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 Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:30:32 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=34318 Alibaba has announced it has purchased Auctiva, the developer of third-party tools for eBay sellers and ecommerce merchants. Auctiva provides a variety of listing, marketing and management tools as well as image hosting and online storefronts, and claims around 170,000 active users.

The purchase follows Alibaba's acquisition of Vendio in June.

As with the Vendio acquisition, this purchase is being presented as a way to create a seamless system for merchants to purchase and re-sell inventory. Auctiva's platform will be integrated with AliExpress, Alibaba's wholesale platform, so that sellers can purchase through AliExpress and then list via eBay with Auctiva.

The financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=34318 Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:01:17 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=34243 According to eBay residents of some of the most wealthy areas of the country are being driven to eBay to buy big name brands at knock down prices. Affluent area of London including Fulham, Wandsworth, Clapham, and Putney are flocking to eBay to source designer fashion at knock down prices.

Wealthy areas outside London are also showing the same trend. Alderley Edge – home to some of the UK's best paid footballers – as well as expensive areas of Leeds, Edinburgh, Belfast, Morpeth and Cardiff have all recorded increased activity.

The study analysed the increasing number of people using the site who live in post codes which have some of the most expensive houses in the UK. The study suggests that the shopping habits of those who measure their wealth in hundreds of millions of pounds has remained relatively unchanged by the economic downturn. They still continue to buy directly from the big names in designer wear. However, the picture changes significantly in the next tier down, in areas where people have previously measured their wealth in mere millions.

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=34243 Wed, 11 Aug 2010 10:45:04 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=34148 I have reported frequently on a range of securities law violations by Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK). The company's latest earnings report on Aug. 9 raises still new questions, concerning possible insider trading and misleading statements by the company's CEO, Patrick Byrne.

On Aug. 9, Overstock.com issued its Q2 2010 10-Q (quarter ended June 30) report and surprised investors by reporting a $1.4 million loss, or a loss of $0.06 per share, compared to a small $319k reported profit or earnings per share of $0.01 in the previous year's comparable quarter, despite higher revenues.

Overstock.com failed to meet consensus analyst expectations for earnings, too. Overstock.com's reported loss of $0.06 per share was far worse than analyst expectations of a $0.04 per share loss or a 50% higher loss than expected.

A disturbing event preceded this announcement.

On May 20, 2010, Patrick Byrne's 100% controlled High Plains Investments LLC dumped 140,000 company shares and collected over $3 million in proceeds during the last several days, according to SEC filings. That was the first time that Patrick Byrne had ever sold any Overstock.com shares under his control. In my blog, I noted that such a sale was "not a bullish signal to investors."

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=34148 Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:55:04 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=34146 The U.S. government has charged two eBay affiliates with wire fraud in a case involving "cookie stuffing." eBay had filed a lawsuit against them and a third affiliate in 2008; that case is now on hold while criminal charges proceed. Shawn Hogan of Digital Point Solutions (DPS) - eBay's top affiliate in 2007 - pled not guilty in July and will appear before District Court Judge Fogel on September 9, 2010. Brian Dunning pled not guilty and will appear in court on August 19, 2010.

The government accused both men of "cookie stuffing," the act of depositing a cookie containing an Affiliate ID onto a user's computer without that user having clicked on an advertisement or link. (eBay uses cookies to track which affiliate - if any - to pay for driving traffic to its website.) The government charged DPS of purposefully creating computer code that prevented eBay's home page from loading on the user's computer screen.

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=34146 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:31:58 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=34068 PayPal is conducting a survey to determine how much sellers would be willing to pay for a new seller protection program. PayPal exposed survey respondents to five variations of the program and asked a series of questions after each.

One plan offered expanded seller protection, covering chargebacks and Item Not Received claims, and might cost sellers between .5% - 2% of the transaction value.

Another plan would give sellers credits every time one of their customers used PayPal that the seller could use towards reversing chargebacks or claims with no documentation. Another plan would allow sellers to choose which transaction to cover.

A fourth plan would offer Shipping Protection when using a PayPal Shipping Partner website to ship an item, while a fifth plan would offer Fraud Protection.

The five plans as outlined in the survey follow below:

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=34068 Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:33:52 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=33998 http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=33998 Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:10:50 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=33903 American businesses weren't very happy about a privacy bill that Rep. Rick Boucher announced in May. The Interactive Advertising Bureau, for instance, said the Virginia Democrat's draft legislation would have "major" effects on legitimate business practices.

Well, if they disliked the Boucher bill, they're really going to loathe a new Democratic proposal that would slap even more extensive regulations on virtually any U.S. business.

A bill introduced Monday by Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush, chairman of a House consumer subcommittee, would levy fines of up to $5 million on businesses and individuals unless they abide by a complex set of new regulations to be administrated by the Federal Trade Commission. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday at 11 a.m. PT.

Rush's bill applies to any "person" or business that stores personal information, including someone's name, mailing address, e-mail address, and phone or tax number. That person must provide, if requested, "access to" information stored about others.

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=33903 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:48:17 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=33884 All ecommerce sellers who accept PayPal will need to accept the new Commercial Entity Agreement by October 1, 2010 in order to continue receiving Visa and Mastercard funded payments.

Accepting this new Commercial Entity Agreement actually means that you are agreeing to accept each of the different commercial agreements for several banks.

Commercial Entity Agreement with JP Morgan Chase
Commercial Entity Agreement with HSBC
Commercial Entity Agreement with Wells Fargo
Commercial Entity Agreement with Wells Fargo – Pro
Commercial Entity Agreement with National Westminster Bank
Most of the Commercial Entity Agreements are very similiar but there are some differences. While the agreements are obviously very complex, I have tried to boil them down into a short list of 5 Do's and Don'ts that encompasses the highlights of various agreements.

1. WHO can and should give and get information?

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=33884 Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:13:01 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=33829 eBay will announce changes later today in its third roll-out of seller updates for 2010, calling it "Seller Release 3." Most changes will launch between September 7 and September 13, and eBay said it was the final seller update of the year. eBay will make certain media and electronics categories free for sellers to list in during the holiday selling season, but is requiring that they use its product catalog to list. The three categories are iPod & MP3 Players, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and DVDs, HD DVDs & Blu-ray.

eBay is making changes to its Unpaid Item process and will allow sellers to create lists of preferred customers who will be excluded from Unpaid Item Assistant. Sellers will be able to exclude specific transactions from Unpaid Item Assistant.

eBay is running a test in which it has moved the "Ask a question" link further down the item page for about one quarter of buyers, and expects to launch it to all buyers by the end of the year. eBay will also allow sellers to prevent blocked buyers from contacting them.

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=33829 Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:23:56 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=33590 EBay apps make it No. 1 mobile retailer in U.S.

Tim L. Fields bids on jewelry, art and antiques on eBay Inc., sometimes in 30 to 40 auctions at one time.

The New Orleans attorney spends hours away from his PC, so he gets his shopping done using an eBay app on his iPhone that sends alerts when he's been outbid or when a sale is about to expire. EBay's apps have allowed it to grab the lead over rival Amazon.com in a new market.

"It's sort of an addiction," says Fields, who has used the eBay mobile app to buy a $15,000 set of antique French silver.

After losing ground to Amazon.com for years in online retailing, eBay has emerged as a leader in mobile commerce. As consumers increasingly shop with their BlackBerrys, iPhones, and handsets powered by Google Inc.'s Android software, eBay has become the top mobile retailer in the United States, according to Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners LP in New York.

Rest of the article here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/27/BUJE1E4CGO.DTL&type=business

http://www.DtiCorp.com/


HONEYWELL Thermostats and HVAC Controls


http://www.ListFree.org/



ListFree.org - Free Press Release portal ... ]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=33590 Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:39:53 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=33358 Ebay will begin allowing users to view other members' feedback in a new way - by allowing them to isolate positive, neutral or negative feedback.

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y10/m06/i14/s05


Ebay's announcement from their site:

Starting this week, you'll be able to see a member's Feedback ratings by type – positive, neutral, or negative – on their Feedback Profile page. Just go to the Feedback Profile page and click on a number in the Recent Feedback Ratings table to filter comments by type. You'll see that set of comments along with replies. There are no changes to the item page. This is a feature on the Feedback Profile page many members have requested to help them make faster, more well-informed decisions when transacting on eBay.

http://announcements.ebay.com/2010/06/feedback-filtering-on-member-profile-page/]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=33358 Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:51:52 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=33301 Online merchants will pay more in fees to PayPal beginning in August thanks to changes the company is announcing today. Beginning August 10, when a U.S. or Canadian seller issues a refund, PayPal will retain the 30-cent transaction fee it charges, a move sure to be highly controversial.

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2010/6/1276268535.html]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=33301 Tue, 08 Jun 2010 10:10:26 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=33260 The law firm of Freed & Weiss LLC has filed a lawsuit against eBay and PayPal on behalf of their clients, Ronya Osman and Brian Patee. The lawsuit charges that PayPal's practice of "holding" funds for up to 180 days in the accounts is fraudulent because of the "systematic and arbitrary manner in which the freezing is done and the lack of information shared with affected customers."

The lawsuit claims PayPal is holding $1500 of Plaintiff Ronya Osman funds, and had held $750 of plaintiff Brian Pattee's funds from about September 2009 til March 12, 2010.

The lawsuit says PayPal's actions violate the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, stating that PayPal is a financial institution within the meaning of the EFTA,

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=33260 Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:04:13 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=33178 NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The massive expansion of requirements for businesses to file 1099 tax forms that was hidden in the 2,409-page health reform bill took many by surprise when it came to light last month. But it's just one piece of a years-long legislative stealth campaign to create ways for the federal government to track down unreported income.

The result: A blizzard of new tax forms that the Internal Revenue Service will begin rolling out next year.

It was actually something that we were following back under the Bush administration under the 2008 budget -- we started to see these kinds of rumblings about the 'tax gap' and whether or not businesses were paying their fair share," says Tom Henschke, president of the Pennsylvania-based SMC Business Councils, which was one of the first organizations to call attention to the health care amendment when it was introduced last fall. "So two administrations can claim credit for this."

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=33178 Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:13:03 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=33177 Online sellers who work to optimize their ecommerce-enabled websites should be aware that Google made changes to its search algorithm that have affected how high product listings appear on Google search results. Search Engine Land wrote about reports from webmasters who noted a drop in traffic from Google - they called the Google change "MayDay" due to the distress it is causing them.

Google told Search Engine Land's Vanessa Fox it was a ranking change. She wrote, "This change seems to have primarily impacted very large sites with "item" pages that don't have many individual links into them, might be several clicks from the home page, and may not have substantial unique and value-added content on them."

more.. link to news article]]> http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=33177