Power Sellers Unite http://www.powersellersunite.com/ Powersellersunite.com News Feed en-us Copyright 2003, Power Sellers Unite PowerSellersUnite.com FrontNewsGeneral info@powersellersunite.com info@powersellersunite.com 60 Facebook Is Going After PayPal, Google Checkout Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:48:04 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=28023 Facebook is coming after eBay's (EBAY) PayPal and Google Checkout and it's hiring-up to do it.

The guy who used to run Google Checkout, Prashant Fuloria, left Google (GOOG) after six years last month and now works for Facebook. He is responsible for the "Pay With Facebook" product, reports Inside Facebook.

Though Mark Zuckerberg has only suggested it's a long-term goal, it's looking more like "Pay WIth Facebook" will compete not just with the for-social-networks-only payment systems from startups Zong, Boku, Social Gold and Slide, but also with the Web-wide biggies PayPal, Amazon and Google Checkout.

We have two main reasons Facebook stands a better than fighting chance against those established players:

Facebook Connect's success with publishers. Small and large publishers alike tell us allowing users to login to their sites through Facebook Connect has wildly increased user-interaction. Some Web publishers have told us user registrations and comments multiplied almost immediately. Facebook Connect proves that when users are offered a one-click alternative to a series of forms to fill out, they'll take it. "Pay With Facebook" would offer this same alternative at e-commerce sites.
more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=28023 USPS lost $677 million in May Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:44:02 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27913 The US Postal Service processed 2.8 billion fewer pieces of mail in the month of May than it did in the same time period a year ago. The steepest decline was in advertising mail, down 24%. First class mail was down 16%. The 19.9% decline in overall volume yielded a 15.3% decrease in revenue. Combined with a decrease in expenses of just 6.7%, the end result was a net loss of $677 million. That brings the fiscal year to date loss to $3.4 billion, putting the USPS on track lose around $6 billion by the time the fiscal year ends on September 30.

The loss comes despite unprecedented reductions in employee workhours. City carriers' hours were down 10% from May 2008, while hours for "inside" staff at post offices and processing centers were down 16%.

It should be noted that the postal service is required by Congress to set aside $5.4 billion this fiscal year to "pre-fund" future retiree health benefits. No other business or agency is required to do this. That $5.4 billion is included in the expected $6 billion deficit. All of which means that despite the sharp decline in mail volume, the USPS would otherwise be seeing only a modest net loss this year, or even a profit if it weren't for the "pre-funding" requirement. We've covered this congressional shell game in the past, and the Inspector General's office has found that even if the pre-funding requirement is considered legitimate, the USPS is being overcharged by $3.3 billion a year- read their report here.

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27913 PayPal survey: why shoppers abandon their shopping Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:43:29 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27899 PayPal have published the results of their second annual Checkout Abandonment Survey, looking at why website buyers don't complete purchases. Just like last year's survey, an excessive shipping fee was the number one reason for shoppers walking away. It's clear that if sellers are able to offer shipping-inclusive prices, this is something that buyers like, however counter-intuitive that might be for those of us who typically sell more than one item at a time. And even if your site charges separate shipping, making that cost transparent at the beginning of the checkout flow – or earlier – is essential.

There's some suggestion, though, that buyers are getting more savvy with their online shopping: the second most popular reason for abandonment was that buyers wanted to comparison shop, and 25% cited leaving the site to look for a coupon or discount voucher. Sellers should be using this behaviour to their advantage: if you're not currently listing website coupons on voucher sites, you're probably missing out on some valuable free advertising, and a fair number of sales.

But there's some reassurance: a third of shoppers who abandoned their carts later returned to the same site to purchase.

Sellers should consider:

making it easy for shoppers to bookmark their site and specific items they're interested in,
using social bookmarking tools as well as traditional browser bookmarks/favourites
extending the life of shopping cart cookies so that buyers who return later can find the items they'd already added to their cart,
and offering a wish-list facility for longer-term use.

PayPal are running a video presentation later today to discuss their findings further.

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27899 Online Shoppers Wary Of High Shipping Costs Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:29:59 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27805 Close to half (45%) of online shoppers have abandoned their carts multiple times in the past three weeks due to high shipping costs, security concerns and lack of convenience, according to a new survey released by PayPal and conducted by comScore.

High shipping costs was the most commonly given reason for cart abandonment with the average cost of abandoning U.S. shopping carts reaching $109. The survey found that providing shipping costs upfront might have led to 40 percent to complete the purchase.

To help reduce shopping cart abandonment, PayPal has introduced an "Instant Update API," that allows merchants to show order details earlier in the process including shipping options, insurance choices and tax totals.


Eddie Davis"To get shoppers to buy, it's critical merchants make the checkout experience easy and costs transparent," said Eddie Davis, senior director of SMB merchant services, PayPal.

The survey also found indications that the economy still has shoppers wary about clicking the purchase button. More than one-third of respondents abandoned checkout because they did not plan for all of the expenses; while more than 25 percent left a site to search for a coupon. The good news is one-third of shoppers later returned to the same site to make a purchase.

"Merchants who don't welcome back abandoners with open arms are leaving hundreds of dollars per shopper on the table," added Davis.

"Merchants need to remember the items that customers abandon and make it easy for them to buy when they return. Sweetening the deal with free shipping, coupons and special discounts is also a great way to encourage online shoppers to complete their purchases."

Breakdown on Why Shoppers Abandon:
more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27805 PayPal Launches 'Do Stuff for Money' Facebook App Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:37:01 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27802 PayPal launched a "Do Stuff for Money" campaign that lets people ask others to "do stuff for money." Users go to paypal.com/DoStuffForMoney and send a personalized offer to a friend, family-member or colleague to do something for a set fee. The offer can be sent via Facebook or email. The recipient of the offer can accept, decline or ignore the offer. Decisions are posted on the recipient's Facebook wall. If the recipient accepts the offer, the sender can pay them instantly using PayPal's Send Money feature.

On Friday, PayPal announced that users could now send money via PayPal to friends and family in the US for free.

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27802 EBay Waives Some Listing Fees, But Changes Commission Fees Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:51:28 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27692
San Jose, Calif.-based eBay, which is struggling to compete with Web retailers such as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), said sellers would be able to list five products for auction every 30 days without having to pay up-front listing fees.

But the move could prove ineffective because the new pricing structure may actually cost sellers more in commission fees than under the previous pricing structure, depending on the auction starting price and final selling price.

EBay has in the past year come under intense criticism from small sellers who have grown disenchanted with fee changes that made it easier and cheaper for bigger merchants to list products in large quantities.

Critics have argued those changes, part of the company's ongoing turnaround strategy, have transformed eBay from a quirky online auction market into a high-volume fixed-price retail site.

The company said it hoped Tuesday's changes would attract new sellers to try the site without upfront costs.

"By eliminating the upfront costs of selling on eBay, we hope this new structure will encourage all sellers - new, occasional or experienced - to use the offering as a cost-effective way to sell on our site and earn a little extra cash," said Lorrie Norrington, presiden ... ]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27692 eBay scammer gets jail time Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:49:48 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27691
David N. Waldrop, 28, appeared in Sauk County Circuit Court to resolve two counts of theft by false representation and two counts of attempted theft by false representation. The charges stem from events that took place in October of 2008.

According to court documents, a Baraboo police detective took complaints from four people who saw a 1961 Gibson ES-355 guitar Waldrop offered for sale on eBay.

A man from Pennsylvania sent $4,500 to Waldrop's Paypal account and a man from Munich, Germany wired $5,800 to him for the vintage instrument, court documents state.

In return, the men said they received much cheaper Epiphone guitars when they opened packages sent by Waldrop, records state.

An Internet search found Epiphone guitars with prices as low as $200. Examples of the 1961 Gibson instrument range from several thousand dollars to $15,000.

Two other men offered amounts of $7,500 and $7,000 for the Gibson, records state. However, Waldrop ended negotiations with them when they wanted to come to Baraboo and actually look at the merchandise, the detective reported.

The investigator found Waldrop had offered a Gibson ES-355 guitar for auction four separate times between Oct. 1 and Oct. 6, 2008, according to documents

During Wednesday's hearing Waldrop pleaded n ... ]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27691 No More Amazon Referrals For North Carolina Residents Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:41:37 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27685
An impending change in North Carolina law would impose taxes on "digital click-throughs," and Amazon is simply ending its relationship with N.C. -based affiliates rather than figuring out the logistics of paying these taxes. Once the law is in place, other affiliate programs may follow suit. Or not.

http://insight.makovision.com/amazon-com-north-carolina-tax/]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27685 Overstock.com CEO Speaks at Internet Retailer Conference Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:27:08 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27684 Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne said retailers worried about the economy should "outrun everyone else, then worry about outrunning the bear." Look at your competitors and focus on what you can do better, he said. Byrne was speaking at the fifth annual Internet Retailer Conference whose theme was, "Rising above - not just surviving - the economic storm."

Byrne had specific recommendations for retailers: Measure everything. Outsource anything you are not great at. Control expenses (payroll, inventory). Look for new business combinations - he sees mergers and acquisitions in the years ahead.

Halfway through his presentation, he gave the audience a choice of listening to him speak about his battle with Wall Street, which he said was related to "the economic storm," or stopping to take questions. The audience overwhelmingly chose to hear Byrne's presentation on his battle with Wall Street.

Comscore Chairman Gian Fulgoni also gave a presentation on Tuesday morning where he spoke on retail ecommerce sales. "We have bottomed out," he said, and added that there was no growth in the first quarter of 2009. The slowdown could be traced to the high price of gas and food, which are "sucking disposable income," which drives ecommerce. The unemployment rate is now a factor as well. Fulgoni believes people over 45 are focused on regenerating wealth lost last year, so are not spending.

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27684 eBay Woos Large Retailers, Promising More Innovation To Come Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:09:17 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27675 eBay Woos Large Retailers, Promising More Innovation To Come

eBay is reinventing itself from online flea market to outlet mall. One of the company`s top executives today invited major merchants to take advantage of eBay`s new focus on making itself the leading e-commerce site for selling excess and out-of-season inventory.

"eBay is moving upmarket," Stephanie Tilenius, senior vice president and general manager of eBay North America, said in a featured address at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Boston. "We`re becoming a distribution channel of choice for large retailers. There`s a huge opportunity for you to build your business and make money on eBay."

She pointed to online retailer Zapppos.com, No. 27 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, which last week launched an eBay store to liquidate overstock goods, and clothing manufacturer BCBG, which is now selling on eBay through an unnamed large eBay merchant.

Tilenius says eBay has made several changes to better serve larger retailers, with more to come in September. Among the changes implemented last fall is a program called Large Merchant Services, developed with technology company Mercent, which makes it easier for retailers to sell on eBay many pieces of a particular item in many sizes and colors.

eBay is testing offering coupons on the site and a program that offers 2% cashback to registered buyers. The marketplace launched a Daily Deal feature in the fourth quarter and will introduce next week limited-time "flash sales." A new feature enables eBay to answer consumer questions based on information in a seller`s listing, saving the seller the work of responding. A program being tested with top buyers provides them rapid dispute resolution, and Tilenius says that will be rolled out more broadly in eBay`s next feature release, scheduled for September.

She says the platform upgrade to be implemented in September will be "a reasonably large release," that eBay, as is its practice, will explain in detail 60 days in advance, some time in July.

She says the September release will include improvements in the three key areas of eBay`s value proposition: selection, value and trust. Among the changes will be more ways to differentiate eBay sellers that garner top satisfaction scores from eBay buyers. Those merchants might be badged as top sellers in search results, says Tilenius, who promised further details next month.

Despite the efforts to appeal to larger retailers, Tilenius says eBay is not abandoning many smaller merchants that...

Read The Rest From: InternetRetailer]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27675 eBay Glitch Shows Incorrect Starting Date Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:13:07 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27630 eBay said a small number of items listed between June 10 - 11 shows a start date in the future (June 15 or June 16). Seller have two options: Let the listing run its course, in which case the item will show up in search at the future start time and run for the full duration; or, they may end the item that shows a future start date and relist the item. eBay apologized for "any frustration and confusion this may have caused."

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27630 Amazon.com Pays Toys 'R' Us $51 Million to Settle Dispute Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:01:07 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27629 Amazon.com has entered into a settlement agreement in a lawsuit with Toys "R" Us. Toysrus.com, a subsidiary of Toys "R" Us Inc., had filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com in 2004 to protect its exclusivity rights in the Toy and Game and Baby Products categories on the Amazon.com platform.

Amazon.com will make a one-time payment of $51 million to Toys "R" Us for dismissal of all claims and counterclaims and mutual releases, it reported in a June 12th SEC filing.

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27629 eBay to hold payments for tickets until delivered Sun, 14 Jun 2009 09:10:27 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27624 eBay UK's head of Trust and Safety, Richard Ambrose, said on Radio 4 yesterday that eBay is to hold payments for tickets "until buyers have what they paid for". The statement was part of a You and Yours feature on eBay ticket sales from a seller they identified as "M T Promotions". A number of buyers told the BBC that they had bought tickets for high-profile concerts, but received nothing: You and Yours calculate that around £½ million was paid to this seller – who has now had their eBay and PayPal accounts suspended. eBay told The Sun that buyers would be reimbursed, and that the police had been called in to investigate.

We've asked eBay for more details on the new policy: they told us that "this is a big task and something that will take a while to refine the details of and then subsequently launch." As soon as we have any further details, we'll pass them on.

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27624 PayPal's security 'flawed' Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:18:30 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27523 A security flaw in the online payment service PayPal means sensitive information is at risk and customers could lose control of their accounts, according to an Auckland software developer.

Ewart MacLucas says the flaw means customers who have not registered a credit card or bank account to their PayPal account need only supply a street address or phone number to change their password information that can be easily obtained by others.

Once an account is accessed, people can see details of financial transactions and change account settings so a customer could be locked out of their own account, he says.

PayPal spokeswoman Kelly Stevens confirmed that for PayPal accounts not tied to a credit card or bank account and which have "little to no remaining balance", customers can reset their password by providing "personal information like a phone number and street address".

"This does not put account holders at risk of disclosing sensitive personal or financial account information that can be used to steal their money, so we do not see this as a significant threat.

"It's important to note that for PayPal accounts that have bank accounts, credit cards or cash balances tied to them, the password reset process is much more sophisticated."
more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27523 Now's the Time for an Internet Sales Tax Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:25:56 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=27461 For years the internet has enjoyed its status as a relative haven from taxation, much to the chagrin of sales-tax reliant states. But with the fiscal situation growing more and more dire across all levels of government, and internet commerce continuing to eat into traditional forms of business, the lack of internet taxation sticks out like a sore thumb.

Indeed, the National Taxpayers Union, a libertarian anti-tax group says big tax hikes are definitely on the way.

Says the NTU:

Congressional sources say that introduction of federal legislation to implement the "Streamlined Sales Tax Project" (SSTP) could happen as early as this week. This comes in response to ongoing deliberation surrounding the issue of tax policy toward the Internet and the SSTP, a campaign that would allow states to collect sales taxes on transactions made by residents beyond their borders. States need Congress's blessing for SSTP because of previous court rulings that governments cannot force firms within their jurisdiction to collect taxes on sales made to out-of-state customers.

"It is unfathomable that lawmakers, in good conscience, would place yet another tax burden on American families given our current economic climate," said NTU Director of Government Affairs Andrew Moylan. "Passage of SSTP legislation would shovel more money into the coffers of states that don't deserve it, while resulting in even more economic pain for hard-working taxpayers who have suffered enough."
more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=27461