ShopTalk

Power Merchant Tip: Go Green

With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, online merchants can take advantage of selling on a color-based theme. That means it's time to go green! There are two ways to do it: literally and figuratively.

Take advantage of this season by putting everything Irish and green on sale. Dust off those shamrock-shaped items and highlight them in your inventory.

People all over the globe -- both the Irish and the Irish-at-heart -- celebrate the man who spent six years in slavery. The Romano-Briton and Christian missionary is recognized as the patron saint of Ireland.

Also known as Saint Paddy's Day, March 17th is believed to be the day the he passed away. It is celebrated both as a liturgical and a non-liturgical holiday in and out of Ireland.

The merriment is accompanied by Irish greetings. "Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig" is a Gaelic way of wishing someone the luck of the Irish. Of course, drinking is a must. Parades and feasts are a common sight. And the simplest way to celebrate is to don the color of the day: green. Warning: you may get pinched if you don't.

So for power merchants, start selling anything with a hint of green in them: from poker tables to shirts. Other traditional symbols of St. Patrick's Day include the shamrock and leprechauns. If you have any items with these designs, now is a good time to bring them to light.

As an alternative, you can also go green in a different way. Upsell your eco-friendly products. Today's consumer are more concerned about the environment and consider how an item was produced in their buying decision. Reusable, biodegradable and recycled are important keywords to take note of when doing an eco-friendly themed sale. 

Only 7 days left before March 17. Get on the holiday sale bandwagon as early as now and start picking out your green inventory.

Happy selling and advanced Happy St. Paddy's to you! 

Winter is Not Yet Over

While the weather in Vancouver stunned TV viewers everywhere this past Olympics (and destroyed many long-standing stereotypes about the Great White North), the rest of the world hasn’t been quite so lucky.

For those of you who have been living in a cave these last two weeks here’s a quick recap: Temperatures in Vancouver and Whistler hit record highs of around 50 degrees F. The situation got so bad that Vancouver ended up airlifting in snow at five-minute intervals so the skiing and snowboarding events could take place.  Even then, standing room tickets for the snowboarding and freestyle events were refunded because of unsafe conditions created form heavy warm RAIN washing away more than 1 foot of that precious airlifted snow. Rather ironic for a “Winter” Olympic if I say so myself (bad luck there Vancouver). 

Check out some of the pictures snapped throughout the course of the game, and if you look really closely, you might even see some snow:

 

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world...

Morale of the story: If you don’t live in Vancouver, don't pack your winter clothes just yet. There's still lots of time to sit by the warmth of the fireplace and sip some hot cocoa.

Shopster Holiday Season Support Hours

We had a busy and successful holiday season at Shopster supporting you and your online businesses, and we will be working throughout the holidays to support you further, on the schedule below.

If you have questions that arise on days we are closed, you may want to try the community or help wiki. You can always email us too and we'll get back to you as soon as we're back in the office.

We want to wish you all a happy and safe holiday season. We're looking forward to working with you all in the New Year.

Holiday support hours:

December 24th - 8am to 12pm MST
December 25th - closed
December 26th - closed
December 27th - closed
December 28th - 8am to 5pm MST
December 29th - 8am to 5pm MST
December 30th - 8am to 5pm MST
December 31st - 8am to 12pm MST
January 1st   - closed
January 2nd   - closed
January 3rd   - closed

January & Beyond with Shopster

While Shopster usually has its eyes on the horizon and is focused on staying on top new tips, tricks, & trends (so we can share them with you), we wanted to take a few moments to focus on the now, and give credit where credit is due.  So here it goes: A huge congratulations to all of our Merchants – you are knocking it out of the park this holiday season! Sales are strong, and we’re seeing more connections and business relationships being built than ever before.

But, while sales are still booming this holiday season, it’s already time to start planning for the New Year and the sales it will bring.  The good news is that eBay and other major sales channels do not see a significant drop in consumer spending in January.  This means you can continue promoting your business without having to worry that your sales will take a nosedive come January 1.  In fact, though the holiday sales season is touted as the be all end all in the world of retailing; many merchants do not experience highs and lows typical of the traditional bricks and mortar retail sales cycle.  Rather they rather enjoy consistent sales volumes year round.

Experienced eBay sellers often suggest that a Merchant’s niche and choice of sales channels are better indicators of personal sales trends than seasonality.  Take Myattic2u of advertising collectibles for instance, her take on the matter is: "While I can't speak for everyone, I don't think there is anytime that is better than another to sell on eBay….It just depends on the item and if there is more than one interested bidder out there when the item is up for auction."

So what’s this mean for you?  Sales will continue well into the New Year.  Not feeling your sales are where they should be? Remember, different niches follow different trends, so don’t rest on your laurels and wait for the next big wave to hit.  Think of products that sell in the less traditional retail months (office supplies, winter products, books).  Take stock of your business and your sales approach. Search the network for hot products to sell, scour the web for the next big trend, and spend some time testing out new marketing and merchandising ideas for your site.  This way you’ll be prepared to double or triple your offerings when your selling season picks up.

As a Shopster Member, you are a part of a growing number of Merchants looking to move beyond traditional seller and supplier relationships, an entrepreneur looking to take your sales to the next level. At 24,000 Merchants & counting, 2010 is your year, so lets keep the momentum going and make it the best one yet!

Happy Holidays,

The Shopster Team

References:

Online Sales Trends: When's the Best Time to Sell Online?

Shipping Deadlines for the Holidays

Hi Everyone

With the holiday season in full stride it’s important that you keep in mind the last shipping dates to ensure orders get to your customers before Christmas. We have listed our recommended last shipping dates below, however please keep in mind that each supplier and carrier company are different.

As part of your marketing efforts, we highly recommend that you place holiday shipping dates onto your stores as it ensures that expectations are met and it has also been shown to help increase conversions.

Recommended holiday shipping dates to ensure Christmas delivery:

1. Recommended last day for standard shipping:  December 16th, 2009
2. Recommended last day for expedited shipping:  December 20th, 2009

(Please note:  These dates do not represent a guarantee.  They present the timeframe for a reasonable expectation of delivery only.)

All dates are based on shipping to the continental United States (excluding Alaska).  For shipping to Canada:  Expect delays on all cross-border shipments.  Be sure to give yourself enough time.

Happy Selling.

Just Released - New profile page, badges, and a help community

It’s an exciting day for us because we’ve taken a big step towards adding more value to our merchant community. The features included in today’s release will assist those in the Merchant Network, and add more value to the entire Shopster platform. Be sure to share your feedback using the comments feature below or by dropping us an email at support@shopster.com.  We love hearing from you.

New Profile Page

If you’re familiar with the previous profile page you’ll probably think that this new page is a huge improvement. Your profile page has always been your first point of contact with other Merchants in the Network; your first chance to share your story and brand with others and show them you’re serious about your business. Our new profile page features allow you to do this much better.  They give you the chance to show-off your business to the Network and put your best foot forward.

Here’s what’s new on the profile page:

• Completely new look and feel
• Displays your recent Network activity
• Your own profile picture
• Profile banner space (max size of 678x200)
• Shopster badges (read details below)
• Feature up to 3 of your own products
• Payment types accepted

Shopster Badges

Profile badges have two main purposes in the Shopster system. First off, they are a way for you to set yourself apart from the competition. Add more badges or move up in badge ranking so that those who cruise your profile can instantly gauge your credibility.

Secondly, the badges are there to help you gauge other merchants you may want to do business with. Be sure you check and see which badges they have before you make a connection.

Green Badges are handed out to emerging, up & coming Merchants, Blue to established Members and Orange to a select few Merchants, the best of the best, our ShopStars.

Here are the badges we’ve just introduced:

• Time in system badge
• Supplier badge
• PowerMerchant package badge
• Email verified badge

Shopster Community

The experience level of Shopster retailers ranges anywhere from someone brand new to e-Commerce to those who have been selling online for years. We wanted to take advantage of our diverse member base and allow our community to interact and learn from each other.  Our community allows our Merchants to share tips and tricks, provide suggestions and feedback, and offer help and support to newer members. It’s also a great place to discuss marketing and promotional ideas, and chat about all things eCommerce.

Don’t worry, our technical support team is still available to answer questions directly, but sometimes it’s nice to get a different opinion. The other advantage to using the Shopster community is that it has a built in knowledge base that stores all past questions asked by other members. If you have a question, try searching the knowledge base, chances are, it’s already been asked and answered, so rather than having to wait for a response, you’ll have an answer waiting for you. Give it a shot; we’re excited to see what you think.

Creating Your Shopster Online Store Homepage

Like many of our customers, I have very limited design experience and minimal technical knowledge. My goal today is to build a Shopster homepage that is both professional in appearance but simple enough that anyone can replicate the steps. I will also be using the functionality provided with a free account, which means no access to the css and frame file, so we will be limited to making all changes directly on the page. Let’s get started.

Creating your logo

1. Go to page: http://service.shopster.com/retailer/templates/templatesettings.aspx
2. There are several paid logo services listed on this page which can help you easily create a professional logo for as low as $49. However for the purposes of this exercise I will be using a free service: http://cooltext.com/Logos
3. Here’s the logo I created. It can obviously use some work but it’s a good placeholder for now.

Choose a template

1. Go to the “design library” tab and choose the template that you feel best fits your brand and your business
2. Go to the “customize” tab and select the color scheme for your template

Editing the homepage

1. Go to the “Store Pages” link within the Store tab, and click on the “Edit Homepage” button
2. Scroll down to the page’s content editor, as that’s where we’ll be working today:
3. The first thing on the agenda is creating a nice banner to catch new visitors’ attention.
4. I went to www.iStock.com and purchased a photo, which cost me approximately $5. While there are also several free stock photography sites out there, I’ve found that istock has a wide selection of great quality photos that can be purchased at a minimal cost so it’s a personal favorite.
5. I then downloaded a free photo-editing tool called paint.net at http://www.getpaint.net/. It takes a little time to familiarize yourself with the software, but it’s also the closest photoshop equivalent that I’ve been able to track down that’s free to use.
6. With paint.net I cropped my image to 640x210, (with a little experimentation it was the size I found best suited my template). I also added the text “Your Source for Laptop Deals!”
7. I then added the image to my homepage by Clicking on the tree icon at the top of the content editor.
8. Clicking browse icon (you’ll find it next to the image URL text box)
9. Uploading my image file to my account

Laying out content

I found that the easiest way to layout content on the homepage is to use tables. In my case, I wanted to have a 2 column layout with my left column being text and my right column having buttons that linked to my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Here’s how I did this:

1. I created a header for the section “About Us”. Just type in the text and highlight it with your mouse. Click on the dropdown menu above and choose “heading 2” this will automatically format the text to be a headline.
2. Next, I created the table. To do this I clicked on the “html” button in the top right hand corner of the content editor. I then added the code listed below to the source code editor. Feel free to copy and paste this exact code into your own source code editor to recreate this table. Just remember to insert your text where I’ve indicated. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can also try building your own table. Here’s a great website that will walk you through some of the basics: http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

Copy this code if you want to layout your site like mine - insert this after any existing code on the page.

<table cellspacing="4">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size: 1.25em;">Your homepage content here</span></p>
</td>
<td>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://twitter.com"><img width="120" src="http://www.twitterbuttons.com/images/lbn/twitterbutton-0203.png" height="90" title="By: TwitterButtons.com" /></a><br />Get <a href="http://www.socialmediabuttons.com/">Twitter Buttons</a>
<br /><br />
<a href="http://facebook.com/YourLink"><img border="0" src="http://www.socialmediabuttons.com/images/facebook3.gif" title="By SocialMediaButtons.com" /></a>
<br />Get <a href="http://www.socialmediabuttons.com/">Facebook Buttons</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

The buttons to Facebook and Twitter are free and can be found on www.socialmediabuttons.com

The extras

The final step to building my homepage is to add some “Suggested Products”. By adding suggested products, I can highlight those products that will make me the most profit or those products that I think visitors are most interested in buying. Here’s how you do it:

1. Click on the “customize” link under the “Store” tab
2. Towards the bottom of the page click “Select Products” under the Suggested Products header. Note that you will need to have products added to your “Manage Inventory” before doing this
3. Choose the products you would like to feature and click on “Select Products”.
4. Note: if you don’t see your suggested products appear on your homepage click on the “store pages” and click the “Edit Homepage” button. Here click the “Customizations” tab and uncheck the “customize this setting” box, then click the “Save Homepage” button.

That’s it. If you followed these steps you should now have a homepage that look similar to mine. You can view my store here: http://sweetlaptops.secure2cart.com.  If you have any comments or suggestions on this post, be sure you add them below. You can also contact our customer support department at support@shopster.com.

Happy Selling

Creating a Contact Us form for your Shopster Store

Good day everyone! Today, we’re trying something a bit different with our blog. Instead of offering up our regular tips, tricks, and personal opinions, I'll be walking you through how to implement your own Contact Us form on your store.

Something kinda like this:

 

 
  

Having a Contact Us form is a great advantage to your site because it allows your customers to easily send questions, comments and concerns your way.

As an aside, if you ever have any questions on how to use our system or want to add a fun feature to your store, but you’re not sure how to tackle it, drop us an email at support@shopster.comusing the subject line “BLOG Question". We’ll see if we can put together a bit of a blog walkthrough for you. Remember to be specific with your questions as we only have a page or so to reply.

 

Right then back to our little walkthrough:
Before we get to the actual implementation of the form, there are a few things you need to get sorted first:

1. If you don’t already have one, create a “Contact Us" page -This is where you'll be pasting in the code for your form. Follow these steps to create a contact us page:

1. Log into your Shopster account
2. Click the "Store" tab
3. Click "Store Pages"
4. Click "Add a Page"
5. For the Title field enter "Contact Us" (or something similar – it’s up to you)
6. For the URL Name field enter "contact-us". This is how your customers can get to your Contact Us page. So for example: http://storename.secure2cart.com/contact-us.htmlwould take you to the contact us page on your store.
7. Leave the content blank for now. 
8. Click "Create Page"

2. You'll also need to create a second page that lets your customers know that their question has been submitted.  Follow the steps above, but for the page title enter "Contact Form Submitted", and use the URL Name "email-submitted".  In space provided for content, you will want to enter a brief but polite message letting your customers know that you appreciate their email. Remember to provide them with a timeframe for your response. "Thank you for your inquiry. We will respond within 1 business day" always works.

3. Make sure you have a professional email address to attach to your contact form. If you have your own custom domain name, you can create an email that uses this domain, for example support@mystore.com. You’ll want to contact your domain registrar to get help setting this piece up.
Once you have these three things setup, it's time to get to the good stuff: Creating your form! EmailMeForm is a great free service that lets you easily create a professional looking Contact Form without any HTML/Programming knowledge. While there are some upgrade options available, the free account is perfect for what you’re looking to do.

Create an EmailMeForm account, login, and click the "Create a New Form" link to flow through the easy form creation wizard. The first and most important step in the wizard asks you to provide the URL for the Thank you page you created in Step 2. Enter in the full URL as you see it in the address bar of your browser window.  For example, http://storename.secure2cart.com/email-submitted.html. The rest of the steps in the EmailMeForm wizard revolve around how you wish to design the look and feel of your form, so play around to find out what works for you.  Once you’ve worked your way through the wizard, you will be presented with the HTML code of the form. Copy it (right click on your mouse and select copy) and go to your Shopster account.

Back in your Shopster account, click the "Store" tab and select the "Store Pages" link. Go the Contact Us page you created in Step 1 - This is where you'll be putting in the HTML code for your form. Within the Content editor (the space provided for your content) click the "HTML" button.

 

  
  

This will pop up the HTML source editor screen. Paste in the HTML code you got from the EmailMeForm site. Click the "Update" button to close this window and then click "Save Page".

Now that you have the page properly created, you'll need to put it in your menu structure so it shows up on your store.
In your Shopster account click the "Store" tab and then click "Store Menus". Choose the menu you wish to have your contact page live in, for example the "Footer Menu" (note: you may find it valuable to display your contact us page in more that one menu – it’s more visible to visitors that way).

1. Under the Add Item heading, enter "Contact Us" in the Name text box
2. In the Link To dropdown box select "Page"
3. In the Select Page dropdown box select your "Contact Us" page
4. Click "Add Item".
5. If you want to change the order of your menu items, click and drag  the [+] on any of the items to rearrange them.
6. Once you've added your Contact Us page to your Menu and positioned it appropriately, click "Save Menu".

TADA! You now have a Contact form for customers.

Before you get too excited, go to your store and test your newly created form to make sure everything looks just right and is working correctly. You can go back to your EmailMeForm account any time to edit the form in case you need to make any adjustments.

 

Sell Online with Shopster for the Holiday Season

We’ve mentioned this a couple times now and we’ll probably mention it a couple more in the coming weeks: Christmas is just around the corner.  As we've already discussed changes you should address on the policy side of things, we thought now might be a good time to throw out some sales tips.

 

One of the easiest things to do this holiday season is to add some seasonal touches to your store's design. By changing the aesthetic of your store to reflect the holiday season, you let your customers know that you’re ready for Christmas. Customers doing their holiday shopping want to be surrounded by the sights and sounds of the season. It keeps them in the giving mood and adds a little falala to their experience (please note that we’re using “the sounds of the season” metaphorically in this instance- music on a storefront is never a good idea!). Some things to try are: changing your stores logo's text to red and green, adding seasonal graphics to the top of your home page and spicing up your site content to match the mood of the season.

 

We also recommend that you scour the Hot Holiday Products List we’ve got available for members in the warehouse (we update it regularly). Find products that match your niche and then add them to your store as feature "Holiday Specials". Chances are buyers are already looking for these products, so highlighting these top sellers and placing them front and center on your site makes it easier for store visitors to buy them. Remember, the easier you make it for someone to buy, the less time they have to convince themselves that they don’t reaaallly need to pickup that Wii Resort for their little nephew Billy.

 

The closer you get to Christmas and holiday shipping deadlines, consider offering coupons to aggressively push for last minute sales. People are looking for deals and being able to use a coupon to further their savings will help draw in those last minute shoppers and make you more money.  Wal-Mart and Amazon do it, why can’t you?

 

Finally, if you are selling on eBay or using eBay as a secondary sales channel, make sure your regularly check our Hot Holiday Products List for top seasonal sellers. It’s very common for local bricks and mortar stores to sell out of key products early on in the shopping season.  This doesn’t mean that shoppers are going to give up on finding these products, it just means they’re going to look online.  And eBay is usually the first place people turn. So jump on this bandwagon and make sure you’re listing these products. You’ll up your sales volumes make harried Christmas Shoppers very happy.

 

Happy Selling!

Now Available - PowerMerchant Starter!

Hey everyone, we wanted our blog followers to be the first to know that we’ve just released our latest Shopster package, PowerMerchant Starter.

Over the last couple of months or so, many Shopster Merchants have made great strides in building their new Networked eCommerce businesses.  We’ve received lots of member emails sharing successes, challenges and valuable feature requests.

One of the most notable requests, was that while many Shopster Members enjoyed the enhanced functionality and perks of the PowerMerchant account, 1000 products was a bit much for someone just starting out.  A 100-200 product limit with the ability to add more products or upgrade when needed would be ideal for the new member. 

Taking this advice to heart, we created the new PowerMerchant Starter Account. We're still offering both our FREE and PowerMerchant (now PowerMerchant Pro) packages, we’ve just added a starter package in between. A big thanks to all the feedback provided by our many Merchants.  You asked, we listened!

The New PowerMerchant Starter Package includes:

• The ability to manage up to 200 products in your inventory
• Complete access to all PowerMerchant store templates
• Free custom domain hosting
• 2.3% transaction fees

And a whole bunch more. The best thing about this package is that it’s only $19.95 a month.

If you want full details on our different packages and what’s included, check out our pricing page.

Happy Selling!

Enter Shopster’s “Get Connected” Contest!

For those of you not yet aware of everything that’s been happening at Shopster, we’ve made some HUGE and EXCITING changes! Our latest release, which introduces the Shopster Merchant Network and the Shopster FREE account, is something we're sure you will love. An exclusive network for resellers and suppliers, members can now increase their selling power by easily connecting, communicating and transacting with other merchants in the system. Best of all, we’re offering our starter account for FREE!

To share with the world at large how Shopster is tackling eCommerce these days, we made a great little video that explains the concept of the network.  In true Shopster spirit we decided to take a slightly different tack with it, and had a lot fun of playing around with claymation.  

Which brings us to our contest, because we were feeling so creative we wrote several cultural references and quotes into the script and hid a bunch of dollar signs throughout the frames for viewers to find.  Find the stuff, answer the questions, and you can win a $500.00 credit for all things Shopster.  Choose from extended services, amazing products from the Shopster Network, you can put the credit towards what ever you want!  Visit http://www.shopster.com/videocontest.aspx. to learn all the details and test your skills!

Shopster's 5 years old!

Five years ago in a galaxy far far away an idea was being conceived over the course of several happy hours in some of the most pocket book friendly taverns in Calgary.  It was exciting, it was new, it was such a simple idea...shhh...don’t tell anyone or they might steal it.  The best part was, that after each beer the idea became easier, better and more brilliant.  Make retailing easy by solving the supply chain issue, make building stores simple so our users could focus on the part of retailing they were best at.

I am of course talking about Shopster.com

Looking back on 2004, when an idea became a company, I see the delusion in all its glory, the delusion of entrepreneurs about to start a bold adventure. 

Delusion?  Sure!  We thought it was going to be easy.  We thought we had all the problems thought out.  We thought this would be quick and successful and like the conquering heroes, three young(ish?) men would shake up the retailing world.

Over the next few months Shopster is going to undergo a massive transition.  I will be sharing the goings on here on this blog, if for no one else, than my mom. 

(As always, with each major new release, our existing customers get to move onto the new product with bonuses.  We don’t forget where we came from.)

The next release of Shopster is the culmination of 5 years of tireless effort to create a retail business system that transforms the entire industry.  Many facets of retailing haven’t been sustainable.  The recent crash and upheaval in the industry has been a catalyst for Shopster, driving both our customers and us faster towards the Shopster Power Merchant Network.

Today I want to talk about delusion and those first days.

Our first real (lots of test orders before) sale didn’t occur till October 29, 2005.  One of our websites – gamingforless.com – sold an iPod – yes an apple iPod – the classic, the first and already a global phenomenon.

The website went live and magically out of the internet forest someone found us and went shopping.  In 12 not so easy steps...

1. They looked around and added an iPod to cart.  Check
2. They hit checkout. Check
3. They entered their personal info.  Check
4. They entered their credit card.  Check

All done… nope, not yet

5. Order came to Shopster.  Check
6. Order passed fraud review.  Check

All done… nope, not yet

7. Order was sent to supplier.  Check

All done. Nope.

8. Order cancelled by supplier – out of stock.

When will supplier get next shipment of iPods – 2 - 4 weeks…? Oh crap.
Now what?  Cancel the order?  Not our first one!!

9. So, pull out personal credit card.  Check
10. Go to Amazon.com.  Check
11. Buy more expensive iPod.  Check
12. Ship it to the customer.  Check

That was our first order.

The heady rush of going live, of watching our first customer buy something, followed quickly by anger and dejection of being out of stock, followed by a rueful acceptance of having to pay more for an iPod than your customer paid you just so you don’t let the customer down.  Followed 42 months later by regret at realizing that the company never did re-pay you for buying an iPod on your personal credit card.

That wouldn’t be the first time or the last we lost money on a sale... but there were some valuable lessons learnt along the way. Today we have a custom fraud detection system to protect our customers, real time integrated ordering with suppliers, and detailed reporting on supplier performance, which allows us to identify potential problems before they become serious.

Getting into business isn’t for those that can’t deal with emotional ups and downs. Even when you try to do the right thing, customers can get mad, but many times, sometimes quite unexpectedly customers shower you with praise.

PowerMerchant is now available to the public!

So it’s been a little while since we last updated our blog but there’s a good reason for that. We’ve been a little busy working on the latest Shopster product PowerMerchant, which was just released yesterday. As we say in Calgary - Yahooooooooooooo!

For those who are familiar with the Shopster e-Commerce product you may be asking different about this latest release? Well even though many of the features may seem similar there is a huge fundamental difference. PowerMerchant is about giving retailers full control of running their e-Commerce business.

So what does this mean? I won’t go into all the details of the product, you can read that here: http://www.shopster.com/e-commerce.aspx but here are some highlights:

• A brand new store designer. The templates can be fully customized to make the store look exactly the way you like. And we have a bunch of new stylish templates to start with.
• You can now sell your own products along with Shopster dropship warehouse products. In the past you could only sell our products in your store through the e-Commerce package. And you now have full control over how much you sell each product for.
• A fully integrated order management system so you can easily handle mixed orders. This may seem a little confusing but what it means is that if a customer orders a Shopster product and one of your own products, we’ve made it super simple to order the Shopster product and manage your part of the order.

There’s so much more than what I’ve highlighted here but hopefully this gives you an idea of what PowerMerchant can do for your online business. Be sure to check it out and give it a test drive. We’ve extended the free trial to 14 days so you have a bit more time to get to comfortable with it before making a decision.

Happy Selling!

A Very Shopster Christmas

Christmas is a busy time of the year for us.  While retailers are running into their biggest sales days of the year, we're running into our retailers' biggest sales days of the year.  We're working hard to ensure everything's running smoothly for sellers and buyers.

Yet, somehow, we find time to decorate and do a little celebrating.  Yesterday, we put up our annual Holiday Fireplace.  You can see our VP of R&D debugging the Yule fire at right.

Today at noon, we have competitive Gingerbread House Building.  I think it's supposed to be a team-building exercise.  But, thinking back to my childhood, I seem to remember a correlation between building a gingerbread house with my folks and the amount of yelling heard by the neighbours.  My team includes the CEO, so we're probably going to win.

And while all this is going on we're processing orders, fighting fraud, supporting retailers, ensuring server up-time, writing educational and marketing materials for retailers, and creating strategies and software to help our retailers find even more success in the New Year.

Shopster would like to wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, and a Glorious (and Woeful) Festivus!

Happy selling and happy holidays from everyone at Shopster!

Holiday Shipping Deadlines Approach

Holiday Shipping Countdown!
	13 DAYS LEFT! Don't forget that the holiday shipping deadlines are approaching. These are the last days to place orders for a reasonable expectation of delivery before Christmas.
	•  Regular Shipping: Order before December 14th*
•  Expedited Shipping: Order before December 16th*

These are the dates we're telling Shopster retailers.  While it is possible you could still get orders delivered on time after these dates, you can reasonably expect your dropship customers to receive their orders if you place them before the 14th (regular shipping) and 16th (expedited shipping).

If you're looking to make a few quick sales before the holidays get too close to ship, sign up for a Shopster product source account to get access to the top drop ship suppliers electronics and other top selling holiday products.

Thoughts about drop-shipping as a part time business

I was recently in conversation with an entrepreneur/blogger from Romania about Shopster.  Cristian Dorobantescu writes a blog called the Small Business Entrepreneur blog.  He explores the options available to people who want to sell online (or anywhere, really).  He creates a lot of content and tries out a lot of solutions for entrepreneurs.  He seemed like a good fit for a review of Shopster.  Cristian was kind enough to indulge us.  From his recent post "Thoughts about drop-shipping as a part time business":

As you know I’m a great fan of part time entrepreneurship - I’ve started my company almost 4 years ago and I’m still moonlighting. Working for your own company after the 9 to 5 job is not easy, unless is something you could do from home, without having to meet customers very often and stuff like this. That’s why I had a look at starting a drop-shipping business as part time with Shopster.

As initially I wanted to write something on Shopster, I thought how on Earth could I write something that is meaningful and to provide a real value? After all, drop-shipping is not really spread in Europe, and not at all in Eastern Europe where I come from.

Read the whole article...

The post at Small Business Entrepreneur blog raises some interesting points (five of them, in fact).  After reading through the post, I had a couple thoughts: (1) "Wow, I'm actually working on this with a guy in Romania... the Internet is awesome" and (2) "Hm... Being in Eastern Europe doesn't preclude someone from taking advantage of the sales opportunities in North America.  Just because someone isn't where their product source/supply chain is doesn't mean they can't sell to anywhere in the world... the Internet is awesome."

I'm hoping to work a little more with someone in the entrepreneurial blogspace, like Cristian, about the opportunities offered by Shopster.

Shopster.com scam series, part four

This is part four of a four part series that talks about some online scams, and helps dispel concerns people might have about Shopster.com as a scam.

3 Warnings About Online Business Opportunities

You should have concerns about any online business opportunity.  It's up to them to convince you that they're what you're looking for.  You should be able to find out all the information you want without having to jump through a ton of hoops.  To help find legitimate opportunities, you have to weed your way through the scams.  Here's a list of things you should be able to easily check when verifying a business.

1.  You should be able to contact the company in at least a couple of the following ways:
     a.  Mail
     b.  Telephone
     c.  Email
     d.  Live Help/Live Chat

For Shopster: Head on over to Shopster's contact page for physical mailing addresses, telephone number (business hours apply), email submission form, and Live Chat links (business hours apply)

2.  You should be able to read all of the company's policies regarding your pending relationship with them.  Check out Terms of Service, End-User Agreements, Privacy Policies, etc.  Make sure you understand them before you agree to them.  In terms of "signing" agreements online, you can be understood to have accepted an agreement (even if you haven't read it), if you sign up for a service - insofar as the agreement was provided to you.  Make sure you read what you should expect from them, and what's expected of you.

For Shopster:  Head on over to Shopster's privacy and policy page.

3.  You should not be told you can make money with no (or hardly any) work on your part.  It's not realistic and anyone who tells you that is probably lying to you.  Setting up and running a business can be hard work.  Responsible business solution providers should be there to set realistic expectations.  But, they should also be there to help you overcome some of that difficulty - otherwise, what are they providing?

For Shopster: We help set some expectations in our blog post about the Shopster profit model.  To summarize the post: Setting up and running a business can be hard work.  But, we're here to help you make it work.

In conclusion:
At the end of the day, your vigilance will pay off.  Once you've found the business solution that best fits what you're looking for, see if you can try it out for free.  As far as Shopster goes, we'd love you to try us out for free for seven days.  If we're not what you're looking for, cancel your trial at any time and let us know what we can be doing better to meet your needs.

I hope you've found our Shopster.com scam series helpful.  If you have any questions or concerns, leave me a comment.  I'd love to hear from you.

Happy selling!

See all Shopster scam posts.

Shopster is not a scam, part 3: The Shopster Profit Model

Last week we covered the drop ship supply chain model. This week, let's take a look at Shopster's retailer profit model. The way profit is calculated ties in very closely with the supply chain model.

A large chunk of a traditional store's overhead is the cost of purchasing products to sell. Sellers utilizing a drop ship product source - like Shopster - don't have that overhead. Instead, they see a different calculation of their earnings on a sale.

The drop ship supplier lists a cost for a product. The seller can sell that product for any price. The difference between the supplier cost and the selling price is the profit earned by the seller. Selling above that cost earns the seller a profit. Selling below that cost "earns" the seller a negative profit... also called a "loss".

For some low-margin products (electronics come to mind), this can sometimes be a disheartening discovery for the seller. Because the online market is inundated with electronics sellers, the margins to be made on sales of such products are often lack-luster. This sometimes leads to accusations that the Shopster profit model is a scam. "I can't earn any money with these costs." For some products that just might be true... there are very likely some products that it'd be tough to earn a profit selling. But it's nothing that ingenuity and hard work can't overcome.

Selling online isn't easy. Well, let me rephrase that: "Making a profit in any business isn't easy." Selling online is a complex process. Business solutions like Shopster are there to help ease some of that complexity, but at the end of the day if it were super easy to make money hand-over-fist, everyone would be doing it and eventually nobody would be making money. No supplier can get you a Wii for $50. If they can, they're probably stolen, broken, or actually a Gameboy. So, you're not going to be earning huge margins on that particular product. It'd be nice - heck, I'd love to earn $200 profit selling a single Wii - but it's not going to happen (except maybe at Christmas).

We now try to set reasonable expectations by constantly reiterating that Shopster is not about getting rich quick. Anyone who tells you that you can make money with little investment and no work is lying to you. Shopster tries to be pretty upfront about the profit potential of our model. We had to switch to being up-front because an early marketing message of ours got us into a little trouble.

We had tried a slogan along of the lines of "Unlimited Profit"... which we figured came down to semantics - as the retailer was free to set their own prices and was not limited by how many products they could sell, we figured the profits were technically not limited. Some retailers took issue with this slogan, as their attempts to earn "unlimited profits" were stymmied. This lead to accusations that "Shopster is a scam" or "Shopster is deceptive" or "Shopster ripped me off". (Which you can read about at results for Shopster at Rip-Off Report and on our BBB page.)

Now, we try to set that expectation that hard work is needed - retailers using Shopster are still setting up a business, and that's not easy.

Here are some considerations for online sellers to help set some expectations about profit:
1. Economy of scale.
2. Complementary high-margin product sales.
3. Seasonal sales focus.

1. Economy of scale simply means the seller needs to consider the number of products that must be sold to make the sales effort worthwhile. There aren't too many stores that make a living off making a single sale. Retailers need to be able to make multiple sales to turn a profit for their business. This holds true of the online seller, as well. The overhead of an online store or online sales effort (like on eBay) is usually lower than that of a brick and mortar storefront. Yet, the online seller faces some unique challenges:
a. Ease of the buyer to find competing sellers.
b. Greater volume of semi-targeted traffic - note: capitalization on long tail (or highly targeted, low volume traffic).
c. The value of a personal interaction in the sales process.

2. Complementary high-margin product sales should anchor your sales efforts. While few people will come to you to find an HDMI Up-Converting cable, the people coming to you to buy an XBOX 360 might be convinced they need one. The margin on your 360 is pretty low (Microsoft sells them at a loss). The margin on your cable is pretty high.

Real world example: A couple years ago my wife and I bought our flat-screen TV and a new HDMI-compatible DVD player (our old DVD player didn't survive a move and this new player was cheap if you bought that company's TV). I hadn't bothered to learn anything about cables or resolution or any of that - I only wanted a flat-screen TV so that I had a cooler TV than my brother. I didn't know what HDMI is, so I didn't think to get an HDMI cable - thinking instead of getting the traditional RCA connectors (the three-colored ones). The non-commission sales person was quick to point out that I'd be wasting the potential of my new TV if I settled for the RCA cable, and quickly expounded the many benefits of the way, way better $120 HDMI cable. Not being one to part with $120 on the spot, I opted to take my chances with RCA. My AV-savvy coworkers were quick to make fun of my hilariously inadequate hook-up, and a buddy offered up the same HDMI cable at-cost that his friend could pick up... for less than $20. Looking around at the TV I had purchased, the price I paid seemed pretty standard... everyone was offering the same price within a few dollars. But what about the cable? Assuming my buddy wasn't fencing stolen cables, the margin the big box was earning on that cable was pretty serious.

3. Some retailers adopt a seasonal sales focus. This means they look for high selling times of the year (like Christmas), and focus their efforts on making money during these times. Their stores trudge along during the sales troughs, but then they're fully optimized by the time a seasonal mini-spike comes up. Seasonal sales trends should be a part of every seller's business research - they should be getting an idea of what to sell and when to sell it.

--

So, there it is. Signing up for Shopster won't immediately make you a successful online retailer. It will take some work on your part, too. You'll have to research which products are selling and what kind of margin you could make on products supplied by Shopster's network of dropship suppliers. You'll have to work to optimize your sales efforts to make sure you're bringing in enough visitors, creating enough auction listings, and getting your business out there. But, we're here to help make it easier. We source new and better drop ship product sources, we build relationships with existing suppliers to get better prices, we provide the tools to build your online store and sell on eBay, and more.

If you have any questions about Shopster, don't hesitate to contact us. Happy selling!

Read all Shopster Scam posts.

Shopster video

To answer those questions you might have about Shopster, watch our new video:

So, what do you think? Comments? Suggestions?

Shopster is not a scam, Part 2: Drop ship supply chain model

Let's start by addressing a very important question:

What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping (also drop shipping) is a supply chain model whereby the seller does not physically stock the products sold. Rather, product warehousing and order fulfillment is done by a supplier who processes and ships orders directly to the seller's customer on the seller's behalf.

There are some advantages to this model:
1. Lower starting overhead for the seller
2. Access to a larger variety of products
3. No specialty knowledge required for supply-side

These advantages must be weighed against these drawbacks:
1. No physical stock held by the seller
2. No seller control over shipment

These drawbacks can only be addressed by the following:
1. Trust
2. Insight into the supply chain
3. Availability of recourse

Shopster addresses each of these.
1. Trust. Shopster holds our network of dropship suppliers to a high standard of fulfillment. We have a history of auditing supplier fulfillment and retailer satisfaction, and have not hestitated to remove suppliers that have not met those standards. Shopster hopes to assuage the hesitancy of relying on a product source built on a network of dropship suppliers by ensuring great relationships with a reliable supplier base.
2. Insight into the supply chain. For every product in the Shopster warehouse, retailers can see a set of information about that product's supplier. You can see fulfillment rates, popularity, etc. On top of that, as soon as our supply team gets tracking IDs for your shipped orders, you get the tracking IDs for your orders. You can follow the order along, and contact our support team at the earliest sign of trouble. We want to give you all the information you'd have if you were running your supply relations yourself.
3. Availability of recourse. I hate to admit it, but sometimes things don't work out. When that happens, you should be able to seek an appropriate resolution. You can contact our customer support team at any time. We want you to be successful, so we're here to resolve anything that arises. Shopster wants to work with you as you build your business. And, hey, if that doesn't work out, we're BBB members – the option to take it to independent arbitration is always available. We don't think you'll have to utilize that step, but it's there if you need it.

Legitimate businesses aren’t worried about fulfilling these expectations. Look for a commitment to transparency when you’re looking for companies to help you build your business.

To help identify scams, look for the following:
1. Fees charged for use of dropshipper catalog without value-added services and solutions like storefront software, tools to sell on eBay, customer service, etc.
2. No physical address listed on web site.
3. No phone numbers or other contact info provided.
4. Lack of descriptive material regarding what is provided for fees paid.
5. Lack of free trial for subscription-based services/solutions.

Mostly, if you have any concerns or questions, be sure to get the answers you want before signing up.

Happy selling!

Read all Shopster Scam posts.

Shopster is not a scam - Part 1

Is Shopster a scam? No. But, Shopster does business in an arena that is often rife with scams. To help dispel some concerns you might have, here is part one of a four part series addressing various aspects of Shopster and our industry.

Customer recourse and online business solutions

The Internet gives you unprecedented research and recourse tools. You can look up anything and get information from a number of sources. When you feel you've been ripped off or that you've uncovered an unscrupulous or otherwise sketchy business practice, you have a number of options at your disposal. Scam businesses don't like this. Legitimate businesses do.

Here are some tips for doing some background checking before signing up for anything.

Look a company up at the Better Business Bureau. The BBB is an independent, voluntary membership program that facilitates non-binding arbitration between businesses and consumers. You can see:
(1) Whether the company is concerned with customer complaints and issues,
(2) Whether the company has endeavored to resolve any issues,
(3) How many official complaints have been levied against the company.

Check out the company's profile at Rip Off Report. You get a lot of the same type of information you would at BBB, but the company does not have to be a member. It's important to keep an eye on the number of unique complaints from different people.

Do a general search on Google. Try keywords like "company name scam" or "company name rip off" or "company name complaints". You can find independent sites with reviews the company cannot affect.

If the company offers a free trial, try it out for yourself. Spend the time evaluating it and making sure it meets your needs.

Shopster has had some complaints levied against us - we won't try to hide them. However, we have endeavored to resolve all customer issues in a timely and professional manner. We've had thousands of customers over the years, but only a handful of complaints. Our commitment to transparency dictates that we divulge these complaints so that everyone can evaluate us for themselves.

To help you check us out, here are some relevant links.

Links for Shopster:
Our BBB page
Results from a search for "Shopster" at Rip Off Report
Scam Types' review of Shopster
Google results for shopster scam, shopster rip-off, and shopster complaints
Shopster's free trial

Even though some of those links above won't have absolutely shining reviews of us (the search keywords are of a negative nature after all), we feel that giving our visitors that information is ultimately of more value. We're a legitimate business with a keen interest in the success of our users. We're not a bunch of shadowy villains sitting in a dark cave twisting our mustaches, rubbing our hands together, and asking each other "how can Shopster scam people?" We want everyone to be able to evaluate us impartially.

If you have any questions about Shopster, do not hesitate to contact us. If you feel you have a legitimate complaint about Shopster, please contact us so that we can work towards a resolution with you.

Contact page: http://www.shopster.com/contact-us.aspx#

Over the next few weeks we'll be tackling specific concerns people have with certain aspects of Shopster. Here are the topics that will be covered:
September 29: Potential issues associated with the dropship supply chain model
October 6: Concerns with the Shopster business model -€“ particularly the profitability of the model
October 13: Hallmarks of the scam business

Read all Shopster scam posts.

What's selling...

I know I promised you a video blog entry for yesterday. It didn't happen. I was up until midnight working on it (I've never used Windows Movie Maker... and I had to get help getting the video off of my camcorder). Of course, I also went to a movie last night, so I don't really expect any sympathy.

Anyhoo, this is a placeholder post until I get that bad boy posted this afternoon. I have to figure out the intricacies of getting video onto that series of tubes we call the Internet. Plus, we're filming a proper video for the Shopster.com home page today. I shaved and did my hair and everything. It's going to be awesome.

Video coming soon to ShopTalk!

Hey!

This is just a quick post to let you know that video is coming to ShopTalk. We will [trying very, very, very hard to] post new videos every three weeks.

The first in the series will be entitled "What's selling?" and will cover various things in the warehouse that are selling. (I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be about the Wii.) There will likely be sample products, spreadsheets, a white board, hitherto unreleased product trend data, and at least one shot of me rockin' Priestess' "Lay Down" in Guitar Hero III.

Ideas tossed around for videos have included: Top-selling products, marketing and design tips, instructional videos ("how to"-style), and sales tips.

Please comment below and let us know what you'd like to see in the Shopster blog videos. (I promise we'll consider all reasonable suggestions.)

See you Wednesday (as long as I figure out how to transfer video from my camera by then)!

Who’s in your Network?

So, you have picked the products you want to sell, you have built and customized your store, now what?  Now is the fun part – you get to market and promote your store.

Marketing can be complex, and your marketing efforts should include research, evaluation, and tones of rewrites. But it can also be simple.

The simplest marketing tactic is to tap into your network. Not just your favorite five that you have on your cell phone, but your whole network. Think family, friends, coworkers, your kids teachers, the guy that bags your groceries, and so on. Everyone and anyone you have contact with should be included in your network.

The next step is to take that network, and tell everyone in it about your store. Create business cards, or have pens with your store name on it made, and hand them out to everyone. If you have a friendly chat with a taxi driver while traveling give him your card.

Your network constitutes your hottest leads. These are people who probably genuinely want to see you succeed, and if they can be part of that success they will be happy. Even if they truly are not interested in purchasing your products, they will definitely tell someone who does want your product about your site.

Your network is also useful because the strongest referral is from a friend. Word of Mouth advertising is very powerful. People trust recommendations from their friends and acquaintances. Get your network to do some of the advertising for you and ask them to recommend your site to their friends.

Marketing does not have to be complex, it can be as simple as telling your neighbor about your new online venture.

Big Changes to Shopster

Shopster is constantly looking for areas to improve.  The most recent improvements have come with their in-site navigation.  After logging in, users (and visitors who sign up for a free trial) will notice some big changes to how things are laid out.

Matt Cox, Shopster's Chief Product Officer explains: "When we started building Shopster, we wanted to make sure that it was flexible.  We wanted to be able to deliver new features and improvements without having to overtly disrupt our users' day-to-day activity in-site.  Because Shopster has been built organically [ed. usually from user suggestions and needs], we've had some functionality that didn't quite fit the mold of our existing navigation.  When we introduced Shopster Product Source [ed. Shopster's non-storefront solution] a while back, we tried to fit it into our existing site.  It worked, but we started to get the impression it wasn't as good as it could be.  It created some friction for our users."

Shopster's newest release was aimed at tackling these in-site navigation issues.  To address this, Shopster's product strategy team tackled the root of the problem.

"We were trying to cram features into a space they didn't necessarily belong in.  We thought about it, threw around a couple ideas and models, and it came to us that we're dealing with a multi-channel system now," says Lori Stewart, Shopster's lead product strategist.  "Three years ago, Shopster was a storefront/product solution without the whole 'sell on eBay and other third party sites' side of it.  So, we broke down how our in-site features were connected and rebuilt how things were put together for our users."

With that, Shopster introduces three main "channels".
1.  Storefront Channel (included in Shopster e-Commerce only)
2.  eBay Channel (included in Shopster e-Commerce and Shopster Product Source)
3.  Product Export Channel (included in Shopster e-Commerce and Shopster Product Source)

Each Channel contains all of the functionality associated with that particular way of selling.  "Plus, it opens up the option to create brand-new features and 'channels' without the confines of existing navigation and functionality," adds Stewart.

With these new improvements, Shopster is looking to optimize their online business solutions from a users' perspective - continuing the trend of giving retailers the tools, products, and support they need to grow their business and find success on the Internet.

PS: Don't have an account, and want to see (and try) the changes?  Try it free for 7 days.

Technorati, ShopTalk, and SEO

Hey!

We're trying to get the word out there about ShopTalk (the Shopster blog).  To that end, we're scouring the web for best practices and other tips.  As we try them out, we're going to be commenting and passing on the helpful ones to you - our readers (or according to my review of our site stats - all those spiders and Shopster employees).

We just set up our Technorati account.  We found that pinging Technorati via pinging trackback (http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping) wasn't getting our updates to show there.  We're trying out the actual account to see whether claiming a blog has any effect on the updates.

Shopster's Technorati Profile

As a visitor-generating tool, a blog is pretty useful.  It attaches keyword saturated content with your storefront or site.  A blog is basically spider food.  It's targeted content that (hopefully) is updated regularly.  It's what search engine spiders are looking for.  If you're able to update frequently and write about things related to your store (and the products you're selling), you stand to get some free visitor traffic.

Give it a try!

Brave New World

(From Dan Rolfe on the front lines of Shopster)
Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

Shopster has moved to some sweet new digs and this is the first update from our new headquarters. With the wonders of technology available, I'm happy to offer a brief glimpse of the new building in the form of a cell-phone picture* tour! Yep, we are way ahead of the technology curve, melding cameras and mobile telephones into one single powerful beast. (*Disclaimer: my phone camera, and the skills to use it, are lackluster at best)

This is the outside of the building, known as the Ramsay Design Center (soon to be renamed Shopster Awesome Factory).

Once you enter, you are greeted by our Shopster Tradeshow Display which helpfully informs the clueless:

The space itself is top secret and contains a number of unreleased products (Fizzy Lifting Drink, Golden Eggs and Neverending Gobstoppers) but the gist of it is that it's a sweet open-concept office where employees can frolic and work without the oppressive wall of a cubicle crushing their spirit. The downside is that I don't have anywhere to pin my "Working in an Office RULES!" poster, but I will press on.

In addition to a gigantic open space with cool brick walls and frictionless chair-rolling floors, our office has a kitchen. Formerly a coffee shop, it's got a pretty cool look to it and affords us the space necessary for Shopster's backbone--the foosball table.

It's also got a gigantic blast door we can close in case of zombie invasion. Always thinking ahead, you know.

That's it for now! We'll have an update on the warehouse coming Friday, with some good news on our suppliers. For now it's back to work staring at monitors over peoples' shoulders and throwing foam soccer balls over their heads.

Shopster’s CEO speaks to internet business owners at Online Market World 2008

Shopster announced today that Sarath Samarasekera, CEO, will be speaking at Online Market World 2008. Online Market World 2008, which runs October 1 -3, is dedicated to helping online sellers and marketers take their e-commerce business to the next level.

In over a decade of e-commerce experience Sarath has become the expert in marketing internet businesses. His breadth of experience includes working with Fortune 50 companies to build their online strategy and co-founding Shopster, an e-commerce business solution.

Sarath knows first hand the power of product reviews. In his presentation he will explore what product ratings and reviews are, and how to utilize them in your internet business strategy. He will discuss how ratings and reviews affect sales, how to take advantage of a reviews lifecycle, and specific strategies on how to effectively employ ratings and reviews.

To join Sarath at Online Market World 2008 please register at www.onlinemarketworld.com.

The Little Guy and the Coming Online Business Paradigm Shift

That's kind of a daunting title, eh?  But, that's what we're trying to do here.  When Shopster set out o-so-many years ago, our mission was simple: "Help people sell online".  As we started building out new functionality, growing our virtual warehouses' product offering, and talking to our users, we hit upon a new goal.  Shopster isn't content to sit back and be a mere participant in the world of e-Commerce.  We're aiming to disrupt the status quo of online business.  We want to help shape the future of e-Commerce, and it includes you.  We're going about this in a few ways:

1.  Massively-distributed, direct-to-consumer warehousing.  We leverage the collective power of our growing network of retailers to get better products at better prices from reliable suppliers.  While our prices aren't always perfect on all products (admittedly), we're always working to get them there.  As more people join our network of sellers, together we hold more sway in getting the best deals on the best products.
2.  Top-notch - industry-leading, some might say - online storefront functionality.  Shopster grew out of a storefront solution.  From the ground-up we built a fully customizable storefront and store manager that meets the specs of our users.  We get many of our ideas from the people in the know: You.  We built our solution to be flexible so that we could respond to the dynamic nature of the Internet.  Fixes, improvements, and new features can all be added whenever we get a great idea.
3.  eBay Certified Solution... providing.  Even before we offered the ability to list directly on eBay, we found Shopster users were taking advantage of Shopster's flexibility to sell on eBay.  As soon as we caught wind of this, we set out to integrate our platform to the highest degree possible.  With eBay certified engineers on-staff, and a fully eBay-knowledgeable support team, Shopster is the best bet for anyone looking to build a business that includes eBay.

All of these illustrate our commitment to one thing: Redistributing the sales potential of the Internet.  No more of this "top-down", big business dominated stuff.  Shopster wants to shift the paradigm in your favor.  We're here to help the little guy not only get his foot in the door, but be able to thrive in the e-Commerce arena.

4th of July Memories

Today is July the 4th - Independence Day across the USA.

We have many Americans in the Shopster family but also many others from all over the world.  Many nations have similar types of holidays, which they mark their emancipation and graduation to the world stage.  I wanted to share my experience with my Shopster family about one 4th which has etched itself in my memory.

I will always remember that particular 4th in 2001.  I was in Ann Arbor, Michigan, when 15 friends and I decided to head north to Mackinaw, a resort area famous for its historic town and lifestyle.  I had had a tough few months at work.  We were behind schedule and my clients weren’t happy.  Several 100 hour weeks in a row and I was burnt out and was starting to question my own ability to fix the situation – time for a break.  I was winding slowly up the I75, stifled by the heavy holiday traffic and decided to find a shortcut on one of the back roads - quickly I found myself in a different world, the world of rural America, of small towns with a main street, with ice cream parlors, with kids running freely through the town center. 

One particular place stood out to me, fascinated me, mystified me and eventually won me over… the name of the town has long eluded me, but not the memories.  A small town draped in flags.  Flags on each house, flags planted every 10 feet along every street I could see… flags and streamers and balloons, so many that it would have been comical if not for the intense sense of purpose and pride that the people of the town carried out their celebration. 

In my car I travelled with a friend from France, one from the Czech Republic and of course a fellow Canadian.  Fascinated (Canadians rarely show this kind of nationalistic fervor… well actually any kind of fervor for that matter) we decided to stop, to indulge in the experience that is the 4th.  We stopped and found ourselves an ice cream cone and a flag.  Seated on the curb, we watched the local high school band march by while being chased by little girls waving their own little flags.  For us it was like a scene from a movie.  Not for the first time I found myself saying… wow there really are places like this, its not just on TV.

The energy and excitement reached a crescendo when the local high school football team paraded past.  Football is a religion in this part of the US.

As I watched the small parade walk by my cone fell to the ground.  Next to me a pigtailed 5 year old took all of this in with sympathetic eyes.  Looking down at her own hands then up at me she suddenly thrust forth her mostly eaten strawberry cone; she said I could have a lick.

There is a certain greatness of spirit I found there that day on Main Street USA.  These small town people strode like giants through their world, in search of lemonade, cotton candy and firecrackers…all with an unencumbered sense of self, with a sense of purpose and the assuredness only available to a people at the apex of the world stage. 

Looking around I better understood what the 4th means...  it is about an unflagging belief in themselves and their ability to rise to any challenge, to succeed.    It is about seeing the opportunities to be successful.  It’s about taking the things you have and making your world better.  It’s about responsibility; taking responsibility for your own life, for not blaming others for your failures and taking full ownership of your successes.  The 4th is the American dream.

I left that small oasis of flags, football heros and pigtails, heading north in search of a camp site and the company of friends long past sobriety.  I was looking forward to a week of fun and relaxation… but I was also looking forward to getting back to work.  I had this new found sense of purpose.  The problems which seemed so daunting just hours before seemed less somehow.  I had found my independence from my own self doubts.  I just knew I would succeed.

Sarath Samarasekera – CEO, Shopster E-Commerce Inc.

IRCE 2008 was a Success

Thanks to everyone who came to visit us at our booth at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition.

 
We had a great time meeting new people and visiting with old friends. Those who had not heard of Shopster before were very excited about our services and learning about how to utilize them in growing their business.

 
I learned that Shopster is unique in the marketplace in that we are the only company to offer a complete e-commerce package: a product source and an e-commerce platform. We are the one-stop-shop baby!

 
I met a lot of people who already own an online store and are looking for an easy, cost-effective way to increase their product offering. One individual’s excitement was palpable when he realized that Shopster was the solution to his inventory needs.

 
Overall the conference was a great experience. We look forward to going back next year, and hopefully we will see you then.

Visit Shopster at IRCE 2008

Shopster is excited to announce that we will be hosting a booth at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (IRCE) 2008 in Chicago, Illinois. The conference will be held June 9 - 12 at McCormick Place West.

IRCE is one of the premier e-retailing conferences in the world. Thousands of online business owners come to the conference to learn from online retail experts. The conference offers workshops on a diverse range of topics: everything from marketing strategies to new technologies. There will also be an expo in which over 300 companies, offering an array of services, will be present to discuss your business needs.

If you are attending the conference, or just want to stop by, please come visit us at booth 1219. We would enjoy the opportunity to meet some of our retailers and partners to discuss their Shopster experience and internet retail in general.

When you stop by make sure you enter our draw to win a Nintendo Wii.

We hope to see you there!

What is Shopster?

Apart from being the correct follow-up to the answer to "e-Commerce companies for $1000, Alex", Shopster is a few other things.  We are an online business solution provider.  What does that mean?  It means that Shopster provides the tools and services you need for your Internet-based business to succeed. 

Your successful online retail business has needs.  Shopster helps meet those needs.  Any business that stands a chance of navigating the highly competitive retail field needs: products to sell, a payment gateway, customer support, online storefront and/or auction listing tools, and help when you need it.  That's what Shopster provides. 

Our solution has been built from the ground up based on the needs of our users.  Our user-driven community forums give Shopster retailers a key advantage: you stay in touch with us to help us develop what you need, and you stay in touch with other retailers looking to build their own businesses.

I think it might also be prudent to come at this from another angle:  What is Shopster not?

Something Shopster isn't: Shopster is not a product catalog.

Shopster is a dropship product source.  Our supply chain team seeks out reputable, reliable suppliers who ship products directly to your customers.  We maintain data about their products in our virtual warehouse.  When you sign up for a Shopster account, you are not simply paying for access to these products (nor merely the right to sell these products).  The true value of Shopster is in the services and tools we provide. 

Your monthly subscription fee doesn't just give you access to the million product-strong warehouse.  You get everything you need to help your business succeed.

You know what your business needs to succeed better than anyone else.  Why not give us a try for free for seven days?  If we're not the solution you're looking for during your evaluation, simply cancel your free trial [ed. note: no-hassle cancellation process].

Happy selling!

Shopster now offers two packages

You might have noticed that Shopster looks a little different.  We thought it was time for a makeover.

You also might have noticed that Shopster now offers two packages: Shopster e-Commerce and Shopster Product Source.

Shopster e-Commerce is our complete online business solution.  It gives retailers access to our million product-strong warehouse, an online storefront, full customer service, fraud prevention, and our Listing Manager for eBay. (More...)  If you had an account before, this is the account you'll always have.

Shopster Product Source is a trimmed-down solution that caters to the needs of eBay sellers and other online sellers looking for a product source with a payment gateway and auction listing tools. (More...)  If you're just looking to complement your existing product source, this is a great place to start.  Then, if you find you'd like to venture into multi-channel sales opportunities, simply upgrade to Shopster e-Commerce.

These two packages should better suit the needs of individual sellers.  Plus, our makeover gave our self-esteem a boost because now we look soooo good.

Happy selling!

Greetings from Miami

Hey everyone!

MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2008 just wrapped up.  As promised, I'll be posting some of the most valuable lessons I've learned down here in Miami.  You'll learn how "open bar" actually means "$11 mojitos".  You'll learn how sitting in a giant air-conditioned room in Miami is similar to being outside in Calgary in February - both ways you know that outside in Miami it's really, really nice but you can't do anything about it.  Plus, you'll learn how I stretched my food budget by eating two kinds of rice and a huge block of provolita for under ten bucks a night at a little Argentinian restuarant.

Well, actually, you'll learn some tips for increasing your clickthroughs and converting those visitors to customers.  I've got to sift through an enormous volume of materials, so tips will be streaming in throughout the day on Thursday.  Tune in!

From a laptop on the road,
Michael

SEO 101 Webinar success and Miami

Shopster's webinar on Wednesday was a resounding success.  Thanks to everyone who came out.  Some great SEO tips were imparted, and we think many of you found it useful.  We'll be running more in the future.  If you have ideas for future topics, let us know by leaving a comment.  We'll be posting the webinar next week for anyone who missed it.

On another note, Michael (the marketing team's "Communications Analyst") will be heading down to Miami to attend MarketingSherpa's Email Marketing Conference.  MarketingSherpa is an industry leader in marketing research and is an excellent resource for learning the tricks of the trade.  We're sure he'll be garnering a wealth of tips to pass on to you.  We're looking forward to seeing what he learns down there and sharing it with you.

Upcoming: Shopster SEO Webinar

Hello everyone!

We're hosting a free, one-hour webinar to give you some tips on how to use organic SEO techniques to improve the search engine ranking for your Shopster online storefront.

Affiliate News: Shopster Ups The Ante

Hey,

We wanted to let you know we've improved our affiliate program.  Shopster's affiliate program is a great way to diversify your income stream.  While Shopster retailers generally make money by selling products on their online storefronts or via dropshipping, a great many others have discovered the added bonus of our affiliate program.  Shopster will pay you to send us more potential retailers, visitors to your site or people you know looking for a complete e-commerce solution or a dropship product source. All you have to do is refer us leads that sign up for valid accounts.

Welcome to ShopTalk.

A while back, we were wondering how we could keep in touch with Shopster subscribers and the world in general whenever we wanted to.

As we settled in for a week of Calgary winter that was forecast to hit -49^C (-56^F) with wind chill, we started talking about it a little more. Some people suggested a blog. Others (who will remain nameless) suggested a pirate radio program. There was some back-and-forth, so we made a Pros and Cons list:

1.) Blog posts are unobtrusive. They let us get in touch with you without clogging your inbox.
2.) Blogs are easy to use. We don't need our webmaster to do anything.
3.) It's a medium that lets us be ourselves - no mandatory business-writing-style-conformity or marketing lingo.
4.) We're not restricted to one kind of post. We can provide tips on e-commerce and dropshipping one day... and talk about the minutiae of life at Shopster HQ [I've gone 11-1 this week at Foosball. -Michael]
5.) It's convenient for readers. You can sign up for our RSS feed so you don't have to wonder "Did Shopster post something new somewhere?" Your RSS Reader will tell you "Yes. Yes, they did. And it's awesome."
6.) It's a forum for you to tell us what you like or dislike about what we're saying - or whether you agree with what we're saying.