Well this was a fun morning, I was whisked down to the local Fox 5 station here in Atlanta to appear on the morning show. I got to hang out in the green room with the ever so funny Rodney Perry who is co-host of The Mo’Nique Show and yes I met the morning beauties Suchita Vadlamani and Karen Graham. But unfortunate for me, I got the dude on the interview, LMAO. But me and Jeff Hill (interviewer) had a blast doing this segment, he was fantastic. Check me out on Fox TV talking about selling your stuff on eBay!

Good Day Atlanta guest name board

Suchita and Myself…OMG smokin’ hot that is all I can say!

Comedian and Co-host for Mo’Nique Show Rodney Perry

This week it looks like Zuckerburg and crew will announce that Facebook has 1/2 a billion users. Damn man 500,000,000 is one helluva lot of folks using that tool. The story line is huge, so huge that Hollywood is ready to jump on that bandwagon with the release of a Facebook movie called “The Social Network” in October 2010.

The new trailers of the movie sure make this seem very ominous for the founder as the tale of the creation of the worlds most popular social site gets a hollywood treatment. Of course the folks at Columbia Pictures would not make a movie without a plot, and what better plot than a stolen idea turned multi-billion-dollar business. Honestly, I hope this movie is good, I would love to see some geeky drama.

Unfortunately for Mark, this movie will probably not make you look a wonderful visionary with an entrepreneurial spirit and good ol American drive. And I don’t think you will be embraced for your brilliance in leadership like Steve Jobs. No, I think you could be coming off looking like a douche bag when good old Hollywood takes a swipe at ya. Oh, well…it’s not the they Facebook boy wonder does not have enough money do buy friends and a network of 1/2 billion of them to choose from.

Back in 2009 an ecommerce store solution hit the market with at BANG! Immediately I took note of it because of the innovative way it was designed. BigCommerce.com (use our link and you support our blog) hit the floor running and just 9 months later they are the #1 rated ecommerce platform in the industry. I am honestly a fan of this company and its co-founder/marketing manager Mitchell Harper (on the right pictured below with his co-founding partner Eddie).

Right now your potential customers are scouring the Internet to make a purchase. They are doing Internet research on products trying to make a decision on where to buy their products. Today’s Internet shoppers are looking for a buying experience that is both informative and familiar.

The internet retailer that is providing both the information that the buyer is searching for in a unique yet comfortable experience can enjoy a significant advantage over other retailers competing for the shoppers purchasing dollar. Now is the time to get your online commerce store in-shape.

So after testing the platform during beta in ’09 I began a chase to get this guy on a ColderICE.com interview. Mitchell has a strong background in ecommerce and even makes informative videos explaining good practices at the companies’ ecommerce blog.

So you are asking yourself, hey John (ColderICE), why do you like BigCommerce so much? Besides the new integration with eBay (coming in release 6, now in beta), here are just 3 of my top reasons for suggesting folks looking for a store should look into this as a possible tool for your ecommerce solution…

1) BigCommerce includes dozens of built-in marketing tools to drive traffic to your online store, including advanced search engine optimization and the ability to sell your products on Facebook.

2) Simplicity of design with over 60 store designs and you can Drag & Drop Design Mode to customize the layout of their your store without needed lots of upfront cash spend on designers.

3) Better rankings for you on Google and other search engines. BigCommerce is the only ecommerce software reviewed by the world’s #1 SEO guru Aaron Wall. Aaron’s feedback was incorporated into the software.

Now after you hear this interview with Mitchell you too will see why I am so excited about their new release coming up which will include eBay seller integration. You will now be able to push and receive orders through a BigCommerce store with release 6. I have completed my personal testing and investigative research of this company. So my friends the initial launch promoted me to take a SERIOUS look at this store solution over these past months. And I am comfortable and confident recommending it as one of our vendor partner resources to ColderICE.com readers

Listen to the Interview NOW!

(press play button and be patient, it takes a minute to buffer)

OR Click to Download

BigCommerce Partial Feature List

With BigCommerce anyone can quickly and easily create their own online store without any technical experience. Unique features such as Drag & Drop Design Mode make it easy to completely customize the look and layout of your store using just your mouse. BigCommerce has built-in search engine optimization features which help your online store rank at the top of all major search engines including Google and Yahoo. Below is a complete list of BigCommerce features:

Features are constantly updated, the latest feature list can be found on the BigCommerce website.

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Back in 2009, John Lawson the editor of the ColderICE.com ecommerce marketing blog made the proclamation that eBay sellers were the authors of social media marketing. While others are catching up on the wave, since the mid 90′s eBay has given individuals the world over, the ability to create strong, impressive brands online that had been otherwise reserved for large companies and budgets.

Today, a large group of online sellers have embraced the new social tools to enhance their reach online and, ultimately, increase traffic to their online stores and content. It’s no surprise, really, social networking is part of eBay’s DNA.

eBay announced a new program featuring some of its top social media sellers and John Lawson was named one of these first sellers on this new list. The program was instituted by Richard Brewer-Hay from eBay Ink Blog.

We’ve been working on a program behind the scenes here at eBay that I’m hoping will help promote all of the great online sellers that are embracing social media tools as a way to augment their presence online, ultimately promoting their stores and sales. It’s something that we’re hoping to build upon over the coming months so I’m launching with 6 “eBay Ink SM Sellers” while we iron out some of the potential kinks. I am excited to launch with the following 6, social media savvy individuals

….Richard Brewer-Hay

ChannelAdvisor and Bongo International Partner to Extend
International Shipping to Online Retailers

New offering creates additional revenue opportunity for ChannelAdvisor customers

Research Triangle Park, NC – July 13, 2010 – ChannelAdvisor, a solution provider that enables online retailers to improve efficiency and increase revenue, today announced a partnership with Bongo International that enables international shipping for ChannelAdvisor’s online retailer customers, effectively opening up the global marketplace. ChannelAdvisor Webstore customers can now add international shipping capability to their checkout in just hours, allowing them to provide shoppers with real-time international shipping costs, local currency, language translation and an expected delivery date.

“Many of our retailers receive interest from international buyers, but they don’t have the bandwidth to manage the intricacies of shipping internationally,” said ChannelAdvisor CEO Scot Wingo. “We’re partnering with Bongo International to equip our customers to sell more by expanding their target market from the U.S. to the global online community.”

Handling all taxes and customs rules, and taking no longer than a week to ship products, Bongo International can send products immediately or hold the goods to be consolidated with other U.S. purchases, saving the shopper up to 82 percent off common carrier rates.

“We strive to offer value to both the U.S. retailer and the international customer simultaneously,” said Greg Sack, president of sales with Bongo International. “We currently help more than 800 retailers expand their business around the globe, and we’re looking forward to extending that service to ChannelAdvisor’s 3,500-plus customers.”

SnowSportDeals.com has activated Bongo International shipping on its ChannelAdvisor Webstore checkout. “When our international customers order online, we simply ship the order to Bongo in Connecticut, who then ships it on to the buyer,” said Chris Chapman, owner of SnowSportDeals.com. “Since adding international shipping capability, we’re able to reach an entirely new demographic that our products have never been exposed to before. We’re thrilled to offer an additional service to our customers, and we’re eagerly anticipating the business opportunity this presents for our company.”

Bongo International also screens international shoppers to prevent fraudulent orders, resulting in an impressive 0.00 percent fraud rate throughout company history. For international buyers, Bongo offers a one-off purchase plan or a subscription plan that provides additional shipping savings.      

For more information on adding Bongo International to your ChannelAdvisor checkout, tune in to a joint webinar being held Tuesday, July 20, 2010. To register visit www.channeladvisor.com/webinars.

Lesson of Lebron James (Twitter Case Study from ColderICE)

Video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-caE6DtZus

• LeBron James decided to go on twitter; he put out 2 tweets on his twitter account: It’s been less than 12 hours so far, and he’s got 230,000 people on his follower list and he is following nobody.
• His twitter site is “@King James” (https://www.twitter.com/KingJames) and you can get to his twitter account.
• When refreshing his website in a browser, it’s engaging to look at how quickly word is spreading on twitter – how much his follower fanbase increases per second.
• With somebody like LeBron, people are going to really see the effect on twitter and how fast it’s actually reaching around to his fans and around the world and how fast the messages can spread.
• Real time trick: Go to his site and just hit update and it’s amazing to watch as people, these are real actual people that are signing up for his account.

The eBay changes have been posted, below are the overviews. Each link is clickable and should be read for FULL details of the changes. I am going to review these and marinate on them for a while before I make my comments, these changes do not seem earth shattering, and I am not sure that is good or bad. So until I make my video on this, I will let you hear from the honcho eBay cheerleader Mr. Dinesh himself will tell you how "good" if feels LMAO…I’ll be back

Updates that impact your selling are now being consolidated with lead time to adapt. These updates are scheduled to launch between September 7 and September 13 unless otherwise noted. This is the third and final seller update for 2010.

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Stay on top with great value and service

• New, faster ways to find great deals on hot holiday products: iPod & MP3 Players, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and DVDs, HD DVDs & Blu-ray. Pay no Insertion Fees in these subcategories when you list with the catalog—required for all listings with a catalog match.
• Monitor your listing performance and sales , quickly spot needed adjustments with new Listing Analytics application
• Update multiple listings at once: Adjust price, accept returns, tweak descriptions, and more
• Unpaid Item Assistant update: Get inventory back on the shelf fast with auto-relist; exempt your preferred buyers

Improve service, reduce buyer questions with shipping enhancements

• Shipping options prominently displayed with estimated delivery using four familiar terms: Economy, Standard, Expedited, and One-day
• Take more control over shipping to areas such as Alaska and Hawaii
• Offer shipping discounts to buyers through the Shipping Calculator
• Get new low-cost shipping insurance with eBay label printing

Streamline buyer communications

• Updates encourage buyers to read your description, help you field common questions, and let you avoid contacts from your blocked buyers
• New functionality in My Messages: Make it your central inbox for buyer communications

Category and Item Specifics changes consolidated with rest of updates. Find out if your listings are impacted.

Get tools and tips to make editing your listings faster and easier.
See the Seller Checklist for more information about how these updates affect you.

Key Points From comScore’s June U.S. Traffic Release

June and Q2 U.S. Online Retail Traffic Trends Largely Neutral —

• Overall U.S. Y/Y Traffic to Online Retail sites was modestly positive
• Q2 traffic (up 13.0%) very modestly better than Q1 trends (up 12.7%)
• comScore tracked 21% Y/Y growth to Amazon’s U.S. Website
• comScore tracked a 5% Y/Y decline to eBay’s U.S. Website

And the icing on the cake for me was this quote "…these trends as Neutral to both a Bullish AMZN and a Bearish EBAY…" Wow, does that say alot? These stock analyst are looking at Amazon increasing and eBay decreasing as a NEUTRAL trend.

Dayam! This like like eBay is on the "short bus" and they just expect it to stay that way. I mean, wow they don’t expect too much from eBay these days I guess. Dude that has got to suck for eBay.

Some key points to recognize are that Amazon and eBay are looking somewhat neutral. However, Amazon is very bullish while eBay seems to be very bearish and of course that means that Amazon is up, eBay is down. if you look at the chart, the chart data is showing that Amazon continues to see double digit increases in online traffic, while eBay is seeing single digits decreases in the negative, April saw down -7%, May down -3%, June down -4%.

If you couple that same data and take a look at same store’s sales data that was just released for June from ChannelAdvisor and their block of customers, it looks like the changes from eBay continue to take its toll on eBay sellers because the eBay same store sales declined 5.2%, after being up a little bit, around 4% in May.

eBay - The changes from 3/30 continued to take their toll on eBay sellers.  eBay declined to -5.2% vs. -4% in May.  Customers continue to be frustrated by the BestMatch algorithm, constant eBay tweaks to that algorithm and the very high eTRS bar.  If there is a silver lining to this problem, it has lead to more expansion in other channels (Amazon, Buy and webstore are the primary beneficiaries)
                                                                                        — Scot Wingo

So, now, we’re seeing that becoming a little negative, I’m not seeing a whole lot of rainbows in here for the eBay squad and I’m one of them. We need to see some change, some optics in the eBay numbers because they cannot continue bleeding this heavily while the rest of the country and the rest of the eCommerce economy seem to be turning the corner and moving forward; even though to double digits, eBay is still seeing the negatives. Not good.

This is a constant trend, if you want to see a silver lining in the cloud well at least eBay is not down 15% or 23% down, like a year ago; they’re bleeding less…Yeah?

Next lets turn our minds to the user interaction on the web.  Interesting point is that Google Sites are still seeing an increase and an income, but Facebook is also catching up pretty quick.

If you look at the total number of views and the total time spent, Facebook is starting to catch up and make a big profit. Facebook had a share of 8.6% where it used to be 7.8% and they are expecting Facebook to capture the number one spot in time spent before the year ends, which means that Facebook will be number one by year’s end. Who would’ve thought that crown would switch hands? If you rewind the clock back to just 3 years ago, no one would have predicted Facebook would out do the King Google?

Conquering Email Overload