Steve Woda's Blog

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Google’s Universal Gadgets

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On November 6, 2006

In buySAFE, eCommerce, Google, Web/Tech

Buysafeshoppinggooglegadget Last month, Google expanded their Gadget product so that you can now add Google Gadgets to any web page on the Internet.  The Google Universal Gadget is a big step beyond the previous incarnation that simply allowed you to add the Google Gadgets to your Google Homepage and Desktop.  I didn’t notice this improvement when it was first expanded, so I am bit late to the game.  However, I wanted to point it out to you because I love the product.

Interested developers can build Universal Gadgets by using Google’s API, and then users can take the Google Gadget and put it on any web page.

Here is an example using buySAFE’s Google Gadget.  All I had to do was go the buySAFE Shopping Google Gadget page, tailor the look and feel of the Gadget, and then cut and paste the following HTML code into my post.

<script src=”http://gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://www.
buysafeshopping.com/bss_module.xml&up_showSearch=1&
up_showCategories=1&up_showWatchList=1&up_searchTerm
=diamond&up_category=-1&up_lowprice=&up_highprice=&
up_sellerName=&up_sort=1&synd=open&w=320&h=450&
title=buySAFE+Shopping&border=%23ffffff%7C0px%2C1px
+solid+%23595959%7C0px%2C1px+solid+%23797979%7C0px
%2C2px+solid+%23898989&output=js”></script>

Voila! The buySAFE Shopping Gadget is up and running on my blog page.  Go ahead and do a quick buySAFE Shopping search via the Gadget below.  In my opinion, this is very cool.

It was very easy to create the buySAFE Shopping Google Gadget, and some developers are reporting that it can take less than 5 minutes to create simple Gadgets.  Check it out and have fun!

Related links:
“Google Universal Gadgets for your website released” by Jason S
“Add and Embed Google Universal Gadgets Modules to Websites and Blogs” by My Digital Life

The “Beltway Money Man”

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On October 19, 2006

In buySAFE, Core Capital, Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital

Forbes Magazine recently called Core Capital‘s Jonathan Silver the "Beltway Money Man".  Jonathan is an investor in buySAFE and on our Board of Directors, and so I thought the article was a pretty interesting read.  Here is the link to "Beltway Money Man: Jonathan Silver".

buySAFE Announces New Partnership With Travelers

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On October 16, 2006

In buySAFE, eBay, eCommerce, Liberty Mutual, Marketing, Overstock.com, Surety Bonds, The Hartford, TIAS, Travelers, Trust and Safety, Web/Tech

Today, buySAFE announced a new partnership with The St. Paul Travelers Companies, one of the largest financial institutions in the world with more than $113 billion in assets.

Travelers_logo_1

The new Travelers relationship adds another major U.S. financial institution to buySAFE’s growing team of business partners.  The Hartford Financial Services Group and The Rutherfoord Companies are major investors in buySAFE, and in 2005, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company joined with buySAFE to provide significant surety bond capacity for buySAFE’s rapidly growing business on eBay, Overstock.com, and TIAS.

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eBay Feedback Farms Undermine Feedback Ratings System

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On October 15, 2006

In buySAFE, eBay, eCommerce, Economics, Online Fraud, Portable Trust & Reputation Signals, Trust and Safety

Last week, Ina Steiner documented the basic story of ‘Feedback Farms’ on eBay.

I have to be honest, these scams continue to amaze me, and one has to conclude that these scams are damaging and undermining the entire feedback/merchant rating system.  If fraudsters can so easily create feedback/merchant ratings in the thousands, then buyers will have to increase their vigilance online.  From a buyer’s point of view, it continues to be more and more difficult to truly discern good from bad.

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Legendary VC and Entrepreneur, Vinod Khosla, on Entrepreneurship

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On October 13, 2006

In Entrepreneurship, Steve Woda, Venture Capital

I recently spoke at Wharton, and one of the students asked if I could periodically post on my experiences as an entrepreneur.  I thought it was a great idea, and so here is my first of many thoughts on entrepreneurship.

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What is a “Market for Lemons”?

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On September 28, 2006

In buySAFE, eBay, eCommerce, Economics, Online Fraud, Portable Trust & Reputation Signals, Steve Woda, Trust and Safety

Lemonforsale_1 I have had a number of eBay merchants write me about a post that I made earlier this week suggesting that eBay seems to be displaying the early signs of a Market for Lemons problem (Some would argue it is far beyond the beginning stages, but I will let you debate that with your comments below).

Without focusing on eBay or eCommerce in general, it has been requested that I illustrate a simple example of how a “Market for Lemons” develops.  Obviously, there is a lot of academic research on this subject (I posted a Wharton case study by Dr. Eric Clemons earlier this week, and you won’t want to miss it since it discusses eBay’s challenges in greater depth.), and almost everybody has heard the “Market for Lemons” term utilzed at some point.  Wikipedia provides a basic overview of the Market for Lemons economic concept, so I won’t regurgitate what you can read elsewhere.

In short, the “The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism” is a paper written by George Akerlof in 1970 that describes what happens to markets that suffer from information asymmetry problems.  Ultimately, Dr. Akerlof won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001 (along with Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz) for his analysis of markets with information asymmetry.  While I was at Wharton, I was fascinated by the implications of this research on eCommerce marketplaces.

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What’s Wrong With eBay? It’s Simple Economics

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On September 27, 2006

In buySAFE, eBay, eCommerce, Economics, Marketing, Online Fraud, Steve Woda, Trust and Safety

What’s wrong with eBay?  Before I answer this question, you should download this Wharton case study by Dr. Eric Clemons of The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.  Dr. Clemons is one of the world’s most renowned experts on information economics, and this case study is currently being taught at Wharton this semester.  It goes into great detail discussing eBay’s current challenges, and I believe you will find it insightful.

Okay back to the question…  What’s wrong with eBay?

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Fall 2006 PESA (Professional eBay Sellers Alliance) Summit in San Francisco, CA

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On August 21, 2006

In Amazon.com, buySAFE, ChannelAdvisor, eBay, eCommerce, Google, Infopia, PayPal, PESA

The Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA) has announced that its Fall 2006 Summit will take place in San Francisco, California on 9/20/06 – 9/22/06.  I have attended three or four PESA Summits, and they are always fabulous events.  The attendees list includes many of eBay’s largest merchants, and since most of them run fairly large multi-channel operations, these sellers also represent some of the most successful small and medium e-commerce retailers in the world.  Many of the largest e-commerce service providers will also be in attendance including eBay, Google, Overstock.com Auctions, Amazon.com, PayPal, buySAFE, ChannelAdvisor, and Infopia.  Therefore, the Summit is a great business development event as well.

If you haven’t registered for the event, you should do so quickly.  The event is limited to the first 300 registrants.  You can register at PESA’s website.

Top 10 Tips to Avoid Phishing Scams and Identity Theft

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On August 20, 2006

In buySAFE, eBay, eCommerce, Online Fraud, PayPal, Trust and Safety, Web/Tech

Earlier this week, I posted on the subject of eBay and PayPal phishing email scams.  It is impossible to completely protect yourself from the bad actors, but I wanted to share with you my recommendations on how to protect yourself from these types of scams.  The following are my top 10 tips on how to avoid phishing scams and identity theft:

1) Never click on the hyperlinks in emails
The text you see as an email hyperlink may be cloaked or hidden.  The cloaked hyperlink could take you to a website that you weren’t planning to visit.  If you aren’t completely sure of the source of the email, you should simply retype the URL directly into your browser.  This is one of the best ways to avoid fake hyperlinks and the threats associated with phishing emails.

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buySAFE Hits the 3 Million Bonded Product Listings Milestone

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On August 18, 2006

In buySAFE, eBay, eCommerce, Overstock.com, TIAS

There is big buySAFE news this week.  buySAFE passed the 3 million bonded product listings milestone.  The announcement was made on the buySAFE blog earlier this week.

This is exciting because it means that there are more than 3 million items for sale at buySAFE Shopping and bonded by buySAFE.  The Bonded Items can be found on eBay, Overstock.com Auctions, and TIAS.  In a few weeks, you will begin to see Bonded Items direct from merchants’ website stores.  Obviously, the more Bonded Items avaiable for sale, the better the experience for shoppers looking to buy safely.  Therefore, this exciting news for everyone.

Congratulations to the entire buySAFE team!  Nice work.

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