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comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) , a leader in measuring the digital world, today released findings from a study of the impact of holiday promotions on PayPal’s use at major online retailers during the 2008 holiday season. As merchants and payment services prepare for a competitive 2009 holiday season, understanding the lifts from prior promotions is critical in assembling marketing programs that positively impact consumer preferences and drive share.

The results of the comScore study show that PayPal promotions launched in Q4 2008 caused a significant increase in the payment method’s share of dollars spent at major retailer sites, including Overstock.com, Walmart.com and others, as consumers capitalized on attractive online deals. These and other relevant findings are covered in detail in the comScore report, Alternative Payment Types Online: The Rise and Maturity of PayPal and Others Across the e-Commerce Landscape, which is currently available for purchase.

Holiday Promotions Drive Increase in PayPal Dollar Share

During Q4 2008, PayPal announced attractive promotions at several online retailer sites resulting in significant increases in its dollar share among partner retailer sites. Overstock.com customers were presented with 15 percent cash back on a $100 purchase when using PayPal, which helped push its dollar share up 3.6 percentage points to 18.6 percent. Walmart.com, which launched its partnership with PayPal in early October 2008, offered $20 off a purchase of $50 or greater when customers used a PayPal account to checkout, resulting in a 9.0 percent dollar share during Q4. Dell.com gave PayPal preferential treatment, positioning the payment option right under Dell’s payment plan and above all other credit card options, helping to boost PayPal’s share to 7.0 percent in Q4 2008, an increase of 5.1 percentage points from the previous quarter.

  PayPal Share of Dollars at Online Retailer Site
  Q4 2008 vs. Q3 2008
  Total U.S. Home/Work/University Locations
  Source: comScore, Inc.
  ----------------------
                           Dollar Share
                           ------------
                                              Point
                       Q3 2008   Q4 2008     Change
                       -------   -------     ------
  Overstock.com           15.0%     18.6%       3.6
  ------------            ----      ----        ---
  Walmart.com              N/A*      9.0%       N/A
  -----------              ---       ---        ---
  Dell.com                 1.9%      7.0%       5.1
  --------                 ---       ---        ---
  AE.com                   3.0%      8.0%       5.0
  ------                   ---       ---        ---

  *PayPal payment option was not implemented until October 2008 at
   Walmart.com

"PayPal’s aggressive promotion strategy during the 2008 holiday season helped the popular online payment method carve out a significantly higher share of wallet at several major retailer sites," said Matt Archer, comScore senior manager, financial services. "Despite the limited duration of the promotions, PayPal has managed to retain a notable share of wallet at most of these retailer sites in subsequent time periods.

As merchants and payment services make decisions related to 2009 holiday promotions, the positive impact of prior programs in growing share of dollars and transactions represents critical information."

You got to give credit where credit is due (even if it is OVERDUE). But the decision by eBay to launch a webinar to aid its sellers on the Best Match changes is pretty AWESOME!

Best Match: Best Practices
Wednesday, November 4, 11:00 AM, Pacific Time
Space is limited so register now!

Now I have no idea what the actual content is going to be, but my hope is that these guys will FINALLY champion an effort to really "educate" it’s seller base and not bore them with time wasting fluff ala eBay Town Hall or eBay Radio …. Zzz Zzz Zzz – Ooops, sorry I dozed off there just thinking about em, LMAO.

What is NEEDED is some strategy, tactics and techniques and if that is what we are in for, then this is a FANTASTIC move on the part of Gene Cook and his team on Global Search. Space is limited so register now!

Attention sellers:  As you know, changes to Best Match, originally announced in July, launched earlier this month. You’re invited to participate in a free live webinar with eBay experts to learn how to get the best possible exposure for your listings since the changes:

Best Match: Best Practices
Wednesday, November 4, 11:00 AM, Pacific Time
Space is limited so register now!

In this 90-minute session you’ll find out what listing practices are working for other sellers, and how to determine the right strategy for your business:

• What’s different in Best Match today?
• Key factors influencing your position
• Tips for improving your listing performance score (sales-to-impressions ratio)
• How to use the new Search Visibility tool to evaluate your listings
• How to write relevant titles
• How some sellers are now using Featured First
• And much more

This will be a great opportunity to put your own questions to the experts and hear what other sellers are doing. Don’t miss it! Again, space is limited so register now!

Gene Cook
Director
Global Search

P.S. If you can’t make the webinar in person, check out these best practices available now in the Seller Information Center.

Step #1 — Bend Over

Step #2 — Repeat Step #1

Step #3 — See Steps #1 & #2

Ok, that is admittedly a RANT. Here is the communication I got from a buyer on eBay to my sweet, young, female assistant. Let me set up the scenario for you please. This customer ordered a single $8.00 hat on Saturday, October 24th.

This email came on the following day Sunday October 25th (note, the USPS does not pickup mail on Sunday’s). This order has not shipped yet and of course it is less than 23 hours old from the weekend.

I have removed SOME of the expletives…

Email #1: WHAT THE F**K HAVE YOU DONE????????????????????????????? YOU SHIP TO THE F**KING WRONG ADDRESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Email #2: I TOLD YOU NOT TO SHIP TO MY PAYPAL ADDRESS!!!!!! DONT YOU READ YOUR MESSGES???????????????

Email #3: IF YOU HAVE SHIP THIS ITEM?????????? WE ALL ARE MESSED UP HEREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Email #4: UPDATE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE WHEN YOU READ MY ALL THESE F**KING MESSAGES……

After this series of emails, my CSR agent escalate the emails to me. The item had the proper address on it, and emails were sent to the customer, but the customer admittedly did NOT read his emails! She (our CSR rep) was a little distraught cause she is a new rep and is not aware of some of bullish brutality that all of our eBay CSR’s have to endure weekly with the anonymous eBay email systems.

Editor NOTE: eBay has a system where buyers can anonymously send emails with no return email address included. Our research and pretty much all web based research data shows that people have a much different tonality when they can do things anonymously. So we believe the antiquated eBay email system from the 1900’s actually facilitates this poor uncivilized behavior.

eBay buyer emails are FULL of this, we get about 1000 eBay customer interfaces weekly versus the customer interfaces on other platforms (Amazon, Yahoo, Webstore etc.) and eBay emails are overwhelming different and often more "uncivilized".

I am personally lead to believe this is due to the anonymous nature of the "old school" eBay system that has NO ACCOUNTABILITY built in for the senders.

Email #5 (my response):

Here is your update:

Your order is CANCELLED. I do not know how they act in your home, but that language is NOT ACCEPTABLE in my business. Have a nice day.

Email #6: hy! i am really sorry for me language. i am really asshole. didn’t check my email. just saw your messages. thanks alot. and im very sorry once again. will buy another from you soon.

Now I want you guys to understand… eBay’s Top Rated Seller System would allow for ONLY 2 negative DSR (Detailed Seller Ratings) a MONTH out of the nearly 5000 we do monthly. So lets take a step back.

Pretend that this same guy came into your physical store, leaned over the counter and started to curse-out your young female counter help. What would you DO? … Yep, me too, I would tell them to GET OUT OF MY STORE.

Except in theses cases, my counter is the email box and that customer is IN MY store and I will NOT subject my employees to that type of behavior even though EBAY says they will give me a cute badge if I do.

I could be a Top Rated Seller if I was just willing to be a "Top BeRated Seller"…Unfortunately I was not built (by the Creator and the parents that raised me) to bend over for this type of abuse, I guess.

The integrity of my employees has to come into account and I simply am not going to allow anyone to speak to them in that manner. Its not civil and not acceptable under ANY circumstance. I simply can not "bend over" to satisfy a customer like this just to be included in that program. I do have some morals and they are NOT FOR SALE. I think I should have that RIGHT…Dammit eBay

This case is NOT UNIQUE, we get these types of hot head eBay communications all the time. Welcome to our world, I just needed to vent

Less than 2 weeks into the new eBay rollouts and the backlash is here. The rumble is starting and the opposition is strategizing. I too have some issue with the eBay Top Rated Seller qualifications, but that is between ME and eBAY and not the sellers who qualify for it.

I do and don’t spend time on the eBay chat boards (both on and off of eBay). Mostly I am a lurker since I contribute so much during the week on this blog, my weekly eBay radio show broadcast and my bi-weekly ecommerce video podcast, most of the times I enjoy listening to others. But over the last two weeks I have heard some disturbing conversations from some would be "eBay terrorists" and that is NOT cool!

Check out the video man…

Please Rate My Video with 5-Stars DSR’s

An eBaybe from Texas! Yep, that is how I would best describe Ms. Jackson. She so reminds me of my roots from when I was growing up in a small town in Texas called Irving. There is something about a Texan that is very uniquely engaging. I had a chance to meet Melinda in June when she traveled to Atlanta as the winner of the Chest To Save Breast (Breast Cancer Charity) auction.

Now I got a chance to sit down and hear about her PowerSeller selling success on eBay. Galleria Gifts is her eBay Store. I guarantee she will charm you with her sweet southern voice, and knock you out with her vision and wisdom. Melinda is

an eBay PowerSeller & Education Specialist, Podcaster, and eCommerce Coach. She is a co-hosts with Beth Cherkowsky on RRBRadio.com & she also does double duty on eBay and Beyond radio with Dave White

So kick back and let’s talk eCommerce with Melinda Jackson…

Listen to the Interview NOW!
(press play button and be patient, it takes a minute to buffer)

OR Click to Download

OR Subscribe to the series via iTunes 

Press "Play" to listen now

Be sure to subscribe so you do not miss an episode.

Yesterday, Brian Burke (bburke@eBay.com) and Dawn Sullivan attempted to hold a discussion to answer some seller questions on the eBay discussion forums. They kinda address some issues and of course made sure to address speculation provided by stories written on AuctionBytes by name.  Which BTW I thought was rather interesting, but that is a whole other topic (I will save for a later post).

So without further ado, I am going to post ONLY a few selective responses (I edited out the obvious duplicate content and all emphasis is MINE) in the "conversation" from the eBay personnel.

I really want to hear what you think about these comments! I have labeled them numerically so if you want to respond to a specific one, you can simply use the number to refer to that comment.

On this weeks podcast program of B.S. Walks When Money Talks I will give you my comments on what was actually communicated both by eBay and by you guys! So do NOT miss this weeks show (every Wednesday at 1:14 est and you can get replays of past episodes by going to http://www.Wednesday114.com)

# 1 – All sellers who currently qualify for Top-rated seller are being treated as a Top-rated seller. We are expanding the definition to include sellers who currently do not meet PS status. Our commitment to the community was that we would do this in October. The invites will be sent the week of October 11th.

With major change we stagger the release to ensure a smooth release. By lowering the sales threshold from $12k per year to $3k per year we will add over 50k sellers to the Top-rated seller program.

#2 - Yes, sellers need to first be a PowerSeller to become a Top-rated seller. Once a seller qualifies to become a PowerSeller and joins the PowerSeller program, they will be evaluated for Top-rated seller status on the 20th of each month. Those qualifying for Top-rated at that time will become a Top-rated seller automatically.

Concerning qualifying as PowerSeller, please refer to the current requirements, noting that, as a way to reward our high quality small sellers sooner, starting mid-October until April, we will inviting new PowerSellers into the PowerSeller program that are performing at Top-rated level, have 100 transactions, but a lower level of sales that currently required for PowerSellers: $3,000 in annual sales. In April, the new sales level will be for all sellers, not just those that also qualify for Top-rated seller status.

#3 – The option on the left hand navigation is a buyer option. If the buyer chooses this option they are choosing to reduce their search results to that population, just like if they chose Buy it Now only listings.

Our intent is to promote our best performing sellers. And the program is designed to do just that. Sellers who are not currently PowerSellers will be invited to join the PS program the week of October 11 and if they accept the invitation will be eligible for Top-rated with the October 20th cycle.

#4 – In order for us to be confident in identifying a seller as Top-rated, the seller must sell at least 100 items per year and sell at least $3k in merchandise.  There are many great sellers who sell less than that, eBay can’t be confident enough to promote them, badge them, etc.

#5 – We have been collecting Net Promoter Score information for over a year to help provide additional insight on customer satisfaction and it helps us to learn how Detailed Seller Ratings ties to overall customer satisfaction.

These insights helped us, for example, to transition from the former focus on Average DSR scores to today’s focus on 1’s and 2’s on DSR as criteria for the current Top-rated seller status. Outside of the insights, the Net Promoter Scores are not associated with the Top-rated seller status and the expanded use should be considered as additional information to help us learn as opposed to criteria to for Top-rated or any other seller status on eBay.

#6 – If you are only receiving 0.1% low DSRs, you are well within eBay’s thresholds for Top-rated. Sometimes a buyer can’t be pleased, sometimes a buyer’s expectations are not the same as the marketplace. If you are at 0.1%, I wouldn’t worry about your Item Description – you are performing at a very high level and chasing the 0.1% may actually lead you down the wrong path.

#7 – No, Net Promoter Score is not something else you need to aspire to. It was referred to by a posting by XXXX regarding purely speculative information in Auctionbytes.

#8 – A competing seller who buys from you (using a buying ID) and then leaves you low DSRs will be suspended – both the buying ID and their selling ID. This just occurred with a Silver PS.

We have multiple low DSR referral reports (e.g. buyer always leaves positive and low DSRs) that identify potential abuse. We have been taking action against abusive buyers since we made the changes in May 2008 and will continue to do so.

Your reports to us from this page Link in addition to our internal referrals will help keep the site clean from abusive buyers. A single low DSR does not equal abuse and anonymity, though at times frustrating for sellers provides eBay with more accurate data.

#9 - We will continue to provide incentives for sellers to improve performance. High levels of performance ensure buyers return to the marketplace. Increasing the probability that a buyer will have a great experience through promotion of Top-rated sellers in search further supports a healthy marketplace and all sellers, not just Top-rated sellers, will benefit from returning buyers.

Keep in mind that although sellers may all be paying the same in fees, in order to provide great experiences to buyers often requires sellers to invest additional customer support or better shipping services, increasing their overall cost despite paying the same fees as sellers who do not incur the added costs.

This is a tradeoff that sellers must weigh: lower costs of operations with lower sales, or high costs of operations with increased sales.

#10 – … We (eBay) discovered that low DSRs were more closely aligned with a bad buying experience.  eBay is evaluated by our users using a subjective measure – subjectivity doesn’t make it less valuable or accurate.

For this very reason we changed our focus to avoiding 1’s and 2’s as opposed to trying to get all 5’s. We’ve found that when buyers leave a 1 or 2, they are clearly indicating that something went wrong while we could not differentiate between a buyer’s satisfaction with leaving either a 4 or a 5.

#11 – Only eBay may use the Top-rated seller badge. Sellers should never use it in their listings, Store, About Me, etc. Please see the selling practices policy for rules sellers should follow.

I really want to hear what you think about these comments dudes and dudettes! Put your responses in the comments and remember to RETWEET this story on Twitter for your eBay friends to see it.

On this weeks podcast program of B.S. Walks When Money Talks I will give you my comments on what was actually communicated both by eBay and by you guys! So do NOT miss this weeks show (every Wednesday at 1:14 est and you can get replays of past episodes by going to http://www.Wednesday114.com)

Re-Tweet this story to Twitter

This was just too good to pass up the chance to post it here! This is why some of the "good sellers" can not compete on eBay…Why? Maybe its because you got thieves and criminals promoted as trusted sellers on eBay. Yah think?!?

Waterbury woman faces larceny charges in connection with thefts from CVS, sales on eBay. (COURTESY OF WEST HARTFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT / September 24, 2009)

By DAVID OWENS The Hartford Courant

WEST HARTFORD; – A Waterbury woman who police say made her living selling beauty and other products on the auction website eBay had very low overhead.

That’s because the items she sold were shoplifted from CVS stores throughout the state, police said. Dana Giacobini, 41, of 28 Wesley St., Waterbury, faced arrest by West Hartford police in shoplifting incidents in June and July, but had also drawn the attention of CVS loss prevention officials.
"It started off as a fairly routine shoplifting case," said West Hartford police Det. Sgt. Frank Fallon. Then West Hartford detectives began working with CVS security officials, who developed information that Giacobini was possibly selling items stolen from CVS on eBay.

"Based on the information gained through the eBay investigation we were able to get a search warrant for the suspect’s [apartment] in Waterbury," Fallon said. When they raided Giacobini’s home, they found boxes and boxes of merchandise — everything from home blood pressure and diabetic monitoring kits to Oil of Olay and Burt’s Bees products. There also were allergy medications, fertility monitor kits, perfumes, nail polish and a variety of skin lotions, Fallon said.

Police are still taking inventory of the van-load of merchandise recovered from Giacobini’s apartment, but estimate it is worth at least $25,000, he said.

Police said eBay records show that Giacobini has sold nearly $174,000 worth of merchandise since 2007.
"This was no small operation," Fallon said. Police also found a mailing operation in Giacobini’s apartment, including about 40 FedEx mailing boxes addressed to locations all over the country.

"She has no job," Fallon said of Giacobini. "Whatever else she could have been selling, no matter what it was, she had no ability to legally obtain it."

On several websites, Giacobini listed her business at the Wesley Street address. "I buy wholesale and resell online. I am a single owner/operator and have a small business," she wrote in several online sales forums.
Giacobini was arraigned Thursday on charges of fourth-degree larceny and third-degree larceny and her bail was set at $95,000. She is due back in court Nov. 2.

Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant

NOTE: This is a NEW segment for our blog, we are giving ecommerce sellers a change to showcase their businesses. If you would like to get your SPOTLIGHT on the blog, please contact me mailto:john@colderice.com or hit me up on Twitter

Kat Simpson is an eBay PowerSeller, she was recently named runner-up in the "I am eBay" contest. An she is one fantastic and inspired individual. I had to personal pleasure of meeting Kat here in Atlanta for the PeSA Atlanta Ecommerce Summit.

Kat is the owner of KatsKloset.net which is her main eBay store and she also has KatsKloset.com for here ecommerce retail site. Kat loves to blog and do videos over at TheRiverTheRanchandTheBay.com

She is a co-host on two eBay web broadcast eBay & Beyond: Basics To Business and The River The Ranch and The Bay. Wow, that is a whole lot going on. I wonder when does she actually get time to chill out?!? I got her to give me a quick interview about her business and what she is doing, so check out interview and see her I am eBay clip below.

Listen to the Interview NOW!
(press play button and be patient, it takes a minute to buffer)

OR Click to Download

OR Subscribe to the series via iTunes 

Kat on the "I Am eBay" video

Press "Play" to listen now

Be sure to subscribe so you do not miss an episode.

Wow, the highlight reel is completed for the PeSA event in Australia. The organizer of the event, Mr. Phil Leahy just sent over this video which highlight the event. Guess who gets a cameo in the piece? LMAO

Please Rate My Video with 5-Stars DSR’s

This week, two HUGH milestones were hit by my company 3rd Power Outlet. Sure I do this blog but the bread and butter comes from the company that I run. I don’t really talk about it that much but ALL of the topics and information I share come out of the knowledge I gain by being a CEO of a successful venture in online retail.

This week, we pop the Champaign because we hit 2 very big numbers. First the video that really got me interested in social media has just been certified viral on YouTube. The viral video has now received over 100,000 views! WOW that is killer and it cost me ZERO dollars and ZERO cents

Please Rate My Video with 5-Stars DSR’s

I have actually used this video in all my social marketing keynotes and sessions as a how-to  do-it-yourself marketing example for small businesses to make an impact. I made this video in the most "low budget" way ever. It was the first video I ever did in my life and now it is a YouTube viral video, WOW! This single video has made me thousands of dollars and driven lot’s ‘o traffic!

Next up on this double hitter of milestones is my eBay feedback score for 3rd Power Outlet. We hit a MAJOR number of 70,000 feedbacks and a lifetime score of 93,994 as of this writing so I guess that will shortly be the equivalent of 100,000 served on eBay soon. This milestone was NOT free, but it was paid for in blood, sweat, tears and hard work….Oh yeah and eBay fees! LMAO

I am very proud of these 2 accomplishments and just had to put it out there. Cause if I did it, then you know you can do it too! That is what ColderICE.com is all about. This is the POWER of 1 multiplied baby!