Tag Archives: Trading Assistant Journal

What to say about eBay? How about Goodbye…

Featured

Posted on by
4

Obviously I have been at a loss for words about eBay for some time.  My passion for the platform has waned, I no longer follow what happens or what rules have changed or why the fee structure has gone here or there, on a day to day basis.  It is just too time consuming and really the return for me is not equitable.

I ended my eBay oriented services about 6 months ago and I have turned away clients who only want help to start selling on eBay as a business.

I do this simply because it does not help me or my reputation to be associated with the name eBay.  I know that is a strong statement, and that a lot of fine people make a good living by providing training and advise and third party tools to the eBay selling marketplace... I commend all of you who keep up the fight. Continue reading “What to say about eBay? How about Goodbye…” »

What is Scott Pooler Doing Now? – Part 1 – Bonanzle and BonanzleStore

Posted on by
1

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

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 .

As a venue Bonanzle has many advantages for sellers.

Simplicity, Social interaction, seller camaraderie, ease of use, customer service from the founder himself... Bonanzle has a lot to like.

When a new merchant comes to Bonanzle from eBay or elsewhere, they are usually struck with the speed and ease of use of this well laid out platform.  From the very first day of operations, this site has been clean and quick both on the front end and on the back end where merchants spend most of their time.

The speed of listing product, either one at a time, or through a bulk upload and then a bulk editor (both included) is a major factor attracting merchants familiar with the multiple page listing processes of eBay. This simplicity and speed are major factors that can improve the bottom line of any seller.  The fact that there are no listing fees and only a small final value fee - if an item is sold, is another top pick on the feature list at Bonanzle.com.

Sellers are joining Bonanzle by the thousands, the growth curve of Bonanzle has been phenomenal - some say... even faster than the original eBay.

Yet with all of the great features of Bonanzle, and there are many, it struck me that the one thing that was missing from the merchant experience at Bonanzle was a home base or store. Come to think of it, at eBay the "eBayStores" product has never been a real home base or place to build a business for merchants. I say this, even though I was at one time an eBay stores promoter, designer and owner, because at eBay you had no way to bring your customer back to you.  The entire eBay Stores strategy was sold to promote the idea that a merchant could have that "home base" but in reality the home was just a temporary shelter - with high fees.

If you are starting or running an online business selling products, unless you are happy to be anonymous, it is best to build a "location" on the net. A Storefront or a business office so to speak.  A Place where your customers, new and old, can find you, and find out more about you and your business.  A place where, as a business owner, you can choose to educate the public (your customers) with more information than is included in a standard description of a product for sale.

Now I don't want to say that at Bonanzle there is no "Store". Bonanzle's "store" is called a booth. A Bonanzle Booth is a central location grouping all of your listed products together by category. The booth is great, but since it is dedicated to the Bonanzle tenants of simplicity and clean design (something I do not disagree with), a Bonanzle Booth does not lend itself to merchant branding or education of the public or much of anything more than presenting the merchants products, with 4 images and a very clean description to the outside world.  For many merchants, this may be all that they need.  For others, something a little more personal may be appropriate.

Late Summer 2009

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. Continue reading “What is Scott Pooler Doing Now? – Part 1 – Bonanzle and BonanzleStore” »

Trading Assistant Journal – Settled In To New Home – Hosted WordPress – Woo Hoo

Posted on by
Reply

This article was first published on our old location to re-direct our readers to this URL. It explains why the move was necessary and offers thanks for the experience at WordPress.com. Please excuse the re-publication but with the 301 re-directs and many readers having a new feedburner feed re-directed to this address, I thought it would be best to add the explanation here, now that we are all settled in to our new home.

Beach Host - Affordable Hosting

Beach Host - Affordable Hosting

Hosting courtesy Beach Host

Go To: http://tradingassistantjournal.com

Go To: http://tradingassistantjournal.com

The TRADING ASSISTANT JOURNAL is Now Located at http://tradingassistantjournal.com

The Trading Assistant Journal has enjoyed a long and beneficial relationship with the fine people at Automatic and WordPress.com for many years. On our end, we would happily stay here and provide great content for the WordPress.com community and our over 80,000 readers but it seems that our inability to refuse advertisements on this publication has placed us outside of the WordPress.com terms of service.

This was not really a surprise!

I have been well aware of the advertising policy at WordPress.com and I understand the reasoning behind such a policy. It has been a delicate situation between this particular blog and its host for some time. We have communicated back and forth about it and in the past WordPress.com has been kind enough to allow us to continue to offer our readers and advertisers a mix of good content and quality product offerings.

Recently this blog was suspended for a violation or violations of the WordPress.com advertising policy.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com

Guilty as charged - your Honor!

We did it, we accepted advertising - oh the ghastly truth!

Will my Mom survive the embarrassment?

Guilty of Advertising

Guilty of Advertising

Seriously, It seems that Automatic and WordPress.com may be very close to changing their position regarding advertising and I sincerely hope that they do. Advertising and monetization is the next step for any developed blog property. Blogger is the nearest competition to WordPress.com (although I consider it an inferior platform) and yet that platform is well monetized (Go figure - Google and advertising, what do they know?).

Automatic, charge me a fee, make me promise to be a good advertising publisher but let me sell my work!

Maybe someday...

Too Late For the TAJ!

In any case, it seems the decision has not come soon enough for our stay at WordPress.com. We have removed all advertising from this installation at http://allbusinessauctions.wordpress.com after Automatic was kind enough to remove our suspension and allow us to do so. Thank you for this time we needed to make the transition!

Just a note, I did not go off the handle when this blog was suspended by WordPress.com. I simply followed the instructions, backed up my data, transferred that data to a new self hosted installation, restored the data, installed the theme and set the 301 permanent redirect. I then wrote a very calm email to WordPress.com requesting the suspension be lifted so that I could:

  1. Remove the offending advertisements
  2. Extract the rest of my data from the sidebars (blocked when suspended and not exported in a database dump)
  3. Leave this permanent sticky post - re-directing readers to the new location at http://tradingassistantjournal.com

I did not fly off the handle, I did not call anyone names, I did not see this as a conspiracy. It is what it is, I knew the rules, I knew the consequences, I pushed the envelope and now I am paying the price. Time to man up and say thank you so much for the opportunity and have a nice day!

No reason at all to be angry or upset with Automatic or WordPress.com - This is the best light Content Management System in the World! I will always be a huge fan!

This little WordPress.com blog called the Trading Assistant Journal and hosted by Automatic for free all this time, gave me the opportunity to learn about online publishing in a way I would never have been so passionate about without the experience gained with this blog. I would not now know what I do about social web development and content management without this blog.

I would not be as well known, as well respected, as confident in my abilities, without the experience gained while publishing this free WordPress.com blog, So....

THANK YOU! AUTOMATIC and WordPress.com!

You gave me an opportunity which in almost all respects, changed my life. Thank you very much, I will always have fond memories of this experience.

Remember - The TRADING ASSISTANT JOURNAL is Now Located at http://tradingassistantjournal.com

The blog will live on at the new location, and the old pages will remain here for awhile to allow our readers to find us once again!

At our new location, everything looks very familiar, no dramatic changes to the format or theme of the blog, except we do have more advertising opportunities and more features available due to the expansion through extensions and plugins in the self hosted version of WordPress.

New features will be coming, and yes, we may change the look, but this is not really in the plans just yet... Mostly you will notice better image galleries, and other plugins. There really is no limit to the features that can be added to a self hosted WordPress Content Management System. You watch!

You can help us by changing all of your:

  • Bookmarks
  • Links
  • References

to:

HTTP://TRADINGASSISTANTJOURNAL.COM

THANKS To All of Our Readers and Fans!

Scott Pooler

Publisher - Trading Assistant Journal

Hello world! The Trading Assistant Journal has Moved

Posted on by
1

The Trading Assistant Journal has moved - we are no longer hosted on WordPress.com under the domain name allbusinessauctions.wordpress.com.  Please change your existing links to: http://tradingassistantjournal.com . Thanks!

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have moved the Trading Assistant Journal from WordPress.com to a self hosted WordPress installation.

Our old domain: http://allbusinessauctions.wordpress.com has been updated to:

http://tradingassistantjournal.com

Work will continue to get the blog back to its former status with all of the features and sidebar widgets (plus new features).  For now we have all of the articles imported and will work on mapping the old domain with a little luck.

Scott Pooler
Publisher

Thanks to all of our sponsors including:

merchantrun globallink
Vzaar Video Embed Tools
Vendio Platform

New Direction, Future for All Business Auctions – Reviews Anyone?

Posted on by
6

New plans are in the works for....

All Business Auctions

All Business Auctions

All Business Auctions and

All Business Auctions Blog

... these are two of my original websites.

All Business Auctions: Was the home base of my consignment business and then it became a provider of eBay related third party software and eBay stores design services.

All Business Auctions website gave me the impetus to learn how to create websites in house.

This became a priority at the time, simply because outsourcing the creation of our website was a nightmare. I went through so many local developers to get the job done, after two years of frustration and lost money I worked with my partner to develop the site in house.  We learned a lot during the process of building AllBusinessAuctions.com on Joomla! This experience gave me a real passion for Content Management Systems and brought a whole new direction and focus to my business.  The blog was started as a project to see how well WordPress could perform (I had a blogspot blog at the time)and to learn how the addition of a blog to an existing domain will bring additional organic traffic to the main website. The one two punch worked and would have been an incredible combination if it had been implemented two years prior when I originally commissioned the project with outside developers.

Since the main site was finalized much has changed in our business. The consignment operations on eBay have ceased, we are no longer a Trading Post or a Trading Assistant registered with eBay.  Changes in the landscape of third party eBay management software providers have impacted our ability to provide the AuctionLogic software and still make a reasonable profit, therefore we have ceased those operations as well.

With the changes over the last two years at eBay (much documented here and in many other online publications), running an eBay centric service company became a tenuous and formidable challenge.  One that really tested my loyalty to all that I believed about the opportunity that eBay had presented to both myself, and my clients.  It was and is difficult to think of the effort and time dedicated to an eBay only business plan.  Looking back now it seems obvious that it was pure folly to base an entire business plan upon the whims of another company.  In actuality I did not see it that way at the time because I had built All Business Auctions on the vision that we would represent several different third party eBay providers. The idea was sound when eBay had a positive growth curve, but after the eBay marketplace changed, so the interest from small businesses.

We moved on to form iBusinessLogic another service company more broadly based Internet and Web development company offering web site hosting, Content Management System web development, WordPress development, implementation and training in addition to representing many of the same third party brands in the eBay space as did All Business Auctions in the past.  iBusinessLogic is not dependent upon eBay for its revenue stream but we still have clients from the All Business Auctions period who depend upon us to help them to understand the changing landscape of eBay and in many cases to help them focus on creating a company centric branded presence on the Internet.

These changes have left me with a quandary about what to do with the All Business Auctions name and the two sites associated with it.  The blog has experienced good traffic from the start and has been linked to from sites around the Internet.  As anyone who has studied how WordPress blogs bring in organic traffic knows, the regular addition of content is key to maintaining a healthy blog.  What to write about when eBay is no longer the focus for the brand All Business Auctions? It has been a quandary only accentuated by the expansion of iBusinessLogic and the client work we have been blessed with since changing our focus.

What's the answer? Continue reading “New Direction, Future for All Business Auctions – Reviews Anyone?” »

Bonanzle Nearly at 50,000 Users – Poll – Service, Selection, Simplicity or Price?

Posted on by
Reply

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....

Bonanzle Action Club – Creative Word of Mouth Marketing

Posted on by
Reply

As i have written previously here on the Trading Assistant Journal, Bonanzle is the marketplace venue which has a new fresh outlook and web 2.0 feel. Part of being Web 2.0 is including community and social marketing as part of the overall business plan.  Bonanzle has taken this idea and its very enthusiastic member base and created a new type of marketing initiative.

The Bonanzle Action Club

It is a brilliant way to get the best advocates or in today's corporate speak "evangelists" to go out into the Internet universe and promote your company for free.  This particular "Action Club" is made up of 50 of the most active members/sellers of Bonanzle. These members are ready to promote the company at a moments notice and they are happy to do it simply because they are aware of the effect of community marketing.

The tasks these select members perform change from week to week. Most certainly they will be more effective as a group of 50 marketers than if they were only one or two.  It is a brilliant idea and I applaud Bill and Mark at Bonanzle for hatching it before our eyes.

Here are some of the specifics of the club:

Each week, every BAC member will be given one actionable objective to help Bonanzle grow. The task will never take more than 20 minutes of your time. Some examples of a BAC objective might include: post a comment about Bonanzle on a specific forum or blog; email a specific media person to tell them to feature the site; or Digg some article about the site.

We will email you at the beginning of each week to let you know what the week's action objective is. The objective will also show up in the list of BAC objectives (accessible via "My Bonanzle"). When you complete the objective, you check it off your list, and your karma + Bonanzle cred increase a notch.

We should be clear that joining the BAC is an important commitment. If you are considering signing up, you should be willing and ready to follow through on the objectives. We are limiting enrollment to 50 people, so that we only keep people on board who feel that Bonanzle is worth 15-20 minutes of their time per week.

I became aware of this new marketing initiative through the comments section of this blog. Suddenly I was innundated with positive comments about Bonanzle coming through my Blackberry. Apparently the Trading Assistant Journal was listed in this weeks to do list for the BAC.

Taking a cue from politics I can certainly the power of many when it comes to getting out the word, either for a company or candidate.

Congrats to Bonanzle!

eBay Links Policy Revised – Stays the Same – What?

Posted on by
Reply

eBay... Yes EBAY listened to sellers...

I know this is a shock,  just breathe deep - Take a moment to comprehend the full meaning of the statement above...

Everyone knows how much and how fervent our opposition was to the "new links policy" from eBay, announced last May.  Here are a few of our articles regarding the links policy changes proposed...

It seems the Trading Assistant Journal was not the only voice making vehement objections to the removal of links from our eBay listings and "me" pages.  And eBay has listened!  The announcement from John McDonald yesterday is a significant victory for eBay sellers and believers in social media marketing everywhere. 

Thank You eBay! and Thanks Mr. McDonald!

***A Message from John McDonald – Links Policy News for Sellers***July 31, 2008 | 10:40AM PST/PT

Hello everyone…Back in May, I announced a number of important policy changes for sellers. One of the policies I mentioned was an update to our Links Policy which governs the types of links that can be included in a listing. Our Links Policy is intended to increase safety and preserve the buying experience.

After my announcement, we received questions and concerns from sellers about this change. At eBay Live!, our staff made it clear we would be going back to reconsider some aspects of the policy around how third-party links would be treated.

As promised, we’ve been reviewing all the different types of situations that our sellers have brought to our attention, and we’ve been meeting with additional stakeholders to understand how our policy update would impact them. After this additional research and discussion, we’ve decided to leave our Links Policy as is. There will be no Links Policy updates at this time.
I want to thank our sellers for your support and patience around this matter.

Trading Assistant Journal Network on NING

Posted on by
Reply

People have asked why we do not have a forum, and to be frank, I never had a good answer.

With the amount of people following the Journal now, I thought it would be a good idea to test the waters and start an informal Network meeting place.

This place is called: Trading Assistant Journal Network

I set this up on Ning because they seem to have a lot of features not found on old style bulletin boards and forums.  If the Ning thing works, great, if not and we have interest, I will start a real hosted forum on one of my servers.

As many of you know, this site (Trading Assistant Journal) is hosted on the free WordPress.com platform.  This is where we started, and frankly I like it here.  I think we will stay on WordPress.com as long as we are welcome. Therefore, why not try a free forum to go along with our nice WordPress.com blog?

Ning does place Google adsence on the Trading Assistant Journal Network site, this is the tradeoff for free forums, and I do not see a dime from those adsence ad's.

I hope the Network will become a place of value to my readers, where they can post interesting and respectful information and share ideas with like minded people without fear of threads being removed for mentioning the wrong company, or for disagreeing with the moderator.  The only offences to cause a person or post being plucked, will be outright disrespect, foul language, or personal attacks on other members of the Network. None of us have time for these things.

So, take a look, give it a whirl, post a hello... If you like it, stay, if not... OK

There will never be any dues to join other than participating in the conversation...

Lets Talk!

http://tradingassistantjournal.ning.com/

eBay Feedback Comes With Warning Label

Posted on by
Reply

Feedback Warning

This is a Warning Label

Whenever feedback is left - This pop up blanks out the screen and the buyer must click on the image to remove it.

If you read between the lines, this label reads as a warning to all sellers...

What does it say to you?

As a seller does it tell you...

  • To Trust eBay?
  • That your open to extortion now more than ever?
  • Your business should diversify?
  • That eBay thinks buyers are, or should be, afraid of sellers?
  • Feedback is no longer a reason to shop or sell on eBay?
  • Years of hard earned feedback history is meaningless now?

If your a positive person... Do you think this pop up image, shown to each and every buyer you have or will ever have, every time they choose to leave feedback, is a good thing?

Do you believe presenting the idea of fear and retaliation has a positive impact on yours or eBay's bottom line business.

Do you think any other (i.e. Amazon.com) marketplace would ever present such a powerful negative message to each and every one of its customers?

I don't think so....

feedback changes 08