine in for* promotions – still compete with Sainsbury’s but this promotion suits the M&S food buyers. Same rough idea – two applications – two different markets.

Now, Somerfield/Co-op are trying to feed four for £4 – which on checking out this deal it is in fact a poor copy of the Sainsbury’s idea – trying to coat tail off the campaign success but just no banana!

So before you just become that carbon copy, remember that on the net we are striving for personalisation in many aspects – so don’t just be content to imitate!

Competitors will always be inspiration, but be that one on-line store that really speaks to its customers, because you have strived to collect the data and listened. You might end up with the same results as a competitor, but at least you will know why they do what they do!