Business

An ecommerce site is a business. Our Management & Finance category addresses online payments, funding needs, employee issues, merchant profiles, key metrics, multichannel and omnichannel strategies, cross-border analyses, inventory management, accounting topics, sales taxes, and much more.

Business
Conversion: Proflowers.com Ranks High

May 5, 2008 • Mat Greenfield

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 always open to learn from the best, and while I'm not going to do a page-by-page review o...
Fraud Prevention
Effective Tools to Detect Stolen Credit Cards, Part 2 Of 3

May 5, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham

Many online merchants are already on board with fraud-detection technology. To fill in the gaps, here is part two of a comprehensive list of fraud detection strategies. Previously we discussed authorization and address and credit card verification. Here are five more ways to catch fraud...
Business
Jason Keenan, Media Advisor with ICANN

May 2, 2008 • PEC Staff

Jason Keenan is the Media Advisor with ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers, which regulates domain names globally. ICANN was created in 1998 to perform various Internet ...
Business
Saatchi-gallery.uk.co Promotes Art And Artists

May 1, 2008 • PEC Staff

In 1973 advertising executive Charles Saatchi bought his first painting. It was a realist work that depicted suburban houses. He’s since been called the world’s most voracious collector of contemporary art. In 1985, he opened his own gallery, The Saatchi Gallery. In 2006, the gallery la...
Fraud Prevention
Effective Tools to Detect Stolen Credit Cards, Part 1 Of 3

April 30, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham

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 features in payment processing systems like Authorize.net and Google Checkout. Others can be s...
Business
Rhett McNulty, Chief Operating Officer of ShopIt

April 25, 2008 • PEC Staff

Rhett McNulty is Chief Operating Officer for ShopIt, a social networking sales application for ecommerce merchants. He joins Practical eCommerce's Kerry Murdock to discuss ShopIt and the value of social ...
Fraud Prevention
Interview: Authorize.Net President On Fraud Prevention

April 23, 2008 • PEC Staff

Authorize.Net, a CyberSource Solution, is a leading payment gateway company with many years experience in combating credit card fraud. We asked Roy Banks, President of Authorize.Net, about common errors that merchants make with fraud prevention. PeC: What's the biggest fraud-prevention...
Fraud Prevention
Credit Card Fraud: How Big Is The Problem?

April 23, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham

Reports of website data breaches, identity theft and credit card fraud are increasingly in the news. But is the problem as widespread as the coverage suggests? Anyone who collects payments or customer information online runs the risk of being targeted by thieves. However, the likeliho...
Business
Insuring Against Fraud, Data Breaches

April 17, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham

A few insurance companies provide policies for credit card fraud and data breaches, covering both a merchant's hard cost of fraudulent sales and any liability for data breaches. AIG, the publicly-traded insurance company, was one of the first. AIG's insurance policy AIG has offered W...
Business
Merchants Liable For Data Breaches

April 17, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham

What do online merchants Art.com, Geeks.com and Bananas.com have in common? They're three in a small, but growing, list of ecommerce sites hacked for their customer's credit card data. Not only are there legal ramifications for not protecting customers' private data, but breached comp...
Business
Legal: Security Regulation Is Coming

April 16, 2008 • John W. Dozier, Jr.

Let's consider the problem first. It wasn't until 1997 that credit cards could be "securely" used online. Obviously the definition of "securely" was rather subjective, but the consuming public was told to trust the new world of ecommerce. Ten years later, data breaches and related ident...
Business
Michael Stebbins, CEO and Co-founder of MarketMotive

April 11, 2008 • PEC Staff

MarketMotive CEO and Co-founder Michael Stebbins joins Practical eCommerce’s Kerry Murdock to discuss MarketMotive’s subscription-based consulting, lessons and strategy help for ecommerce merchants.
Business
Lessons Learned: Wetsuitwearhouse.com's Moleskie

April 9, 2008 • PEC Staff

"Lessons Learned" is an occasional series where we ask seasoned ecommerce professionals about their mistakes and successes. For this installment, we've asked Chris Moleskie, owner and president of Wetsuit Wearhouse, Inc., a Hagerstown, Md.-based online retailer of wetsuits and accessori...
Business
Quick Query: PayPal Exec On Payment Disputes

April 7, 2008 • PEC Staff

Many ecommerce merchants allow customers to pay for their products using PayPal, the popular payment service that's owned by eBay. But some of these merchants say PayPal unfairly sides with customers if the customers dispute legitimate purchases. We asked Colin Rule, PayPal's Director o...
Fraud Prevention
Field Test: Fraud Prevention, Part 3 of 3

March 31, 2008 • PEC Staff

In Field Test, Practical eCommerce gathered ten seasoned ecommerce merchants and asked each of them the same questions around a given topic. This month’s topic is fraud prevention. The participating ecommerce merchants are: Dave Norris, House of Antique Hardware; Chris Stump, Only Hamm...
Business
Interview: ICANN Official On The Domain Name Infrastructure

March 26, 2008 • PEC Staff

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers, or ICANN, coordinates the domain name system globally. ICANN was created in 1998 to perform various Internet administrative tasks previously done by a range of bodies including universities, private companies and the U.S. governme...
Business
Vertus President and CEO James Carr-Jones

March 26, 2008 • PEC Staff

Carr-Jones and Kerry Murdock talk about Bling! It, Vertus’ new photo-editing software designed to improve product photos.
Business
Bloglist: Eric Leuenberger

March 24, 2008 • PEC Staff

Name: Eric Leuenberger, Owner Company: Enhanced Concepts, Inc. In Bloglist, we ask ecommerce professionals to identify their favorite blogs. For this installment, we asked Eric Leuenberger, ecommerce conversion expert and owner of Enhanced Concepts, Inc. Entrepreneurs-journey.com T...
Fraud Prevention
Field Test: Fraud Prevention, Part 2 of 3

March 24, 2008 • PEC Staff

In Field Test, Practical eCommerce gathered ten seasoned ecommerce merchants and asked each of them the same questions around a given topic. This month’s topic is fraud prevention. The participating ecommerce merchants are: Dave Norris, House of Antique Hardware; Chris Stump, Only Hamm...
Fraud Prevention
Field Test: Fraud Prevention, Part 1 of 3

March 19, 2008 • PEC Staff

In Field Test, Practical eCommerce gathered ten seasoned ecommerce merchants and asked each of them the same questions around a given topic. This month’s topic is fraud prevention. The participating ecommerce merchants are: Dave Norris, House of Antique Hardware; Justin Hertz, MuttMart...
Business
Exporting Your Products: First Learn The Terminology

March 10, 2008 • Hal Selim

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 developed in 1936 by the International Chamber of Commerce , which adopted 13 Incoterms to make...
Business
ADA And State Disability Laws

February 27, 2008 • John W. Dozier, Jr.

We are often asked about compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. There is a reasonably strong argument, supported by court decisions, that a stand-alone business operating as a website with no physical presence may not be covered by the ADA. But without prolonged litigation...
Business
High Performer: Garyweeks.com, Handcrafted Furniture and Impressive Guarantee

February 27, 2008 • PEC Staff

Thirty miles southwest of Austin along the Blanco River is Wimberley, Texas. Population 3,797. Among those who call Wimberley home is one Gary Weeks. And if you make your way to West Spoke Hill Drive, you’ll come to a wooden sign that simply reads, “Gary Weeks & Company — Furniture ...
Business
Visual Bookshelf Taps Into Social Networking

February 25, 2008 • PEC Staff

For those who are regular visitors to Facebook, you may have come across an application called Visual Bookshelf. It allows Facebook users to show on their pages the books they are reading or have read, and each of the book’s titles link back to Amazon.com. Users can also create book rev...
Business
Field Test: Social Networking, Part 3 of 3

February 25, 2008 • PEC Staff

In Field Test, Practical eCommerce has gathered ten seasoned ecommerce merchants and asked each of them the same questions around a given topic. This month’s topic is social networking. The participating ecommerce merchants are: Dave Norris, House of Antique Hardware; Justin Hertz, Mut...
Business
AIG Insurance Vice President, Nancy Callahan

February 21, 2008 • PEC Staff

Join Mitch Bettis as he discusses ecommerce insurance with Nancy Callahan, Vice President of AIG Insurance.
Business
High Performer: Powerbookmedic.com Parts and Repairs For Mac Laptops

February 20, 2008 • PEC Staff

If you have laptop, and it’s a Mac, you may feel like Apple is the only place to turn for parts and repairs. But since 2002, Powerbookmedic.com has been offering an alternative. The site specializes in installations, repairs, parts, and service for many portable Apple devices. What star...
Business
High Performer: Pasty.com Sells Meal In A Crust

February 18, 2008 • PEC Staff

On Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula are two old copper mining communities — Kearsarge and Calumet. Calumet is home to Pasty Central, which operates a pasty kitchen in Kearsarge, the Pasty Central Express. Pasty Central is an employee-owned company, and its website, Pasty.com, has been onli...
Business
Bikewagon.com: From Classifieds To eBay To Its Own Website

February 13, 2008 • Pat Callahan

Dale Majors is passionate about cycling. So much so that in 1999, at age 16, he decided to take a chance with selling bicycle gear online. His original goal was simple: He was looking to upgrade his own cycling equipment and needed the money to do so. Like other young aspiring entrepren...
Business
Email Blacklists “Kind Of A Crazy Thing”

February 13, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham

Bob Frady is making his mark as vice president of direct marketing for LiveNation.com, a concert ticket mega-site based in Beverly Hills, Calif. With 26 million members, LiveNation’s emailed notices and newsletters bring in millions in ticket, CD and T-shirt sales. It’s Frady’s job to e...