CallWave Rolls Out Cross-Platform Collaboration With FUZE

CallWave rolls technology picked up in its acquisition of WebMessenger into FUZE, a hosted cross-platform collaboration product with video and image sharing.

In a nutshell, the FUZE service is designed to provide synchronized high-definition video collaboration with high quality audio conferencing along with secure instant messaging and managed presence in an easy-to-use service.

To do this, FUZE expands on WebMessenger technology to provide an enterprise-class collaboration and conferencing solution for mobile workforces. FUZE, through its browser-based service provides the means to conduct mobile meetings by initiating calls, delivering presentations and instant messaging with meeting attendees, regardless if they are in the office in front of their computer or out in the field with an iPhone or Windows Mobile device.

CallWave Rolls Out Cross-Platform Collaboration With FUZE
By Vangie Beal, September 23, 2008

eBay Watch: E-Payment Policy, Four eBay Alternatives

This week we summarize eBay’s workshop designed to help sellers adjust to electronic-only payments and review eBay’s policy requiring sellers to specify shipping in listings. Plus, we highlight four alternative selling sites.

During the workshop one seller did ask if eBay would charge a Final Value Fee (FvF) based on the total of the item price plus shipping once eBay migrated to all electronic payments and checkout. Currently, eBay sellers do not pay a FvF to eBay that is derived from the cost of shipping charged to buyers, only the item sale price. Neither eBay or PayPal representatives answered this question, which was repeated by other sellers but seemingly ignored during the remainder of the workshop.

eBay Watch: E-Payment Policy, Four eBay Alternatives
By Vangie Beal

From eBay to Bidtopia: Bargainland’s Success Story

Bidtopia is born after high-volume liquidator Bargainland says bye-bye to eBay, which requested it to cut its business by 75 percent.

According to St. James, Bargainland (which is also a company named for the popular eBay user ID), was greatly affected by changes at eBay. Policies on designer brand names, for example, limited Bargainland to listing only five of these items at a time, and in other instances, Bargainland was required to have a 98 or 99 percent positive feedback. St. James said that when you sell this type of product, even if you list every single item as damaged in the description, you just cannot achieve that high of a rating. The company also believed that eBay, through its new policy changes, was discouraging the types of listings that was the core of its business.

St. James told Ecommerce-Guide.com that they were asked by eBay to cut back the number of listings or change to a different type of auction. According to St. James, eBay wanted Bargainland to cut its eBay business by 75 percent. He said, “We were doing tens of millions of dollars worth of business with them, and really, how can you cut back 75 percent of that in three months?”

From eBay to Bidtopia: Bargainland’s Success Story
By Vangie Beal, August 12, 2008

eBay Listing Issues Irk Sellers, OS Shopping Carts

EBay cans its Listing Policy changes but rolls out what some sellers call an “unfair” Multiple Listings policy, and the eBay Partner Network announces a new affiliate compensation plan. Plus, PayPal gets ready for back-to-school spending and PrestaShop announces version 1.0 of its free, open source e-commerce solution.

“Under the new policy, duplicate items from the same seller will be limited to a single showing in search results. eBay defines identical items as listings from the same seller that have the same title and the same listing format. King did say that multiple auction-style listings with the same title with a different number of bids and different prices are not considered identical and will all be displayed in the search results.

Sellers who list many different items will also be limited to up to 10 items shown on the search page. So, any seller who has twenty unique items listed, for example, will see only up to 10 shown on the first page, with the remainder shown on the second and subsequent search results pages. These changes are being reported by sellers in all searches, not just eBay’s Best Match. Under the new change, if you list 10 items, all with the same title and price, buyers will only see one of those listings in their search results. Once a bid has been placed, however, the listing with a bid, plus a second listing theoretically should show on the first search results page.”

eBay Watch: Listing Issues Irk Sellers, OS Shopping Carts
By Vangie Beal, August 6, 2008

Bonanzle: The Best eBay Alternative We’ve Seen

This snappy, start-up company created an online marketplace that’s easy to use, affordable and includes awesome online selling tools. In fact, it’s the best eBay alternative we’ve seen yet.

One of the biggest problems that we find on many of the smaller alternative sites, and even on the big sites including eBay itself, is that in their attempt to be so feature-rich, they actually make listing items a chore for experienced sellers and for novices the task can be rather overwhelming.

As a seller, I know I am not alone in my frustration. From having to go through seven or more screens just to select an item category, to doing just as much work to create my own storefront category names (not to mention copying HTML templates from one Web site to another), listing online for the small, average seller is becoming more complex and awkward and you need to invest far too much time in the actual listing process.

During an interview with Ecommerce-Guide.com, the site’s founder, Bill Harding, summed up the heart of Bonanzle.com’s philosophy when he said, “Do we really need five or more screens to list a single item?”

Bonanzle: The Best eBay Alternative We’ve Seen
By Vangie Beal, July 30, 2008

Cross-Network IM Conferencing with Persistent.IM

SHAPE Services, known for its IM+ brand of mobile clients, bridges the gap between IM networks with an easy-to- use, cross-network conferencing platform.

Users can create a user account on the Persistent.im site that lets them establish live (or persistent) IM conferences that shows up as a buddy or friend on the invited participants IM contact list. As the conference progresses, for example, when a participant writes a message, Persistent.im will deliver the message to all online participants and any offline participants will receive the message when they log into their IM service.

Khais said that Persistent.im is ideal for those who need to collaborate, but are geographically separated. “When you are in a conference, not all participants need to be online for activity, so if you have conference participants in radically different time zones, they will still receive all the sent messages and status information for the conference.”

Cross-Network IM Conferencing with Persistent.IM
July 29, 2008, By Vangie Beal

RedAntenna’s Widget and Marketing Helps Artists Sell Online

RedAntenna offers musicians, artists and affiliates a new way to cash in on digital content sales.

“Artists looking for a new way to distribute their videos, music tracks, and soon, games and digital photos, have a new way to promote their media and sell their digital goods online.

RedAntenna is a new company offering services specifically targeted for musicians, independent filmmakers, and other artists looking to sell their creative content online without a label. The firm’s proprietary ShopLet Widget lets you set your own price for your own content, while taking a straight seven percent cut of the sale, leaving the remaining profit for you and affiliate Webmasters.”

RedAntenna’s Widget and Marketing Helps Artists Sell Online
By Vangie Beal, July 24, 2008

MuseStorm Offers Platform for iPhone Marketing

With MuseStorm’s Platform, you can produce, deliver, manage and analyze metrics for the widgets and social applications you create.

“The MuseStorm Engagement Platform was recently extended to include support for iPhone development and it offers users the option to deliver their content through a Web browser to iPhones. These Web applications can be downloaded through Apple or other means, and when iPhone users receive a widget built using the MuseStorm platform, they point the browser to a location on the Web where a video, slideshow, or an RSS feed can be accessed. MuseStorm widgets are specifically designed to take advantage of the iPhone interface. The widgets mirror the look and feel of the iPhone, and also use the popular iPhone touch-screen navigation system.”

MuseStorm Offers Platform for iPhone Marketing
By Vangie Beal, July 1, 2008

Antivirus and Antispyware Software: What’s The Difference?

Internet vermin is everywhere, and any computer can easily be infected with a virus, Trojan Horse, worm, spyware, root kit blended threat, or pop-ups. The types of malicious infections we can encounter are seemingly endless — as are the types of programs available to consumers to help keep infections under control.

“When people talk about a computer virus, they generally call different types of computer viruses, like worms or Trojan horses a “virus”. While the words (Trojan, worm and virus) are often used interchangeably, they are technically not the same. However, what they have in common is that they all are malicious programs that can cause damage to your computer. They also can be found and removed by the same security program (for the purpose of this article, we also use the word virus to describe all three types of threats).”

Antivirus and Antispyware Software: What’s The Difference?
By Vangie Beal, June 13, 2008, 2008

McAfee Shows Shoppers Your Site’s Safe and Secure

McAfee’s e-commerce service provides help with payment card industry compliance and tests and scans daily for threats. Plus, news on its partnership with Yahoo.

“The new service, while useful on any Web site, is especially beneficial on e-commerce sites where shopping carts are frequently abandoned when a consumer doesn’t feel the site is completely secure. At the same time, the service offers online businesses daily managed security scans that help them meet Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards.”

McAfee Shows Shoppers Your Site’s Safe and Secure
By Vangie Beal, May 7, 2008