Take a look at this United Airlines Example: This recording artist, if not obvious in the video had his expensive Taylor Guitar broken by united airlines. He then filed a claim and repeatedly confronted several indifferent United Airlines employees. In his anger and after being told they would not compensate him for his loss he published this video on YouTube.

According to Wikepedia, “It amassed 150,000 views within one day, prompting United to contact Carroll saying it hoped to right the wrong.^[5] The video garnered over half a million hits by July 9,^[7] 5 million by mid-August 2009,^[4] and 10 million by February 2011. The Times newspaper reported^[14] that within 4 days of the video being posted online, United Airline’s stock price fell 10%, costing stockholders about $180 million in value.”

You never know the impact or influence of one customer these days. So, being honest and owning up to mistakes is your best policy.

In fact, “People are finding honest companies veritably refreshing and therefor are becoming more expectant of the truth and truthful behavior.Society is actually enjoy the gaiety of honest communication – Brutally honest people are now being celebrated instead of shunned and this is in turn changing everything.”

You’ll see the change in advertising. A good example of this is the Miracle Whip. Instead of puffing up a claim that miracle whip is better than mayonnaise, which is purely a matter of opinion, they embraced the “polarizing affect” it has on customers and turned it into a successful ad campaign.                          Get an idea of what the miracle whip campaign is about.

Ask any online entrepreneur or long-time eBay seller. If there is a problem with an item, you’re way better off to be honest about it from the beginning. Or if you mess up and ship something late, inform the customer and they’re more likely to be understanding than if you keep them waiting without information.

True or False, the more experience you have buying online the better you’ll understand the buying process and what you as a customer expect.

False. You are not the customer, so there are customer expectations you can’t understand.  Several markers warn that assuming you know what your customers want is dangerous. Having a little research behind you is always a good thing. Now, going through the buying process can count as some research, but realize that not everyone shares your dislikes or likes, or even the same expectations.

True or False, convenience is the only reason people shop online.

False.Market research about online shoppers teaches us the Three C’s of Online Shopping.

• Choice
• Cost
• Convenience

Almost any reason a shopper shops online will center around these three reasons. So are these options your business can make a priority to your customers? If you can’t offer a lot of choices, you should make up for it with cost, convenience, or I would even add exclusivity. If they can’t get the product anywhere else, that will help make up for their lack of choices–especially if your brand has enough value.

True or False, you can sell anything online.

True. Pretty much. What you can profit on however, that’s a whole different story entirely. Practial E-commerce reccomends writing down good ideas you see around you. They suggest, “. . . carrying a product sourcing notebook, be it a PDA or hand-held notebook, to keep track of your ideas as they come. She warns, “Ninety percent of ideas that you don’t write down will get lost. When you’re at these idea hotspots, if you see a hundred ideas for products to sell, you won’t be able to remember those. You’ve got to write them down in your product sourcing notebook and then go back and start researching them.”

True or False, anyone can be successful selling online.

False. I’ve done a lot of research on selling online. I’ve read success stories and failures and had a few failures myself. Anyone can attempt to sell online, but not anyone can be successful. It takes hard work, a good product, marketing strategy, and determination to succeed.While, I have not yet had a lot of success selling online, I’m still just beginning to learn how to do so, and I don’t think it’s time to give up yet. Consider taking the self-test below before you decide to sell online.

1. Am I willing to invest the time and money needed?
   If you think you can just put up a site, submit to the search engines and the money will start rolling in, think again. You need to examine what your needs are, and how you will attract new customers. Find out how others have done it, seek advice, and learn from the mistakes others have made. Also, be sure and read everything you can find about e-commerce because its methods change and improve constantly. Some advice from a pro: “Unless you are a very good do-it-yourselfer, you may want to consider outsourcing. Creating a professional site is much harder than it was two to three years ago,” said Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, founder of Wilson Internet Services, a Web site design and consulting company. Building and maintaining a web site is not just a one-shot deal. You have to keep updating the site and refreshing the content regularly—outsourcing can help here. But, if you choose to outsource, keep in mind it can be costly.
2. Am I organized?
   Do you have the time to run your site or do you need help? Who will take the orders and update it? And, are you equipped to handle large-volume sales? Advice: “Make sure it [your company's site] is organized to handle your capacity and that it’s streamlined,” recommends John Masiz, president of MediVet Pharmaceuticals, a company which sells pet healthcare products.
3. Do I have compelling and relevant content?
   Even if you are able to attract potential customers to your site initially, how do you get them to come back? One way to do it is to keep your site fresh and offer a little more perspective on your product or a related topic than your competitors. For example: The “hook” for MediVet is getting customers actively involved in the healthcare of their pets. Pet owners can actually identify simple medical problems and find solutions by using the site. “We have probably the most complete source of emergency medical information for dogs and cats—in one area—on the Web,” said Masiz.
4. Do I have a means of distribution and customer service?
   How are you going to get your products to the potential national or international customer quickly? “With e-commerce, you will get inquiries and make sales all over the United States,” said Clark. “So, it is best if your business sells a product that can be easily shipped.” And, don’t forget about customer service, it is as important or more important to have strong customer service support on the Web customer issues.
5. Getting a virtual URL
   Be sure you get your own identity. It is much easier for customers to remember yourcompany.com versus hosting company/directory/anyname.com. And, you’ll have more control over your site. “If an ISP goes out of business or changes rates, you’re stuck . . . you’re at their mercy,” said Wilson, who added that if you have your own identity “you are free to move around without disruption.”
6. Get an email account
   E-mail is a good way for you to build relationships with your customers. Not only is it a means for them to contact you, but you can let them know about specials and sales on your site. “Prospective customers will inquire about your product via email,” said Clark. “A response to each inquiry within 24 hours is recommended.”
7. Are you able to offer payment options?
   One of “selling points” for the Internet is immediacy. People want to be able to order and get your product quickly. That means you may want to think about a secure way of accepting credit cards, or perhaps offering a toll-free telephone number.

This quiz is from score.org.

A listing is a chance to get your eBay item noticed. You’re listing is what will get your product found on eBay, so make sure it is descriptive, complete, and uses keywords that people would type in to find your product.

EBay allows up to 55 characters in the title. Try and use every character. You will want to make sure you use broad enough terms that people can find your product. You may even want to put it under an even broader term if you think it will help someone to stumble across it while looking for something else.

Include in your listings the item name, color, size, style or model number,  and a good keyword in your listing. The more descriptive the better. I know I as a customer on eBay I’m often looking for something specific I’ve had a hard time finding elsewhere. So I love it when I can find the exact product or size I need on Ebay. Help me find your product by including a great product description.

One of  the best ways to check to see if your listing is descriptive enough is to look at other product descriptions within your category. What descriptive words did others use? You can compare what descriptions and titles helped an item to sell by typing in a product, selecting the “show only” option and then the “completed” listing option. This will give you an idea about what helps an item sell.

Happy Selling!

1.Look at the e-mail or website the mail is coming from, does it end in paypal.com or is it hosted on a free e-mail provider?A legitimate business usually has it’s own domain, meaning an address that ends in eBay.com or PayPal.com

2. Christopher also mentioned that PayPal generally addresses your e-mails with your first and last name or business name. Though this is not guarantee it’s PayPal.

3. Paypal will never direct you to a random site to fix your login information. The site should be an official PayPal page. Look to see if the page is copyrighted at the bottom and is a fully operational site before you put in any information.

Shelley, a customer who was scammed provided more steps, adding:

4.Take care with buyers that use a stock photo for the product they’re selling.This may mean they don’t really have the item.

5.Beware of high shipping prices. Dealing with someone from over-seas can be challenging.

6.Beware if they only provide an e-mail as their sole form of contact.

7.Watch out if  they threaten you early on to pay quickly or they’ll report you to eBay.

Top help further protect yourself,

Use a separate bank account for all of your eBay transactions.

Familiarize yourself with Paypal’s rules and protection policies.

Collect the entire payment of your sale before you ship the product.

Don’t depend solely on customer feedback, it can be manipulated.

Avoid instant money transfers by paying with a credit card.

Don’t let shipping costs turn a good deal into a rip off.

Trust you instincts. You can’t be too careful, if a site asks for personal information and you don’t feel good about it, either don’t enter your info or contact PayPal and make sure an offer is legitimate before you pay.

For a few more fraud tips check out this eBay fraud tips page.

” Pros

• Setting a reserve on a auction gives you the option to not sell your item unless it meets your reserve price.
• Reserve price can be altered even after you have received bids.
• Even if your reserve price is not met you can still send a second chance offer.
• If your item sells your reserve fee is refunded.

Cons

• Setting a reserve requires an additional fee which is refunded only if your item sells.
• It discourages bidders many buyers will not even bid on a auction that has a reserve.

Reserves are generally not a good idea because people will not bid on your item especially when other options are available.  The only time I recommend setting a reserve on an auction is if your item is unique or one of a kind.  If a buyer wants it they will have no other option but your auction therefore the reserve price can protect your investment in case bidding does not go high enough.”

I agree. Although you as the buyer know what something is worth to you. If you can’t part with an item for under a certain amount, consider starting the bid at that price. It’s always a good idea to make sure your costs are covered, but just be aware it may inhibit some deal seekers that like to start with low offers. Decide what your product is worth to you and go from there. If it is a one of a kind item that you know will go for more, start higher, if not start low to encourage bidders.

Well, most business owners already have an idea of what they should change within their company or online store. But, I’d like to put in my two cents in about experiments. I recently read an article about how a lot of good advice actually brought down the ROI of a man’s company. It’s not that the advice that was given was ill-intended or bad, it’s just it came from a vast array of opinions. It also came from people working outside this man’s market.

So who knows best ultimately? You or your boss. Only you know the details of your situation and/or company. Friends and colleges  can suggest improvements. However  you must ultimately decide which advice to put into practice.

Even better than trying out advice is putting something into practice and testing it. Let’s take e-mailers for example. If you send out hundreds of e-mails, why not test two different sign up buttons or a template? Then keep track of which e-mail gets opened, clicked, and subscribed to the the most.

Use this experimental progress with as many small changes as you can test, and then you’ll really know what kind of an return on investment you’re getting for a small change. It may be something as simple as changing the wording of your text or the color of a button that will increase your profit.

1.Put more “you” in your writing.

I watched the movie Marley and Me over the weekend. It was cheesy, but I liked it. I especially liked the short exchanges where the protagonist (Owen Wilson) and his boss discuss his writing. I know some bloggers are a far cry from reporters, but I’d venture to say that we’re not that big of a step away from local columnists.We could put to good use the advice from the protagonist’s boss in Marley and Me that after reviewing his newest article said, “Know why this piece is good? It has more you in it.”

What I’m getting at, is that even if you have a business blog, put some of yourself into your posts. Information  important, but if it’s not presented in an interesting way, people won’t read it. Consider putting more you into your writing. Anecdotes, observations, and your own unique perspective, can add flavor to any article you write.

Lisa Barone is great at this. She informs on important topics and yet manages to stick in feisty jokes and funny anecdotes. If you can learn to make marketing, seo, and advertising as fun to read about as she does, you’ll draw in readers. Learn to look for fun life experiences that you can put into your writing.

2.Stand firm in your position

Another thing I’ve learned about  writing is to take a position and defend it by the way you write. Weak words and phrases like kind of, maybe, perhaps, and should can weaken your stance on a position. It’s okay to be opinionated when you blog, people will like it or they won’t, but at least they’ll read it. It’s easy to want to be agreeable, but when you get rid of unnecessary words like these, you’ll sound like a stronger writer and thus more of an authority on the subject you’re writing about.

3.Use pictures that are worth a thousand words

Pictures are important. But the best kind of pictures you can post are your own. Writing for this blog I don’t have the ability to post personalized photos. Sometimes you may not have  that option. But if you do, take the time to do it.  My personal blogs are full of pictures of the food I cook and  things I see. A real photo, helps to tell a story and because it requires more work seems to carry some trust with it. Use your own photography.

4.Keep yourself sane and your articles more interesting.Take a break.

Setting the goal to publish this blog three times a week,  pushes me to have something prepared to publish every few days.  I enjoy writing, but like any writer, sometimes develop writers block. It happens. Taking short breaks help. Sitting down and writing about anything also helps. However finding out what inspires you personally, is the best way to write killer articles. Passion is a strong driving force and the reason so many employers now ask questions that highlight an employee’s level of passion.

Keep up the good work blogging! And remember if you can blog more than 6 months, you’ve already beaten out half of your competition, so keep it up!

What is drop shipping? Drop shipping is when a seller buys products from a supplier, sells that product to customers, and then the supplier ships the products to those customers for the seller.  Generally, a seller will buy the products at a discount that will translate into the seller’s profit.

Who drop ships? There are several companies that tie themselves to drop shipping. Some are legitimate companies, others are not. I’ll just list a few of the major companies involved and a little bit about the services they provide.

Doba: They provide a connection to suppliers. They are a trusted company that is certified with eBay.They provide tools that make it simple to list on eBay or your own website, but you will pay a hefty price for their services. They will control all contact with your suppliers as well.

Worldwide brands: They provide a directory with legitimate drop ship suppliers at a fair price. They don’t however offer the tools that Doba offers of allowing you to post your products through their tools. Their product will require more work, but provide you with higher profit margins and more product options.

SaleHoo: Also a directory with some added extras like target market data, and an extra tool that will helps you find popular products. (This tool costs extra) It is probably the cheapest drop shipping directory.

GoGo Dropship: We provide a directory, informational video clips on selling online, and research requests. What you receive will depend on what package you purchase. You will get more research requests with the higher priced packages. GoGo is a legitimate directory that due to simplicity allows you as a seller to make more money. Unlike Doba we are not a middleman, nor do we pretend to be.

The process is simple, purchase GoGo Dropship like you would a phone book. Look up the supplier information you need, depending on what you want to sell, and then have the freedom to contact and make deals with our partnered suppliers! Some of our suppliers even give our customers deals because of their association with us!

Now you could consider going solo. But one word sums up why I would consider investing in a directory. Scams. There are so many and finding a legitimate supplier could honestly take months. Don’t lose money or waste your time when you could pay a small fee to be connected with quality suppliers.

How do I contact a drop shipper? With access to a directory you can just call or e-mail them and strike a deal, there is no middleman involved. With Doba, they’ll do the work for your, but you’ll struggle to make a profit.

What companies provide drop ship directories? The companies I listed above all offer a drop ship directory service but with Doba they take over the contact with your supplier.

Is drop shipping free?

There are generally small fees associated with drop shipping, but they are generally a few dollars and usually come out to less than shipping costs would. 

I hope this answered your most common drop shipping questions, please comment below or e-mail us at support@gogodropship.com with any other questions you may have.

Found on the GeekZu Blog posted on Aug 9, 2010.

I’m always learning so much about eBay! Take a look at theses video game sales stats!

Video Game Stats from videogamepricecharts.com

If you don’t even understand the point to twitter, read Twitters Wikepedia page and don’t worry. I’ve always been a skeptical buyer and a late adopter or laggard  like it explains in the innovation/adoption curve that I learned about in advertising.  I used to wait to buy something until most other people had already proved it was worth trying. I laughed when I learned in advertising classes that these kinds of customers are the least profitable.  I wanted to go into advertising and sell to the “innovators,” people so different from me.

But now I get it. I enjoy staying on top of things and knowing what my options are ahead of the game. I still wouldn’t call myself an innovator, but I’ve bumped up to the early adopter or early majority stage.

For all of you laggards like the old me, still wondering why use Twitter? What can it do for you? Why is it a helpful tool?This article is for you! It’s not too late to enjoy the benefits of Twitter.

I first learned about how to use Twitter last year. I had been out of the country when Twitter came out and struggled to get a grip on what it was. I had a social media class in my last year of college and we set up a blog and even worked with local businesses to help them take advantage of using social media to grow their business. I enjoyed blogging, but struggled with the idea of Twitter. But then I committed myself to understanding it and I love it!

Twitter Advice

My first Twitter lesson I learned the hard way. When I first got on Twitter the first thing I wanted to do is promote. I wanted to tell everyone about how great our company is. But that is not how you want to begin. Think of Twitter as a big party. You’ll want to walk in to this party and get a feel for the people you’re with. Someone who begins a conversation saying how great they are and not trying to relate to or help anyone, won’t be a very fun person to talk to for very long. People are getting so immune to advertising they just tune it out. If you are not somewhat transparent you won’t attract much attention on Twitter.

Log-in  to Twitter and begin by finding interesting people to follow. Then just read what they post. Listen to them. How do they post? What do they talk about.Watch how they use #hashtags, RT re-tweets, and @mentions with their followers.  Just like our friend Mr. Covey advised, “seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

After, you’ve gotten a feel for what people with your interests or in your business realm find interesting, reply to the messages and re-tweet them to others. Participate in the conversation for awhile.Let people know you’re listening and enjoy what they’re providing. Twitter is a lot like normal conversation, only that it is socially acceptable to “butt in” to conversations.  It is perfectly fine to hop into conversations you find interesting and put in your two cents.

Now, add your expertise to the conversation by sending out links, video clips, articles, etc of information that your followers will find helpful. As a rule, if you’re tweeting for a business tweet business related stuff 95% of the time and 5% of the time tweet personal stuff so that people realize that you are still a real person, but don’t get bogged down with personal info they’re not interested in. Or if your Twitter account is personal, be personal, don’t turn into a sell-out by suddenly talking about business all the time.

Just keep in mind that you don’t want to sound like the 50′s television and radio commercials spouting out offers that don’t apply to your audience. Make what you send out relevant and useful and you will build followers. And keep talking to your followers like people. If you answer the questions of other Twitter followers and establish yourself as someone helpful they can trust, you will establish influence without having to promote yourself over twitter.

So instead of just saying what you have for sale on eBay, contribute to the information available on how to list online, or how to deal with angry customers, or what products you’ve found sell well on eBay. Then you can promote a little, after you have a buyers trust. Trust is a huge roadblock to customer purchases online, gain that, work hard and you’ll build a successful business with the help of Twitter.