Happy 2008! We're kicking off the New Year with the results of the online buying survey we gave last month. Over 900 respondents participated in the survey, and they give an interesting perspective on what BUYERS deem important when shopping online.
The biggest advantage to online shopping was convenience, respondents said, while the biggest disadvantage was not being able to closely inspect items before purchasing them. It's not surprising to learn that 61% of respondents bought from online auction sites and 55% of them bought from Amazon, given that 83% of respondents sell online. But it's interesting to note that 50% of respondents bought from major retail sites - and 29% purchased from "mom and pop" sites. Only 3% did holiday shopping on classifieds sites.
We were curious to compare the results of sellers with non-sellers. You'll find these results and many more interesting facts from the survey in today's issue, including which factors are important when buying from unfamiliar websites, and how shoppers found items online this past holiday shopping season. The results should give you a good reference if you're thinking about starting your own online retail site.
Last week, the AuctionBytes Newsflash newsletter published some data about eBay Feedback 2.0 "Detailed Seller Ratings," also called DSRs or star ratings (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y08/m01/i02/s01). It struck a chord with readers, and there are currently over 45 comments in the blog about it (http://blog.auctionbytes.com).
One blog poster included a link to an amusing video from a creative and talented seller named Kim in which she sings her "wish list" to eBay executives as if they were Santa Clause. Meg Whitman, Bill Cobb, John Donahoe - I guarantee you've never heard a seller serenade you like this: http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1666337
To paraphrase Kermit the Frog, it's not easy being an online seller. It seems everyone is clamping down on merchants these days. Regulators continue to try and pigeon-hole online consignment sellers into laws that apply to auctioneers or pawnbrokers. (Or in at least one poor storeowner's case, both!)
In June we talked about manufacturers who were imposing more restrictions on distributors to bar them from selling on auction sites, and in August we wrote about Williams-Sonoma's Pottery Barn Outlets banning eBay sellers from their stores (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m08/i07/s01).
Last month, I received a letter from an Avon representative who said it appeared Avon was increasing VeRO complaints against sellers listing their products on eBay.
Finally some good news on that front. Greg Beck of the Public Citizen Litigation Group wrote that it looks like eBay has joined the fight against frivolous VeRO takedowns. You can read his take on the case on the Public Citizen blog (http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2008/01/ebay-strikes-ba.html).
Did you know BidPay has closed its online payment service? You would if you subscribed to the AuctionBytes Newsflash newsletter! You can sign up to receive this free newsletter by email three times a week, get the headlines on your RSS feed reader, or go to the AuctionBytes.com website and read the daily news headlines at the top of the page!
Thanks for reading.
About the author:
Ina Steiner is Editor of AuctionBytes.com and author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). She has a background in marketing and research in the high-tech and publishing fields. If you have story ideas, comments or questions, send them to ina@auctionbytes.com.
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