Bonanzle Brand Protection Program

Bonanzle has a program that few know about. It is like the eBay Vero program. I found out about it when I was reporting some bootleg DVD's.

While Bonanzle would not give a list of participants, we do know the following are involved:

Burberry

Chanel

Gibson Guitar Corporation

The Indian Arts & Crafts Board

Warner Brothers Entertainment, Inc.

There are likely more but we didn't put too much time into snooping around.

When emailing with Mark Dorsey, he gave me permission to print the following information that is sent to trademark owners:

Our goal is to assist you in protecting your brand and protecting consumers from inadvertently purchasing an item that is a replica or counterfeit. Our tools will allow you to set up alerts so that you will be notified each time an item with your selected key words is listed. You will be provided a link to the item(s) and have the option to report and remove these items. The offender will receive an email notifying them of the action along with a link back to your profile page where they can learn why their item was removed. It is important that you include a means of contact on your "about me" page should the seller have additional questions. This could be in the form on an email address, website or 800 number.

Step one: Register (Free) an account at Bonanzle and populate your "About Me" page.
Once you have registered and you are logged into your account you will go to your My Bonanzle > My Profile page and populate your "About Me" profile. Please also upload a logo to your profile image.

Step two: Set up Saved Item Search (Alerts)
Our system will allow you to set alerts on key terms often used in the listings of replica/counterfeit items. You will be emailed these alerts to your email address you have registered with Bonanzle. There is no limit to the amount of alerts you can set up. To set up alerts, go to your My Bonanzle > Buying Activity > Saved Item Search > Create a new Saved Item Search. You will have the option to set your alert up and also to narrow down your alerts using a filter provided. When you have completed creating the alert click on "Create."

Step three: Reporting and removing offending items
When you locate an item that infringes on your brand, you will see an "Actions" link towards the bottom of the description. Clicking on this link will open up a list of actions to perform, one being "Report Violation." Clicking on the "Report Violation" link will remove the item and send an email to the offending account that their item was removed by the Brand Protection Manager of "XXXX" company. The email will also provide a link back to your "About Me" profile which should include information on how the seller can contact the brand should they have additional questions.

Step four: Confirm to Bonanzle that you have set up your "About Me" page and provide a contact email that we can forward to those who may have questions about the removal of their items. Additionally please provide us with the user name of each account that you have set up so that we can activate your tools.
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As is true for any ecommerce venue, this is a smart move. If a multi-seller venue wants to gain credibility with buyers, sellers and those that create many of the items offered for sale, they must have a program such as this place.

Kudos to Bonanzle for putting this progran in place!

What Happened To Sales On eCrater?

We have always said good things about eCrater and boasted about the great sales there but something has gone awry.

Since the Google Shopping changes, our sales have fallen to nearly nothing. What is going on?

Has anyone else noticed this?

Facebook User Statistics

According to Retrevo Gadgetology Report:


18% of Facebook users less than 25 years old check the site every few hours.

61% of Facebook users 24 years old or less check Facebbok daily.

18% of the same group check Facebook every few hours.

Older Facebook users visited the site less.

55% of Facebook users 25 years old and over check Facebook daily (study was of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers).

11% of that same group check Facebook every few hours.

The use of Apple’s popular iPhone might help social sites grow.

28% of iPhone users check or update Twitter before they rise.

26% check our update Twitter before they turn on the TV.

23% use their iPhone to access morning news.
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16% of respondents 24 years old or less use Twitter and/or Facebook to get morning news.

24% of respondents 24 years old or less and 12% of those 25 and over can be interrupted by an electronic message when using the restroom.

49% of respondents 24 years old or less and 27% of those 25 years and over, can be interrupted by an electronic message while eating a meal.

22% of respondents in the 24 or less group, and 11% of older consumers, can be interrupted by an electronic message while in a meeting.

40% of respondents say they don't mind being interrupted for a message when having a meal.

7% say they would even check a message during an intimate moment.

Brands seem to be paying attention to the popularity of social media. A recent survey by web marketing consultants E-consultancy, who surveyed 400 companies, 19% of whom were e-retailers, found 77% were using Twitter. That could be because it is cheap.

32% said they do not spend anything on social media beyond their employees’ time.

36% spend less than $5,000 a year and 12% spend $10,000 or less.

Amazon Fears iBookstore & Seeking 3 Year Contracts

iPad and iBookstore, is venturing into publishing in a couple of weeks. Amazon is fearful, juding by their actions. Amazon's Kindle could fall by the wayside regarding e-book sales.

Due to anticipation of Apple's grand opening of iBookstore, Amazon is now trying to get e-book publishers to sign three year contracts. These contracts have a "no compete" clause so that other retailers will not get better prices or treatment, according to The New York Times.

Earlier this year, Amazon had a conflict with Macmillan over them switching to an agency model. That model allowed retailers like Amazon to act as agents for the publisher. These agents would also earn a 30% commission on prices set by the publisher. Amazon commented that those prices were "needlessly high."

During that well publicized issue, Amazon's stock fell. At that point, Amazon temporarily stopped selling all Macmillan books in protest.

It will be interesting to see just what Amazon will do to protect their share of sales on April 3rd when Apple's iBookstore launchs in the US on iPad.

Apple has also been trying to get participating publishers involved with its iBookstore, The New York Times reported. They have been courting Macmillan, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and Hachette.

Random House Publishing is the only one who has not signed on yet, The Times said.

Participating publishers will use the agency model for iBookstore sales. The publishers will set their own prices and Apple will get 30 percent of those sales.

Apple does have include a "no compete" clause that states that publishers must not allow other retailers to sell their e-books for a lower price than their iBookstore offers, according to The Times.

Amazon also launched their new Kindle for Macintosh on Thursday. It is a free application used for reading Kindle books on Macintosh computers.

Facebook Traffic -V- Profitable Use

Facebook Traffic: A Whole Lot of Hustle but Not Much Flow

By Mike Pearson
E-Commerce Times
03/17/10 5:00 AM PT

What does the mad rush of traffic to Facebook mean, really? The social networking colossus drew more traffic than Google for the third time this year, but Facebook still hasn't figured out how to turn all that activity into gold. It's not as though users are turning to Facebook as their primary Internet search tool -- and advertisers apparently don't see it that way either.

Click here to read the rest of this interesting article.

Twitter Everywhere - Use It From Nearly Anywhere

This week Twitter announced a new platform known as @anywhere. The app helps popular websites integrate Twitter features with ease. Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, Bing, YouTube, AdAge, MSNBC, Digg, The Huffington Post and The New York Times are a few of Twitter's partners with a headstart on this project.

On the Twitter blog, Biz Stone states: "We've developed a new set of frameworks for adding this Twitter experience anywhere on the web. Soon, sites many of us visit every day will be able to recreate these open, engaging interactions providing a new layer of value for visitors without sending them to Twitter.com."

He went on to say: "Our open technology platform is well known and Twitter APIs are already widely implemented but this is a different approach because we've created something incredibly simple. Rather than implementing APIs, site owners need only drop in a few lines of javascript."

Please Help Find Stolen Vietnam Memorabilia

My Uncle Fred started a local salvage yard several years ago. His son, my cousin Tom, was a partner in the business and took over the yard when my uncle retired. Both my uncle and aunt passed away several years ago so Tom kept the business going. Tom stored some of his prized possessions and treasures at the salvage yard. They were stored in a foot locker on the 2nd floor of the office building.

The other night, thieves broke in and took lots of tools and etc… but Tom doesn’t care about that. It was the foot locker filled with his medals, certificates, citations, insignias, personal letters from home, and cassette tapes from his parents during his time in Vietnam. These items are irreplacable and only have great value to Tom.

He had always been a tough guy in his day and he did 2 tours in Vietnam as a US Marine but this situation has devastated him. He was in tears when he found these treasures gone. His heart is so big that you can ask him for help and it would be unusual for him to say no.

I am hoping that someone who reads this may have information to aid in the recovery of Tom's things. If you have any information, Click Here To Contact Us By Email. We would be very happy to help get Tom's things back to him.

** There will be no questions asked and Tom is offering a reward for the return of his belongings. **

Anyway, here is a news video of what happened to Tom.


Other things that are missing:

• Binoculars


• Many tools


• Small toolbox


• Sockets


• Ratchets


• Clamps


• Vice grips


• Kodak Easyshare C190 digital camera


• Remington 30-06


• Flash drive


• Redwood Wireless USB modem


• Sirius satellite receivers

If Tom gets nothing else back, I pray that he gets his foot locker with the contents it had in it when it was taken.

Update:

It sounds like Tom is pretty much on his own in finding his stuff. Here is an article from today's newspaper about it:

Theft of war medals pains vet

Online Banking Fraud At $120 Million 2009 Q3

Online banking fraud involving the electronic transfer of funds has been rising since 2007 and reached more than $120 million in the third quarter of 2009, according to estimates presented Friday at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, by David Nelson, an examination specialist with the FDIC.

Computer scams which target businesses have cost US companies $25 million in the third quarter of 2009, according to the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The FDIC uses a variety of confidential reports received from financial institutions, which allow them generate the estimates, Nelson said.

Almost all of the incidents reported to the FDIC related to malware on online banking customers' PCs. A typical victim is a person visiting a malicious Web site or downloading a Trojan horse program that enables hackers to get access to his banking passwords. Thereafter, money is transferred out of the account using the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system that banks use to process payments between institutions.

Although banks encourage clients to use several forms of authentication, hackers continues stealing money. "Online banking customers are getting too reliant on authentication and on practicing layers of controls," Nelson said. Nelsen also stated, hackers are definitely targeting higher-balance accounts and they're looking for small businesses where controls might not be very good.

That's led to some nasty legal disputes, where customers say the banks should have stopped payments, and the banks argue that the customers should have protected their own computers from infection.

That is also more bad news for businesses, which are on the hook for any losses more than ever. "Commercial deposit accounts do not receive the reimbursement protection that consumer accounts have, so a lot of small businesses and nonprofits have suffered some relatively large losses," Nelson said. "In the third quarter of 2009, small businesses suffered $25 million in losses due to online ACH and wire transfer fraud."

Avivah Litan, a Gartner analyst, feels those losses may be even higher in 2010 because computer attacks that install the password stealing botnet program, known as Zeus, have increased this year.

NCPW Week March 7-13 Internet Consumer Tips

FDIC to Provide Quick Tips for Consumers Over the Internet



New service announced in conjunction with National Consumer Protection Week

At any age or stage in life, it's important to stay informed about ways to save and protect your money. The FDIC, in observance of National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) March 7-13 and its theme of helping people of all ages exercise their consumer rights, announced today that the agency will begin to regularly deliver timely tips on money management on the agency's Web site and through an e-mail subscription service.

"Consumer education is already a big part of what the FDIC does to increase the public's knowledge of financial issues," said FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair. "We believe this new service – delivering simple, practical tips on an ongoing basis over the Internet – will make it easier and more convenient for people to stay informed about issues that may affect their financial decisions."

Chairman Bair added, "The FDIC also is proud to be one of the national organizers of National Consumer Protection Week and to support this year's message that we all can become knowledgeable and empowered consumers."

The first five tips will be issued during NCPW – one each day – beginning Monday, March 8. Starting the following Monday, the tips will be provided on a weekly basis as the FDIC "Consumer Tip of the Week." Topics will range from saving and borrowing money to protecting money with FDIC insurance and avoiding financial fraud.

The FDIC's "Consumer Tip of the Week" may be found at www.fdic.gov/consumertips. Consumers, members of the media, financial educators and anyone else interested in receiving the tips automatically in e-mails should subscribe to the "Consumer Tip of the Week" using the e-mail update link on this Web page.

For more information about the FDIC's educational programs and service for consumers, including a toll-free Call Center, free videos and brochures, current and past issues of FDIC Consumer News (including the Spring 2008 special edition entitled "Money Tips for All Ages: Your Finances at Different Stages of Life"), and the Money Smart financial education curriculum (one version for adults and one for young adults), visit www.fdic.gov or call 1-877-ASK-FDIC (1-877-275-3342). The FDIC also has added a special Web page about National Consumer Protection Week at www.fdic.gov/ncpw that features quick links to several of the agency's products for consumers.

# # #

Congress created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1933 to restore public confidence in the nation's banking system. The FDIC insures deposits at the nation's 8,012 banks and savings associations and it promotes the safety and soundness of these institutions by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to which they are exposed.

The FDIC receives no federal tax dollars – insured financial institutions fund its operations.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 8, 2010 Media Contact:
David Barr (202) 898-6992
dbarr@fdic.gov

Atomic Mall's 1 Millionth Listing Contest

Atomic Mall is excited to announce our newest contest! AM launched officially on July 1st 2008, and less than two years later, fast approaching listing ID number One-Million.

To commemorate this event, Atomic Mall has a virtual smorgasbord of prizes and cool stuff waiting for the seller who creates the 1,000,000th listing.

The registered seller who creates listing number 1,000,000 through Atomic Mall's Creation Station will not only have bragging rights throughout the entire online marketplace world, but they will be the proud recipient of some very groovy prizes:

• $100 AtomicPass Gift Certificate, for use at any AM store.


• 100 hours of free store exposure in Atomic Mall's "Seller Spotlight"


• Zero Final Sale Fees for 100 days


• $100 worth of free advertising on AtomicMall.com for the winner's personal site


• $100 software package including some handy auction utilities and tools


• $100 worth of site credits for listing enhancements, front page placement, etc.


• and last but not least...a crisp new $100 bill

The rules:

• Participants must pre-register using the form on this page to be eligible.


• Atomic Mall employees, principles and their family members are not eligible.


• Employees, principles and family members of competing auction/marketplace sites are not eligible.


• All participants must be at least 18 years of age, and be verified, registered sellers in good standing on Atomic Mall prior to creation of the 999,500th listing.


• Registrations will cease after listing 999500 is created.


• Winning listing must be created manually using the Atomic Mall "Creation Station".


• Winning listing must consist of a tangible item placed for legitimate sale on Atomic Mall. It cannot be a "fake", "promotional" or otherwise illegitimate ad created for purposes of gaming the contest.


• Winning listing cannot violate any section of the Atomic Mall Terms of Service.


• Winner agrees to allow their AM store name to be used for purposes of post-contest promotion.


• The contest winner will be the first eligible member to create listing ID # 1000000. If listing # 1000000 is created by an ineligible member, or the listing is deemed invalid for content reasons, the winner will be the next eligible member to create a valid listing.


• Prizes are non-transferable and are not redeemable for their cash value equivalent.


• AM reserves the right to change or add to the rules of this contest at any time as deemed necessary to ensure its integrity.

To be eligible to win our cool contest, simply fill out the easy 2-field form below. If you do not yet have an Atomic Mall account and have always secretly wanted one, go here to do the deed: http://www.atomicmall.com/register.php

eBay Issued Summary Judgment In Antitrust Lawsuit

U.S. District Court, Northern District of California Judge Jeremy Fogel granted eBay's motion for summary judgment. The summary judgment dismisses a lawsuit filed by eBay users who were alleging anti-competitive practices by both eBay and PayPal.

Click here to read the PDF document.

Featured Seller - James Robinson Creations On Artfire 03-04-10

This week we have chosen James Robinson Creations on Artfire as our featured seller. We were snooping around their sutdio and found some really cool items.

About James Robinson Creations

James Robinson has been crafting arts in wood and stone for over 40 years. Creating in any medium is akin to a painter or musical artist, you get an idea then you paint it to life. Something beautiful that never existed in that form 'comes' to Life ! It then becomes your gift to the Planet, James takes alot of pride in his 'children.' James tries to use recycled materials or found lumber and logs reclaimed from Hill Country area lakes. You'll never find a twig of wood in his creations stolen from the Amazonian Rain Forests.

Here are some of the cool things you will find at James Robinson Creations:

Rustic Western Cedar Bar / Counter
Product Description:

Here we have another Bar crafted in Old West Traditions. I collected weathered cedar posts, halfed them and they were afixed to a pine frame which is visible partially from the inside opening. Red cedar boards were used for the top & edges of top counter & inside shelfs. This Bar/ Retail Counter has a feel about it that's quite unique, I swear my Cowboy ancestors are pleased.

Dimensions: 54 1/4" long, 23 1/2 wide, 42" tall, weighs @250lbs. Finished counter top with uv tung oil & satin finish sealant. Can live in or out of doors.

This Bar/Counter is available in quantities or can be built to your specs for homes, bars, or business's.

Tan Hutch Buffet Cabinet
Product Description:

This piece is available for custom orders in any color- dimensions you desire or I can duplicate the one depicted that recently sold.

As pictured it's a beige/tan version, with bead board back. I get orders for these distressed/faux finished pieces from stores,homeowners and hotels. The predominant material is pine. Stands @6 1/2' tall by @36" wide.

This piece will take 2-6 weeks for delivery in most cases. please contact me prior to purchase to calculate shipping costs based on your location since it will go by freight.

Cedar Log Candle Set Calf Rope
Product Description:

These pieces are made from cedar 'logs' affixed to varying platforms, in this case a pine square base. Each is unique and I do take custom orders from retailers although by their nature each will be one of a kind I can duplicate the design elements and 'overall' look.

Each candle set is functional although one needs to realize they are using a variable called 'fire'. I suggest only the use of votives with metal (tin) casings-commonly sold.

I burn these regularly and each flame is spaced as to not ignite any combustible neighboring wood.

Each is styled in a western theme because the west is cool and finished in polyurethane and can be placed in or out of doors -except in wind.

Each is approx. 12-15 " tall by typically a 12-14" round or rectangular base. The item pictured though is the one your purchasing today. This one includes adornments of calfrope, barb wire and horseshoe.
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There's a lot more cool stuff at James Robinson Creations. We hope you will stop in and check out all of the offerings.

Interesting Story About Revenge

I got this in my email this morning. The timing of it was unbelievable as I have been feeling lousy about the way things are going on a particular ecommerce site (favortism of a few members / weighting of most everything to the benefit of managements favorite members and etc).

This email is so funny but yet very true. I thought my readers would like to read it too.

Enjoy!


The Best Revenge

One person jokingly says she never goes to bed angry. Instead, she stays awake and plots her revenge.

As one story goes, a group of occupational soldiers hired a local boy to run errands for them. The soldiers liked to relieve stress by playing practical jokes on the young boy. They would hide his belongings, put gum in his shoes, or send him on silly errands.

The boy handled the joking quite well. He never seemed upset by it. After a while, the soldiers decided that they had bothered the child enough. They approached him to apologize and to tell him that they would no longer play any jokes on him.

The boy replied in stilted English, "You stop making joke on me, I stop spitting in your soup."

He had his revenge. But for most of us, revenge turns out to be more bitter than sweet. Unsatisfying at best. It "has no more quenching effect on emotions than salt water has on thirst," one writer says. And it's true. The desire to inflict hurt and pain remains long after one has given in to the urge to get even. Bitter emotions are more often quenched by love and understanding than by fighting back.

Over 400 years ago, the English poet George Herbert said, "Living well is the best revenge." Good advice - especially when tempted to get even.

by Steve Goodier

ClickandBuy Takes Payments On Facebook

Facebook users will be able to use a payment application called Buxter which was developed by online payment provider ClickandBuy.

Users are able register and load their Buxter E-wallet in Euros or US dollars with a limit of 50 €.

Facebook users can transfer, receive and request money from other Facebook users through Buxter free of charge. For 1.9%, with a minimum of 2 € or $3 - they can withdraw money from their ClickandBuy accounts.

Christian von Hammel-Bonten, Senior VP, Head of Product Management, ClickandBuy says: "From now on, Facebook users can not only share their status and pictures, they can also share real money in a way that is fast, easy and secure."

Charles Fraenkl, CEO, ClickandBuy says: "Buxter is the application that will see Facebook members use the platform not just as a way to stay in touch but also as a fast, easy and secure way to exchange money or buy and sell products and services."

ClickandBuy, founded in 1999, is one of the leading online payment services. The ClickandBuy Group claims to have crossed the billion euro threshold in revenue in 2009. Over 16,000 online traders use ClickandBuy’s e-payment system for their e-commerce, retail, online entertainment, and paid content & services billing, including Apple iTunes, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, Orange, msn, AOL, Meetic, Parship, Electronic Arts (EA), Codemasters, Napster, McAfee, Panda, AutoScout24, RTL, Playboy, Financial Times Deutschland, Foto.com, Deutsche Boerse Group, KPMG, Yamaha, Digital River, Redcoon, bonprix.

Postal Service Outlines 10-Year Plan to Address Declining Revenue, Volume

USPS released an announcement of their future plans today that could affect online sales.

Click here to read what Postmaster General John E. Potter said.

Click here to read what the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Fredric Rolando, said in response to the proposed plan.

Artfire - Handcrafted eCommerce Website

We have been watching several ecommerce sites for quite awhile. We have to say that we really enjoy visiting ArtFire. There are many wonderful, unique, handcrafted items and the site is easy to navigate. We feel that the site is worth sharing with our readers.

Here is info from their site:

About ArtFire

ArtFire is an e-commerce solution that connects buyers and sellers of handmade and vintage goods as well as digital arts and craft supplies. ArtFire provides sellers all the benefits of a venue while offering the customization, control and features of a personal website. Our members are free to link to their other profiles on the web, including other selling venues, because we do not believe in limiting what our members do with their studios. Add in best-in-class selling, promotional, and learning tools and you have the most powerful artist-focused site on the web.

ArtFire is pioneering a process we've termed Community Directed Development to put our company leaders and developers in direct interaction with our community of artisans. We use their feedback and open discourse to build a site in real time. By using this feedback, we can innovate quickly by building new tools and guiding the site in a direction that best serves our community's interests.

Industry-First Features

Although ArtFire is less than a year old, we have several industry-first selling tools that we offer to all of our members, both basic (free accounts) and pro.

ArtFire Rapid Cart
Rapid Cart - The ArtFire Rapid Cart is a revolutionary new way for our members to do business. Any member can use the Rapid Cart on any site that can accept Flash. This tool pushes the POS to customers, effectively creating remote-sale-capable advertising. When a member posts a Rapid Cart they are off of ArtFire. The Rapid Cart can show items for sale that the artisan has selected or pull randomly from their shop. What makes the Rapid Cart special is that the buyer never has to leave the blog/website that they were originally on. When a buyer clicks on a product in a Rapid Cart, a new pop-up item window is opened where the buyer can, without signing up for an account on ArtFire, complete the entire checkout process. All of this takes place without the buyer ever having to navigate to ArtFire. The entire process is secured using 256-bit encryption, and everything is tracked by ArtFire so that our members can run their businesses with the most accurate data possible.

Facebook Kiosk
Facebook Kiosk - The ArtFire Facebook Kiosk is a one-of-a-kind Facebook application that allows any pro ArtFire member to import their studio and sell their goods right from their Facebook profile or fan page. Once the application is linked to a member's studio there is no more work to be done, the kiosk auto updates as changes are made to a member's studio. Much like the Rapid Cart, the Facebook Kiosk allows anybody to shop and checkout without leaving Facebook. Buyers are not required to sign up for an account during the process, which allows members to market their work to their fans, friends and family while also selling on the largest social networking site online.

ArtFire Coupon Codes
Coupon Codes - While coupon codes in e-commerce are a staple of the industry, the ArtFire Coupon Code system is the first fully customizable coupon building system available to an artisan marketplace. ArtFire members can make coupon codes that apply to any item, entire orders, studio categories, or specific items. They can choose from dollar off discounts, percentage off discounts, free shipping or free gift options. Every coupon can be set for a limited run date, set to run in the future, set to limited uses, or be valid for up to a year. The coupon code system also offers the ability to issue Gift Certificates that are tracked by ArtFire and make for great gifts on holiday occasions.

Market Hub
Market Hub - The ArtFire Market Hub is a tool we provide all of our members to help build their brand online. When a member updates their Market Hub, it allows shoppers that artisan's other web presences; the Market Hub is a tool we provide so that our members can link out to their own website, blog, Etsy shop, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube Profile, Indie Public, or MySpace profile. We believe our members should have multiple profiles and selling venues so we built Market Hub as a way for our members to tie their profiles together. Market Hub improves credibility and trust for artisans and helps them to overcome one of the common obstacles to online sales-uncertainty for buyers.

Google Base Submission

Auto Google Shopping Base Feed and Currency Conversion - When a member lists a product for sale on ArtFire, we automatically feed that product to Google Base shopping; this allows our members' products to appear in searches on the popular Google Shopping search engine. ArtFire also provides auto currency conversion for international shoppers. ArtFire recognizes where each visitor is located based on IP address and converts the sales prices to local currency using current conversion rates.

Our Story

ArtFire's story starts with our founder, John Jacobs. His story is best told in his own words:

"I grew up in a family of crafters; both my mother and father ran a jewelry supply business that had our family traveling around the country to craft shows just trying to make a living. In 1999 the internet provided my parents the opportunity to move their business off the road and sell their supplies on eBay. After I got out of the military (Air Force), I started several companies, one of which was a jewelry supply company which continued my family's tradition

My wife and I started Foxyfindings.com and became triple titanium power sellers on Ebay within several years selling beads and jewelry making supplies; along the way I learned some powerful lessons about how to choose a marketplace and what can happen when a venue puts share holders first and opts for profits over service to customers.

My inspiration behind ArtFire came as I watched how my customers, independent jewelry makers, were being treated by eBay. I grew tired as I watched the arbitrary ways that eBay and other venues handled their customers, not treating them as business partners. I noticed what seemed to be a "tax" on creativity with insertion/final value fees. I thought there should be a better option, a selling venue that treated its members with respect and recognized them as business partners. I founded ArtFire because, as a seller myself, I never found a venue that understood its role was to SERVE its members."

You can meet the rest of the ArtFire team by visiting the staff page.

ArtFire went into open beta in November 2008, since then we have experienced rapid growth at a rate of 2600%, and we are still growing. Our company's core principles are based on providing the best e-commerce tools we can for our customers and supporting them with unmatched customer service.

Announcement: Introducing Credit Cards At Atomic Mall

Atomic Mall is pleased to announce the addition of direct credit card acceptance for our sellers through Authorize.net, the internet's largest and most trusted credit card processor.

Effective March 1 2010, AM Sellers may add direct acceptance of Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover to their Storefronts as a secure, cost-effective payment alternative to the sites existing electronic payment methods. Buyers instinctively look for the familiar Visa and Mastercard logos when making purchases, and having an Atomic Mall store with this payment option enabled will go a long way toward converting browsers into Buyers.

At Atomic Mall we routinely monitor cart abandonment and ask shoppers why they chose not to complete a sale. Over 80% of the time, the response is "I couldn't pay with my credit card".

It's been proven that shoppers prefer direct credit card payments over all other methods due to the recognized security and convenience which goes hand-in-hand with that pay method. For these reasons we believe this addition to Atomic Mall will prove to be an extremely powerful tool for our seller base, and should help brand AM as a modern, forward-thinking ecommerce marketplace.

With this upgrade, Atomic Mall will be one of only a handful of marketplace sites which gives 3rd-party vendors the ability to accept direct credit card payments in combination with automated checkout and inventory management. This site enhancement presents a great opportunity for sellers to take advantage of its uniqueness as a way to attract and retain buyers that might otherwise abandon their carts and go elsewhere.

• Global Acceptance
  Individuals and Businesses in over 180 Countries rely on credit card acceptance for ecommerce transactions.
  
• Multi-Currency
  Cross-border payments are easy and automatic.
  
• Browsers-to-Buyers
  Browsers to yourAtomic Mall Store are looking for an easy way to checkout and pay. Credit cards offer the ultimate in convenience.
  
• Security
  Authorize.net offers a full lineup of fraud prevention resources and tools, and Buyers appreciate the safety built in to every credit card purchase.
  
• Fee Structure
  For most merchants, Authorize.net fees are extremely competitive with alternative payment options like Paypal and Google Checkout.
  
• Trustworthy
  More merchants trust Authorize.Net than any other payment gateway to manage their payment transactions securely and reliably.

Since 1996, Authorize.Net has been a leading provider of payment gateway services, managing the submission of payment transactions to the processing networks on behalf of merchant customers. On November 1, 2007, CyberSource Corporation acquired Authorize.Net. Collectively, the companies processed approximately 1.9 billion transactions in 2008, representing $109 billion of e-commerce.

Ready to add the familiar Visa/MC logo to your listings and storefront? Explore the Authorize.net Startup Guide and your store will be "Credit Card Ready" in no time! Take advantage of this great asset to improve your sell-thrus and begin converting Browsers into Buyers!

Blogger Posts On YouTube - Scam Found On eBay

Click here to read the AuctionBytes report on this story.

Here is the YouTube video:

Bonanzle Reaches 200,000 Members - Congratulations!

In less than 18 months out of Beta, Bonanzle has reached the 200,000 member milestone. It all went down just a second ago. And the forum party on the site begins... and rightfully so.

A grassroots, word of mouth promotional campaign has brought the venue to this level, a level many sites have worked a lot of years to attain. Many venues never reach this height. Innovation by the owners, hard work by all involved with the site coupled with buyers and sellers motivated to see the site succeed have been key to their growth.

Bonanzle has given sellers a site to list where they control their own business. Many disgruntled eBay sellers file in each and every time eBay makes an anti-seller change. There are many first time sellers on the site also. Each of these sellers bring an array of interesting items to the site to offer to shoppers.

Bonanzle offers sellers the ability to list up to 10,000 items for FREE with only a small final value fee to pay when an item sells. This has been a major draw for sellers because they risk nothing when listing with the site.

Bill, Mark, Tom, Ghost and all of the Bonanzle administration take a hands on approach to the site. When contacting support, you NEVER get a canned response. It always comes from one of the "boyz", as they are affectionately called by their members. This personal response is a breath of fresh air for those who have sold on other sites. It feels good to know that those behind the scenes take an interest in thier members.

With the way the site has progressed up to this point, it will be interesting to see where the site goes from here.

Congratulations to Bonanzle and all of it's members!!

Success & Destiny Writings By Ralph Marston

The world will step aside for one with clearly defined objectives and a strong desire to attain them.

No matter what your plans to launch yourself toward success, the time to start is now. Not tomorrow, not next week or next month-now!

Don't waste another day waiting for all the right conditions. There will never be a perfect time to get started! The important thing is to take that first step and get started immediately!

Proceed with determination and don't let fear, doubt or others stop you. Your path will become clear as you move ahead with conviction.
You have the power to control your own destiny. You may not feel at all comfortable with that, or want to own up to the responsibility it implies, yet it is true nonetheless.

You may complain that there are so many powerful and overwhelming outside forces acting upon you that nothing you do will matter. Yet everything you do matters to the highest degree in creating your own destiny.

It may seem that fate has dealt you a certain hand, and that there is no way for you to change that fate. You can, however, change everything about your own perspective and the way you respond.

For your destiny is not about what comes to you. It is about who you choose to become.

Your destiny is not really about what happens to you. It is built and fulfilled by the things that you cause to happen, by what you do with the precious life you have.

It happens in every moment, with every choice, with every thought and every action. Always, you are creating your own unique destiny.

Ralph Marston