Promotion, marketing and sales of new technology and e-commerce
Archive for January, 2007
January 11, 2007 at 11:06 am · Filed under External News
Yahoo Search Marketing UK announced to advertisers today via email that the starting bid prices on some keywords will be reduced to £0.05 from 19th January.
“In order to reflect the dynamics of the market, and to help you maximise your return on investment, Yahoo! Search Marketing will introduce a new minimum variable bid pricing structure. This means that from January 19th, our bidding prices will start from as little as £0.05, which is great news for your business!”
One can only assume that “market dynamics” refers either to increased complaints from existing advertisers about their campaign ROI, or Yahoo’s need to attract advertisers and make themselves more competitive with Google AdWords, where starting bids can still be as low as 1p.
This is, in fact, good news for Yahoo’s existing advertisers, assuming those advertisers invest time and effort developing “long tail” keywords with little competition as those will most likely be the type of terms to which this lower pricing applies. This means advertisers will incur an even lower cost risk on such terms, but will not necessarily lead to a significant increase in overall ROI since many advertisers incur the bulk of their costs on more generic “head” terms.
It’s certainly hard to complain about lower pricing, and this action may attract more advertisers, but it will have little impact on what Yahoo! needs most in the UK and the rest of Europe…a higher market share of searches.
January 9, 2007 at 2:21 pm · Filed under External News
We wanted to update you on progress with the problems answering online disputes that were submitted on January 5th and 6th.
We are pleased to announce that we have now fixed this issue. If yo…
January 9, 2007 at 2:21 pm · Filed under External News, eBay
We wanted to let you know that some members are experiencing problems with responding to online dispute claims from January 5th and January 6th.
We are working on the problem and will update …
January 9, 2007 at 12:09 pm · Filed under Marketing and Promotion, News
Well I have had no traffic or sales from google base, so why o why would microsoft want to have its own version? Running scared? Blinking before the lights come on? In this article microsoft launches a google base competitor. In fact its going to be better as it is limited to retailers. Less g-unk. This service (which will take an age to localise to the UK) should be a step up from google base and a serious competitor to any shopping comparison engine. I thought microsoft was only in the money making business? But all this free stuff, msn messenger and now code name Agora? Its this indicative of Bill ‘electro-bubble’ gates taking the long walk?
January 9, 2007 at 9:49 am · Filed under External News
eBay UK has announced another 10p listing day - this time on Thursday 11th January.
“For the entire day of Thursday 11th January 2007 (local UK time), sellers who list one or more items using the Auction-style, Auction-with-Buy It Now or Buy It Now Only (Fixed Price) formats in an eligible category will pay a reduced 10 pence (£0.10 GBP) Insertion Fee per item listed. Please refer to “What’s Excluded?” for more details. “
January 9, 2007 at 4:28 am · Filed under External News
Every year the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) recognizes excellence in software via an award program they call the //CODiE// awards. We just learned today that ChannelAdvisor Merchant was chosen as a finalist in both the Best Business Software Solution and Best eCommerce Solution categories!
You can read all of the details on the program here.
This is admittedly a super-geeky accomplishment, but, heck, as a guy that still sleeps in his Star Wars underoos, this is pretty dang exciting. I wanted to thank the entire ChannelAdvisor team for all of the hard work that has gone into making Merchant a huge success and most importantly our customers. Without you, there would be no ChannelAdvisor and of course, no opportunity to be a //CODiE// finalist!
January 9, 2007 at 3:50 am · Filed under External News
Not unexpected, eBay’s Rob Chestnut has announced today that eBay is rolling out its eBay Safeguarding Member IDs (SMI) to eBay.com and eBay Canada this week. Launched in November on eBay Motors, it masks bidders’ ID with aliases and provides an updated Bid History page.
Following SMI’s introduction last fall on eBay Motors, our eBay sites in the United Kingdom and Australia also made the decision to launch SMI. The results we’re seeing for all three launches indicate that these changes are having the impact we are striving for – in short, a reduction in unwanted commercial and malicious spam (including Fake Second Chance Offers) to bidders on higher-priced auction-style listings.
As a result eBay.com and eBay.ca will be launching SMI later this week. SMI will impact listings on eBay.com that start at or reach a bid level of $200 or greater. On eBay Canada, it will impact listings above the C$220 level. Please read our Safeguarding Member IDs Frequently Asked Questions for more information.
Rob’s also waving the big shill bidding stick, assuring the community that eBay has invested a significant amount of money into detecting and acting upon it. TameBay had an good guest post by an eBay Motors sellers a few weeks back that argues that these changes should in fact reduce this practice.
January 8, 2007 at 8:03 pm · Filed under Sales
In this article I just first want to mention what the differences between these three entities are. A lot of my clients get confused between these three formats, which causes misinterpretation of what functionality is available to them.
Firstly, an eBay shop:
This is part of the eBay marketplace where all of your listings on eBay can be collectively viewed. You can make this look very much like a website (like the guys from creativebay.co.uk) but it is definitely NOT a website. You have 2 ‘marketplaces’ under the eBay umbrella. Core Listings which get a larger proportion of traffic and seemingly cheaper ’shop’ listings which do not form part of the eBay main search and depend very much on core listings to bring in traffic. Within an eBay store you have custom pages, categories and promotional boxes. With a shop on the eBay marketplace, search engine optimisation is done for you by eBay and your have instant traffic.
A Website:
A website can be custom built to any specification and purpose, as long as your budget allows. Websites need optimisation and maintenance usually by your design company to insure the security and smooth running of the site. As long as you are willing to pay for it (Some full e-commerce websites have been fabled to cost around £7000) a website can be built to perform any task and tick any box. Currently toast making websites are not available; you will always have to do that yourself. Get a toaster.
A Storefront;
Storefronts are commonly part of a bigger picture, but have certain limitations with functionality with regards to a custom built website which is built solely for your purpose. Two ’storefronts’ that spring to mind belong as extra functionality to a complete e-commerce solution. Channeladvisor and Marketworks are both auction and shopping feed inventory based order management systems which have the added benefit of a storefront to showcase your product.
Functionality will always differ greatly. For example, Channeladvisor provides a matrix inventory (product with dropdowns) whereas a Marketworks storefront does not. A storefront is part of a complete solution that you can market and treat as a website, but you will need to check with your provider if the particular storefront will give you the functionality you need.
Examples,
A Marketworks Storefront http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Bling-Bling-Online
A Channeladvisor Storefront http://Bling-Bling-Online.co.uk
These guys also have matching eBay dealings:
Marketworks: http://stores.ebay.com/findingking
Channeladvisor: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Bling-Bling-Online
Whatever you choose to sell your product please check testimonials of the stability of the sites and services and make sure you can attract a suitable amount of traffic. If you pay £7000 for a kick ass fully functional website but you have no buyer traffic…..well don’t make the mistake many have already!
January 8, 2007 at 5:03 pm · Filed under News
This is the blog/website of etashou. Let us give you a future exsistance on the web!
January 5, 2007 at 5:54 pm · Filed under External News
List any item for just 10p this Thursday – whatever the starting price.
Terms and Conditions apply. Click here for details.
Reg…
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