Ecommerce Industry SoundBytes

Mike Grehan is a Director at Incisive Media and producer of one of the longest-running Internet conferences, formerly known as Search Engines Strategies, recently rebranded as ClickZ Live . In addition to explaining what online merchants can get out of attending the conference, Grehan talks about some of the challenges retailers face as Google evolves its marketing programs, from Product

Eric Nash of Stamps.com talked to EcommerceBytes Editor Ina Steiner just days before the USPS rate changes took effect on Sunday, January 26, 2014. He reviewed some of the major changes that online sellers should know about and said the good news was that for Priority Mail, popular with online sellers, rates are going up a net zero percent. But pay attention: one class of mail is going up

EcommerceBytes editor Ina Steiner spoke to Rakutens COO and Chief Marketing Officer Bernard Luthi on Monday to discuss results of the Black Friday holiday shopping weekend. Rakuten saw a couple of days with growth over 100%, and saw shoppers start their buying early in the week. Luthi shared information about top-selling products and categories on Rakuten and also had some tips for online

ZooZ helps online merchants create a streamlined checkout process on their online and mobile websites. Noam Inbar, Vice President of Business Development for ZooZ joined EcommerceBytes to discuss a new service that lets mobile shoppers purchase an item by tapping on an ad. Rather than being brought to a checkout page on a different site, the consumer can purchase the product in a full native

eBays Director of Seller Protections Rich Matsuura joined EcommerceBytes to talk about how eBay protects sellers from bad buyers through its Seller Protection Program. What constitutes feedback extortion? Can low-volume sellers ever recover from low DSR ratings? Why not give sellers automatic 5-star DSRs if a buyer doesnt file an issue or leave feedback in a certain time frame? These were some

Buy.com opened its site to third-party sellers beginning in 2009 and now has 5,000 active sellers on the Buy.com Marketplace - which now exceeds the first-party distribution business. Buy.coms Chief Marketing amp; Operating Officer Bernard Luthi and Senior Director of Merchant Acquisition and Business Development George Chang joined EcommerceBytes to talk about the program and

Rafael Zimberoff is Product Manager for ShipRush and joined EcommerceBytes Editor Ina Steiner to talk about eBays new international shipping program. The eBay Global Shipping Program (GSP) is designed to facilitate cross border trade, and Zimberoff says there are some aspects of the program that eBay sellers will find quite compelling. One is the exposure U.S. GSP listings will receive in

In May, Google announced the end of free listings in Product Search, and on October 1, 2012, the search giant is moving to a paid model on the Google Shopping platform. Demandware Solutions Marketing Lead Gary Lombardo sat down with EcommerceBytes Editor Ina Steiner at the recent Shop.org Summit in September to discuss how merchants are dealing with the changes. Retailers must ensure that

Merchants were still in disbelief that Google was moving its Shopping search engine to a pay-to-play model at the June 2012 Internet Retailer conference in Chicago. Ecommerce Manager for Shopvisible Will Devlin sat down with EcommerceBytes during the show to discuss the changes. He revealed that some clients have 10 - 15 percent of their total web revenue coming from Google Product Search (aka

Jim Davidson of Bronto shared some tips and information from the companys quot;Top 12 Marketing Tips for the Holidays quot; report. Davidson says online merchants should start looking now at last years promotions and look at them from a lot of different angles. For example, identify your best performing promotion, and determine the factors that made it successful. Companies send more

Auctionopia is a new online marketplace, and EcommerceBytes Editor caught up with founder Tom Popomaronis at the June 2012 Internet Retailer Conference to learn more. Popomaronis discusses the three-pronged approach the company is taking and says its trying to attract many types of sellers of all sizes with several different auction formats. There is the traditional eBay approach; a scheduled

Vivian Li is Brand Manager for Shipping Products at DYMO Endicia , which provides customizable, easy-to-use and affordable shipping and mailing software solutions. Using online postage solutions enables merchants to get cheaper Commercial Base pricing as opposed to Retail pricing available at the counter of local postal locations. Vivian explains some of the changes that the USPS rolled out in

President of eBay Global Marketplaces Devin Wenig sat down with EcommerceBytes Editor Ina Steiner to talk about what hes learned in the past 6 months since joining eBay and about the challenges eBay Marketplaces and its online sellers are facing. Devins priorities include Cross Border Trade (CBT) and opening up markets outside of the U.S. and Western markets. He discussed his goal of increasing

eBay announced the first Seller Release of 2012 on February 28, 2012, and eBay Vice President of Merchant Development Michael (MJ) Jones and the Senior Manager of Community amp; Development for eBay Marketplaces Jim (Griff) Griffith joined EcommerceBytes Editor Ina Steiner to talk about the changes and their impact on sellers. They discussed the benefits as well as the challenges sellers

Skip McGrath is an author and newsletter publisher who has been selling online since 1999, and he joined EcommerceBytes to talk about his experience using Amazons FBA fulfillment service. He explains how selling through FBA can help merchants get exposure by helping them quot;win the Buy Box quot; and discusses some of the other challenges and rewards of selling on both Amazon.com and

Laura Brooks is Vice President of B2B Ecommerce for Staples Advantage and joined EcommerceBytes Editor Ina Steiner to talk about her experience building a new website for the Advantage program. Staples Advantage generates over $6 billion in sales with 90% of that business done online. Laura has been with Staples for nearly 15 years and is responsible for the development and management of

A few years ago, Cynthia Lizana had a problem many online sellers wish they had - she was having trouble keeping up with a flood of orders that were coming in every day for products she sold through her business, TexCynGoods . Cynthia decided to use Amazons FBA fulfillment service, which helped her through the growing pains. Now, she faces a different problem thanks to the changes Amazon has

Shipwire is an outsource fulfillment platform for online retailers, and Vice President of Marketing amp; Business Development for the company, Nate Gilmore, joined EcommerceBytes to talk about the shipping issues his clients are facing. The most significant aspect of news coming from the USPS is lack of a plan with approval and an implementation process, according to Gilmore, who says

Jeffrey Katz is a technology- and travel-industry veteran who served as President and CEO of LeapFrog Enterprises and as Chairman and Founding CEO of Orbitz. He joined Nextag in 2010 and is bringing a new vision to the price comparison shopping engine. He joins EcommerceBytes Editor Ina Steiner from the floor of the Shop.org conference and talks about merchant needs, social and mobile trends,

Daniel Leffel, founder of YardSellr , joined EcommerceBytes recently to discuss his site and talk about social commerce. YardSellr is different from traditional marketplaces because its sellers use social networking sites to engage shoppers. YardSellr has also set up feeds by category, called blocks, that shoppers can subscribe to in order to help them find items. Danny says the YardSellr

Alan Fulmer is cofounder and Vice President of Channel Intelligence , a company that helps retailers and manufacturers make their products more visible to online shoppers. In this podcast interview with EcommerceBytes Editor Ina Steiner, Alan explains what it means to be a Google Product Search partner and discusses Googles recent changes to be more content than text driven and how that

Todd Lutwak, eBay Vice President of Seller Experience, and Edurne Jorda, Senior Director of Seller Marketing, talk about the Fall Seller Release and the impact on sellers. Starting the first week in September, eBay will increase the maximum number of characters from 55 to 80 - Lutwak said this will help increase sellers visibility with more relevant keywords and will also help sellers

AuctionBytes caught up with online retailer Roy Hessel at the Internet Retailer conference in June. Hessel is founder and CEO of EyeBuyDirect.com , an online retailer of prescription eyeglasses that sells directly to consumers. He said social was a fundamental part of the shopping experience on EyeBuyDirect. The quot; Wall of Frame quot; is a social network for vision correction

Nadim Hossain, Vice President of PowerReviews, talked to AuctionBytes Editor Ina Steiner during the Internet Retailer conference in June about the power of consumer product reviews and how they benefit online retailers. PowerReviews conducted a study of social shopping and found that 70% of the time after posting a review to your Facebook stream, your friends will either like it or

What does the upcoming eBay acquisition of Magento mean for developers and online merchants? AuctionBytes sat down with Magento co-Founder and CEO Roy Rubin to find out. Rubin explains what Magento offers eBay sellers and discusses his view of the newly announced X.commerce platform that brings together the developer programs of eBay, PayPal, Magento and GSI. He says eBay is moving away

Lissa McGrath caught up with Chris Taylor, Marketing Director of PageMage, at the 2011 Internet Retailer Conference and asks him about the quot;buzz quot; at the convention, including the latest in social media, mobile trends and whats going on at the breakout sessions. Run Time: 6:28

Christopher Payne, Senior Vice President of eBay Marketplaces North America, talked to AuctionBytes after delivering a keynote address at the Internet Retailer conference where he gave attendees a sneak peek at a new social shopping feature launching in the fall. In this exclusive podcast, Christopher talks about eBays effort to bring back the conversation to shopping through a new

Mercent CEO Eric Best joined AuctionBytes on April 4, 2011, to discuss eBays pending acquisition of GSI Commerce and whether small sellers on eBay should be worried about the development. He believes eBay will eventually launch a quot;Fulfillment by eBay quot; service similar to Amazons fulfillment service, and said he does not believe Google will launch a marketplace, despite its

eBay Vice President of Selling Experience Todd Lutwak joined AuctionBytes to discuss eBays Spring Seller Update announcement . Todd explains how the fee changes impacts sellers and clarifies some points about Final Value Fees on shipping costs. He also answers specific questions from AuctionBytes readers, including how eBay will handle shipping refunds and whether eBay anticipates Store

ArtFire has increased its development team and is looking at vintage, international and mobile for long-term growth, according to Tony Ford, ArtFires Executive Vice President and COO. But the company is not looking to expand into commodity-good categories. Ford joined AuctionBytes Editor Ina Steiner this week to catch up on recent developments at ArtFire and how they will impact sellers. He

Mercent CEO Eric Best joined AuctionBytes to talk about recent news reports that several large merchants have exited the Amazon.com marketplace. Eric works with some of the largest Internet retailers and previously worked at Amazon.com, helping it to establish its first major brick-and-mortar partnership, and brings key insights about Amazon.coms relationship with merchants. This exclusive

Rob Caskey is Vice President of Marketing for Liquidity Services, which operates several online marketplaces, including B2B auction site Liquidation.com and a brand B2C site called Secondipity.com . Rob discusses some of the trends in online retail from the recent holiday shopping season, including earlier discounting, lower prices, and consumer demand for free shipping and more liberal

Jill Chuckas runs a home based business making and selling childrens items at Crafty Baby . She traveled to Washington, DC last week to testify before a Senate sub-committee on behalf of The Handmade Toy Alliance (HTA) about the CPSIA legislation. Jill joined AuctionBytes to talk about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which was enacted in response to concerns about

Page Mage is an application that helps sellers design and create professional-looking listings on eBay. The company recently published a free guide to help eBay sellers create listings that stand out among the millions of listings on eBay. Chris Taylor, Vice President of Marketing at Page Mage, talked to AuctionBytes about the new guide, which was developed by a group of Bay Area eBay sellers

Former eBay executive Daniel Leffel founded Yardsellr in October 2009. This week, he announced the company had raised $5 million. Danny joined AuctionBytes Editor Ina Steiner to talk about Yardsellrs model, which uses Facebooks platform to bring together people with shared interests and allows them to find unique items for sale. Danny talks about the funding and his relationship with another

Laura Trueman of Truetiques has been selling on eBay for 10 years and has an average of 4500 items for sale on the site at one time. eBay recently barred her from selling on the site due to unsatisfactory customer feedback ratings. eBay has made many changes to the feedback system over the past two years, and we spoke to Laura to get her perspective on the changes. What would Laura tell

AuctionBytes recently caught up with Brian Lawe, founder of OnPagePromotions (formerly MyStoreCredits). Brian explained how his companys tools help eBay sellers drive more sales through online promotions, including MyStoreRewards, MyStoreMaps, and a new tool, CashBack Maps. He then discussed the challenges of being an eBay developer, including the brutal economics eBay seller face and the

AuctionBytes caught up with Scott Smigler at a recent SEMPO meeting at Googles Boston office. Scott is founder and President of Exclusive Concepts , an Internet marketing company for online retailers. Scott spoke about recent changes Google made to its user experience and how those changes could impact merchants. Scott is also co-chair of SEMPO Boston Working Group , the search engine

Shipwire , which offers fulfillment services to online retailers and marketplace sellers, recently announced it was making its software available for free, regardless of whether sellers are Shipwire customers. AuctionBytes Editor Ina Steiner talked to Nate Gilmore about his companys new Shipwire Anywhere service that bridges do-it-yourself fulfillment and outsourced fulfillment, and about

Lynda Talgo is Senior Director of eBay Buyer Protection. In todays Ecommerce Industry SoundBytes, Lynda discusses eBays new fall marketing campaign launched on October 4th. The campaign promotes eBay as a safe place to shop by highlighting the companys Buyer Protection program. Lynda said eBay will send one million postcards and 27 million emails to buyers, and talked about the companys use

Ecommerce consultant Stephanie Inge joined AuctionBytes to discuss the recent conference of Amazon sellers known as SCOE (Seller Conference for Online Entrepreneurs). Stephanie gives an inside look at the agenda and who attended, and she also discusses her own experience using Amazons FBA fulfillment service. Stephanie Inge has been selling online since 1999 and runs a training and consulting

Michael Jansma, CEO of jewelry retailer GEMAffair.com , spoke to AuctionBytes at the recent Internet Retailer conference. Michael started selling jewelry online in 1996 and now generates $20 million in revenue. In the interview, Michael talks about the evolution of his business away from eBay toward his own website and discusses social networking sites and how the emotional aspect of buying

Joel Lederhause is President and CEO of DiscountRamps.com , quot;your loading hauling and transport superstore, quot; based in West Bend, Wisconsin. He talks to AuctionBytes Editor Ina Steiner about what he hopes to gain from attending the Internet Retailer conference. DiscountRamps is a growing business looking to outsource more of its customer service and email marketing

AuctionBytes is reporting from the floor of the Internet Retailer conference in Chicago. In this interview, Meg Robinson, Chief Operating Officer of Shotfarm , explains how retailers can use Shotfarm as a central spot to get product photos and descriptions provided by manufacturers. The service is limited to retailers selling new products only, and Meg reveals a new fee-based service the

eBays storefront service ProStores recently released its an upgrade 9.3.2, which features a Web Analytics tool. Lin Shearer, Head of Marketing and Revenue at ProStores, joined AuctionBytes Editor Ina Steiner to talk about the service and some of the new features, including an improved Checkout experience for customers and a new Category Promotions feature. ProStores is designed to help

The Bonanzle marketplace has grown to 3 million listings since it launched in 2008 and it recently raised $1 million in funding. Founder Bill Harding shares his story and talks about what makes Bonanzle different from sites like eBay and Craigslist. AuctionBytes Editor Ina Steiner asks Bill two questions heard most frequently from observers: will Bonanzle introduce an auction format, and what

Steve Weber is an online bookseller, blogger, and author of the Home Based Bookstore . He joined AuctionBytes Editor Ina Steiner recently to talk about Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), a service from Amazon.com that takes care of warehousing, packing and shipping inventory for third-party online sellers. Steve delves into pricing issues, explains what types of items work well - and not so

We know its the weekend, but education doesnt take a break or a holiday. Below you will find a podcast that includes the more cogent points eBay CEO John Donahoe made about the marketplace during Thursdays annual shareholder meeting . It wasnt easy to condense all of the important aspects of the nearly hour-long meeting into 3:51, but we think youll find it informative - and possibly a bit

Todd Lutwak, Vice President of Seller Experience at eBay, joined AuctionBytes Editor Ina Steiner to talk about the changes impacting sellers that were announced on April 27, 2010. The Summer Seller Updates include changes to the way eBay measures seller performance; the use of anonymous email addresses for buyer-seller communication; automatic feedback reminders sent by eBay; and new values

A certain segment of online sellers look to the liquidation space to source inventory. Does it make sense for small sellers to look to liquidation marketplaces for inventory they can resell, and what should they know before hitting the buy-now button on overstock lots? B-Stock Solutions founder Howard Rosenberg joins AuctionBytes with answers to these questions. Howard founded B-Stock