Well mummy pig went online (really!) and searched the internet, found the one they wanted then ordered and paid for one all on the computer. Does this remind you of anything you may have bought online?  The next day the toy cupboard arrived.

What should this say for your online business?

Well firstly if ordering online is normal for a kids cartoon you can bet its normal for all…. so is your business keen to take customer payments and orders, if not why not?

The customer wants to search through great images of your products, if they are unable to see what the product looks like so they can envisage it working for them, why would they buy from you?

Payment needs to be simple, clear and easy – so make sure you dont have loads of different forms to go through.

Keep delivery simple, can it be either a fixed price OR even better free?

When anyone orders online they expect the products immediately – can you offer next day delivery?

So if you are concerned I have 6 top tips to help you stay safe online;

What is the site Name?
I always check the website spelling and the URL, quite often scam sites will use a URL which is very similar to the actual brand/business you want.

Are there any site reviews?
This is one I love, why not Google the company name and see what comes up, you can guarantee unless it is a new business someone somewhere will have had something to say about the business, good or bad.

What is the contact address?
If a site doesn’t have an actual postal address on it, and I don’t mean a PO Box don’t use them – simple, for me if they want my address but won’t give me theirs I ask myself what are they trying to hide?

Look for the Padlock or secure way of paying
When you come to pay for your items, check that the website has a secure way of paying either on the site or by third party – PayPal, SagePay etc…. When you complete the form with your details the web address should change to be ‘https://’ – the S signifies its secure, and you should have a padlock symbol.

Use your head when paying
If you order is over £100 then pay by Credit Card simply because you are protected by section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act (1974) and this give you as the consumer significant protection if there is a problem. If the order is under £100 then use Visa so again in the unlikely event of a problem you can use the Visa chargeback plan.

Keep the Receipt
When you have paid, keep the proof – setup a separate folder in your email for the confirmation of order emails

Follow these tips and they should help you avoid the scammer and shop happily and safely online.

1. Sell to Existing customers
It should go without saying that people buy from people they know and already have a relationship with, so keep in touch with them – REGULARY!

Why not email regular customers a special offer, buy this month and save 10% or the like, make them feel special for being your customer and keep them that way.

2. Sale to Prospects
You know the person you met and got there card, or they signed up for your newsletter? Why aren’t you emailing them, doing something that makes them want to buy from you, maybe a success story, or case study. They are a prospect simply because they are not ready to buy YET!

3. Educate
You are familiar with your product(s) but who says all your customers are? Maybe you have a video on YouTube you can link a customer to, or case study. Either way education on what you offer or how to use your products will see useful information being sent out regularly and will elevate yourself to that of a trusted advisor which is very important.

4. Build Relationships
To build a good relationship will take your time and effort and one tool to do this is Email marketing simply by staying in touch on a regular basis, if you don’t your competitors surely will.

5. Retain Top Dog status
You are likely to already know the customer or prospect so you don’t need to convince them to buy, you need to build that relationship so when they are ready they will come knocking on your door.

Email marketing is a fabulous low cost tool for keeping you name in front of customers who by its very nature have asked to be educated and asked for you to keep your business name in front of them; do you need any more persuasion?

1. Check out the price comparison website MySupermarket which lets you compare the big four supermarkets with online shopping and price check as well as compare offers, its fast easy and free.

2. So you shop online do you? Why not get paid to shop using a site like QuidCo, all you do is register then search for the shop you want and then buy through their links. You make your cut through the cashback that QuidCo gets from the retailer, and this can be as high as 10%.

3. Freecycle revolution has swept the country in the last few years; Freecycle groups match people who have things they want to get rid of with people who can use them. So why not check it out yourself at http://www.uk.freecycle.org/.

4. Those savvy online shoppers know there is always a deal to be had and one of the best is getting hold of a voucher code (I have just bought a cooker from Comet – 10% off) – check it out yourself, one I like is www.vouchercodes.co.uk.

5. The deregulation of the UK energy market has had a positive effect for all UK consumers, we have saved an average of £78 per household for Gas according to the UK Audit Office*. If you have switched or if you haven’t looked recently and checked you are on the best deal you really should, so try the in my opinion the best USwitch.

6. lets you make free unlimited phone calls using the internet to other Skype users and offers great rates on calls to all landlines and mobile phones. The software is free to download, you don’t have to pay a subscription fee and its fully integrated into the Three mobile network so you can call from/to Three for Free.

7. Those TV programs from when you were young, a crap night on the telly? Never mind you have YouTube, the place where you can find just about anything to watch, be it my favourite Ivor The Engine who remembers that? Or why not check out the Channel 4 channel here.

8. You don’t need to visit HMV or the like for your music; you can get it free and online by using the music streaming service Spotify. The only crux to the free service is that you need an invite, so get tweeting and ask for one as you can then have access to over 6 million tracks free – you just have to listen to adverts OR you can pay £9.99 a month for an advert free service.

9. Most of use have a car, and we all alike cheap petrol, so a good site to use is PetrolPrices.com, you register and add your postcode and it will list the cheapest stations in your area for Petrol, Diesel and LPG and you can sign up for email notifications also.

10. Last and by no means least when you are online and looking for stuff just compare prices, I use Google shopping which is a link in the top left of the Google home page, it’s simple to use and lets you search by price or shop, you have no excuse!

*source Gas Warehouse http://www.gas-warehouse.co.uk/

What many people aren’t aware of is their Associate program that actually lets a website owner ‘tap into’ the Amazon success and promotes the products from Amazon on their website. The site is really simple to use and has such a wide variety of products you can’t fail to find something to link to, everything from Jewellery to CD’s even music downloads.

Product box and text links

Text links one their own.

There are also great tools for integrating into your site, from simple product links to full blown stores, yes you can create your own store, take a look at these two.

My Blog Store

WesternRunner online store

I personally use Amazon a lot I find it easy and simple, a good reporting tool and although it doesn’t make huge amount of money it does provide a small and useful ancillary income.

Amazon Associates advantages:
• there is a huge choice of products to choose from
• reliable payment system
• options for different payment types for both you and the customer
• I find it very easy to use
• a massive variety of linking tools
• Amazon are a well regarded brand and trusted by consumers

Amazon Associates disadvantages:
• only quarterly payments (many other programs are monthly such as Adsense)
• commissions can be lower than some other programs (although they have an incentive/bonus program that increases the % when you sell certain targets)
• some of their buttons and link methods can look a bit dated

I have written previously about eBay selling here

My thoughts on eBay for 2010 here
(*source Interbrand http://www.interbrand.com)

Looking back at the most read stories on my blog this year, it seems readers have been concentrating on local issues, with Christmas worryingly popular even in September. A review of the Charity Social Media Seminar also proved very popular.

July: Twitter Case Study – Westfield Shopping Centre London
If you haven’t been you need to, this is a new and simply massive shopping centre in West London, also with a dedicated social media presence I can highly recommend a visit.

August: Dawlish Airshow 2009 – The Devon Air Ambulance
The Airshow in Dawlish is one of my highlights of the summer, and when the Devon Air Ambulance popped in to say hello we weren’t disappointed.

September: The three signs you know Christmas is coming to Exeter
One of my favourites I have to say, the question to be asked is September to early, well I think so don’t you?

October: Debenhams outlet on eBay and Amazon
As a keen ‘eBayer’ this is something I have watched with interest, they aren’t the first big store onto eBay and Amazon and I don’t think they will be the last.

November: Charity Social Media Seminar in Exeter
A great event that certainly got lots of feedback and comments, it’s good to work with the charitable sector and this was certainly no exception.

December: Should I buy Life Insurance, do I need Life Insurance?
Boring yes I know, but if you have a family you need some, well I think so anyway so why not blog about it.

Other Favourites

Vulcan to the Sky XH558

The Victoria and Albert Museum

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So as we move into 2010 I am left asking how will eBay change in 2010, where is it going? You can’t fail to have read about the major brands setting up shop in eBay and I guess that leaves me asking where is this all going, is eBay simply going to be a place to buy branded goods at lower prices (sometimes) or just one big free for all car boot sale – for want of a better word, and it has to be said the world’s biggest!

Well I don’t know the answer to that question and with everything I read online I don’t think eBay do, as a private seller and buyer since March 2000 I can certainly say I have no idea.

I’m not sure anymore – and I’m not sure they are sure themselves anymore, either does this matter to me as a private seller? I don’t think so. If I was a major brand though I think this would be a different matter, as quick as the like of Debenhams and Tesco have jumped in they can leave and if you alienate the private sellers in the process that leaves eBay in a bit of a pickle.

Happy New Year everyone…..

See also – eBay what’s it all about, should you use it to sell? – my take on it

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Surely the internet has proved to be a great place for anyone and everybody to remember someone and build some kind of profile to that, take the eternal moonwalk a place where you to can be like Michael Jackson and upload your 10 second tribute for all to see. Or maybe we should remember on these cold days back to the sunny Dawlish Airshow and the Devon Air Ambulance as well as the simply amazing Vulcan surely an awesome machine.

So my top posts of the year are;

Online food delivery, progress or a killer of the local village shop? a really important question for the community we live in that surely really needs us all to support these village amenities so they dont disappear for good.

Twitter case study – Westfield Shopping Centre this has to be one of the most amazing shopping centres i have been to. Indeed i dont think the words ‘shopping centre’ does it justice, and with a fab social media strategy they are definately one to follow.

The Importance of Quality Photography for your websiteand this is my business, helping people get the most from their website and imagery i think is so important and quite often overlooked.

And finally worthy of mention is the post five ways for a business to get its social networking right, a fact so often overlooked.

So Merry Christmas to all my readers from 2009 and heres to 2010 if you’ve liked what i’ve written or even hated it please leave a comment i dont mind.

Alistair
x

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I am now beginning to question whether I shall continue to use eBay as I have experienced a number of issues with the site and them recently which leads me to think there are better options out there,

Integration between eBay and PayPal
I work in the Internet Industry and I have to say the payment gateway between these two is rubbish, simple as that, they clearly haven’t read any sort of documentation of attaching a shopping cart and making it work properly.
Fees
In recent months the fees for private sellers have gradually crept up to such an extent now that small items being sold, you really have to question if it’s worth it. The fees are structured with an insertion fee and a final value fee and the ‘optional’ upgrade fees and payment fees.
Insertion Fee Private Seller fee
£0.01 – £0.99 No fee
£1 – £4.99 £0.15
£5 – £14.99 £0.25
£15-£29.99 £0.50
£30.00 – £99.99 £1
£100 + £1.30

Final Value Fee
If the item doesn’t sell then no final value fee, just the insertion fee
If the item sells for £0.01 and above you pay eBay 10.0% of the amount of the winning bid, up to a maximum Final Value Fee of £40.00
And then to add insult to this process if the buyer uses eBay, yet more fees, these are currently quoted at up to 3.4% plus 20p per transaction.

Private Seller Support
I have had a number of issues recently with chargebacks and Postal strike issues and I have to say the support I was offered by eBay and PayPal was poor at best, so be warned.

Also check out my post Debenhams Outlet on eBay.

In future posts i shall cover some other options for you that may suit you better.

2 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
Surely THE game of the year – The game has secured more than 15 perfect score reviews, and more than 50 combined Editor’s Choice and Game of the Year awards, for pricing i have chosen the Xbox 360 prices.
Amazon £35.39free delivery
Play £39.99free delivery

3 – Wii Fit Plus
I have Wii Fit and its great, for me it comes as no surprise that the Wii Fit Plus is number one in many lists as THE Christmas gift.

The Wii Fit Plus offers a variety of new features and you’ll be able to customise your own workout routine and choose 20, 30, or 40 minute workouts depending on how much time you have available.
Toys R Us £16.49 – BUT they charge £4.95 delivery
Tesco and Amazon offer this for £16.71 free delivery
Play £17.99 – free delivery

So there you go my top three with where i have found to be the best place to buy them, have a great Christmas !!