web site design – ebay stores design – small business websites

Everyone wants a great looking eBay Store, but what some people don’t know is the limitations on stores and eBay Listings.

1. Live Chat on an eBay Listing or store: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/reviewsandguides/links-reviews-guides.html Prohibited links include: Links or other connections to live chat systems. You can include a live chat link in your About Me page or custom Stores pages, but not in your Store home page.  You may include your chat user names in an item description, but not a link to chat. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-links.html
2. Audio or Video on eBay: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-links.html You can include a video in your listings as long as it can be played back within the listing. But you’re not allowed to link from your description to a video on another website. There are some exceptions, ie: YouTube video is okay.
3. Mailing Lists on eBay: Links or solicitations to subscribe to non-eBay newsletters or mailing lists are not allowed.
4. Scripts on eBay: If you try to use scripts that we disable, you’ll get an error message that says “Disallowed JavaScript/HTML Syntax”. This means you won’t be able to list the item, or the script will be disabled at run-time.
5. Logos with .com on ebay: Anchor Store logos that are used on the Stores home page have to include the official Store name, and the name can’t include any of the variations of “.com” or other extensions like .net or .org
6. Phone numbers on eBay: Store logos and Anchor Store logos can’t include phone numbers, email addresses, or other contact information
7. Flash on eBay: Store logos and Anchor Store logos can’t flash, move, or be animated

There are virtually hundreds of rules for eBay Stores and eBay Auction Listings, but the above sampling are a few of the more common requests that we get. While we can design using any of these infractions we do not recommend it. It’s only a matter of time for any eBay seller until a competitive seller will bring your store or listing to the attention of the eBay policy enforcers and you are pulled down for this. I’ve seen sellers with thousands of auctions be pulled down in a heartbeat even though they have sold for years on eBay.

I will be out and about and traveling to Las Vegas for the Ecommerce Summit 2010 Tuesday April 13. eBay will once again be sending an army of executives from the various departments to the eCommerce Summit to spend quality face time with sellers about their issues, suggestions and concerns. In addition there will be a host of great speakers but more importantly great friends to network with on everything eCommerce.  If you’re in Vegas, look me up!

..Suzanne

With so many get rich quick schemes on the internet – it’s a wonder that more of these stories are not out and about.  Albert Gonzales will have seen most of his life go by before he is eligible to get out of prison. He will be 48 years old.

Gonzalez, who once called  his criminal enterprise “Operation Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” apparantly did not factor in the Get Rich or Go to Jail slogan that he should have used instead. He was involved with two other hackers who got into the credit card cookie jar causing damage of over $130 million to Heartland and Hannaford companies.

According to Wired.com the 28 year old hacker along with other accomplices got into JC Penny, 7/11 and others by using a mysql injection technique, which basically means he hacked the database that is holding all the credit card numbers.

the hackers installed back doors to provide them with continued access. They tested their malware against 20 different antivirus programs to make sure they wouldn’t be detected, and also programmed the malware to erase evidence from the hacked networks to avoid forensic detection.

Although they hacked in 2007, Heartland discovered the hackers on its network only in January 2009

This just goes to show people that Crime may pay in the beginning, but it certainly doesn’t pay overall.

After dealing with hundreds of clients, we noticed a phenomenun, part in partial with “Scope Creep” described in Wikipedia.

To eliminate Scope Creep, we suggest an “incubation” period. This will allow clients and designers a chance to review what is on the table and decide if it fits the needs. It’s much easier to change design at the beginning of a job than to try to go about making changes after development of the site has already begun.

The fact remains that along with Scope Creep comes the issue of later design changes. This type of activity can virtually cripple a web designers ability to serve lots of clients at the same time. It adds confusion to the mix and it adds costs to the ticket when it’s undertaken after a development period has begun.

The problem with design changes is that it usually creeps in after development has begun. In reality these types of changes affect more than just a simple change. Where there is one change, there is almost always another need either to conform the flow or because once we start the changing, the client see’s how it affects design overall.

Also, if you have enough clients and all of them take an hour of time each week until their site is completed, you’ll soon find out that you are way behind scheddule on all of them.. and nobody understands why.
The What If Scenario

In addition to straight out design changes, we always have the client who wants to “just see” what it would look like if we changed this or that element on the mockup. Fair enough. In the long run most of our clients return back to what we originally delivered. We know the design of web sites and our eye for placement, color and sizing is astute. Generally we make the changes of mockup and we end up with the prior result more times than not.

Incubate your web design

Now as to the incubation period it just makes sense. We do the mockup, and then we incubate. This give our client time to search over the internet and compare his soon to be baby to the other babies in the park. Short of an all out design change, he will add features and make some changes.   Subtle changes, like color and graphic images are certainly not an issue. Okay so we change a gradient, or a color, but overall it’s the same design, the same mockup .  The issue comes in most often when we do design changes that affect the layout and after we have already begun the development phase. Now you not only have an artist involved, but the entire cycle of integration on the team.

It  makes sense to do the incubation period and let things settle before beginning to install a website. We have learned over years of work that waiting a week will save two weeks in accomplishing the overall design of a website. Think about it!

So many eBay sellers need to photograph small items and have them look good to compete with other sellers. So today’s hot topic is how to do it inexpensively.

Well first of all a milk carton will do fine. Basically you can remove the pour spout from an opaque gallon container and put your jewelry inside on a gift box. Then put two lights of about 100 watts diagonally on the back area, such as this example sitting on a table top.

In addition to making your own, you can purchase the dome tent type which can be pretty pricey. But we have a few listed here that are only about $30. dollars or so which we located on the internet.

Click any of the links to follow and find them for yourself.

Below: About 35.00 dollars:

Below: About 50 to 75. dollars:

Hugh 60″ Inch Light Tent Lighttent Studio Photography White Photo Light Tent – Digitent – Dome – Cube – Box + 4 Chroma Key Back Drop Black White Blue Red PB60 B

Photo Light Tent 30″ Professional Studio Quality by PBL

When I first met Dale Miller of CanvasesbeGone.com she needed a nice ecommerce website. It turns out that Dale is a terrific woman who is both  industrious and generous as she endeavored to make just the right website for her customers.  When I got the flu about halfway through the job, Dale sent yummy soup from one of the online sellers of comfort food. What a thoughtful gift!

I thought that this gift of wonder couldn’t be topped, it was both delicious and beautiful, and oh so convenient for someone who didn’t have the energy to get up and make dinner, or lunch for that matter.

But Dale has done it again..This afternoon Dale so kindly sent a care package of my favorite things… Chocolate! specifically Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Cookies dipped in Chocolate.

It’s rare to find a client so easy to work with, not to mention one so generous and thoughtful as Dale Miller. Check out her needlepoint canvases at her website. Thanks so much Dale for your kindness and generosity, you make the world a nicer place!  …. Suzanne