Tracking Consumer Savings on eBay
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A new study suggests consumers save billions of dollars by shopping on eBay auctions.
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More on Yahoo Search Ads &#038; PayPal Icons Today it was spotted that Yahoo Search Marketing is testing Google Checkout style PayPal Shopping Cart icons on some of the eBay.com advertisements in Yahoo Search results. The sighting generated some buzz in the search marketing world as the icons do not only show that the Yahoo eBay [...]
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By David Magliano, Walton Sun, Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.  Jun. 9--From practical to peculiar, from economical to expensive, you can buy just about anything on eBay. But after an unsuccessful attempt to pocket a quick $10,000, one business learned that not everything on eBay actually sells.
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Will dirty dealers scare eBay users off?
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By Mick Zawislak Daily Herald Staff Writer  The holiday shopping season has begun and many purchases will be made online. Finding merchants you can trust and taking steps to protect your privacy are important this time of year, according to the Chicago Better Business Bureau.
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eBay, the online marketplace, is enjoying continued growth thanks to increased international sales and the success of its online payment service, Paypal.
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(InfoWorld) - Merchants complain that eBay Express doesn't attract sufficient shoppers and generates an inconsequential volume of sales, although eBay Inc. says it is satisfied and remains committed to the site. EBay Express is designed to draw shoppers who dislike the complexity and risk of eBay's core marketplace by offering a simpler, safer experience similar to the ones from mainstream e-tailers like Amazon.com Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s online store. For example, Express features only fixed-price items, most of them new, from experienced sellers with outstanding track records, and offers buyers a shopping cart. Meanwhile, eBay.com lacks a cart, many items are used and sold via auction, and many sellers are novices. But Express, which wasÂ launched in April in preview mode and has been heavily promoted since September, remains an irrelevant, mostly deserted sales channel, according to several large merchants interviewed recently. "We've certainly not seen the results we and many other sellers had anticipated for eBay Express," says David Yaskulka, president of Harris Michael Inc., an online jewelry store. There is no additional cost or effort required of qualified eBay merchants to appear on Express, because qualifying products listed on eBay.com automatically show up on Express as well. Still, the promise of benefiting from new, convenience-minded shoppers created high expectations among the star merchants Express was built for. "We were hoping it would be a good driver of additional sales but we haven't seen much in the way of sales from eBay Express," says Jonathan Garriss, executive director of the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA) and chief executive officer of Gotham City Online, an apparel store on eBay that also has its own site. George Trantas, president of footwear and apparel vendor Designer Athletic LLC, estimates having about 4,000 items listed on Express, yet so far in December, the company has made 33 sales on the site, versus almost 8,000 on the eBay marketplace. "The Express hype and publicity have been good, but the sales have been very slow," Trantas says. Lara Housser, director of eBay Express in the U.S., declines to disclose the site's traffic and sales, but says eBay is pleased with the results. "I can't comment on individual seller experiences but I'd say we're certainly in the early days of the site. It's a new channel and we're seeing traffic grow organically," Housser says. Almost 90 percent of Express shoppers rate the site as either meeting or exceeding their expectations. EBay.com shoppers who also buy at Express spend more time and money at the site than those who haven't tried out Express, she says. Still, based on the experiences of merchants interviewed, Express resembles a ghost town with tumbleweeds blowing through it rather than a busy shopping mall. Ironically, merchants have no complaints about the design, mechanics and operation of the site. They praise its search feature, navigation system and interface. "EBay did a great job in building this new site. It was a great, ambitious undertaking, but it just hasn't connected with consumers," says Garriss from PESA, which groups about 600 large eBay sellers that collectively generate over 70 million eBay transactions and $1 billion in eBay gross merchandise volume annually. So what's the problem? The optimists say it's a matter of giving the site time to generate a following. Others think the issues are more complicated and that eBay will have to make adjustments if it wants Express to survive. For example, some say that Express now lives in a sort of middle ground where it appeals neither to the typical eBay shopper nor to the typical mainstream shopper. In other words, it is uninteresting for those who like the thrill and unpredictability of the eBay auction environment, as well as for those on the end of the spectrum who don't find it safe and convenient enough. "It's a flawed concept," says financial analyst Philip Remek from Guzman & Co., who thinks Express has little chance of success and will likely be scrapped. "This effort will bear little fruit and potentially will be a management distraction. I don't see any revenue driver in eBay Express." Express will never be fully like Amazon.com or Wal-Mart's online store because at its core is still a universe of individual merchants, and mainstream buyers distrust that scenario. "Express is trying to have a retail front to what is still a marketplace operating model," Remek says. That marketplace model carries inherent risk of fraud. Trantas, for example, sees in Express, as he does on eBay.com, many instances of counterfeit tennis shoes marketed falsely as brand-name products. EBay must raise the merchant-eligibility requirements, he says. Now, to qualify, merchants must have been rated a minimum of 100 times by other buyers or sellers, with a minimum 98 percent positive feedback. "They should require 1,000 feedbacks. You can get 100 feedbacks in a week. They need to make it harder to get on Express," Trantas says. Yaskulka agrees that Express still isn't as safe and convenient as it should be, and, like Trantas, suggests tightening the merchant requirements. Express must be more distinct from eBay.com, where fixed-price and new items can also be bought, he says. For example, eBay should force all Express merchants to offer money-back guarantees. Another idea: adding a charity component to Express by integrating eBay's Giving Works listings into it, which would give Express a strong community differentiator. "Let's make it Amazon.com-like in ease, efficiency and safety, and eBay-like in its community spirit," Yaskulka says. Â
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Consumers in the United States are already spending record amounts of money online. One e-commerce company has a novel way to help Net shoppers hunt for bargains this holiday season.
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Online auction house eBay goes the traditional route for the holidays.
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Macromedia announced a customized version of its Contribute 3 software for eBay Store sellers. Contribute 3 for eBay will allow sellers to create and customize an eBay Store without requiring technical knowledge.
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Site Offer Save a whopping 50% on definitive MySQL guides
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By MAY WONG    SAN JOSE, Calif.  -- Online auctioneer eBay Inc...
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EBay Inc., the world&#39;s largest online marketplace, on Wednesday posted a quarterly profit that rose 77 percent from a year ago, fueled by strong back-to-school shopping
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EBay, the world's largest online marketplace, today posted a quarterly profit that rose 77 percent from a year ago, fueled by growth in its international and PayPal businesses.
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Are you a serial returner? By that I mean, do you routinely return items, especially holiday gifts? If so, be forewarned. Some retailers have resorted to using a computer database to track customer returns and catch fraudulent or excessive returns. Return fraud, which by the way includes bringing back used merchandise for a full refund, will cost retailers $3.5 billion this holiday season, according to a recent report by the National Retail Federation. For the year, the retail industry says it stands to lose $9.6 billion from fraudulent returns. Meanwhile, returns are expected to accelerate after Christmas. ...
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Probing the depths of spending psychology.
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How to spot a business that's making the most of its money.