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Inventory & Shipping
Conversion: Proflowers.com Ranks High
When Nielsen Online releases its list of highest converting ecommerce websites, Proflowers.com is frequently in the top ten. The latest numbers has it at a stunning 15 percent conversion rate.
I'm...
Effective Tools to Detect Stolen Credit Cards, Part 1 Of 3
There are hundreds of branded tools that ecommerce merchants can turn to for help in catching fraudulent credit card orders. Some tools are free, and some come bundled or offered as additional...
Exporting Your Products: First Learn The Terminology
To sell products overseas, you will need to learn the international buying and selling terminology, also referred to as "Incoterms 2000" (or, International Commercial Terms). These were first...
Getting Started In Exporting
Exporting can be a lucrative component of an online business. But many small business owners shy away from it simply because they have limited knowledge of the process. For these owners, there are...
The Ins And Outs Of Importing
Importing can provide your ebusiness with cutting-edge products at rock-bottom prices. But it's a complicated process, and not one you want to go through alone.
"Customs brokers and freight...
Is Your Website Ready For The Holiday Shopping Season?
Anyone’s who has talked with me for any given amount of time will tell you I’m adamant about testing sites for security and navigation. Summer is the perfect time to plot out upcoming holiday...
Shipping Charges: Compromises Required
You would think online stores would have found it easier by now to calculate and charge accurate shipping fees, let alone set up uninterrupted checkout processes that flow smoothly. Yet I see more...
Digital Assets: What Are They, And How Are They Sold?
Digital assets, often called digital content, are products that can be consumed via an electronic handheld device or used online.
The forms digital assets take vary greatly. Digital content might...
The Basics of Importing Products From Overseas
Everyone knows there are great deals to be found overseas — items that can be picked up for a fraction of the cost. But what most people don’t realize is that almost everything they’re buying...
How To Find Products To Sell For Your Online Operation
If you want to know how to succeed at something, it's a good idea to talk to someone who already has. Renowned eBay powerseller Skip McGrath offers some helpful insights on how you can find product...
Don’t Let Selling Internationally Scare You
Matt Alper launched Copshoes.com three years ago from his living room in San Antonio, Texas. His idea was to sell specialized shoes and boots to police, firemen and security personnel. Now, three...
Customer Experience Matters
After more than a decade of ecommerce activity and an arsenal of new technology at our disposal, it's still the basics that most sites haven't mastered. Problems in the checkout process and having...
Product Sourcing: Six Questions
If you’ve got a question about your ebusiness, someone else has probably already asked it. Matt Hedges, customer support manager of www.worldwidebrands.com, answers the six most common productsourcing questions he gets from customers...
What Should I Sell Online?
Everyone who starts an ebiz faces the question: What do I sell? And most everyone seems to make two classic mistakes in the beginning:
They try to sell what everyone else is selling ? DVDs,...
The Price is Right!
Avoiding Common Mistakes
A trap many eBiz owners fall into is trying to set their prices by simply adding a percentage or flat amount to an item's cost– they buy a watch for $20, slap another $20 on the price tag, and pass it along to...
Product Sourcing: The Skinny on Government Auctions
Are government auctions really a good source for purchasing products for resale? The answer to that is they can be, but you have to know what you are doing.
Where do government auctions get their products?
Government auctions can...
Quick Query: Bill Van Wyck
What is RedRoller.com?
What Travelocity does for travel, RedRoller does for shipping packages. The site is built to look and feel like an etravel site. Shipping for small businesses is a...
What's Selling, What's Hot and How to Find It
Are you searching for the next trendy gadget to sell at your online store? Many people are looking to catch lightning in a bottle, but locating trends in the marketplace requires thought, research...
Product Sourcing: What Not to Do
One thing an entrepreneur shouldn’t do is search online for “wholesale supplier” or “drop ship” when trying to locate a wholesale partner. This is according to Chris Malta, founder and CEO of Worldwide Brands, Inc.
“You can...
Drop Shipping: Pros and Cons
Drop shipping remains a hot topic among etailers but, even though it has many benefits, it isn’t the best option for every business.
A drop shipper is a product supplier who is willing to ship individual orders. Usually when products...
Sourcing Options for eCommerce Firms
Finding products to sell remains one of the hottest topics for online entrepreneurs, and it’s the top question eBay Radio gets from its listeners, according to Chris Malta, Product Sourcing Editor for The eBay Radio Show and Founder and...
Payment Options and Simple Checkout
A truly successful and customer service friendly ecommerce shop will have an intuitive and welldesigned checkout system. The more difficult it is to purchase something from you, the less likely a customer will try. Here are some tips to...
Respond to Your Customer. Now.
One of the most frequent complaints from ecommerce customers is the inability to receive timely answers from a website. I’m always shocked at the number of websites that provide only a “contact us” form, with no phone number or other...
Fulfillment Companies Offer Benefits
Imagine having a state-of-the-art fulfillment department. This fulfillment department would have the most upto- date order management software, computer hardware and warehousing functions. The employees of the fulfillment department would...
Minimize Customer Complaints
Customer complaints are a fact of life for all business owners, and the topic of dealing with them is always important. Understanding how to respond to a customer complaint will improve your customer service, as well as encourage repeat...
The Shipping News: Plenty of Carriers for eCommerce Companies
Talk about your needle in a haystack.
When you ship one package through the Fedex system it becomes one of more than six million that the company formerly known as Federal Express moves about the globe every day. If you shipped it on...
International Shipments Worth the Effort
One of the greatest attractions of an online business is the vast number of customers that the Internet allows a retailer to reach. Web surfers from all over the world can navigate beyond the boundaries and borders that exist in the...
Customer Service Focus - October 2005
Your goal as an e-tailer should be to amaze customers with an unusually high level of service. Consider these customer service tips to improve your ecommerce business.
More Than One Method of Communication.
Make sure your site...
A Primer in Shipping Calculations
Set aside all the cool features you’d love your MIVA Merchant store to have, and those you aren’t sure how to accomplish. The most difficult yet necessary task is tackling the proper means of calculating shipping.
It sounds so...
Overseas Customers: Just Clicks Away
Your web store is a few clicks away, regardless of where those clicks geographically occur. Clearly, international sales can help you increase your online sales, and many internet merchants are taking advantage of them. But there are...
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