August 20, 2010
They say you can tell a lot about a company by the people who work there. Here at Doba, we’re blessed to work with some of the finest people you’d ever want to meet. From the folks who staff our entry-level positions to those holding the top posts in the company, Doba employees are talented, hard working and focused on your success.
As you’ll see, we’re doing something a little different today. Rather than share news and information that helps you – the online retailer – get the most out of your Doba membership, today we’re taking a moment to share news and information with you about the people who work here. And there’s a lot to share. Think of yourself as the fly on the wall as Doba staffers gather around the water cooler to share their own news and info.
- Jill King, our fulfillment operations manager and her husband Vince recently welcomed their first child – a beautiful baby girl named Kenslee Elaine. Mom and baby are doing great, and Jill expects to be back at work in September.
- Senior designer Josh DeRosa participated in a backpacking bachelor party adventure in July with some of his friends from Doba. We’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate Josh and his wife Lisa on their recent nuptials.
- Doba co-founder and board chairman Jeremy Hanks attended the ASD/AMD trade show in Las Vegas a few weeks ago where he met with a number of Doba’s partners and members. In other news, The Community Foundation of Utah recently honored Jeremy with an Enlightened Fifty award. Also known as the E-5-0, Jeremy’s recognition comes as a result of his innovative and sustainable approaches in making a long-term impact on critical issues facing Utah, as well as his commitment to community engagement as part of his core business values.
- Jared Sidwell, our VP of business development, is training for his first marathon. Jared is already up to 18-mile training runs in preparation for this fall’s St. George Marathon. Run Jared, Run!
- There must be something in the water because several Doba employees have little ones on the way, including: Continue reading »
August 18, 2010
Editor’s Note: This is the third post in a series of blog entries by Jake Sabey, Doba’s email marketing & education specialist, about where online retailers can sell online. Previous entries by Jake covered Amazon.com and Craigslist. Today we present Jake’s overview of selling on eBay.com:
Let’s talk about eBay.com: You know what it is, you know what it’s used for. As an eBay Certified Service Provider (for the past four years), the folks here at Doba want to make sure you know how to take full advantage of all that eBay has to offer. We want you to get your piece of the eBay pie.
This blog post was developed to help you focus on gaining a better understanding of eBay’s policies for sellers. We also want you to know the pluses and minuses of selling there, and we’re here to offer insights into how to best market your products on eBay.
Everybody knows that eBay is a great marketplace on which to sell your products and gain experience as an online retailer. However, it would be unwise to just leap into eBay’s world without any knowledge of the ins and outs of the marketplace. As a seller, the more you know about eBay’s platform, the more you’ll get out of your listings.
Using eBay’s Learning Center
eBay goes out of its way to make its procedures simple so you can quickly gain an understanding about how things work in their universe — and especially their rules and conditions for sellers. You can access the Learning Center from the top of any eBay page by scrolling over “Help” in the navigation bar, and clicking “Learning Center.” Or you can simply visit Continue reading »
by Jake Sabey
Email Marketing & Education Specialist
August 17, 2010
Set of 4 LED Flashlights
Doba supplier Vard is having a sale (well, in industry terms it’s actually called a liquidation) on very specific items. Known for carrying a wide range of lifestyle products, Vard is working with us this week and next to provide Doba members with a 25 percent price reduction on select items. This week’s offerings include:
Doba Deals are available to Doba members only, including those of you participating in our FREE 7-Day Trial membership. For more information about setting up a Doba account, visit Doba.com.
by Jason Cook
Marketing Technology Specialist
August 12, 2010
Practical eCommerce just published a two-part series featuring insightful tips from some of the online retailing industry’s most successful leaders and brands. In the spirit of it’s never too early to be thinking about your own holiday promotions, here are a few highlights:
Plan Ahead for Holiday Rush
“Have an escalation plan for marketing. Like any aspect of your business, all marketing and advertising aspects need to be planned in advance. Shoppers are much more likely to make a purchase in November and December than any other part of the year. Plan for the increase in phone orders and customer service questions. You can’t just hire additional reps in November and expect them to be knowledgeable in your business. Allow time for proper training.” – Dave Sasson, CEO of OverstockArt.com
Freshen Up Your Gift Shop
“If you don’t have a gift shop on your website, be sure to create one before the fourth quarter begins. If you already have a gift shop, start making plans now on how you can improve upon it. Monitor your sales at least once a week by creating a campaign in your analytics program tied to the gift shop page URL – Ken Kikkawa, President of eHobbies
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August 11, 2010
If you want to talk about the resources available at Doba, just take a quick peek at our online Education Center. There’s more information packed into this section of Doba.com than can be found in the main libraries of some small countries. (OK. Some very small countries.)
Our Education Center (which is available at no additional charge to Doba members, including those of you who participate in our FREE 7-Day Trial) is where the new online retailer will find tutorials, archived webinars (Web seminars), newsletters, articles and access to this blog chock full of industry news, how-tos and updates. The Education Center also is the perfect resource for veteran drop-ship retailers looking for new ways to meet — and exceed — their business goals and to hone their marketing skills.
Starting a new enterprise is a daunting experience under the best of circumstances, but those embarking on a retail business with us find the going much easier with our online Education Center. For many, this may be your first introduction to selling online and using a drop shipper.
To help you get started, here’s an overview of our online education resources for retailers:
Continue reading »
by Kay Russon
Customer Service Rep
August 10, 2010
eMachines 20-inch LCD Monitor
With the back-to-school merchandising season nearly in full-swing , this week we provide you with a focused list of products to appeal to shoppers looking to save money on school related items. As an online retailer, you’ll be sure to nail the back to school demographic by including some or all of the following Doba Deals in your back-to-school offering:
After the Christmas holiday season, back-to-school is the second largest consumer-spending event of the year. Regardless of what you sell, now’s the time to position your merchandise as serving a back to school-related need.
If this is your first time hearing about Doba or Doba Deals, learn more by signing up for our FREE 7-Day Trial membership or click the “Learn More, View Our Tour” button on Doba.com.
by Jason Cook
Marketing Technology Specialist
August 9, 2010
Is buying in bulk right for you?
Somewhere out there on this spinning globe is a person who knows more about the history of retail than anyone else. That person is not me.
Having said that, you should know that I’ve been actively involved in ecommerce for the past eight years, which means I still have something to bring to the table. That undiscovered expert and I would probably agree on topics like supply and demand, the rise of the Industrial Revolution, causes of the Great Depression and how retailing has changed due to current world conditions. But when it comes to a discussion of the best methods of securing inventory, buying in bulk and drop shipping, fisticuffs might ensue. That’s because retailers — big or small, experienced or beginners — have different notions about being effective with inventory.
For the online seller, deciding whether or not to incorporate bulk buying into your enterprise is a decision that shouldn’t be put aside or ignored. There are many great things about bulk buying to consider. The first thing to think about is a word/concept that some people love just a little too much: Control. Bulk buying gives the retailer the control to – Continue reading »
by Wes Lapioli
Account Consultant (SMB)
August 8, 2010
Terapeak - eBay Marketplace Research Made Easy
If you sell products sourced from Doba on eBay – or items found at a yard sale or from your own collection – it’s always best to know ahead of time what those items have sold for in the past. And while eBay makes it easy for anyone to look at the price of current items listed for sale on the world’s No. 1 auction website, you’d be hard pressed to use the site to come up with any sort of meaningful historical data to help you price items today.
If you’re considering adding a new item to your sales roster or product line, or if you’re at all concerned about underperforming sales, you should consider using Terapeak, a highly advanced yet easy-to-use online marketplace research tool that shines a deep and heavy stream of light into the successful pricing strategies of eBay sellers. Using Terapeak to determine value and expected sell through rate is what successful online retailers do, and since Terapeak is an official Doba Partner, Doba-affiliated online retailers qualify to use Terapeak at an exclusive discount (note: info on pricing is presented at the end of today’s post).
Without a doubt, “What should I sell and how much should I sell it for?” are the top two questions at the very top of the list for eBay sellers. And while eBay once offered an in-house solution called Marketplace Research to mine data from their own pages, they did away with the tool a few years ago and now direct all sellers to use Terapeak, which uses actual listing details from eBay to enable you to make informed decisions on what to sell, when to sell, and how to price it.
Terapeak – eBay’s official recommended choice for conducting critical marketplace research – is proven to increase your eBay sales by allowing you to Continue reading »
by Jared Sidwell
VP of Business Development
August 5, 2010
As I shared the last time I wrote one of these blog posts, as an online retailer, it’s nice to have as many markets as possible to list your products in. In late-April, I told you about Amazon.com. Today I’m going to focus on Craigslist:
Founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark, Craigslist is a cross between a virtual community center and online garage sale. Originally intended for just the San Francisco Bay Area, Craigslist has 700 unique Craigslist sites in 70 countries around the world. More than 50 million people use Craigslist in the United States alone.
Although Craigslist is very much a social site, with a personals section, discussion forums, help wanted ads, and more, it is perhaps best known for its free classified ads section. Craigslist users self-publish about 50 million new classified ads each month, and collectively, all of the site’s associated locations deliver more than 20 billion page view per month.
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by Jake Sabey
Email Marketing & Education Specialist
August 4, 2010
Today I thought I’d share some new fraud prevention tips that can help ensure you’re dealing with legitimate customers instead of unscrupulous fraudsters out to slide one past you. It’s no secret that eCommerce is littered with these so-called consumers whose only intent is to prey on the vulnerable retailer. Here are some thoughts to help keep you safe.
Pay attention to your customer’s IP address. Checking your ordering customers IP addresses, when available, is one of the best ways to ensure their legitimacy. An IP address is a unique network identifier issued by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to a user’s computer every time they’re logged on to the Internet. It acts as a virtual thumbprint of a user’s activity. If you are able to see the IP, you can quickly crosscheck it with an IP recognition site like www.WhoIs,net, www.IPlookup.net, or www.WhoIs.DomainTools.com.
Continue reading »
by Cody Tate
Fraud Prevention Specialist
