FOEB Blog

Update to eBay UK's Accepted Payments Policy

10 Jun 2008 12:00:00 GMT

In line with the recent change requiring all listings on eBay.co.uk to offer PayPal, the Accepted Payments Policy has been updated. Learn more about these changes.

This policy also includes a new section titled ‘Misleading and Discouraging Payments’, which has been put in place to allow buyers to bid on or buy an item knowing that all the payment options in the listings will be available to them. This means sellers must not act in any way to discourage buyers from paying by methods that they offer in their listing.

Online Shopping On the Up

10 Jun 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Online shopping rose by 35 per cent to £14.7 billion in the UK last year – a rate of growth almost 10 times higher than that of the total retail market.

According to Verdict Research, strong growth is set to continue and online retail estimated to reach £44.9 billion by 2012 – 13.8 per cent of total online spend. The report points out that convenience was mentioned as the main reason for the internet's success by more than 50% of the 4,059 adults surveyed.

It seems that the internet is seen as a cheaper and easier way to find lower prices and bargains across most retail sectors. The cost of broadband is dropping and consumers are becoming more used to shopping online whilst retailers are improving their online propositions all the time.

Electricals took the major share of all online retail spend last year at 25.1%. The second largest sector was grocery which is on the rise and expected to account for 29% of online sales in 2021, compared with 22% for electricals.

eBay Cheap Listing Day Thursday 12th June

10 Jun 2008 12:00:00 GMT

For the entire day of Thursday 12th June 2008 (local UK time), sellers who list one or more items in an eligible category using the Auction-style, Auction-with-Buy It Now or Buy It Now Only (Fixed Price) formats will pay a 5p Insertion Fee per item they list.

Check out eBay for for full Terms & Conditions

Google Leads Search in the UK

10 Jun 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Nearly 90% of all UK searches during May went through Google, according to new statistics out today. Google sites accounted for 87.30% of all searches throughout the month, according to Hitwise, up 9% year-on-year. In second place was Yahoo!, but considerably behind Google with 4.09% of searches, followed by Microsoft (3.72%) and Ask (3.07%). All three have seen year-on-year decreases in search traffic, according to Hitwise, although each had increased slightly on April.

Use of Auction Sites Drops

16 May 2008 12:00:00 GMT

According to Point Topic the number of internet households that use auction sites has dropped four percentage points to 54% over the past 6 months. The proportion of people shopping online has remained static at 69% in the past 18 months.

Top Brands Query Value of Price-Comparison Sites

16 May 2008 12:00:00 GMT

NMA has today reported that key online brands and etailers are pulling out of price-comparison sites, questioning their effectiveness and calling for greater innovation and user interaction.

Pure-play electronics retailer Dabs.com said traffic quality from price-comparison sites had dropped in the past year, so it has reconsidered how it works with them.

These comments were echoed by gadget etailer Firefox and electronics manufacturer Casio.

Jonathan Wall, Dabs.com marketing director, said, "We always used to put a third of our digital marketing budget into Google, a third into affiliates and a third into shopping channels. But over the past 12 months we've seen a decline in the traffic quality from some of the shopping channels. We now put more like two-thirds into Google, a third into affiliates and a smidgen into shopping channels. We did a lot of customer scoring on them and they were half as likely to come back and buy from us again as the customers we had acquired from Google" he added.

Naomi Brown, online marketing executive at gaming and gadget etailer Firebox, said there was more pressure on price-comparison sites to add a point of difference that leads to the conversion. "We've pulled out of a few sites," she said. "We monitor carefully which are performing well, and that does vary. The difference is that some sites innovate much more than others, so the ones we see doing well are those that add value - user product reviews, for example."

Similarly, Alex Dibble, digital marketing executive at Casio, said that the user experience on such sites like Google Product Search and PriceGrabber were good early on, but nowadays there are so many confusing elements to such sites, such as differing delivery options."

However, Mattias Berg, MD of Pricerunner.co.uk, said that the focus for his site was to make the customer journey experience as fulfilling as possible. "If price-comparison sites don't add value then of course retailers are going to think whether they want to work with them or not," he said.

Check out www.nma.co.uk for more online marketing news

New York orders Amazon to collect taxes

14 May 2008 12:00:00 GMT

In its recent state budget NY lawmakers have ordered Amazon.com to being collecting state sales tax on purchases being made there. Although Amazon does not maintain a brick-and mortar presence, lawmakers have steadfastly argued that resident Amazon affiliates now constitute a presence. With rumours of boycotts, court challenges and even Amazon going as far as dropping its NY based affiliates, the fight to challenge tax-free internet shopping is on.Exactly how this will go on to affect other retailers, in other states and countries around the world remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain lawmakers are not going to let the millions of unpaid and uncollected taxes continue without a fight.

eBay Battling Against Fakes

20 Apr 2008 12:00:00 GMT

eBay is working hard to keep fakes and counterfeits off the site and has recently joined forces with the Knock Off Nigel campaign to raise awareness on how to spot and avoid buying fake DVDs on eBay. Knock Off Nigel is a campaign by the Industry Trust for Intellectual Property Awareness which was set up in 2004 to tackle the growing problem of film and TV copyright theft in the UK. Today it represents a wide range of companies from the British film and TV industry, including home entertainment, theatrical film distributors, DVD retail and rental companies and a variety of industry bodies and associated companies active in the sector. The Trust’s goals are to: • Limit copyright theft in terms of consumption of counterfeit physical copies and illegally downloaded digital content. • Limit the damage counterfeit DVDs and illegal downloads can cause, not just to the creative industries but to the economy, consumers and communities. • Be a voice for the film and TV industry on the protection of copyright, its contribution to society and the value of creativity. The Industry Trust seeks to achieve its aims through consumer education and awareness campaigns and the provision of training and information for those working to promote, protect and enforce copyright. The Industry Trust works with the industry’s anti-piracy body, the Federation against Copyright Theft (FACT), Trading Standards, the Police and other agencies to help combat copyright crimes. The Industry Trust also supports the work of the Alliance against IP Theft in lobbying for more effective enforcement and tougher legislation against fakes. For more information please contact info@copyrightaware.co.uk

Catalyst Event Now Full

20 Apr 2008 12:00:00 GMT

The Catalyst conference taking place at Vinopolis in London next week is fully booked and registrations have closed. To get yourself on the standby list email ukteam@channeladvisor.com