Archive for May, 2010
E-commerce moves so swiftly. Seems like just the other day we were talking about Google Checkout, and now we’ve got to figure out whether or not we’re going to use Facebook’s social plugins. And the list goes on, doesn’t it?
Because we at IMA are serious about the benefits we provide to ecommerce practitioners, we’re now offering etailers a unique opportunity to join the association and reap the full benefits of being a member—including access to the IMA’s private member forum, where you can engage with and learn from other members, gaining insight into e-commerce best practices you won’t find anywhere else.
Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond members can also avail additional amenities depending on their membership level, including a dedicated company platform within IMA’s member-only forum, speaking opportunities, and discounted rates to the IMA’s annual conference held every March in conjunction with the annual ASD/AMD trade show.
Effective immediately etailers can join the IMA at the Bronze level (a US $99 value) for one year. Just select the “Bronze Plan” on our registration page here, and you’ll be in.
Go ahead, do it. Join now.
May 21st, 2010
Those were the days
Growing up in the retail world, I was always taught that the most important decision in your business was location, location, location… remember those days?
When you run an Internet-based business, your “location” is nowhere… and everywhere. So what, then, becomes most important with this new “location”? In my opinion, branding. Part of that (not all of it) is having a logo that works for your business.
I personally am not artistic so needed design help.
Have you ever googled “logo”? The results: About 2,430,000,000.
Wow. That didn’t really help me.
My next step was to find logos that I like and find out who designed them. Well, what I found was that logos can cost anywhere from $25 to $5,000. Over the years, I’ve spent quite a bit of money on logos, and was consistently disappointed. I should have just burned my money!
Crowdsourcing
Then I read about Internet sites that specifically offer a bid process for logo design and other creative needs. I was intrigued! So I did my homework and found many sites that offer this service. I ended up using a site called crowdSpring (there are several others like Logo Design Team, 99designs and Hatchwise) and found the process fairly simple and painless:
I explain what colors I was looking for, font choices, pictures, etc. Throughout the process I could even change my mind on colors, etc… and then designers submitted their designs. I had the opportunity to rate the logos and even send a designer a request to tweak this or that.
After the deadline, I had 7 days to decide on the winner, and transfer the money to the designer.
My decision was based on how easy it was to read, if the graphic itself explained my business and how the logo looked in black & white. I also asked the designer I selected to make a few tweaks for me and they obliged after being awarded the money. All communication was done on the site and no names were used, only user IDs, which is great from a privacy point of view.
Cost?
CrowdSpring sets a minimum of $200 for a logo design project, but let me determine the time period for the bid – I chose 10 days. The company suggested that with a $200 bid, I could expect around 30 designs, but because of my past experience with logos, I wanted more to choose from, so I offered $325 for the winning designer (fees for the company are not included). I ended up with 77 logo designs to choose from for my company, SnorkelingOnline.
I found this a great way to crowdsource professional services, and especially perfect for an e-commerce company. I’ll be going back to CrowdSpring when I need to.
May 13th, 2010
As of May 1, 2010, MasterCard and Discover have released new rules that impact the way merchants who accept those cards must handle certain aspects of PrePaid Credit or Debit Cards as well as regular bank Debit Check cards.
Going forward there are three critical issues you must be aware of as a merchant:
1. If someone uses a PrePaid Credit or Debit Card, when you give them the receipt for their transaction you must display the remaining balance available on that PrePaid card.
2. If someone uses a PrePaid Credit or Debit Card or a regular bank issued Debit Check Card and there’s not enough available on the card to complete the entire transaction, you must accept split payments and allow them to pay the remaining balance with another card.
For example, suppose someone is checking out of your online store and their order costs $50 total. When they go to checkout, if their PrePaid or Check Debit Card only has $30 available on it, the system will authorize the $30 and then give them an opportunity to add another card during checkout to pay the remaining $20 balance.
3. If your customer chooses to cancel the order in the case of #2 above, then your gateway must be able to immediately release the hold placed on the initial Authorization created for the PrePaid or Check Cards.
So what does all this mean to you, the online merchant?
Well for now it doesn’t mean a whole bunch for your average small- and medium-sized online merchant.
The first step to make the above even possible in the world of SMB Ecommerce is for the common gateways we all use (like Authorize.net) to implement the tools needed to support these mandates.
Second your shopping cart vendor will need to add support for these features specifically to your gateway; finally, you’ll need to implement these changes in your online store.
For now all you need to do is be aware of what’s coming and pay attention to future announcements from your shopping cart provider and, more importantly, your merchant account and payment gateway provider. As of now, Authorize.net has gotten an extension from MasterCard and Discover and these mandates are not required for Authorize.net customers until June 30, 2011 (14 months from now).
If you have questions, you should check with your payment gateway provider as the mandates and dates for compliance will vary by gateway.
Guest post by Rick Wilson of Miva Merchant. Miva Merchant is an IMA Diamond member.
May 4th, 2010