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By Greg Newell in Ecommerce

ecommerceAll on-line fortunes choose a great idea yet not all good ideas deliver fortunes. So…don’t believe simply because you’re on the internet you’ll generate millions. Should you wish to venture into e-commerce on the web, realize that your income will probably be the result of working hard, extensive research, consistent vigilance, and determination.

The chance that your internet site goes viral is about as good as you whipping Jordon in the game of horse. It could happen, however is not likely.

That said, this information is basically to direct you in the right direction to be able to sell anything on the web beyond simply going to eBay and selling there. These are some of the factors you need to know to setup a store.

Easy Shopping Cart Software

For anybody who is not a online enthusiast, creating or having an individual build your own e-commerce website is both expensive and also for most applications completely unneeded. Easy to use ecommerce software is crucial if you’re planning to maintain your personal web store. Look for on-line shopping cart apps and you will be in a position to sidestep the whole notion of building and publishing your own on-line store. You just use the online applications to development your shop and add your products.

You may also discover the advantage of promotional tools that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. So main point here: opt for an web-based pre-built shopping cart solution. Beyond the basic specifications, try to look for these features: variants, inventory, SSL encryption security. Should they be provided, chances are you won’t have to worry as much about the basics being included.

VARIANTS

Some basic issues you ought to think about include the capability to include variants (sizes, colors etc). This is probably the most overlooked requirement. If you offer t-shirts for example, you most likely don’t want to have to create a new item for every color and size combination. A decent shopping cart application will let you create variants for a single product. Not everyone requires variants but if it’s a feature, its typically included. Just make sure it’s included.

INVENTORY

You also want to have the capability to monitor inventory. For those who have a shopping cart with variants, you’ll need the inventory to keep track of the individual variants too. That is because you might need to know, by way of example, just how many yellow, large shirts you have left.

In the event you do not have that tracked good enough and an individual purchases one, what happens if you don’t have it? It’s a little bit more of a headache that you will not need to cope with.

SITE SECURITY

Nearly all of the simple shopping cart systems allow for anyone to set up a PayPal purchase. One step-up from this is if you want to perform the transaction on-site. However, you cannot have individuals entering VISA or Mastercard information on your website lacking file encryption. A good number of new e-commerce owners have difficulty with this specific requirement. Look for a shopping cart software system that has it included! You can find quite a few carts which don’t charge extra for SSL encryption technology.

This is simply a brief list of main features to think about but ones that we’ve found most neglected when making the selection on which to go with. Generally if you have satisfied this basic set of guidelines, the various other characteristics an individual have to have will be included. Do your research nevertheless and do not think you have to accomplish this by yourself. Quite a few online ecommerce owners will talk to you and give you advice….Don’t Hesitate !!

Business Web Generation will guide you each and every step of the way relative to your ecommerce needs. Use our easy shopping cart solutions and very simple internet based website creator for your next undertaking. Visit www.businesswebgeneration.com and www.buildawebshop.com for more information.

By Gobala Krishnan in Ecommerce

ecommerceStarting an e-commerce business today is easier than it has ever been. There has never been such an abundance of tools, software, experts and resources to teach you exactly what to do and how to do it.

A few years ago, it would cost you an arm and a leg just to get your e-commerce site up. Today however, we have a multitude of shopping cart software to choose from.

In 2001 when I first started selling online, starting an e-commerce business may have seemed like a risky thing to do. Today you hear tons of success stories in newspapers and online media.

Nevertheless, many newbies still make some fundamental mistakes when starting their first ecommerce site. This article highlights three key factors in being successful at e-commerce.

Choose a Moderately Sized, Profitable Niche Market

You cannot, and should not, try to be the next Amazon. Selling everything under the sun is not easy, cheap, or really necessary. It took Amazon millions of dollars and years of operations to finally achieve a profit. Can you afford to do the same?

I’ve always advised my students to “go niche” – in other words, to choose a well-defined and targeted niche market. However, choose a niche market that is too small is a mistake as well.

You’ve probably read e-books that tell you to explore obscure niche markets. It’s true that in such markets it’s easier to make money since there is less competition. However, fewer competitors can also mean less profit on the table, and a smaller audience. What good is it if you can completely dominate an obscure niche market, yet cannot make enough money from it to sustain at least a full-time income?

It makes perfect sense when you think about it! If there was a lot of profit to be made, there would be existing competition to some extent. You’ll

Ideally, your target market should be not too broad yet not too narrow. Look for potential growth in your market as well. You don’t want to end up serving a shrinking market.

Don’t Spend Too Much Time on Software

The right software will make or break your new e-commerce venture. However, some marketers prefer to go for open source systems just because it’s free. What they fail to consider however is that almost any kind of open source software is never a finished product. Unless you want it to look like every other site out there using the same system, you’ll need to work on it.

That’s when most people realize the real hidden cost of open source software – your time! If you choose open source software, remember that it’s still going to cost money and time to develop it into something you want. More often than not, it will only steer you away from your main goal of building a working site fast.

That’s why I always recommend new marketers to go for ready-made e-commerce shopping cart systems that are web-based. This will save you lots of time. The time you save can easily be used to market your site and get more traffic.

Web-based e-commerce systems usually also come with tons of different web templates you can choose from. This helps you to get the design you want for your store. Modifying the templates a little will make your site even more unique.

Paid software also comes with accessible support, whereas open-source programs don’t. Having someone you can turn to when things don;t go exactly as planned is extremely valuable. With open source software, you’ll find yourself begging for help and attention at support forums.

Deal With Back-end Issues As Quickly As Possible

Having an e-commerce store is just one part of a successful e-commerce business. There’s tons of other back-end stuff you need to take care of too. For example, shipping and delivery is a major concern.

A successful e-commerce business always has products in stock and always ships fast. Most successful online retailers has spent tons of time, money and planning to delicately put together an effective stocking, delivery and customer support system. How you need to develop your back-end processes really depends on your market, the size of your company and your level of experience.

However, I strongly believe that if you can identify bottlenecks in your processes and make a genuine effort to address them, you should be able to get a smooth start in your e-commerce venture.

Your cash flow and line of credit is another massive concern, although no guru will teach you about these things in an e-book or seminar. It’s something that you will learn to understand and master with time. When you’re starting out however, a little caution will go a long way. Keep everything simple, and avoid spending on expensive hardware or software.

After all, the kind of hardware and software you really need is pretty cheap nowadays. You can get dedicated servers, help desk systems, merchant accounts and other related tools for under a hundred dollars monthly. Warehouse or storage space is completely redundant if you can find a drop shipper to supply the products and make the actual shipment to your customers.

Take some time to carefully design and test your back end processes. You simply cannot afford to take these things for granted. If you do, you may end up with a lot of grumpy customers and that’s never a good thing for your brand or profitability in the long run.

Gobala Krishnan writes regularly about Internet marketing and entrepreneurial success. For more information on getting the right e-commerce software, check out his BigCommerce review site.

By Kasey Steinbrinck in Ecommerce

ecommerceTechnology has made great strides towards making online shopping as safe as possible. But your security can’t be guaranteed. There are many criminals in cyberspace looking for an opportunity to steal your identity.

If you get a queasy feeling in your stomach whenever you type your credit card number on a website – you are certainly not alone. According to research by the Identity Theft Resource Center, the majority of the public is uneasy about online banking and shopping.

The ITRC study conducted in the summer of 2010 monitored trends in what it describes as “consumer concerns about internet transactions.” 500 people who used the internet for banking or shopping within a 30-day time-frame were asked specific questions about their worries.

The findings showed that an alarming 87% of those surveyed have significant concerns about personal information such as credit card information, passwords, user-names and social security numbers being stolen or lost by a business or financial institution in a data breach.

That number isn’t so shocking when you examine another study. This one was conducted by Verizon Business. It recently conducted an investigation into compliance with credit card security standards. In order to protect consumer credit card data, guidelines referred to as the Payment Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) were developed several years ago. However, Verizon discovered only 22% of companies were compliant with PCI-DSS when they were reviewed for the first time.

It’s no wonder that 81% of those questioned in the ITRC survey are worried about getting phishing emails. 77% are concerned that they’ll see a large increase in spam in their email inbox, and 80% are scared their password could be stolen!

The good news from this study is that many consumers are taking a proactive approach to protecting their identity while shopping online.

Of the consumers questioned in this study, 41% refuse to use a payment method with access to their bank account. Those who switch their online passwords on a regular basis make up 35% of survey participants. Nearly a quarter of participants say they only use low-limit credit cards when shopping online. That means if their personal information is lost in a data breach – the financial losses won’t be too terrible.

Online business should take notice of these numbers and realize that protecting their customers is extremely important. 73% of the people in this survey said they would no longer shop at a website that experienced a data breach. The majority also said they would advise friends and family to avoid that particular website as well.

When you go to an e-commerce website, check to see if they are displaying seals indicating a partnership with trusted web security companies such as Verisign and McAfee.

See if you can find the McAfee Secure Trustmark somewhere on the homepage. It will display the date when the website was last tested. McAfee scans for possible access to personal data, links to dangerous sites, phishing and other online dangers.

Kasey Steinbrinck creates web content for online Check Printer Check Advantage. Read more of his writing on the Check Advantage blog at blog.checkadvantage.com.

By Joel Sussman in Ecommerce

ecommerceIf you own a bricks-and-mortar retail store, a distributorship, or a manufacturing facility, imagine the potential for increased sales if you offered your products to a global marketplace by simply setting up a website with your catalog on it. After installing an ecommerce shopping cart system and the ability to process payments online, some aspiring Internet moguls just sit back and wait for the orders to start flying in. The idea of suddenly having access to hundreds of millions of credit card wielding customers can certainly be intoxicating, but the reality of ecommerce success is that it’s not nearly that easy!

Maybe there’s some glamour associated with being a “renegade entrepreneur”, adopting a take-no-prisoners mentality and making up the rules as you go along. In some cases, being unconventional and aggressive can certainly help an online store stand out in the crowded Internet marketplace, but skipping steps and ignoring proven business principles is a guaranteed recipe for failure.

So if selling stuff on the Web represents a huge opportunity, but most people fail at it, then what does one have to do join the ranks of the successful “webpreneur”? While there are always risks inherent in starting any business, beginning your journey with an up-to-date “roadmap” (or virtual GPS) can help assure that you won’t get lost, miss an ‘exit’, or fail to reach your destination on your way to ecommerce success.

Imagine this scenario (and it happens all the time): An awesome-looking web site with marketable products and competitive prices goes online, but makes no sales or performs far below expectations. What happened? Well, there’s a veritable checklist of possibilities that could explain abysmal sales figures, but it often boils down to two things: a lack of attention to search engine optimization (SEO) and sales conversion factors.

The Essence of SEO and Online Sales Conversion Tactics

In a nutshell, search engine optimization means that steps have been taken to demonstrate to Google, Yahoo, and Bing that a web site is highly relevant for certain keywords, and that it deserves a top-10 ranking when searches are performed for those keywords. What a sizable portion of ecommerce website owners do not realize is that if their web site isn’t among the first dozen or so listings on the search engine results pages, then, for all intents and purposes, their web site is invisible to thousands of prospective customers.

To put things in perspective, millions of web pages are competing with each other for a top-10 Google ranking for most common keyword searches. So, to stand a chance of gaining any visibility in Google (the dominant search engine), an ecommerce site has to contain keyword combinations for which customers are actually searching. Not only that, but the phrases have to be strategically placed on the web page, and, ideally, the most important keyword phrase should be in the domain name and in links to your site from other web sites (that’s where it gets a bit tricky). Once all that has been accomplished, then your ecommerce web site is geared up to begin competing on a level playing field with other similar web sites trying to be found by customers on the Internet.

Another common ecommerce blunder is failing to make the most of sales conversion opportunities on a website, which can include everything from including trust-building factors and a hassle-free checkout process to offering easy site navigation features and plenty of clear “calls to action” — which refers to what you want the customer to do before leaving your web site (such as, call your toll-free number, leave their email address, or order a product). A good ‘rule of thumb’ in ecommerce, which also applies to do business off-line, is that “a confused customer is a lost customer”. So to maximize the sales conversion potential of your ecommerce online store, instill your visitors with a sense of trust, a clear path to placing an order or getting more information, and an incentive to take action now.

Joel Sussman is a web content writer for Mountain Media, a website development company in upstate New York that provides ecommerce design, website hosting, and other ecommerce solutions for online merchants. Visit their site for a free email course entitled “7-Days to Successful eCommerce”.

By Forrest Yingling in Ecommerce

With the current state of the world’s economy, people are routinely looking to do whatever they can in order to save money. People will go to lengths that they previously would not go to so they can save a buck. You can easily make yourself stand out from the competition by offering valuable coupons for your products and services.

Many owners and operators of companies large and small have a tendency to either forget about or overlook the use of coupons as a promotional and marketing tool. Coupons are often thought of as thing of the past, with memories of parents and grandparents huddled over a stack of newspapers, scissors in hand, searching for the next big bargain.

With the Internet becoming the modern marketplace and the slow death of the traditional newspaper, coupons have evolved beyond the print media. The online coupon has become a formidable method of promoting a business while simultaneously saving the cash-strapped general public some money and encouraging competition between businesses.

Coupons are a powerful way of branding and gaining publicity for a business. By highlighting sales and current promotions, you can drive quality traffic to your online store. Traffic originating from a coupon is the kind of traffic that leads to conversions and this is the type of traffic that an online storeowner needs to generate, especially in this current economy.

There are currently a number of coupon sites online and they are becoming increasingly popular. They make their money from selling ads on their sites because of the staggering amount of visitors that check out these sites in search of money-saving purchases. Since the websites are making their money by selling ad space, there are generally no charges or fees for businesses placing coupons on these sites. Not to mention, all of the stores that have coupons on these popular websites are receiving high quality backlinks to their site. This is a surefire way of building links, page rank and climbing up the SERPs (search engine results pages).

A smart coupon strategy is to create a coupon that directs visitors to your Clearance or Sale page where discounted goods are already listed. You do not even have to go out of your way to fabricate a special sale.

The use of coupons can be a highly successful method of promoting your online business. Coupons do not need to be thought of strictly in the traditional sense. There is a whole new market for modern coupons.

Forrest Yingling is the Marketing Director for WebNet Hosting, Premier Partner Miva Host since 2004.  WebNet Hosting provides fully PCI Compliant Miva Hosting with 100% uptime as well as e-commerce solutions and basic web hosting.

By Forrest Yingling in Ecommerce

Confusion Runs Rampant
Many folks in the e-commerce industry have found themselves scratching their heads in confusion over the new PCI PA-DSS (Payment Card Industry, Payment Application – Data Security Standard) rules and guidelines.  PCI Compliance has never been an easy topic to wrap one’s head around and the new DSS is starting to cause panic among some involved in businesses that operate online.  The July 1, 2010 compliance deadline is looming and many payment applications are still not DSS certified.

This is not good news for anyone involved in the e-commerce sector.  There is no set punishment established for non-compliance with the new PA-DSS.   If an online storeowner is found to be non-compliant then they will likely be charged increased merchant fees and penalties, face hefty fines and in some cases have their merchant account or even their entire website terminated.

Most of the confusion and controversy revolves around who exactly needs to comply with the new DSS.  The answer to this is somewhat complex but the primary rule of thumb is that if your store processes credit cards online then you need to use a shopping cart that is PA-DSS certified in order to be PCI Compliant.

As an e-commerce merchant, vendor or retailer (those operating a business online), it is your duty to ensure you are utilizing fully PCI Compliant Hosting and that your shopping cart application is PA-DSS certified.  If either your host or cart is not compliant with the PCI than your site is in trouble.  Many carts and other merchant service providers are still shuffling to get scanned and added to the list of compliant applications before the July deadline.

If you are in the market for new shopping cart software than you do not want to use a program that is non-compliant with the PCI or PA-DSS.  It is not worth losing money or possibly your business over something so simple to remedy.  The responsibility falls on you – the storeowner – to find a host and cart that are compliant with the PCI and to fulfill the required network scans and questionnaires.

PCI Compliance vs PA-DSS – what’s the difference?
The PA-DSS (Payment Application – Data Security Standard) applies to products that are distributed as applications that people can purchase and then do whatever they wish.  For example, this applies to shopping cart programs and e-commerce solutions.  The DSS started as the PABP (Payment Application Best Practices) by Visa before becoming affiliated with the PCI Security Council, which represents all five major credit card companies.  In order to be PCI Compliant you must be on a DSS certified application.  In other words, your cart must be compliant.

PCI Compliance is a broader set of rules and guidelines.  The PCI Compliance rules are the standards for the way in which credit card transactions and other confidential information is processed online.

As of July 2010, both PCI and PA-DSS Compliance are necessary for a site that accepts credit card payments.  The PCI applies to all e-commerce businesses, web hosts, shopping carts, payment gateways and merchant account providers.  When a company becomes DSS certified they are then added to Visa’s list of compliant companies.  The PCI Compliance rules are the standards for the way in which credit card transactions and other confidential information is processed online.

In order to be fully PCI compliant with the new PA-DSS, level 4 merchants must be running compliant applications on their site (such as their shopping cart).  Their web hosts must also be PCI compliant by using properly encrypted networks, regularly updating their anti-virus software and performing regular system scans.

There are a number of PCI scanning companies approved by Visa and MasterCard that will help small merchants pass PCI audits and complete the PCI questionnaire in order to show PCI compliance. Being fully PCI and DSS compliant is like having an insurance policy in the event of a security breech.

For the list of requirements that QSAs will be checking for in your scan check out:

https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/pci_pa_dss.shtml

Forrest Yingling is the Marketing Director for WebNet Hosting, Premier Partner Miva Hosts since 2004.   WebNet Hosting provides PCI Compliant Miva Web Hosting and e-commerce solutions.

By Martyn Boaden in Ecommerce

Your eBay listing is your salesperson. Most sales people look smart and professional. Your eBay listing must also look smart and professional and give the appearance of a legitimate business. This will instil confidence in your buyers.

If you are selling the same item as someone else on eBay, but your listing is more professional and gives the impression of a legitimate business (whereas your competitor’s does not) then people will be more likely to buy from you. They may even be willing to pay more to buy the same item from you than from your competitor – because they have more confidence in you.

Make your eBay listing attractive and professional but avoid flashy gimmicks that distract. Just because you can add blinking images and flash video and music doesn’t mean you should. Whilst clever, they won’t increase your sales. They will just distract. If it doesn’t directly help you to sell your item, don’t use it.

A simple audio or video message in your eBay listing WILL increase sales.

Make your eBay listing EASY ON THE EYE. Some of your potential buyers may have poor eyesight. You don’t want to lose them because they can’t read your listing. But even if they have 20:20 vision, you are more likely to grab and hold their attention if reading your eBay listing is EFFORTLESS.

Dark text on a light background is the easiest to read. Black text on a white background is best and should be used in most cases. Different coloured text can be used sparingly to draw attention to a few key words and phrases.

Use a font that is appropriate to what you are selling. If you are selling children’s toys, “Comic Sans MS” might be an appropriate font to use. But this would create the wrong impression if you were selling something more “high-brow” such as a business course for which “Times New Roman” would be more appropriate. If in doubt, use an easy to read font such as “Verdana”, “Calibri” or “Arial”. Avoid difficult to read fancy fonts such as “Monotype Corsiva.”

SOME PEOPLE WRITE THEIR LISTINGS USING JUST CAPITALS. THIS IS A MISTAKE. IT IS ACTUALLY HARDER TO READ THAN LOWER CASE TEXT.

Capitals can be used SPARINGLY to draw attention to a few KEY WORDS and PHRASES.

Most people will skim through your listing to see if it’s of interest before they decide whether to read it fully or move on to the next listing. You want them to notice the most important words and phrases – the ones that describe your product’s major benefits – as they skim read.

So emphasise these important words and phrases by using a combination of CAPITALS, bold text, underlined text, high-lighted text or by using different font colours. But don’t over-use these as your listing will look messy and what you want to emphasise will no longer stand out.

These emphasised words and phrases must build sufficient interest in the skim-reader to encourage them to read your eBay listing properly.

A big block of un-broken text, many lines deep, is daunting. Break it up into several smaller paragraphs that are only a few rows deep. Don’t worry if this grammatically in-correct.

You are NOT writing a piece of prose for your English exam. You are writing a sales letter. Your style should be CONVERSATIONAL and EASY TO READ. Use SHORT sentences and SHORT paragraphs with SPACE between each paragraph. This breaks your text into small bite sized pieces which are easier to digest.

Whilst you don’t need perfect grammar (because you are using a conversational style), you DO need perfect spelling. Poor spelling is VERY unprofessional. Compose your listing in a word processing software program such as Microsoft Word with the spellchecker on and correct any errors. If spelling isn’t your strongpoint, get someone else to proof-read your eBay listing.

Write everything in a logical order such as headline, description, guarantee, shipping terms, payment terms. Break up the text with sub-headings such as Guarantee, Shipping Terms, Payment Terms, etc so that it is easy to follow.

You can use brand awareness to enhance your credibility on eBay. If all your eBay listings look the same, people who haven’t bought from you yet will soon become familiar with your listings. They may eventually buy from you instead of a competitor because this familiarity breeds confidence.

Consider having a logo made and used in all your listings to make you look more professional, differentiate you from your competitors and help build brand awareness.

Most salespeople dress conservatively, i.e. a business suit and sensible shoes. They don’t dress to “express themselves” and stand out. This would distract from their sales message. They just want to look professional so that customers will have confidence in them. Your logo and your listing design should do the same.

You can make your listings completely bespoke and unique by using HTML (which stands for Hyper Text Markup Language and is the code used to design webpages) even if you don’t know how to use HTML! You can use “What You See Is What You Get” (“WYSIWYG”) software such as Frontpage or Dreamweaver.

The way this software works is you design your webpage in a similar way that you would write a Word document, without using any HTML code. The program automatically converts your design into HTML for you. You then copy and paste the HTML code into eBay’s Sell Your Item or Turbo Lister templates. You can download a FREE WYSIWYG software program called NVu.

Martyn Boaden is the Founder of The Online Auction Resource Centre where you will find more information and all the resources you’ll ever need to set up and run your successful and profitable eBay business. And for a limited time only you can get instant access to his popular eBay Business Box (worth $164 + $17 pm) for FREE by clicking this link: http://www.TheOnlineAuctionResourceCentre.com

By Kathy Dobson in Ecommerce

Any e-commerce application needs a good shopping cart to handle any purchases and payments for subscriptions. Of course you want the best shopping cart you can get for your blogs or websites, but there are so many options online, all promising you the world, that it can get confusing. Still wondering what a shopping cart is on website?

There are several points to consider, but the simplest description that all of us will recognize is the shopping cart in grocery stores. While that one has squeaky wheels and gets pushed up and down the aisle, the shopping cart on your website is a set of scripts that track what your customers buy so they can pay for the entire selection with one click.

All the shopping cart does is keep track of any items you have placed in it for purchase. Without a shopping cart your customers would have to pay individually for everything they want to buy. After your customers press the “Buy” button on your site, their transaction is transferred to a payment processor to collect the money owed, send it where it belongs and enables the download if required.

It’s not quite that simple, but it is a quick explanation of what happens behind the “Buy” button. There are several processes that are sending and receiving the request for payment on a mouse click that ends with the download instructions for your customer. It gets confusing when you start searching for a shopping cart for your own sites. A simple search will probably send you several hundred choices, all claiming to be the premier shopping cart for your needs.

An excellent choice would be PayPal’s shopping cart. For several reasons, using PayPal’s shopping cart will streamline your customer’s payment processes by letting you accept credit and debit cards and direct bank account payments. Some benefits for your customers include purchasing more than one item at a time and paying for them with a single click of the “Buy” button. It’s good customer service. You don’t want to irritate customers ready to spend money with you.

Other PayPal benefits for your customer include the ability to browse your entire collection of products and check out a list of what they bought before they click on your “Buy” button, which gives them the opportunity to modify the list. Ease of installation which does not require knowledge of CGI scripting is one big advantage of PayPal’s shopping cart. Opening an account is free of up-front costs and you are charged the same fees charged when you get other PayPal payments.

To find the fee schedule, check out the bottom of any page, even the log in page, for a link to “Pricing” or “Fees.” Some of the technical benefits of using PayPal’s shopping cart include being able to set shipping rates, if necessary, and tax rates. You can let your customers make donations to charities of their choice. You can easily convert your “Buy Now” buttons into “Add To Cart” buttons to make multiple purchases seamless to your customer.

Their free 410-page PDF, “Website Payments Standard Integration Guide,” has all the in-depth information you might need about using “Buy Now” buttons included. You can find a comprehensive list of services on PayPal when you click the tab, “Merchant Services.” If you click on the tab, “Products and Services,” you will find a link to the ebook. For your business records, PayPal will keep detailed transaction records on their website for your use when you need them.

You will also find details needed to integrate PayPal with your site, including how to pre-populate your customer’s sign-up forms. It might be a good idea to download their free PDF User Agreement for your records. You can find a link to the document at the bottom of almost every page on the service. Look for “Legal Agreements” and click that link. PayPal is easy to use with whatever application you need. It has been time tested for a longtime as eBay’s payment processor.

Besides being highly recognizable as something that a lot of people use already and have a comfort zone with, another undocumented benefit of using PayPal’s shopping cart is your own peace of mind in knowing that your business income is in good hands.

Kathy Dobson is a free spirited business owner and entrepreneur dedicated to helping others achieve financial and personal freedom through Internet marketing with an emphasis on membership sites.

By Chip Cooper in Ecommerce

Recent case law confirms once again: if online agreements are presented properly to end-users, they’re legally enforceable.

This continuing trend is good news for websites that contract with registered users though SaaS Agreements, Membership Agreements, Subscription Agreements, Terms of Sale, Content License Agreements, and the like.

Why? Among other things, this means that important legal disclaimers and limitations of liability are legally enforceable.

But what about liability exposure arising out of customer contracts entered into by your resellers? Are you liable for actions of your resellers?

The Direct Revenue Case

In the case of People v. Direct Revenue, the New York Attorney General in 2008 attempted to nail Direct Revenue for its distribution of software that served pop-up advertising software on consumers’ computers.

Direct Revenue is in the advertising business. It’s software client serves pop-up advertisements to consumer’s computer screens through the Internet. Direct Revenue does not charge fees to consumers. Instead, it charges fees to the companies whose products it advertises.

It’s interesting to note that one line of attack by the New York Attorney General focused on Direct Revenue’s “click-wrapped” (where the user clicks on “I ACCEPT”) end user license agreement (EULA) and Direct Revenue’s alleged deceptive and illegal practices. The court granted Direct Revenue’s motion to dismiss the claims noting that sufficient disclosure was given in the EULA, and the required elements for an enforceable agreement were followed.

Having failed with its first line of attack, New York’s additional line of attack focused on the customer agreements of Direct Revenue’s resellers in an attempt to hold Direct Revenue liable. The result was the same as with the EULA — Direct Revenue was held not liable.

New York conceded that Direct Revenue’s resellers were independent contractors rather than agents. Generally, a principal is not liable for acts of an independent contractor due to the lack of control over how the contractor’s work is performed. In addition, the court noted that Direct Revenue’s software distribution agreement required its distributors to obtain consent of consumers consistent with the EULA and prohibited distributors from holding themselves out as agents of Direct Revenue.

New York argued that Direct Revenue should be liable because it’s servers interacted with the consumers’ computers in the software installation process. The court pointed out that participation in installation was not enough for liability in the absence of participation in deceptive conduct that induced the installation.

Finally, New York argued that Direct Revenue should be held liable for the actions of its resellers on the ground that Direct Revenue ratified the conduct of its resellers. The court ruled that mere knowledge of consumer complaints was insufficient to impose liability on Direct Revenue, especially in light of the fact that when Direct Revenue had actual knowledge of a reseller misconduct, it took steps to remedy the problem.

3 Tips To Avoid Liability For Actions of Resellers

Potential liability for acts of online resellers is a major concern of ecommerce businesses which use reseller networks.

The Direct Revenue case teaches us that ecommerce sites may not be held liable for actions of their resellers if these 3 tips are followed:

  1. if you transfer anything to a user’s computer, require your resellers to obtain consent of end-users consistent with your EULA – this means consent in clear and easy-to-understand (not deceptive) terms,
  2. prohibit your resellers from holding themselves out as your agents, and
  3. if a reseller does engage in misconduct, take affirmative steps to deal with the situation, including termination, if warranted (particularly if the reseller’s actions tend to indicate an agency relationship).

These 3 tips won’t guarantee that you have no exposure, but they’ll go a long way to protecting you from liability for actions of your resellers.

Chip Cooper is a leading intellectual property, software, and Internet attorney who’s advised software and online businesses nationwide for 25+ years. Visit Chip’s http://www.digicontracts.com site and download his FREE newsletter and Special Reports: “Determine Which Legal Documents Your Website Really Needs”, “Draft Your Own Privacy Policy”, and “Write Your Own Website Marketing Copy — Legally”.

By Martyn Boaden in Ecommerce

If you’ve listed products on eBay without a photo and successfully sold them – don’t be fooled into thinking you don’t need a photo. You would almost certainly have got more bidders, and therefore probably a higher selling price, with a photo.

If your eBay listing doesn’t have a photo and your competitor does, you will lose out. If you don’t have a photo, potential buyers will be sceptical or suspicious. They will think that you either don’t really have the item for sale or you have got something to hide, i.e. it’s not in very good condition. Without a photo, your listing will not look professional which will damage your business image.

Your listing MUST have a good quality digital photo of your item. If you are selling new products, the manufacturer or your supplier may have photos that you can use. But you must check that you are allowed to use them. Otherwise you could be prosecuted, or at least have your listing removed. Also, if you use the manufacturer’s photo, all your competitors may be using the same photo, so your listing won’t stand out.

Often, when people are just selling stuff from around the house, they will use any old snapshot of the item and you can see all sorts of domestic mess in the background. This is not good enough if you want to run a successful and profitable business on eBay. A good photo will increase the perceived value of your item and attract higher bids. A poor photo will cheapen your item.

You should take photos in good light with a plain background behind the item so as not to distract from it. You can use a plain bed sheet for this. Pictures must be sharp and clear. Take lots of photos from different angles and use the best – the one(s) that make the product look most valuable.

If you don’t have a digital camera and can’t afford to buy one, see if you can borrow one. Alternatively you can probably get ordinary photos put on a disc at your local photo-processing shop. You can then upload them to your computer. Or you can scan them into your computer if you have a scanner.

Digital photo files can be quite large and so should be compressed for the internet so they don’t slow down the loading of your page. People online are impatient – they won’t wait around for your page to load.

You can also improve your photos, such as adjusting the brightness and contrast, or air-brushing out unwanted distractions in the background, by using photo editing software if you have it installed on your computer.

If you don’t have software on your computer to edit photos and compress them, use irfanview dot com (it’s FREE!). You can compress them so they load faster, crop them, lighten them, darken them, add text, etc.

At the time of writing this article, upgrading to a gallery photo – where the photo appears next to your listing title in the search results – is FREE on eBay UK. If it isn’t free when you are listing your item – PAY FOR IT! If other listings on the search results page aren’t using a gallery photo – yours will stand out. If they are – yours will get over-looked if you don’t have a gallery photo.

Remember that your customers are buying without having seen what they are buying. You need to provide them with as many photos as is necessary for them to know enough about your item and its condition to be able to make an informed decision as to whether they want to bid. If you don’t provide enough photos for them to be able to make up their mind, they probably will not bid.

If two listings are selling the same item, but one just has one small, slightly blurred, photo and the other has several large, clear photos taken from every angle including close-ups, who would you feel more comfortable buying from?

If you are selling brand new ipods, one photo will probably suffice because your customers will know what they are getting. But if your item needs 10 photos to show it off properly – you should use 10 photos. Seeing everything about your item gives people the confidence that they know exactly what they are bidding on.

Take close-up photos of any defects. Then winners of your auction can’t justifiably complain that the item was not as described and return it or give you negative feedback.

If you use eBay’s photo uploader, each additional photo increases your listing fee. But you can add unlimited photos for FREE if your photos are hosted somewhere else on the internet. Your Internet Service Provider may provide you with some webspace packaged together with your email and internet access account.

You can design your listing as a webpage hosted on the internet with as many photos as you like, displayed how and where you like on the page, then copy and paste the HTML code into eBay’s List Your Item form. You need to ensure that the HTML code has the correct path to where your photos are hosted on the internet otherwise they won’t show up in your listing on eBay.

If you don’t have your own website on which you can host your photos, you can host them with Tupics dot com or Vendio dot com for a few dollars per month. Vendio also offers additional cool tools so you can add watermarks to your photos (so other people can’t use your photos) and have a zoom function added.

Alternatively, you can add multiple photos to your listing for FREE and have them displayed as a slide show on your listing, by using Slide dot com. You upload your photos to slide, design your slideshow, then copy and paste the HTML code that they give you into your listing.

Another alternative is to upload your photos to Facebook dot com. Although the photos won’t appear in your listing you can say: “To see more photos of this item, click the following link:” and then copy and paste in your listing the link to your photos that Facebook provide.

Martyn Boaden is the Founder of The Online Auction Resource Centre where you will find more information and all the resources you will ever need to set up and run your successful and profitable eBay business. And for a limited time only you can get instant access to his popular eBay Business Box (worth $164 + $17 pm) for FREE by clicking this link: http://www.TheOnlineAuctionResourceCentre.com

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