This is the first in a series I would like to call "What is Scott Doing Now"?

It seems that I have "gone missing", people ask me where have I been, what am I doing?  Well, I have been busy and have not had the time required to keep this and many of my other blogs current.

I love my Trading Assistant Journal readers just as much as I hope they appreciate me, and in fact I want to thank the readers who have sent me notes of concern, wishing me well, and asking me to come back.  I am still here, I just have been so busy working for clients and on my own projects, that I have not had time to keep up with a lot of the stuff I used to comment on here in the Journal.

So without further adieu, Part 1 - "What is Scott Doing Now"?

BonanzleStore

BonanzleStore Opening Late Summer 2009

In our vast eCommerce world Bonanzle.com has been one of the hottest topics of discussion for over a year now .

Late Summer 2009

As a result, my company, iBusinessLogic has created a new way to optimize a Bonanzle merchants business and Internet marketing capabilities with what we call the BonanzleStore.

A "BonanzleStore" (launching late summer 2009) is an outside website, separated from Bonanzle and allowing the merchant to brand themselves with a completely customized eCommerce Web 2.0 Site.  This website (A BonanzleStore) will include many features never seen before in eCommerce.

The main feature is a completely automated and constantly updated presentation of the merchants products for sale.  One inventory, two selling locations - i.e. list an item on Bonanzle, and it will appear both on Bonanzle and on the merchants BonanzleStore site. Sell that same item, and it will be removed from both locations. No chance of over selling inventory.

Combining the ease of use of Bonanzle itself, along with the automated Googlebase feed and Oodle feed, the simple checkout using PayPal, Cash, Check, Google Checkout and other options, makes this a very efficient and symbiotic relationship between a venue (Bonanzle) and a Merchant Home website - (BonanzleStore). Where the website offers a home base and more, the venue offers simplicity and ease of use.  Where the venue is clean and efficient yet sparse and mostly unbrandable, the home base allows for unlimited expansion, branding and content dedicated to promoting the merchant and his or her products.

The two work together as a team to bring more traffic and more sales to any merchant who uses each to its full advantage.  With this unique combination of a website working with a venue, most merchants will enjoy a freedom to express themselves and promote their company like  they have not experienced before.  This is web 2.0 and social marketing meets eCommerce shopping cart.  BonanzleStore combines many of the best of both worlds and makes it easy to manage both a website and a venue with ease.

To see a working example of Alpha2 (Soon to be Beta) of our Bonanzlestore please go to one of my sites: http://allbusinessauctions.com/blog/bonanzlestore-demo/ here you will see the products of the Delectably Yours Decor (Bonanzle Booth DelectablyYours) presented on a completely off topic website/blog.

BonanzleStore Demo

These products have been parsed by category automatically by our software and are automatically presented on pages on the site with pagination which can be adjusted according to the users preferences.

The most interesting result of this BonanzleStore system is found when one selects any of the titles or any of the description content and then pastes that title or description content into Google search.

Delectibly Yours Decor

Remember, these products, presented in the demo on All Business Auctions, are showing the same exact titles and descriptions as they do on DelectablyYours Bonanzle Booth, her own website www.delectably-yours.com, on eBay and on Ooodle. Some of these products have been indexed on her own website for months.

In most cases, when using the title of a product displayed on the demo, the search results will include the allbusinessauctions.com/blog/bonanzlestore-demo as the number one, two or three result in Google.

These products are sold by other sites and other merchants, Delectably Yours Decor has worked hard to optimize their own website for search and her titles usually are ranked on the first page either from her store, from Oodle or from Bonanzle or eBay, yet our simple demo pages on ABA/blog a site with completely unrelated content (I don’t write about interior decor on that site) is ranking extremely highly in Google (usually outranking either Bonanzle or eBay and sometimes ranked #1) and has done so since the first day we installed the Bonanzlestore alpha test.

Bonanzle - What do You Like About It?

I logged into my Bonanzle.com account today and proceeded to the My Bonanzle home page.  This is the central hub for all Bonanzle users, buyer or seller and serves as a control panel/information resource.  Today I noticed one interesting update:

This site currently has 49096 users

This seems like a momentous amount of users and at the rate Bonanzle seems to be gaining each day, the 50,000 user mark should be here very soon.  With this in mind, I thought a poll would be an interesting way to gauge the real attraction to Bonanzle.com.

This of course is not a scientific poll as the questions came from my noggin but I think the answers will reveal what it is that has everyone so interested in this (as I said in a previous article) "Bodacious eBay competitor".  (Not that we are in any way comparing this to eBay).

So what is it?  What do you like about Bonanzle, what do you dislike?

(Pencil in your answers if I have not provided enough options in the poll, or simply comment below....

It seems that Debbie Levitt CEO of ASWAS, an eBay Stores designer and consulting company based in Boston, MA and a personal friend, has come out very strongly against the grass roots marketing efforts of Bonanzle.com.  A Prominent blogger and also a friend, Henrietta of the Red Ink Diary has responded quite directly to Debbie's take on the Bonanzle Action Club.

Henrietta has been a friend to Bonanzle.com since the beginning, I don't think she is a member of the BAC, but could be. It is a pretty small club of only 50 people when weighed against the 30,000 members of Bonanzle.  Yet the effects of its political style grass roots effort to get out the word about the site seem to have gained some attention in eBay circles (where Debbie Levitt is a big swimmer).

The Article on the Red Ink Diary is available for all to read in its entirety here Red Ink Diary.  I have included a short quote below to give you the idea of where Henrietta stands. (Note: Links to the articles Debbie Levitt wrote in the ASWAS blog are included, just as they appeared in the Red Ink Diary.) I don't know if I would have been quite as direct as Henrietta was in her post, but she expressed her point without leaving any doubt.

From the RedInkDiary

The words which come to my mind are confrontational, short fuse, defensive, impulsive, and ‘no thank you’. This person seems to have a bee up her butt about Bonanzle and for such an important, influential and successful business owner, (I quote below from her profile on Practical eCommerce) to devote her valuable time to badmouthing a site which should be beneath her notice and that of her presumably paid staff; does make me wonder.

...the CEO of eBay’s first Certified Service Provider, which offers services for online sellers including branding, design, and personalized sales and marketing strategies. (She is) eBay’s first Certified Consultant and the first Education Specialist trained by eBay. Her recognized expertise as well as her approach to online branding, marketing and strategy are redefining the model of what are “good” eBay listings, eBay Stores, or websites.

She has written two posts about it this month. One on February 10th which has a comment by Mark Dorsey and an illuminating response to that comment by the blogger.

“As for helping me with future content, I have tried to contact you a number of times through email and Twitter, and that’s as far as things have gone. I guess I’d only matter if I were a BAC member. “

Shame on you Mark for not realizing what an important and influential person you were failing to treat with awe and respectful deference.

The second post is today and comments have been closed. You may however comment here on Red INK

End of Red Ink Diary Quote - All Rights Reserved

Personally I have no idea why Debbie Levitt would raise such a ruckus over the Bonanzle Action Committee. They are just happy members  and sellers on the Bonanzle.com platform who freely give of their time to help increase the reach and awareness of an upstart bootstrapping eCommerce alternative that has simply grown faster than any other in history.

Did the 50 members of the Bonanzle Action Club help that growth along?

• You bet! - how much they helped is really indeterminable.

Is it evil, backhanded or unfair?

• No way! - The tactic has been used the world over.

eBay has their own shills and cheerleaders, they almost invented the practice and they did it on a much larger scale than 50 unpaid members of a small site that has grown beyond anyone's expectations. These are people who actually sell product on the site they are promoting, not some paid staff working out of a boiler room. The difference here is that the BAC members are doing it in a new medium called social networking and they are effective at adding dialog to sites where there already was an interest.  (They could be more effective, but that is a matter for a different post).

I have been writing about Bonanzle since before the Bonanzle Action Club (BAC) came into being. I am not a member of the BAC and I will never be a member of the BAC because membership is closed.  I have written good things about Bonanzle because I instantly saw the advantages offered by the site, it worked,  it is easy to use and because I liked it.

I have been so impressed that I have created an off Bonanzle website development project for its members that is known as Bonanzle Webstores. This is not funded, administered or run by the team at Bonanzle or its ownership yet they have been more than helpful in the creation and development of our program because it will help bring in new traffic to Bonanzle.com and its merchants.

I have never been paid, offered payment, bribed or told what to say. I have also written honest critiques which in most cases have been accepted and acted upon by the founder of the site Bill Harding. While the site is not perfect and there are several improvements that could be enacted, the founder and head programmer works hard to make the site work for all of its members on a daily basis.

Bonanzle is a very interesting and ever expanding marketplace that has piqued mine and several thousand other peoples interest. The entire massive and ever expanding groundswell of acceptance has not come from just 50 people repeating the same comments on several blogs or sites around the Internet (something I have a problem with - please be original BAC members i.e. paraphrase your comments on blogs - don't quote verbatim what the BAC blast says each time - OK - just say what you feel in your comments) .  The interest has come both from within the seller base and from outside the community from sites like Google and from blogs like this one.

The BAC members are simply reaching outside the site to make the site known to those who have never been exposed to it. From there the decision is completely in the consumers hands, try Bonanzle or not - it is up to the potential member.  The BAC does nothing to trick or deceive people into trying the site.

I agree with Debbie Levitt on one point however.

I dislike the term or slogan "Best eBay alternative", in fact I dislike any mention of eBay when referring to Bonanzle.  They are two different marketplaces, two different systems of eCommerce and they really have no comparisons at all, other than history.

The history of eBay is one of a grass roots driven growth curve built on social interaction (first between sellers and then between buyers and sellers). Bonanzle has re-created that excitement from the early days of eBay, when sellers sold to sellers and everyone helped one another learn how to use the tools provided by the venue to become successful.  Bonanzle and eBay both have the same history in regards to a fantastic growth curve and they both share a history of having a very small marketing budget.  eBay was not perfect when it started and is still not perfect all these years later. I would wager that if you could access a screenshot or go back in time to read the forum comments of users of eBay after roughly 6 months of operations and compare that to the Bonanzle site we see today, the differences of platform and the similarities in regards to history would be oh so clear.

In today's world of internet marketing, having a small marketing budget does not necessarily rule you out from competing for business.

Being creative by using customers enthusiasm is a fantastic way to create evangelists for your brand. This is exactly what Mark Dorsey at Bonanzle has done with just 50 of his best customers.  I am certain he has many more volunteers for the BAC but for management reasons they have kept the number small.

I am sure the method of marketing being utilized here can be called many different names, is it unfair? No.

Is it unusual?, maybe in this space but it is used by fortune 500 companies the world over in this new World of Internet based marketing.  Should it be an issue for a eBay based service provider to come out so strongly against?  I really don't think so.

Debbie Levitt, on a personal note...

I want to say that I appreciate the work you do and I have always loved your designs, your speaking and your in depth knowledge of eBay. I don't want you to take my comments here personally, but I don't agree with the implications of your post(s), your insinuation that Mark Dorsey is anything but approachable and informative or that he only speaks with BAC members.  I also am uneasy with  your inclination to take the negative tact sometimes used against other companies in posts on your blog to somehow promote yourself as a consumer advocate.

Debbie, you are a marketing person and you represent ASWAS as the CEO and as its chief evangelist. Your consumer advocacy always has been one which promotes your own services and that of eBay or other eBay service providers you work with.  There is nothing wrong with promotion, and you do a fine job of it - when you discuss matters that pertain to your business, eBay or how your clients excel in new and exciting endeavors online. You have a great track record, an avid following and a long portfolio of quality work.

I really do not understand why you are endeavoring to slow the growth of a new and exciting community of sellers and buyers who simply choose to do eCommerce elsewhere besides eBay.

The people who choose to use Bonanzle really have no effect upon your business.  Does it help your company to point out what you think are wrongs that in fact have no effect on you, on your clients or really eBay in any way? I understand how you want to expose wrongs and be a stand up person who is respected in your industry, and in fact, you have been that person for many years.  Take the respect and knowledge and experience and use it to promote the good of your community, add to the knowledge base of your clients and readers by interjecting reason and not necessarily interjecting doubt where none existed.

The members of the BAC are only a small problem for those of us who have to approve their comments, and to me.. that is no problem at all because comments are what bring a blog to life.

The media thrives on news, and believe it or not, Bonanzle is news.

Bonanzle has something people like,  sales are being made by the merchants who use all of the tools available to them on the Bonanzle platform, and there are improvements being made almost on a daily basis. There is no way that Mark Dorsey on his own could gather the attention that he has for his company without some help. He can either pay cash for that help, or he can use customers who are also evangelists. The ring of truth always comes from actual customers - on this I am sure we can agree.

You and I ask for testimonials from our clients - is this really all that different?

Except for the fact that Bonanzle Action Club Members give testimony each and every week on the behalf of Bonanzle.

I am actually envious - I don't have as many clients as Bonanzle.com has that are so impressed with my work that they would take 20 minutes of time each week to promote for me. The ones I do have, I cherish,  but I have yet to organize them into a committee. Having clients that sing your praises is the best marketing in the world... Using the power of word of mouth is a basic tenant of all marketing.

Maybe you and I should look at creating something like the BAC ... Hmmmm iBusinessLogic Action Committee - Naw, it doesn't sound right, does it.... ASWAS-AC?

Tell you what, I will join your AC if you join mine....

Best eBay Alternative of 2008

February 2, 2009, Kirkland, WA - In what writers called “a runaway,” Bonanzle.com was
recently named the top eBay Alternative of 2008 by readers of SmallBusinessComputing,
a Jupiter Media company.

Over a six week period from November through the beginning of January, readers were asked to choose between Bonanzle and other eBay alternatives, including Etsy, eCrater and Wigix. Bonanzle was declared the winner on January 28th.
“This award validates our commitment to providing users with a marketplace that goes
beyond the buzzwords often used to describe it: more social, simpler, and more fun. We
worked for almost two years to build Bonanzle before we launched it. The payoff has
been an experience so simple yet rich that it has turned many of our users into Bonanzle
promoters.

These users have helped to drive our traffic up more than 50% every month since we launched – their efforts are really starting to add up, even as we’re still almost completely unknown to the national media,” says Bonanzle CEO Bill Harding.

Walt Kolenda, a professional auctioneer and regular contributor to The Examiner, says of
Bonanzle, “People in the community are so impressed and appreciative of the opportunity
here that they fill the forum with tips and suggestions about how to get the site and
individual stores juiced in the search engines… the users have become evangelists for the
site, and there is no amount of advertising money in the world that can replace that.

This is how sites go viral, this is how fortunes are made.” SmallBusinessComputing's editors also praised Bonanzle, adding, “This startup combines an easy listing process with cutting-edge features such as on-the-fly image cropping and live chat and an avid seller community. The founders are scaling up to meet increasing
traffic, and we can only hope it continues to thrive.”

SUPERBOWL Traffic Test - eBay vs Bonanzle Completed - Who Won?

Auction vs Fixed Price - Flawed.... Hmmmmmm

• eBay - Claims and is touted as the traffic "firehose" of eCommerce.
• eBay - to get traffic, one must list auctions - Just ask eBay about that.
• eBay - fixed price listings get traffic but from where? Inside of eBay or from outside. (more on this difference later)
• eBay - fixed price 30 day - still not as effective as a fixed price (till it sells) listings found elsewhere for outside search indexing.

• Bonanzle - received more hits on a specific fixed price listing within the same time period as compared to a nearly identical eBay auction listing.

Consider this... the last small point is a real quandary for some, why?

Because the time period was less than a normal eBay 5 day auction. Sure, auctions are not normally indexed in that short of a time frame, but people still use them.  5 Day and 7 Day auctions do get traffic, they just get it from inside eBay and eBay charges a great deal for access to that traffic.

It was a Traffic test, not an external traffic test.  Any traffic that is interested in my listings no matter where they are listed, is good traffic.  So to point out Auction vs Fixed price as being unfair to eBay is like saying setting up a blanket in a flea market on a Saturday afternoon vs selling in a downtown mall, is unfair to the mall.

If I had listed the tickets on eBay as a fixed price 30 day listing vs the Bonanzle fixed price listing I could have guaranteed Bonanzle a win based on my eBay fixed price 30day traffic track record on other items.  The only real measure in this short of a time period was to use an eBay auction. Bonanzle does not offer auction listings.

The last traffic test we did on the TAJ was between two auction venues - eBay vs OLA and eBay won that one hands down.

While most eBay auctions are not indexed by Google, they do get hits from within eBay. In fact, most eBay fans agree with eBays claims that within eBay, a "firehose of traffic" is sent to its internal listings (i.e. Auctions). So why the gripe?  eBay produces traffic all on its own and it seems they have no real use for, nor do they seem to particularly care if they receive any search engine derived traffic.

eBay wants everyone to use the eBay search box, not the Google search box.

"Everybody" has not exactly listened to eBay on this directive.

Regarding Auction vs Fixed Price - Most websites are not fully indexed within 5 days, not even a small eCommerce website.  So, how did the fixed price listing outperform the auction listing on a site that has a "firehose of traffic".

This "firehose" is why everyone says eBay is the best place to sell and why eBay can charge so much in fees. Yet, a fixed price listing on a little site like Bonanzle, listed for the same (actually 4 days) received twice as many visitors as the eBay Auction listing.

Most people wanting to sell a similar SuperBowl Ticket package, in a speedy way would first think of eBay.  My client first thought of eBay, I first thought of eBay and then of course - we listed the package on eBay. I did not expect to see more hits on the Bonanzle listing. I do not think eBay and Bonanzle compete neck and neck on any playing field, not monetarily and not for traffic.

The test was a sort of a lark, an attention getter, an idea to see what would happen. I never expected the "test" to be a United Laboratories experiment with blind control groups and extensive data analysis - who do you people think I am - AuctionBytes?

What I was hoping to point out, more than anything else, is that eBay is not the only place to find traffic.

Google is a pretty darn good traffic generator... with the right keyword selection, and with the right search optimization.

eBay is not optimized for Google search, neither auctions, fixed price, or stores listings. Maybe at one time, but in my experience no longer.

eBay depends upon, promotes, and lives on the laurels of the history of people going directly to eBay to search for products. I believe the number of those people is declining. The preponderance of traffic graphs, earnings reports, and seller anecdotes seems to agree with my assumptions.

Bonanzle just happens to be a site that is optimized to take advantage of Google search algorithms, it is clean and fast and quick to index.

Sellers on Bonanzle can conceivably build a business online that can rival any eBay based concern.

Remember here - I said "conceivably" and by that I mean that a lot "right" has to happen, but it can happen. For my money, Bonanzle or your own search optimized and advertised website are the safest bets outside of eBay for quality traffic generation.

Do your own tests, blind or open, with the listings set up with proper keyword optimization. If Bonanzle shows you additional traffic over time, that traffic can only build because the listings are on the site until sold, the Google Base works, the site is indexed quickly and often and it is just darn simple to move inventory over to Bonanzle to see how it works for your products.

• If it does not work for you, the test costs you nothing.
• If it works a little, then you are a little better off.
• If the site, that has grown faster than any other in eCommerce venue in history, continues on this path...

One Million Listings in 4 Months!

...then, will you will kick yourself for not having tried it sooner?

The listings were removed from eBay and Bonanzle this morning at 9AM EST.

SuperBowl Traffic Test

As anyone who has done consignment listings of such short lived merchandise knows, this is a hectic way to make a living!  In actuality I am glad it is over, now I can simply enjoy the big game.

Results?

Oh, Yes - Results...

The results of our very un-scientific traffic test with all the variables mentioned and discussed in the previous articles comments section...

Indicate one clear and overwhelming winner.

But first, lets talk about some of the comments...

My buddy John Lawson AKA ColderIce seems to think the mention of the traffic test in this blog will skew the results enough to make them useless.  I simply do not understand that line of thinking because both links were provided here with equal access. As such they have an equal chance to draw traffic from this source and in even though in effect both listings results were elevated from this article, I would assume they would be elevated equally.  This is what I do, it is my business, I promote the idea that by blogging about what it is you sell or offer the public, will in turn increase the chances of selling that thing or service.  Therefore I will not apologize for doing what comes naturally -

I sell, therefore I blog!

Just a Thought presented the point that the exact same html should have been used in both listings... Hmmm, that may be possible in the description area, and in fact the words used to describe the item(s) for sale were exactly the same, but there is no way I can manipulate the eBay system to make it look like Bonanzle or Visa-Versa.  I mean, I am good, but not that good.  I also use a listing management tool on eBay called AuctionSound and it would be a real pain to remove all of my standard eBay template information for one listing.  This standard information appears in all of my eBay listings and as such makes them standard eBay listings.  We are comparing standard eBay vs standard Bonanzle, are we not? While a true A/B test run by a Internet advertising consulting firm would never have the same exact content, I guess it could have been done here to prove some point - what?

OK - Now for the Results....

Drum Roll Please

oh, and Congratulations Bonanzle for hitting a milestone this week with One Million Listings

The results are as follows - with both listings being online approximately the same amount of time (within seconds).

• eBay = 95 hits to the SuperBowl Beach House Vacation and 4 Ticket Package

• Bonanzle = 197 hits to the same package listed on their new and very SEO friendly website!

Roughly twice as much traffic, from various sources went to Bonanzle.  Is this a scientific result? No... Does it tell a story about the possibilities on new and exciting venues, yes!  Does it mean you should pack up your business and move it to Bonanzle?  That is your business decision, I would never recommend anyone leave eBay without first knowing what the new location will do for them.  Keep your sales humming, if they are, on eBay... But it never hurts to take a look next door!

By the way - Neither site sold the package - My client pulled the offer and went to the Georgia Mountains to get away from Superbowl craziness...

SuperBowl Traffic Test

We have not done a head to head comparison like this in awhile...  The idea is simple, basically we list the same exact item on two eCommerce  platforms to see which gets the most traffic. Ultimately the test is who or where will the item sell the item first?

Today in the interest of  being topical we are using a special listing as our test case.

A 5 - night vacation in Florida including 4 Club Level seats for the 2009 NFL Championship game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida - otherwise known as the SUPERBOWL.  This year the teams playing will be the Arizona Cardinals vs the Pittsburg Steelers but the winners of this eBay auction or Bonanzle listing will be playing on the sand in Indian Shores, Florida.

eBay vs. Bonanzle  Football Style

Why pick eBay and Bonanzle? Well we have accounts at both venues and the last time we did this test it was eBay vs. OnlineAuction.com - eBay won that one hands down.

First up is Bonanzle -

Our Bonanzle listing is presented below - this listing is offering a fine stay in Florida and great tickets to the Big Game (Click the image to see the listing live on Bonanzle)

Bonanzle Simple Listing Style

Next we have the eBay Auction Style Listing

Will eBay outperform Bonanzle? Or visa versa?

This will be a short test because the Superbowl is just around the corner - February 1, 2009 and the check in date for the Beach House is January 28th... Better get cracking and sell this puppy.

One note - as you can see by the size of this screenshot, many eBay listings become inordinately long.  This is due in part to the additional and some say necessary terms and conditions needed in each eBay listing in addition to all the extra eBay display material.  Bonanzle keeps it simple, with the content of the listing being the star - not all the rules and conditions and other distractions found in some eBay listings.

Again - Click the image below to see the listing live on eBay.

Long eBay Auction Listing for 2009 SuperBowl Tickets

Which listing will win?  Where will the traffic come from to sell this package?

Arizona Cardinals- do you like eBay?  Pittsburg Steelers fans - have you ever heard of Bonanzle?

I am curious, are you?

P.S.

One more difference I see immediately between the two listings relates to SEO.  I am going to list each url as it presents in the address bar for each listing below, which do you think is more search engine friendly?

Bonanzle

• http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/iBusinessLogic/items/SUPERBOWL_TAMPA_4_Club_TICKETS__5_Nights_BEACH_HOUSE_on_GULF

eBay

• http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320335046412&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123

Personally, it seems to be no wonder when you look at the keywords in the Bonanzle URL that my other Bonanzle listings seem to outperform eBay listings in Google search.

Chime in with your thoughts - in the comments section below....

from articles in the past year

Cornerstone is an established small business with over 30 years of quality service dealing with the public. They offer a unique niche product selection which would seemingly be ideal for eBay. Commercial carpet cleaning products, tools, and machines both new and used.

Just as a small bit of background, let it be known that the owners of Cornerstone Commercial Supply are not rich people. They are the father and daughter team of Richard and Connie Carpenter, they both work every day to survive in this difficult economic environment.

Richard Carpenter

Richard Carpenter has been in the Commercial Carpet Cleaning business for over 30 years and as a distributor for over 12 in his present location.  He and his daughter Connie are honest, hard working dedicated people who give the customer a fair shake even when it is not necessary.

I consulted with Cornerstone Commercial Supply to bring them onto eBay as a client of iBusinessLogic in 2007, with the very best of intentions, now I feel as though I owe them an apology for what it is I have done.

It seemed to me to be a perfect match back in the end of 2007.  We researched similar product sales on eBay with advanced eBay research tools. This research revealed a steady and growing market for the professional carpet cleaning products, with competition already established and selling on eBay.   We had a solid plan and in our view, no other carpet cleaning supplier had approached the niche as we would, with a dedicated and well designed eBay store, a full product line, and very competitive pricing, we felt we had a good chance of growing a nice secondary business on eBay for Cornerstone Commercial Supply.

The store design was completed and a very enthusiastic new seller on eBay was born in January of 2008.  Unfortunately, since that first happy day and after the first sale on eBay on January 07, 2008, just about every roadblock to success has been tossed at Cornerstone by eBay, PayPal and to some extent - eBay's buyers.  It has been a very rough year for this small business on the Internet.

What happened?

The trouble began with eBay almost immediately.  The system eBay has put in place for new sellers is designed to prevent fraud, understandably so, but as a result it also prevents new small business owners from taking advantage of the eBay marketplace until certain milestones are met. One policy in particular served to slow Cornerstone's growth and stunted their success on eBay - the Feedback requirements.

eBay requires new sellers to have certain levels of feedback to utilize all of the selling options available on eBay. This single requirement prevented my client from establishing themselves as an eBay store which offers a broad range of products to serve the needs of the buying public. Simply because it was not cost effective to place hundreds of items on the site as 7 day auctions only.  Fixed price was needed, and feedback is required to sell fixed price. It might be good to know why this policy is still in place, is it more difficult to scam an auction buyer than a fixed price buyer if you are dubious seller? I don't think so.

As you may recall, eBay was pushing fixed price very heavily last year and some say the search results were skewed in the favor of fixed price listings over auction format.  We have no evidence of this but I can tell you that Cornerstones listings did not receive the same amount of results as other sellers in the same niche.  As a result, it became imperative to get feedback.

When sales were made, the buyers did not bother to leave feedback for this seller, as they have no requirement or incentive to do so on eBay since the feedback system was changed to a one way street in 2008.  This fact alone places the entire feedback requirements for new sellers into question in my opinion.  When buyers have no incentive or reason to leave feedback for sellers, and sellers can only leave positive feedback for buyers, the system is not on a level playing field. eBay has the capability of verifying the credit and banking accounts of business owners, so why should feedback be part of the equation at this point?  This has not affected established sellers as much as it has new sellers on eBay. eBay needs to remember that as established sellers leave, new sellers will be required to fill the void. When new sellers encounter this kind of friction, will they endure the pain or simple find other options?

Cornerstone could not respond by reducing pricing to a level below cost because of manufactures requirements to keep pricing at a retail level. It was a inhospitable start for a brick and mortar business on eBay.  (Some will say we could have gotten feedback any number of ways, including low cost recipe purchases and by having friends "buy" imaginary listings, while I did not advise my client to do these things, I did inform him of the possible options, it was a matter of survival. Richard did not want to game the system in this way and continued paying fees to offer products on eBay as auction only listings). Eventually the feedback issue was met by Cornerstone but not without a certain amount of confusion by these small business owners as to what the purpose really is for having these restrictions in place.

The first article I wrote which involved Cornerstone and a less than favorable experience with eBay came long after these initial bumps in the road, personally I was still very much involved with offering eBay up as a great place for small businesses to join the Internet sales bandwagon. It hurt me to write the truth in the following article.  Live Help - Communication at eBay - Cornerstone of the Buyer Experience was an article detailing how poorly eBay handled a problem which ended up closing Cornerstone's eBay store down for several weeks without explanation.

Followed by: this article: COMMUNICATION should be open - Not restricted! eBay - Please Read This!

and of course...

eBay Trust & Safety & Live Help Fails Miserably - Cornerstone Commercial Supply Update

The result of all of this bad communication and lack of customer service from eBay towards this small business seller was a pervasive lack of trust for the site or its management from my client.  Connie Carpenter especially felt that eBay was going out of its way to limit her business and waste her time.  Richard, her father took a more pragmatic view and since they had really done nothing at all wrong he viewed the whole episode as a bump in the road.  In the end, eBay did absolutely nothing to help resolve this situation, multiple phone calls only resulted in multiple versions of bad information.  We were even told Cornerstone's account had been hacked by Vladuz in Romania. (not at all true but this information came from eBay).

After the issue above was resolved Connie was more skeptical of the entire situation with eBay.  She continued to maintain the eBay store with carpet cleaning agents, parts, tools and machines but I could tell she had an uneasy feeling about the entire eBay selling program. After all they had just been shut down for weeks and she had spent dozens of hours on the phone and online with live help trying to resolve the situation.  When this resulted in nothing but stonewalling, bad information, and passing the buck to Trust and Safety (who would never speak with her) Connie was just at the end of her rope with eBay.

Richard had not dealt with the phone calls and resulting frustration himself. He works on Truck Mount Carpet cleaning machines and with his customers all day every day.  He liked the exposure the eBay store was giving him and the additional calls he received from other states looking for information about his products.  Richard really wanted eBay to work and he trusted that all of the issues thus far had been anomalies, that in the end all would work out and his business would succeed on eBay as others had. Richard had not dealt with eBay directly as Connie had and thus his perspective was different.

So the odyssey continued with months of sporadic sales, lots of watchers, some direct telephone calls but no huge increase in sales after the feedback levels were met and fixed price 30 day listings became available.  Products were listed in auction format, stores format and as fixed price listings.  Shipping was fast and reliable, exclusively with UPS and customer service was top notch.  Everything eBay wants in a seller was right there with Cornerstone.

What was the last straw?

PayPal

PayPal? yes, PayPal... hard to imagine?  Not for some sellers, especially not those who have experienced the PayPal credit card charge back scams perpetrated by buyers each and every day on eBay. This is a scam that cannot be guarded against by sellers as they must ship when PayPal accepts payment and lets make that point clear, PAYPAL accepts the payment.

What Happened with PayPal?

Cornerstone listed a $1200 carpet cleaning power wand extractor and sold it directly on eBay in September 2008.  The sale went flawlessly, the buyer paid immedately via PayPal and PayPal confirmed the payment.  At this point the seller, Cornerstone Commercial Supply has no way to verify the payment and no reason to do so.  PayPal said it was good, so they shipped.

The item was sent via UPS with tracking and insurance. Tracking was confirmed and delivery made.  The item was shipped to the buyers verified address and was accepted.

What Now?

No emails, no communication from the buyer at all... except for one thing...

The buyer filed a PayPal dispute.  PayPal almost immediately accepted the dispute as valid from the buyer and removed the funds from the sellers PayPal account.  This is without a single email from the buyer or any explaination as to why the transaction was disputed at all.  PayPal launched thier investigation.  Connie at Cornerstone sent PayPal every piece of information she had. She faxed shipping information and the eBay information she called and she followed up.  Then she tried to contact the customer who would not accept a single call or respond to any emails.

Lets review -

• Seller places relatively high dollar item on eBay
• Buyer finds item and buys it at a fixed price
• eBay sends buyer an invoice and charges the seller a final value fee
• Buyer processes payment via PayPal - almost the only option on eBay now
• PayPal confirms payment with the seller - Paypal takes a substantial fee for processing same
• eBay insists shipping be carried out within two days of payment via PayPal - otherwise DSR ratings will be severely damaged
• Seller ships promptly with a verified carrier and tracking
• Buyer receives shipment
• Buyer Disputes Charges - Not the shipment - not the product - just the charge.
• PayPal removes entire payment from sellers account
• PayPal conducts 90 day long "Investigation"

The result?

90 days of suspense culminates in PayPal returning a verdict in favor of the buyer.  Keep in mind, the buyer never once said that they did not receive the product or the shipment so UPS insurance will not cover this. The buyer also did not state that they did not make the purchase on eBay. What the buyer said is that they did not "authorize" the charge on their credit card.  In effect, the buyer claims they did not authorize the charge but still received the product has not returned the product, has not been directed to return the product by PayPal and will not answer any calls or emails from the seller.  The buyer has stolen the merchandise with PayPal's blessings and help.  PayPal will not elaborate about what their "investigation" revealed but they have no problem in insisting that the seller is responsible.

Cornerstone is dumbfounded by this turn of events.  They paid fees to PayPal to process and verify authorization on this payment, they followed the rules and they shipped a quality product.  Cornerstone paid for the item, the shipping, insurance, and fees to both eBay and PayPal and they get what in return?  The privilege of paying not once for a stolen item but twice because they are without the goods and the payment.

Richard and Connie Carpenter no longer feel that they can trust the business environment on eBay.  They both tried very hard to understand the various problems that have been presented over the last year by eBay and now PayPal but this last 90 day torture test was the end for them.  They can not trust PayPal to accept payments and verify them and if you do not accept PayPal payments you can not do business on eBay.  The eBay system has failed this small business.

I am in complete agreement with Richard and Connie's decision to walk away from eBay.  While I know that eBay works well for many sellers it also has become less hospitable for new small business sellers like Cornerstone Commercial Supply.

eBay is a very complicated and diverse marketplace with numerous minefields and seller traps to avoid.  Small business sellers like Connie and Richard, who sell high dollar items need more protection from PayPal and less restrictive rules from eBay.   If eBay insists PayPal be the only form of payment, they must make that payment golden.  When sellers like Cornerstone can not trust PayPal to make good when PayPal makes the mistake of not verifying the credit card of a buyer, a process the seller has no access to or responsibility for, then they can not trust PayPal and thus can not sell on eBay.

What Now?

iBusinessLogic has already started a new website for Cornerstone Commercial Supply.  We have not developed the site out completely but now that the client will have more time to devote to the stand alone website we will be working on this aspect of the business more.  One plan would include moving the eBay inventory to Bonanzle and integrating that inventory into the Cornerstone website explained further here: Bonanzle Shopping Cart Solution.

New Cornerstone Website by: iBusinessLogic.com

In many cases, especially in the past, eBay was the most effective way to bring small business to market on the Internet. In this case, with many different variables and reasons it just has not proven to be the best solution for Cornerstone.

Today it is even more important for small businesses to establish themselves online with their own web site presence.  Simply placing all of your faith and trust into one huge outside venue like eBay or Amazon is not a smart business decision.  If your business model works online, it should be established with its own URL and website.  Control of your brand, your product, your sales and your customers then lies in your hands, not with someone else.

I hope to update my readers with the transition of Cornerstone to Bonanzle (if we follow that plan).  We already know through previous experience that Bonanzle is a very friendly, Search Engine optimized and easy site to manage.  As a shopping cart solution it could not be easier for a small business to utilize. Payment options include Google Checkout, PayPal, Checks, Money Transfer, or almost any form of payment available.  When these attributes are combined with the advantages of having a stand alone business website with the freedom and control necessary to present your business as you want your customers to see it, we feel the solution fits the need of small businesses.

I am personally saddened by the turn of events between Cornerstone and eBay.  It was largely my advice that sent Cornerstone on this path yet they do not blame me for these events or the result. As such I cherish the trust this client has placed in me to help them find the best way forward and the am inspired by the clients understanding that I could never have predicted all of the various changes and oddities that eBay has thrown at them in the last year.

We will bring Cornerstone the success they deserve online - it just wont be on eBay.

10,000 Users

Bonanzle is an online market where buyers and sellers get together to exchange merchandise in  stress free friendly atmosphere.

Today, as I write this article, Bonanzle reached a milestone.

Bonanzle is barely 6 months young, oh what an interesting six months. 

New Categories

Google Base

Cleaning up

Bulk Editing

Bonanzle

It is no secret that I have been enamored with the Bonanzle website for several months now. 

For a list of some of the articles I have written in the last several months look here: TA Journal - Bonanzle.

In those past articles many of the positive features of the site have been covered in depth.

I just plain like Bonanzle.

I am not alone with my adulation... Other sources have pronounced Bonanzle as a very appealing selling platform.

• Randy Smythe - My Blog Utopia
• eCommerce Guide - Best We've Seen
• AuctionBytes - Simplicity Sells
• AuctionWally - Walt Kolenda - Started the Bonanzle Brainstorming Show 

While I and many others are very enthusiastic about the platform that Bill Harding and Mark Dorsey are building at Bonanzle.com, there are some aspects of the site which could be improved.  Bill and Mark have done an amazing job with the site thus far and they are continuing to improve the site on a daily basis but with almost any startup there are some obvious features which can be seen from the outside, which may be missed internally. With Bonanzle the list is unusually short, and getting shorter each day. In fact, by the time you read this article, my list may be non-existent.  Bill Harding is a fast developer! 

Bonanzle Needs

• Invoicing and Checkout - Bonanzle must improve the Invoicing and checkout functions for merchants on the site.  At this time there is no easy way to determined who has paid and who has not. Which items have been paid and need to ship, packing lists generation or pull ticket capability would be great also but the most deficient part of the sales process is the lack of invoicing capability.  There is no provision in the sellers control panel to re-invoice buyers who have not paid. I realize most of the payment processing heavy lifting work is done by PayPal or Google Checkout, but unless the buyer selects those options, want to pay with a check or money order, or if they simply do not reply, there is no way to send a follow up invoice short of a direct email or message.  An invoicing tool is big on the wishlist here.
• Better shipping options - calculated shipping and International calculated shipping (Bill, contact me if you want a great third party solution for this). Recently Bonanzle announced a new International flat rate shipping option but in today's ever changing world, flat rate shipping can be difficult for sellers to absorb cost changes which in some cases happen over night.
• Affiliate Program - Bonanzle has announced an affiliate program, I have not reviewed any details as yet but in any case this is a good thing.  As I have written before here, I think it is essential for the growth of the site.  Affiliates are the lifeblood of any successful online marketing effort, Bonanzle is no exception. Merchants on the site should be prepared to pay for the efforts of affiliates and be more than happy to contribute. Without a strong affiliate program eBay would never have become what it has today. Please remember that.

Bonanzle Buyers Want One Thing More Than Any Other This Holiday Season

Buyers 

To their credit I would like to add that Bill and Mark at Bonanzle have done more in a shorter period of time to optimize the site for Internet Search than almost any other platform yet devised.  The site was built from the ground up with this goal in mind. Every Bonanzle Booth owner has access to an easy Google Base upload feature and with a small upgrade subscription to Bonanzle, can use Google Analytics to optimize their booth for search.  Other back end functions on the site indicate it has been built for search from the ground up and these development efforts are some of the reasons why many "experts" are very high on this site known a Bonanzle.

Lets talk about what can be done to improve...

Being found in search is a big part of the battle, but what entices today's buyer to try a new and unheard of website when shopping online?  Many of us remember the stigma that was associated with selling on eBay in the early days. People just assumed eBay sellers were crooks or worse... eBay has shaken off much of that stigma over the years but even they have not done a great job of offering good reasons for buyers to feel comfortable with the buying process on their site.  So what to do? How do we get buyers to believe?

Most of this falls on the Merchants at Bonanzle - The site could provide some tools, but the buyers are doing business with the seller, not Bonanzle.  Sellers must take responsibility for making the sale and following up with their customers.

• Provide clear and complete details on who you are - how you can be found if something goes wrong, and how you may be contacted for business purposes (your business address and your telephone number).  This can all be done in a very clear and concise privacy policy displayed on a page connected with each booth.  Each booth owner will have different parameters in their Privacy Policy therefore it is not a one size fits all document.  Buyers look for some sort of business like behavior from sellers, this would go a long way to allay any initial skepticism regarding making a purchase on a new site.  I know many sellers do not wish to give up telephone numbers and addresses, but in today's world, and yesterday's world alike, it is part of doing business.  I do not buy from sites where I can not find any contact information, do you?
• Offer a Coupon System - Bring first time buyers back with an auto generated, seller supported coupon system.  This could be tied in with the current seller upgrades available for an additional fee. The coupons should be good for shoppers site wide, not just in a particular booth.  These coupons should be easy for sellers to print and pack in shipments or to email directly to the buyer upon payment.  The coupons should have definite end dates and be something unique that will inspire the buyer to return to Bonanzle.

• Focus on a Niche - Many new sellers start out selling online with the idea that they want to be the next Walmart or Five and Dime. Offering everything under the sun in one place online only tends to scatter your efforts to the wind in regards to search.  Finding a specific and tightly connected group of products to offer, either new or used, is the best way to attract buyers who are actually looking for what you have to offer.  On the recent and inaugural Brainstorming with Bonanzle Talkshoe program with AuctionWally, one caller said she was refocusing her product line of used clothing and has determined that she will sell only used plus sized women's jeans.  This is an outstanding plan of action for that seller. She is familiar with the product because she has sold used clothing for some time, she has a source of supply and better yet she can offer something she knows people are looking for.  Find a very tight niche and drill down to a point where your Bonanzle booth will be the number one location on the Planet for one thing or one group of things. 

• Drive Your Own Traffic - Bonanzle can't do it all for you.  Setting up shop on Bonanzle or eBay or Etsy is a fine plan but the only place where it is truthful to say "Build it and they will come" is in a Field of Dreams.  Running an online store takes time and effort and most of that time and effort must be provided by the store owner.  Bonanzle has provided a wonderful system to display products which takes most of the excruciating work of setting up and maintaining an ecommerce shopping cart system off the backs of merchants.  Having a store with nothing but a checkout aisle and a cash register and some products is not the end of the story however.  You must bring in customers. Signs, advertising, community activities like sponsoring a baseball team, are all things that B&M stores do to drive customers through their doors. What are you doing?  Store owners must make a conscious decision to bring in their own customers.  This takes effort and yes, sometimes an investment.  I have promoted using an external website/blog to start funneling buyers into a Bonanzle booth.  There are other methods of traffic generation, but I believe that without a stand alone website a business owner is not really in business on the Internet.  If you do not invest in your business, you have no business! What you have is a hobby. Pay Per Click can be used, Squidoo lenses, commenting on other peoples blogs, making a Wikipedia page. There are thousands of ways to find and drive traffic to a specific location of your own determination available on the Internet.  As a Bonanzle booth owner, you must find and use just a few of these methods, if you want buyers.

To summarize

Bonanzle is an great tool for Internet sales of tangible and intangible items. The site can not be compared with eBay because it is not similar in any way other than a very fast start. If fact, I would wager that if the growth curve of eBay from day one was compared with Bonanzle's meteoric rise in these last several months, eBay may not come out the winner. 

Bonanzle is just a tool though, merchants must be the crafts person, the specialist, the person in charge. As a merchant you must know how to use the tools available.  Simply owning a chain saw does not make the owner into a log sculptor.  Having a Bonanzle Booth does not make you into a Internet Marketing genius. Buyers need to feel safe, they need to feel appreciated and they need to find exactly what they are looking for.  Give buyers what they want.

There are improvements which could be made to the site and to each and every Bonanzle booth on the site (including mine).  The message is that these improvements are being made by Bonanzle's Bill Harding and Mark Dorsey. What are you doing to help?  How will you improve? What will you do today to bring just one extra shopper into your booth and thus onto Bonanzle?