Get List’d

Rather than talking about the possible marriage between eBay and MySpace, I would like to take the time talk about two things: Why this is good for eCommerce and why this is a bad thing for eCommerce. It’s known around my circle of friends that I highly dislike MySpace with a passion. I don’t know why that is and I have no reasoning behind it but that’s the way the ball bounces; off the cliff and away from Myspace. Anyways, enough with that and on with giving the good and the bad of this relationship.

The Good:

Creating a social network for eBay would be great for not only eBay but for the users as well. I can see MySpace having a special section for all of the users to sell and buy various items from both pools of users. Combining two of the biggest sites on the internet would benefit both parties not only in terms of user numbers but financial numbers as well. If eBay doesn’t create a social community for their users, someone will. Mainly this would just be good for both parties involved and not so much the end user because MySpace, for lack of a better word, sucks.

The Bad:

Competition is what drives innovation. I really want to see someone else create a social network of sorts before eBay gets that ball rolling because I want to see something new. Granted, MySpace is ok at what it does but everything behind the monster is hideous. There’s no secret that MySpace is a very sloopy site when it comes to the code and implementaion. I would love to see someone create an awesome eCommerce/eBay social network in which eBay and MySpace would have to compete with. This may never happen but I can dream can’t I?

In conclusion, I hope this marriage never happens because I really want to see MySpace wiped from the face of the Earth but I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.

If you were me and if I were rich that is. The dream that I’m talking about would be owning every game that Nintendo produced for the original NES. Yes, I know that I could download every game ever created for the system period but that would be illegal and way too much work. If I was rich I could just hop on eBay and win seller sonyabscott’s auction and achieve that goal legally. Not only is the auction for 670 games licensed by Nintendo, but it also includes the following accessories:

• NES Nintendo System Console (in the box)
• 4 Controllers
• 2 Turbo controllers
• NES Advantage Controller (Joystick and Button console in box)
• Zapper Gun
• Power Pad
• Power Glove
• ROB the Robot (with accessories)
• 4 Player wired controller (with Turbo) allows up to 4 players
• 4 Player Wireless Satellite and Receiver
• Grey Joystick controller
• Game Genie and the Code Book
• RF Switch and AC Power Cord

Why do I want this massive collection of Nintendo gaming history? Well besides the awesome Power Glove, I’ve always wanted to whip out a picture from my wallet show off my collection like it was my kids or something. Yeah….one day.

eBay has been fighting a long standing war with scammers, those of us who have been heavy users of the eBay platform know this firsthand.

One casual seller’s story

The question is, what can eBay do to really fix this?  Well, Bill Cobb had addressed this in his eCommerce keynote last week.  Here’s one excerpt:

First, times have changed since the early eBay days — the internet has evolved a lot, and so, too, have the fraudsters.   (Think the internet equivalent of an arms race, where as sites get smarter about security, the fraudsters do too.)  Bill made it clear that eBay is taking a more proactive approach to Trust & Safety, which sometimes means sacrificing transparency in favor of increased security.  He mentioned projects like Safeguarding Member Ids, as an example, as well as behind-the-scenes efforts to step up protections against counterfeits.

I know we promise this a while ago, but I think you’ll agree that the wait was worth it. Meagan, Jermaine, and I have been working hard on these redesigns, and we really hope you like them. You can purchase these shirts from our account atZazzle.com. Of course our winner, April, will be getting her very own shirt for free.

Special thanks to everybody that helped make this contest possible, either by submitting an entry, voting, or helping out here in the office. We appreciate it. I think we’d like to do more of these in the future, and I think that this experience has definitely proved that it’s possible. Even if you do have interns running the show.

Anyway, I have a feeling this is going to be the last your hear from us (the interns) for a little while. But we’re still around. Working hard on all sorts of neat things. So until next time, keep on eBay’n the easy way.

ProBargainHunter.com is one of those gems of the eCommerce blogosphere that becomes “required reading” over time. He does great reviews of products and shares his insights on finding bargains online.

Earlier this month he began a list that tracks the popularity of price comparisons sites. Below are the top 10 from that list, check out his site for the rest.

If you like this, you might also want to check out his “Social Bargain Hunting Roundup“.

Slate has a great article about pricing and marketing.

According to Varian, retailers who vary their prices over time—increasing them one week, then discounting the next—create the kind of price instability that encourages consumers to shop around. The end result is that shoppers visit several sites before making a purchase, which is exactly what retailers want us to do.

The article goes on to discuss why Apple iPods are never discounted, and the reasoning behind it. Overall, a very informative read.

The lessons learned here can be transferred over to an eCommerce store’s strategy at any time. Chief among them being that you should fluctuate your pricing.

I guess it’s about that time. The leaves have changed, the temperature has dropped, and the List’d T-Shirt contest is now at an end.

It was a good run, wasn’t it? We’re happy to have had so many people take part in it. So really, thank you. It’s because of people like you that List’d has been able to grow as much as it has. We rely on your feedback to determine what goes into our products. In fact, I think I just heard our customer service guy yawn… so keep those emails coming!

The winner of the contest was April and her pirate-themed shirt. So from the List’d team to you: A huge congratulations. Good work. We’ll be working for the next few days on coming up with a printable re-design of the shirt. We’ll aslo be sending out April’s $50 iTunes gift card. Again, congratulations.

Keep your eyes here for another update mid-week about what the final shirt will look like, as well as how you can get one (for free? …maybe!)

We’ve been quietly working on some new features for the last couple of months, and we are finally ready to unveil them.

New Premium eBay Templates!
We have added a new section to the template area. You can now choose from our “premium” templates area for 14 amazing new designs that each has multiple color choices. We have also added 3 new FREE templates!

For 50 cents, List’d users can choose from 14 “premium” templates, each with multiple color choices, in themes ranging from technology to baby clothes. Users can also choose to pay $5.00 for 30-day unlimited use of any of the premium templates. They also have three new free templates to choose from.

As always, all of the features that you’ve grown to love about List’d are still free to use. Premium templates are our first stab at creating a value added feature that we think you would be willing to pay for. These payment will be made through PayPal, since 85% of you have that capability. Thanks for giving them a try!

Default Your Favorite Settings
You can now go into your profile page to save your favorite settings. We had a lot of heavy users asking us for this ability, and we think it will really make your lives easier. All you need to do is login and click on the “Profile” link where you can:

• Add a default “boilerplate” text area into each listing
• Change your password
• Set your shipping options
• Pick a default template

Login and try out the new features. Tell us what you think, that’s how we’ve been able to get List’d to where it is already. Your feedback is what made this tool great

Prepare to witness a “site” like none other. You will be mesmerized, tantalized, and electrified right down to your pinky toe. We the interns (aka the Permaterns) have created such a monster of a contest, we thought the perfect time to unveil it would have to be on Halloween.

“What is this contest?”, you may be asking yourself. Jason, Meagan, and I were tasked to create a T-Shirt design contest for List’d from scratch. We had to create the entire website, voting system, content, and even find ways to mass produce the awesome shirts we plan on seeing come our way.

Ok, let me be honest. At first we were told that we need to come up with a t-shirt design for List’d. Being the awesome interns that we are, we convinced upper management to trust us with creating a contest. This not only took our attention off of less exciting projects but it also gave us a venue to display our awesome talents, besides those of fetching coffee (not that we ever did that or anything).

So here are the details:

1. You can submit as many designs as you want, but you can only vote for a specific design once.
2. The top ten entries with the most votes will automatically received the new t-shirt which will be crafted from the ultimate champion winner person’s design.
3. Once we have a top ten, the Permaterns will pick the one we like the best and they will receive the grand prize in addition to their artwork on a shirt.
4. The grand prize will be a $50 iTunes music gift card that you can use through iTunes for games, movies, and of course music.
5. The contest begins November 1st and runs through November 23rd. After the 23rd, we will not receive anymore submissions but you will have an extra week to vote on your favorite design. Keep in mind that you can vote anytime you want throughout the contest.

While looking for some more RAM for my MacBook, a co-worker of mind stumbled across a great new way for me to search through items for sale on the internet. The website is called TheFind.com and it’s a new service that basically finds what you want on the internet.

“TheFind.com currently searches over 500,000 stores on the Web and finds over 150 million products - that is 5 times larger than most comparison shopping sites. We rank results by the best matches right on the first page, along with the top brands and stores for your search. With one click you can view sale or new items, easily save your favorites in a personalized list called “MyFinds”, or quickly e-mail products to friends.”

Searching for what you want couldn’t be easier. Just type in the item you are looking for, click find, sit back and wait for the searches to populate your screen. If what you start to type is common, a short list of items already used will pop-up allowing you to choose from this list. After you search, you even have the ability to filter your results by price, sale items, and/or new items. The site is still in beta but so far, so good.