Become a Better Photographer With the Nikon d80

Have you ever thought that you might be the next great photographer? But it seems so hard to get everything you need to get started right. I mean how are you supposed to know which lens' to buy or what cables or straps you might want?

Well there is a seller on netSpray that is making it easy for you. For $850 you get a Nikon d80 (which is usually a $400 dollar camera by itself) with 2 lenses, rechargeable Li-ion battery, battery charger, multiple cables, straps, covers, and Nikon Picture Project software. If you get a nice kit like this you will get more for your money instead of buying all those pieces separate.



But is this the right camera to buy? Well in its class it is often rated as good as or better than many of its competitors products like Canon. There are numerous reviews out there and many are very useful. Here is one that I used. While this review put this camera second it was only because the camera the reviewer chose was priced much lower than the d80 but he hadn't used the other camera full time yet.

This camera has been on the market a while but it is still a highly rated model and company.

Dave White's eBay and Beyond Radio (scratch that) Video Show

I listened to the eBay and Beyond radio show (video show) today and thought I'd share a little of what I found. 

The show is hosted by a man named Dave White. Dave is an expert in online sales and appears to be selling in a number of places beyond eBay. His website has widgets for Bonanzle, netSpray, and OnlineAuction. Online Auction is a favorite of Dave's, he even hosts the OLA radio show. 

One thing that was impressed upon me today in listened to Dave's show was the importance of providing a seller with a sense of place. What I mean here is that at Online Auction, buyers can browse the seller's items. At Bonanzle, sellers have what is termed a booth. Both of these situations allow a buyer to look at a seller's complete inventory and can likely help increase the number of items being sold. 

• Sellers want to feel like a website is theirs ~ ie. we want a personalized area. 
• A seller's profile and a chance to see their complete inventory in one place is important.
• We don't want a lot of work in setting up our profiles/ area, but enough opportunity in them to be creative. 

In this week's show, Dave spoke with well-known super seller Marsha Collier who also is a former eBay specialist. Marsha writes books about selling on eBay, in addition to being a genuine eBay seller herself. She also hosts her own radio show and writes a blog about computer technology. 

The program was fun and lively as Dave brought in audience members, like John Lawson, aka ColderICE who was promoting his new program about Internet marketing. Bit of a side note, John recently interviewed Jay Berkowitz who is a nationally recognized Internet marketer. Jay's claim to fame is the 10 Golden Rules of Internet marketing book, he's used to land speaking gigs and notoriety. 

What are your thoughts? Are you a seller that likes to have a sense of place with your online ecommerce website? Does it matter to you if a website mixes your product in with everyone else's? Would you prefer to sell on a site that allows a potential buyer to see all of your items in one location should they desire to do so? 

Weekly Update

ChannelAdvisor offers multi-channel online sales platform and recently releases "new" ideas about how to manage customer needs.  

NetSuite (retail, full-package ecommerce solution company) recently published news about it's multi-channel retail management suite. The company provides full-scale service solutions to retail companies and would likely be stiff competition to other companies looking to service ecommerce needs of large (more than 5 mill annually) companies doing business online. They have a list of customers and success stories on their website. They provide back-end and front-end services, and presumably are a SaaS company.  

netSpray innovative online sales platform brings together Internet marketers and online merchants to increase visibility and conversions is expected to announce the new design of their website. Word is the company has entered a new round of funding and will roll-out a new web design over the coming weeks. 

Internet Retailer (online trade magazine) provides an article this week detailing trends in e-commerce platforms. They highlight three main models: (1) SaaS or on-demand where vendor hosts the software being used; (2) hosted or managed model where customized technology is hosted by the vendor; (3) the licensed model where retailer licenses technology from the vendor, modifies it and supports it in-house. 

Using Forrester Research data IR points out, "  Core capabilities for retailers include managing product catalogs and content, customer data and orders, including shipping charges and taxes; search and browse capabilities; payment settlement; and reporting. " 

The article also provides a link to the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide  (<- a paid catelogue of the ? top 500 online retailer with case studies)

Let's Investigate - Google Base / Google Products

In the last post I talked about how alternative sites have benefited from using Google's services. So, today I'll share some things I found about those services.

Google products is really looking nice these day. [ Example page ] 

I, personally, hadn't ventured off sites like eBay, Amazon, or even Overstock too much. Yahoo Auction and many of the other smaller sites just haven't enticed me. I do enjoy buying at Half.com, but they are an eBay sister store. And craigslist is interesting, but I haven't ever bought there either.



Google Base is said to have been a real boost in the findability of the alternative sites this past year according to Ina over at Auction Bytes. From what I can tell of it, Google allows anyone with an account to load items onto Google Base.

Everything from jobs to products finds it's way onto the list. I decided to take a closer look....

In listing my items, I had to enter the title; quantity; type; condition; and brand. Product type, condition and brand are all optional categories. While quantity, price and price type are not optional. It's neat. They let you choose (a) fixed price, (b) negotiable, and (c) minimum price as the price type.

All this is followed by a description area that has the bold, italics, and different fonts to choose from. It's nice. Then you load a photo. And, like with other sell on sites, you select the payment types you'll receive. You may choose Google Checkout (which I'll write about that next time) and/or traditional services such as cash, check, money order.



Then to end it - you choose how long the item will be for sale. There is a maximum number of 30 days for this feature. *Here is something really neat that I forgot to mention before; the title area is indefinate. Really I held down a key and the page just kept going. So, Google doesn't restrict the title size. THATS fun.

There are some restrictions to the type of photo file, including the size: see here. It is rather generous upon second look - they allow up to 15 photo files with a 20 megabyte limit. That is really nice too. As many of you sellers know - it's the photos that sells the product. Very good Google.

Okay so, once you have you item through the process - you can go to your Google Base Dashboard. It offers you a look at the

Item title Item type Country Status Modified Expires Impr. Clicks Page views

Here you also can update - didn't mention it earlier, but google base let's you update - the country you are targeting with your product. The item takes a little time to publish as they review to help keep out spam. Here is a link to their program policies and editorial guidelines. Each of which are presumably well enforced, so don't get any ideas you overly creative types.



All-in-all, I'd say Google base was a snap. And now, we'll wait to see how well it help sell a 1976 Vintage Hanna Barbara Yogi Bear Comic Book. Click here to see my item on Google Base.

Love to know about your experience with Google Base, Google selling or any other online alternative. Till next time!

It Pays to Google for Alternative Online Selling Sites

Auction Bytes, in a recent article explore and explain some of the truths surrounding alternatives. In an article titled eBay Alternatives Pick up Stream thanks to Google Ina Steiner discusses eCrater, Amazon, among other alternatives.

With the rise of interest in alternative sites that work, Steiner gets the job done. One thing she mentions is how Google visibility has helped popularize sites like Ruby Lane, Wensy, and netSpray.

Another interesting game changer mentioned is the evolution to a more multi-channel mindset. Merchants have been increasingly driven to try multiple sites, multiple sales channels to help them in their online buying and selling.

If you haven't read it, I suggest it.

Online Sales Sites Round-Up

 Okay, so I'm a bit OCD maybe, but of these sites I think I've probably found something you? are interested in? Would love to know which site suits you best? And/or which sites I've overlooked? ;)

Ruby Lane
Atomic Mall
Bonanzle
Bidtopia
Oodle
CQ out
SOUQ
Trade Me
Online Auction
Buy it Sell it
Auction Quest
One Way
netSpray
Oztion
Waggle Pop
Tazbar
eCrater
Wensy
ebid
iOffer
ePier
Kijiji