Things to do and a look into the future (WTF!)

I wrote this blog whilst in the background "Inner-City Big Fun 1988" playing, I suggest you read it whilst enjoy some 25 year old dance hit and follow up with some nice "90's hip hop":.

My first lessons learned, now it is time to start organizing my thoughts on things I discovered. I can tell you that in my head things are chaotic, unorganized, not structured, basically the same as the Mayor Of London, Mr Boris Johnson's hair style.

First things first; I have to start somewhere and most likely with the basics:

- establish my own company whether I want to start as a Sole Trader or Ltd. is something I have to discuss with a Tax Attorney or somebody who is experienced and is willing to provide guidance

- become not only familiar but really understand the working of Data Statistics (Google Keyword, Adsense, SEO etc etc), traffic generation and use it to my advantage

- find a niche product

Once I have a clear understanding of those I can start applying it too my own business

I have started to go over "The Beginners Guide to SOE" if you are interested download it at no cost at all.

After having spend quite a bit of time on really getting to obtain a sense of direction I can say that slowly but surely I am starting to grasp some of the before mystifying, last but not least due to ecommercefuel.com whose website has provided me with a sense of direction, which a lot of beginners like my self obviously lack. Please download the free guide if you want to know what I am talking about!

Having spend a bit of time reading it I have a theory or maybe even a philosophy on the creating, building and expanding any ecommerce store (front). I am a buyer on some of these sites, since my wife got pregnant we discovered that buying online was much cheaper then the conventional store, so we placed a few orders:
- Baby pram
- Baby room
- tons of other stuff.

I will share you our customer experience:
- Tons of other stuff: Delivered on time and in full within lead time 
- Baby Pram: after having placed the order (and paid $1000) on October 29th we received the order confirmation, followed by 3 weeks radio silence. We contacted the store who informed us that the color we ordered was not in stock we could choose some other color. We didn't agree to that and inquired about the lead time for that pram. Well it was only 8 weeks.. So we demanded a refund. Two weeks later, after threatening to fail a complaint for fraud, we finally received our money back. No excuses, nothing from the Seller..
- Baby Room: Ordered on December 28th (holiday season we realized). We place the order and paid in full. We immediately received a phone call that the order would be delayed for one week, if that was ok, if not refund. We agreed to the week notice as it is makes sense. We are still waiting for it to arrive and my patience is running low. Credit to the store, they do inform us, however the expected delivery date is expected (not confirmed) the first week of February... problem, our child is due then. Refund is an option but who tells me other stores can deliver in before the 24th of January...

Conclusion:
- Apparently both sides are drop shippers and the kind that does not have an interface to the suppliers inventory.
- "Keeping your customer happy" is not in their interest, not fulfilling your delivery promise is one thing, but not reimbursing, whilst customers have to threaten with Police intervention is next to Criminal!

Now my little theory comes to light:
If I run an  internet store (or drop shipper) what would I at all cost need to retain:
a. Spotless reputation
b. 100% Customer Orientated
c. Provide Quality Products in my store
d. Keep my "inventory" up-to-date
e. Create a 100% delivery promise (On Time in Full), if not see point b, see point c, see point d
f. 100% Happy RETURNING Customer

*The above does not include the relationship you have to build with your various suppliers in order to commit to the above

If I take into account the developing Mobile Technologies, Social Networking, Global Mass (product) Sourcing, Fast changing global Trends; I have come to the belief that in the current ecommerce landscape everything is about offering competitive pricing combined with an INDIVIDUAL customer approach. Additionally as a business you need to retain the flexibility to adapt too dynamic trends in consumer trends.
Since you normally are not limited by geographical location (the conventional store is) the possibilities and opportunities are endless, but it is not just coming your way, as a business it is my belief you need to keep up to date with the latest technological developments and apply those to keep your customers happy.

A good example is how to generate a customer base is Andrew Youderian;s free Ecommerce book. Today I received an email from him where he offers to take things to the next level, offering a 4 month course to make sure you realize and establish a working and successful ecommerce store at a modest cost of $49,99 and it comes with a 30 day money back "no questions asked"...

Do I mind paying that? No absolutely not! Why not? Well he provided the introduction for free (c.Quality Product) and it was extremely useful to me (b. 100% Customer Orientation). So I am a happy customer and eager to learn more (f. 100% Happy RETURNING CUSTOMER) and if I am not satisfied I get my money back without questions asked (e Create a 100% delivery promise). I take his business serious and it has delivered (a. Spotless Reputation)
Is the above rocket science?? No not really! A lot of sites offer these types of services, but charge a fee (although nominal) which stops people like me from even trying it, since I only was orientating myself. That makes me realize that if you want to lure your customers you need to provide something that keeps them coming

This was it for today, I hope you enjoyed the music provided in the hyperlinks :)

Thank you for reading the blog! Add this blog to your favorites, subscribe and please people COMMENT with any feedback!

Till next time

First Lessons Learned Part II

Hoping you enjoyed my blog yesterday as it was one of an informative nature. Last night I continued to fiddle and play with some of the new "Gadgets" (SEO/Ad Sense/Key Word etc) and dammit it becomes interesting ! Ha! Did you know in 2012 the most popular Search Term in Poland (by men) was for "Hair Grow Products"?  Did you? Be honesty you didn't know that! Neither did I.

The next step is to find out what websites are available in that area for your selected region and before you know it you start to be better informed. Additionally Google PageRank Checker is a pretty convenient tool to discover the strength of a website, in terms of traffic etc (honestly I don't know what to add now as I am sometimes still confused.) the lower the ranking is (9 being highest and 0 being lowest) the more chance there is that you stumbled on a niche, or a product that really reaches a small audience. That is something I'll need to balance; my enthusiasm and the story the data tells.

Anyways as usual I get my hands on something and in general there always seems to be a catch 22 or something that frustrates me. In general they all have one thing in common; THEY CENTER AROUND REGISTRATION! After having to contact the customer services of Ebay.com, Paypal, Allegro, PayU regarding activation of my accounts or addenda I requested it all got sorted quickly and without causing me to explode, which is credit to them. Last night I got so happy about this blog I decided to buy a domain name for my blog at a minor cost of $10,00 for 1 year. Sounds good? Bet ye arse it does! I only had to activate my Google Wallet; after signing in with my mail account only had to add my Credit Card details, browsed through the menu - GOD Google provides on occasion a proper customer experience- selected my domain name (.com) and proceeded through the check out. What da Fook!??? Is see my details appear for about 1 sec, followed by a white screen.. After refreshing the browser (Chrome) and re-entering the entire cycle over I became disillusioned and wrote an email to Google's CS. I am still waiting for a response. Not what I expected by I am learning every day! It is probably not the best commercial for Google, but Paypallseems to have a smoother running show, having said so Google seems to put its money on the future; mobile wallets, a good business choice. In the main time I am still without my domain name

Additionally I noticed that the internet has created some professions with rather sexy job titles:
- Profit Engineer 
- Social Media Mercenary
- Virtual Assistants
I probably will bump into more creatively chosen job descriptions but it remains interesting to see that part of  traditional job titles being revamped, reinvented or those jobs are actually a result of evolution!

My parting shot today is called "HOW TO GET THE WRONG KIND OF ATTENTION ON EBAY" At first I did not notice it :)

Keep on reading me and keep on subscribing (nobody has I believe, but you can always be the first one)

First Leassons Learned! Part I

I have been of the blogger for a short time, not because I was fed up with it all, nope, just because the research I was involved in took a lot of time. Searching and browsing takes more time than reading a book I found out but I did progress in trying to understand what E-commerce is all about.

As I blogged before I listed my first item on ebay.com  an occasion to celebrate? No don't be silly, millions do it everyday! It had it listed for a term of 7 days and chose to spend some advertising money on it (about $2). After days of carefully monitoring my object I only acquired 9 views and nobody even took the bother of "watching" it (option in ebay). What a disappointment! Then again a reality check is never a bad thing.
I asked myself a few questions:
- Is my product to expensive?
- Is my product visible enough?
- Is my product to expensive?
- Are my shipping terms a problem?
- Is my product attractive enough for anybody?

Well all the above caused me to start searching Google like an idiot for people or companies with similar problems. After some frustrating searches and some surprising results I learned there is such a profession as profit engineer. Very interesting but not what I was looking for. My jackpot came when I stumbled upon E-commerce Fuel. This was exactly what I was hoping to find! I suddenly realized that Andrew Youderian has basically written a blog about his life and route to building a successful e-commerce business. He even went as far to publish an e-book you can download for free. A bit sceptical I downloaded it and it took me by surprise. A nicely written and summarized guide. A lot of stuff in there that I never even heard was brought to my attention. Ever hear of the following:
- Measuring Online Demand
- SEO
- Match Types
- Page Ranking

This is just a quick summary of all the things that Andrew Youderian has been so kind to share, but it has been educational and really opens up a window of opportunity once I fully understand the working and linkage of it all.

Anyways back to my attempts "to make money out of the internet by the bootstraps"! Well what have a learned when I project it to my one product online: It is was to highly priced, the product has no name reputation and it will never have, it was not visible enough. So I relisted it again against a lower price, more visible but it still doesn't change the fact that it is simply not popular enough. So Andrew is right; find a niche with a product that sells to a target audience

That is where i am going to spend some time on now!

Update you soon!

Any questions or remarks let me know!

Keep on reading subscribe to me!

The Plot Thickens... Every action triggers crucial questions

For those of you who read this for the first time; I am an internet dinosaur now trying to establish if I will be able to sell something on the internet via any auction site. I will never post any direct links to my auctions in this blog as it is not meant to make me money but to share a bit of insight. If you find that valuable that is the biggest pay off for me!

Yesterday my accounts on both ebay.com and the local website got activated. On both sites I listed some items to see what happens. What has happened? Nothing really, watching paint dry is more exciting than my first steps as an internet seller... Hold don't stop reading I haven't finished.

What I noticed is that most sites will offer you, against a modest fee, enhancements that will make your auction item easier noticed by the shopping crowd. Of course I refuse to pay anything additional and try it the gold old fashioned way, by the Bootstraps (yes my new motto in life)

The interesting thing I realized is that for the first time in my life I approach a product from a Sales point of view (for all you adult website maniacs yes you can abbreviate it too: POV) and not from a consumer point of view. If I project my listings in current shopping mall, I have my little shop with hundreds of people passing by, some of them taking a peek, most of them not interested as they are looking for a different product. Why look at the cigar store if you are looking for a smoked salmon.
Mmm it has made me realize that visibility and targeting is probably the most important thing to get a consumer's attention, nothing new but again; Selling presents a different perspective than buying and I am just realizing that NOW! God it feels good to be alive!

The question I ask myself is how do I get people to notice my products, buy them and return in the future.
If I look at the products I have on listing; an old watch, slightly overpriced if I am honest. Two new leather bags.
The used old watch will sooner or later be sold if I only drop the price, which I could do but that would ruin my experiment
The two leather bags are on offer for 14 days at "buy-it-now" rates and will most likely sell.

What do I have to offer to a potential buyer?
The only thing I can offer them is real quality against a, I think, fair price. I will respond to all their queries and ship according to the terms and notify them accordingly.
Now that I am reading the above, it makes me realize I have nothing "special" going for my little venture! Just  a sound correct business moral

What does my potential buyer see?

My entire history on the auction site (which is rated by the entities you do business with) is not even above 10, so no detailed feedback available for any potential customer only that all is a "100% positive" and that I am only recently active and only accept Paypal or PayU. I am prepared to return default product etc. Again sound correct business moral

Secondly I have no special focus market or some product or segment I am concentrating on. Anything will do at this stage. As I wrote earlier in one of my blog, given the size of the internet and the availability of product that will be a challenge to master it all.

What impression does my venture make on possible first time buyer?

New guy, not much product, no specialization, small fish. All of it is true, still no reason not buy the watch or a bag for yourself! Hence granting me my first sale! :)


Last and not least I have to come to an early conclusion that my enthusiasm itself is not enough, I have to really think, come up with a plan or goal. After that I will have to make decisions into what direction I will steer my interests.

Thanks for taking the time to read today's contribution, if you are really interested how it all will develop subscribe to my blog or "Google plus" it :)

Till the next blog!

Activating an account to Sell online.. it took more than I'd expected

In my previous blog I vented my frustration regarding Ebay.com's activation of a sellers account.
Well I have to be honest 24hrs can, and in this case, makes a difference.

I contacted the CS of Ebay.com via the chat window and within 4 minutes the issues was solved.
The Customer Service rep simply transferred my profile from the US (.com) to the country I reside (.x)
My listing etc was swiftly executed after that.
The problem itself; listing as a non US based resident on Ebay.com will probably cause a few new subscribers a bit of good old fashion tantrums, all in the game I suppose. Still better to register on the local domains of ebay (co.uk/.de etc) to avoid all that

Something that surprised me but made sense is that before you activate your account a cross boarder agreement (relating to Tax/Excise and Customs Duty) will be presented to confirm and agree too, if you decline I have no clue what happens!

A couple of things you should be spending a bit of time on when selling or buying at sites like Ebay.com:
- Go over the commission Ebay charges you for selling
- Shipping conditions and other charges might and in most cases will impact significantly
- Ebay.com will present you with the accepted payment conditions and which services you prepared to  accept. Be secure in how you handle your cashflow! Protect your data and identity, Paypal is the most widely accepted.

If you purchase from outside the EU, be sure you check your local Customs Website whether or not excise or import charges will be levered by Local Customs. The same goes for a sold good; for instance in California a Sales Tax is being levied which you should make clear to your buyer that he/she is responsible for that one.
I also checked the option of becoming a Sole Trader with local Tax Services, more as a future option then something permanent.

Next time hopefully a less boring and less logical post

Enthusiastic and starting

In my last post I just provided an introduction as to what drove me to the internet. Just to put things into perspective; I started using ebay.com and others on the 16th of December 2012.. so not even a month ago.

My enthusiasm is slowly becoming obsessive; after buying and receiving my Manga stuff in good order. I decided to leave positive feedback with the seller. I saw a little tab that would direct me to his online shop and decided to have a look. Maybe a good deal on paper or colored pens. Much to my surprise the seller was offering Electronics, Baby Clothes, Phones and huge volumes bulk goods. Not really the specialized Manga store I'd hope for.

The next week I spend the nights after my wife is asleep browsing sites, trying to get a grip or handle what is available out there. One hint to you: Everything is available! From Lear Jets to little plastic soldiers you can find anything...

And that is exactly the point; buying something is relatively easy if you are looking for something specific and you know what you want in term of quality and price.

I decided to sell an watch I bought 6 years ago in a shop. I went into my account clicked the Sell button, created a complete profile of the product including pictures and description.
Since it is my first offering Ebay informs about the terms ect ect. Shipping conditions are causing me a headache, but ok, selling one article cant bankrupt you but you can't ignore it either, neither it turns out can you ignore the fact that you have to activate your sales account on ebay.com....

That is where my enthusiasm turned into sheer frustration! As it turns out, if you register on ebay.com you have to provide a Proof of Identity (POI) if you are not a US Citizen or based in the US I was told. Ok no problem; the customer service was professional and swift, provided me with a... FAX number!? What the F! a Fax??? Oh most be a mistake, so I requested an email address so I could scan all over to Ebay. This is apparently not possible. So I tried Paypal, which needs to be activated as well. I will receive a code on my bankstatement within 48 hrs... nice but I am still waiting for that one.

So I am still enthusiastic but that verification process if you want to sell something is needed from a business perspective, but I can drive you up the wall. I tried online fax services like Pamfax all of those failed to deliver my faxes.
Anyways currently I am researching a bundle of options and opportunities and will update you in my next blog!

Leave some comments or tips if you read this! 

Introduction

Just in case you stumble on this blog and you think I am the new Internet guru; Let me manage your expectations: I am not an Internet Guru with all the answers. The opposite!
After having worked for Forbes 500 companies for more then a decade in various management and consultancy roles in Credit (Finance) and Offer-to-Cash for manufacturing and oil companies I received an offer from a world famous or notorious bank ("The Bank" as they call themselves) to become a Associate Director. After two weeks into the job a strategic change within the organizations' management model was executed not much later I found myself without a job, 3 months salary in my bank account.
For the first time in my life it dawned to me that I had achieved all goals I set in early 2000 when, being a high school drop out, I emigrated to Ireland to get a chance to work in office environment (about $15K gross a year) whilst 13 yrs later I was managing a business over 200 people and earning over $100K a year excluding bonuses in Eastern Europe. Achievement had made me lazy, spoiled and started to impact on my private life.
After being put on "Garden Leave" the first 3 to 4 weeks I was angry, feeling sorry for myself and deeply worried about the fact that by Feb. 2013 we are welcoming our first child, with money running till April 2013 it is by far the most ideal scenario.
On the other hand I have a lot of spare time on my hands and decided to take up an old hobby: Manga Drawing. Only problem was that the specific pens and pencils are for sale at ridiculously high prices in local stores. I decided to register with a local auction website and try my luck. Much to my surprise it did save me 35% on the pens alone, specific paper and books saved me even more.
The world had opened and I am seeing potential, enthusiastic as I am I went searching and comparing prices etc etc.

It has triggered something in! I feel alive, enthusiastic, eager and above all I can control my own direction

Next Blog will follow soon