Microsoft has finally launched its Windows Live Expo. eBay now has to consider not just the competitive threat of Google and its Google Base, but now Microsoft as well. Although 2005 was a very interesting year for eCommerce, I believe 2006 is going to be even more exciting. Obviously, the Live Expo site is brand new, and so the functionality and inventory of listings is still pretty light. However, like almost everything that Microsoft decides to tackle, I expect Live Expo will ultimately be a decent eCommerce channel at some point soon. For every eCommerce entrepreneur that makes a living selling online and for every company that supports these online merchants, the additional online competition is likely to bring new opportunity and decreased dependencies/risk. For most of us, Microsoft’s entry is a positive event.
Author: stevewoda
If you haven’t been to eBay Live! before, you don’t know what you are missing. It is an amazing experience. Lot’s of eBay buyers, sellers and employees, and every major third party service provider you can think of. It is a good time, and a great business opportunity. This year, the event moves to Las Vegas, and I highly encourage you to attend if you can make it.
If you are interested in joining us at eBay Live!, I want to give you a couple of quick suggestions to help you make the most of your trip…
1) Do your homework, and plan out how you are going to leverage the experience ahead of time. Besides the official eBay Live! site, one of the best resources you will find on the event is the Going to eBay Live! 2006 blog. The blog is published by a number of eBay sellers, and they are the real pros. I promise you that their experienced view of eBay will be helpful for you. You might enjoy their perspective on the craziness of eBay Live! as well.
2) Attend the classes. eBay Live! is a terrific educational opportunity, and we can all learn something new about this dynamic eCommerce channel. There is something for everyone.
3) Make sure you make it to the 4th Annual eBay Live! Meet & Greet Party on 6/12 at The Beach Las Vegas . The party aims to pull the eBay community together the night before things really get going. There is an interesting history behind the event, and I promise you that you will meet new friends and renew old acquaintances. Again, the party is a blast, so don’t miss it.
4) Visit as many of the exhibitor booths as you can. The eBay marketplace is extremely robust, and one of the major reasons for its success is the eBay community including the third party service providers. The exhibitors at eBay Live! represent all facets of the eBay ecosystem, and by visiting booths and asking lots of questions, you will inevitably learn something new about your business, the marketplace, and how you might be more successful in 2006. I encourage you to stop by and say hello to us at buySAFE. We will be at Booth #831.
I look forward to meeting you at eBay Live! in Las Vegas. Don’t miss it!
buySAFE has had some very nice press lately. One of my favorite blogs is Brian Smith’s ComparisonEngines.com, and he recently did a nice piece at ComparisonEngines.com on buySAFE and how important trust is to comparison shopping search. Since founding buySAFE, I have believed that buySAFE is a perfect compliment to merchant ratings in the search process because reducing the friction of uncertainty inevitably leads to better conversion metrics, and therefore, more profits for the search firms and merchants. It is nice to see a few smart folks agree.
Also, buySAFE recently had an opportunity to live up to its brand promise (Know who to trust….Guaranteed) when one of eBay’s top rated sellers went out of business. buySAFE was able to quickly step up to the plate and financially protect GlacierBayDVD’s buyers after thousands had been left holding the bag. Rob Hof of Business Week was apparently one of the unfortunate shoppers, and he covered the experience in his blog. Thankfully, buySAFE was able to help him out as well.
GoDaddy.com is a controversial company, but I think GoDaddy’s Super Bowl viral marketing campaign is pretty creative. As you may already know, GoDaddy was given the stiff arm by ABC repeatedly in its attempt to advertise in this year’s Super Bowl. Last year’s ad was fairly risque, and ABC was determined to not to repeat that mistake again this year. GoDaddy submitted thirteen versions of their ad before finally getting ABC’s approval.
The viral marketing campaign must be working because I received two emails today from friends on GoDaddy’s commercial. Very interesting. I hope you have a few laughs with the commercials as well.
Is Google planning to launch a Google Calendar? Well there are lots of folks that seem to think so. The rumor mill is working overtime with speculation that Google will make a big announcement at the Web 2.0 Conference in Palo Alto, CA on Tuesday, and all signs point to a new Google Calendar.
This would be a terrific piece of functionality in my mind…if done well. There are a lot of calendar tools out there, and most fail miserably. I recently signed up for Trumba after participating in a BzzAgent campaign, and I really like the service. I can share my calendar with friends, family and co-workers on a scheduled basis, and it syncs seamlessly with my Outlook. Overall, it is better than anything else I have found.
Still, there is a lot left to be desired, and Google might be able to provide that answer. My biggest concern about Google Calendar is whether or not it will sync with my Outlook. If it doesn’t, I probably won’t use it. Let’s hope it does.
I am a big fan of Skype. I have been using it for about 6 months now, and it has basically replaced all of my other instant messenger programs. I enjoy the fact that Skype doesn’t pollute their tool with a bunch of advertising, and I love the combined functionality of chat, phone, and conference calls. Honestly, it is head and shoulders better than all of the other chat/talk tools in my humble. I just wish it were a little more mainstream, so that more of my family and friends would feel comfortable switching as well.
This week, Skype rolled out an upgraded version of their software. Skype 2.0 is still in Beta, but it looks exciting. They have wrapped video into the software, so that you can now make video phone calls.
I haven’t upgraded my version of Skype yet, but I plan to this weekend. Once I do, I will report back with my thoughts.
Also, in another post, I will give you my thoughts on what I think about Skype and eBay. There are lots of strong opinions on the wisdom of eBay’s big investment, and I can’t help but weigh in with my own. 🙂
We launched a new version of buySAFE Shopping this week, and so far, so good. In recent weeks, the mainstream media has done a fairly nice job of covering buySAFE’s new risk-free, comparison shopping site including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, and Consumer Reports. Obviously, we are pleased.
The new site is designed to provide consumers with the safest shopping experience available anywhere on the Internet. How do we do this? buySAFE uses surety bonds to guarantee the transactions of Bonded Sellers up to $25,000 for each transaction. That’s right…If the transaction is Bonded (and on buySAFE Shopping, EVERY item is Bonded), you have nothing to worry about!
Great deals and no risk. Good stuff. I am excited to start all of my Christmas shopping at buySAFE Shopping this year!
Hi everyone. This is my first blog post. I hope to provide you with interesting commentary and news over time, and obviously, I will welcome your feedback as I develop my own style and blogging skills. As always, I will be candid with my observations. Finally, if you have interesting content or ideas that you would like me to cover, simply let me know, and I will try to cover the subject at some point in the near future.
Thanks again for vising my blog!
Steve