Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Is Your Ecommerce Web Site Design Individualistic?

I think the single most important thing that merchants should look into when coming up with a top rate ecommerce web site design is to put themselves in their customers' shoes. I know there may be a hidden artist/individualist in every single one of us, but the businessman facet should balance that streak of individualism.

For example, you may want to come up with unique design that you hope your customers will appreciate. Complexity in ecommerce web site design requires that you use Flash and other programs that may cause lag time. Can your customers afford to wait for a website to load in exchange of a good design that you hope they will appreciate?

Ecommerce web site design isn't also just about the graphical aspect of an online store. Whatever content you put in it matters. Veer away from what your customers think as relevant to what they need, then your traffic will go down. That includes, among other things, written content.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Selling Holiday Humor in eBay

A holiday shopper's ecommerce shopping cart still won't be full without humorous gifts in it. If you're the type who indulges in selling funny novelty items, try setting up your own little gag store in eBay. The more ridiculous your items, the better!

Online, there are infinite possibilities. How you come up with ideas to fill what's missing in your ecommerce shopping cart is up to you.

For example, you can capitalize on people wanting to give gifts but do not have any ideas on what to pick for their loved ones. eBay has pretty much all the crazy items one can put in an ecommerce shopping cart such as fart machines, fake prank toys, magic trick items, decals and license plates with funny messages such as "Beware of the Mad Lawyer", fake lottery ticket jackpots, noisemaker toys, etc. On top of my funny list is the "Paper Money Toilet Tissue Roll for Millionaires". It sure makes the receiver of the gift practically feel like a "High Roller" when taking a dump! (ha-ha).

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Reselling Tickets on Ecommerce Web Site - The Accidental Business

A lot of people who like going to events -- concerts, sports, theater, holidays, comedy shows -- sometimes buy more tickets than they need. Others who buy tickets through a ticket brokering ecommerce web site find out soon that they are not able to use the tickets because something unexpected comes up. So inevitably they are forced to sell the tickets to someone else who might be interested.

The question is, how? People who are not into brokering tickets complain of the following:

1. I don't know how to resell tickets
2. I don't have time to haggle with friends or relatives who are likely to buy
3. I don't want to scalp tickets (legally questionable)
4. I don't know how to put up ads in an ecommerce web site

When this is the case, the accidental ticket seller must choose between the least of all the evils. That is, to resell the tickets online. This obviously is a lot better than the other options because not only it saves you time, you can also have the tickets bid for a higher price. Your tickets are advertised 24/7, and you don't have to be a geek to do it.

Anyone who knows how to read can easily resell tickets on eBay or craigslist. If you've experienced some success, you may also try reselling to other events marketplaces such as Ticketmaster, Ticket Web, Stub Hub, or ABC Tickets. Or better yet someday, you can put up your own ticket reselling ecommerce web site yourself!