Business

April 6, 2011 • PEC Staff

Editor’s Note: “Notable Views” is a new series where we ask leading experts to address critical, ecommerce-related topics. For this installment, we corresponded with Phil Hinke, a credit-card processing veteran ...

April 4, 2011 • PEC Staff

Attempts to simplify the administration and collection of Internet sales taxes in the United States may be the most daunting task in the ecommerce industry. There are thousands of state, county and municipal taxation districts and each has its own tax rates and rules. One organization t...

March 31, 2011 • Kate Monteith

March 28, 2011 • PEC Staff

Credit card processing can be one of the most confusing parts of ecommerce for many merchants. The rates fluctuate widely and the monthly statements are hard to follow. And yet, credit card processing is key to virtually every ecommerce business. To help us understand how merchants can ...

March 23, 2011 • PEC Staff

Hiring models and production crews to shoot products can be costly. And with the onset of affordable, high-quality digital camera equipment, as well as just a little ingenuity you can set up your own photo studio. Here are some tips and guidelines on how to achieve that professional pr...

March 22, 2011 • Jeff Jacobson, Jd, Llm

Illinois is the latest state to try to capture taxes from Internet sales. That state recently passed a so-called “Amazon Tax,” which uses affiliate programs to create a "nexus." Many states require a nexus — or physical presence — in the state to compel a retailer to collect sales tax...

March 22, 2011 • Jamie Salvatori

Every online retailer will, at some point, be faced with fraud. It is as inevitable as taxes, but far more sinister! Your credit card processor is going to give you two pieces of information to help combat fraud: the 3 or 4-digit “security code” and an AVS response. The CSC code shoul...

March 11, 2011 • PEC Staff

”Lessons Learned” is a series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed Kathy Seigler, CEO and president of Ecommerce Superstores, a Bowling Green, Ky.-based online retail brand with six niche online shops: CoolCo...

March 8, 2011 • PEC Staff

Group-coupon offers from companies like Groupon and LivingSocial are becoming very popular. But, is it a marketing approach that is right for every small business, especially those that lack a brick-and-mortar presence? A number of pure-play ecommerce companies are beginning to tap in...

March 7, 2011 • PEC Staff

“Lessons Learned” is a series where we ask ecommerce business owners to share their experiences and advice. For this installment, we interviewed Luis Hernandez, Jr., CEO and owner of The ...

March 4, 2011 • PEC Staff

“Ask an Expert” is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about tracking website trends, cost comparisons, competitors products and inventory. The question comes from Bonnie Leigh, owner of Avant...

March 2, 2011 • PEC Staff

“Ask an Expert” is an occasional feature where we ask ecommerce experts questions from online merchants. For this installment, we address a question about tracking website trends, cost comparisons, competitors ...

March 1, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Credit cards approvals are not completely secure because the information those approvals rely on — cardholder names, card numbers and expiration dates — is static and relatively easy to gather. Focusing on making payment approvals less vulnerable may be more effective than asking cons...

February 21, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Reducing unnecessary spending will help your ecommerce business become more efficient and could increase its profits. But how do you cut costs right now without harming your business's future? Here are four suggestions for cutting costs now. Not every one of these will be applicable to...

February 18, 2011 • Jeff Jacobson, Jd, Llm

The battle continues among large Internet retailers and the states over charging sales tax for purchases over the Internet. This is especially the case where the retailer has no “nexus” or presence in the state in which the consumer is located. As I discussed in "Internet Sales Tax: Ye...

February 17, 2011 • PEC Staff

Merchants know that the effort it takes to fulfill and ship out orders can be very time consuming. Oftentimes, because of this, cost is the last thing to be taken into consideration. For many merchants, third-party order management software helps expedite the shipping process. Others r...

February 16, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Ecommerce businesses can be founded by massive corporations or by families working out of a garage. It provides a relatively level field for everyone to compete. And, like so many businesses, ecommerce operations often find unique ways to succeed. This article's purpose is to help ecom...

February 11, 2011 • PEC Staff

Editor's Note: Chad Weinman is owner of Cat5 Commerce, a seasoned ecommerce firm in St. Louis, Mo. that operates HikingBoots.com, TacticalGear.com, and MilitaryBoots.com. He wrote us recently, stating, "I was writing a memo to my vendor relations manager that illustrated some techniqu...

February 8, 2011 • Armando Roggio

The causes of ecommerce failures are diverse, but they frequently end with the proprietor shuttering the operation because it is losing too much money. In this article, I list four activities that I believe can destroy an ecommerce business's bottom line and waste your money. I think th...

February 4, 2011 • PEC Staff

Most merchants prefer the idea of the credit card industry policing itself, versus lawmakers getting involved. PCI Security Standards Council is the industry's attempt to do just that. But how ecommerce merchants become compliant and meet PCI standards is confusing to many, and the pena...

February 3, 2011 • Jill Kocher Brown

Identifying where an online consumer lives can be helpful to ecommerce merchants. Among visitors to an ecommerce site, there's differences in language, currency, and climate. A clothing merchant, for example, would presumably offer different items to a visitor from Alaska than from, say...

February 3, 2011 • PEC Staff

Editor’s Note: “Day in the Life” is a series where we ask leaders in ecommerce about a single day in their professional lives. For this inaugural installment, we corresponded with Brian Horakh, founder and CEO of Zoovy, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based ecommerce platform provider. Brian Horakh...

January 31, 2011 • Kate Monteith

Each month, we compile a list of the ten most popular articles we published at Practical eCommerce that month, based on the number of page views. Here are our ten most popular articles for January 2011. 4 Realities of Selling on Facebook Facebook is becoming a popular avenue for onlin...

January 27, 2011 • PEC Staff

The holiday selling season is important for many online merchants. This includes David Sasson. He is the founder and CEO of OverstockArt.com, a retailer of reproduced oil paintings. The company saw a 25 percent increase in 2010 holiday sales, versus 2009. We spoke with Sasson to see wha...

January 20, 2011 • PEC Staff

Many ecommerce merchants are attracted to selling products to consumers in other countries. But the complexities of international sales can include tariffs, customs and export laws. For United States-based merchants, the U.S. Department of Commerce can help. It has just published a free...

January 20, 2011 • PEC Staff

January 19, 2011 • PEC Staff

Shipping, tracking, and calculating time and cost of shipments are at the heart of ecommerce businesses. Merchants are usually tied to a desktop to make all these choices for shipping ...

January 12, 2011 • Jamie Salvatori

Every website owner should be backing up their website and database on a daily basis. If you’re not, set that up immediately. However, this is not what I’m referring to when it comes to backups. I’m referring to all of the critical aspects of your business. Here are some questions to as...

January 12, 2011 • PEC Staff

Many ecommerce merchants sell products from large manufacturers and suppliers. Increasingly, those manufacturers and suppliers also sell — on a retail basis — the same products. Shopatron is a company ...

January 12, 2011 • PEC Staff