Business

An ecommerce site is a business. Our Management & Finance category addresses online payments, funding needs, employee issues, merchant profiles, key metrics, multichannel and omnichannel strategies, cross-border analyses, inventory management, accounting topics, sales taxes, and much more.

Business
Payment Options and Simple Checkout

May 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

A truly successful and customer service friendly ecommerce shop will have an intuitive and welldesigned checkout system. The more difficult it is to purchase something from you, the less likely a customer will try. Here are some tips to ensure you’re running a customer service-friendly ...
Business
Authorize.Net President Roy Banks

April 1, 2006 • Michael A. Cox

The credit card industry has come a long way since 1951, when Diners Club issued a credit card to about 200 members, which they could use at any of 27 restaurants in the New York City area. Then in the 1960s Bank of America began issuing Bank Americard, then came MasterCharge, American ...
Business
TheGroceryGame.com Scores With Coupons

April 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

Owner: Teri Gault URL:Thegrocerygame.com Established: 1999 Products: Weekly list of grocery coupons; system for saving on groceries. Shopping Cart: Custom Payment Gateway: Authorize.Net Quote: "I calculated that I made 80 cents per hour my first year." When Teri Gault and her fami...
Business
Quick Query: Comodo’s Melih Abdulhayoglu

April 1, 2006 • Kerry Murdock

Internet commerce depends on safe and secure transactions. Because of that, we’ve asked a few questions to Melih Abdulhayoglu, an Internet security expert and CEO of Comodo, a leading provider of security software and encryption products for smaller ecommerce merchants. PeC: What does...
Business
Web Development Contracts

April 1, 2006 • John W. Dozier, Jr.

We get an interesting mix of client inquiries each week. Sometimes we are asked to draft a “simple” or “basic” contract, neither of which really exist in the online world. We don’t even attempt to do that. Or, in the other extreme, we are asked to review and provide a legal analysis of ...
Fraud Prevention
Payment Processing: Choose the System that Fits

April 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

One of the most critical decisions business owners have to make is how they are going to process payments from their website. Entrepreneurs frequently find themselves asking if a merchant account is what they need or if they need a private payment system (a “PPS”) such as PayPal or the ...
Fraud Prevention
eCommerce Fraud: Build a Human Firewall

April 1, 2006 • Michael A. Cox

There is a fellow from Europe named Kevin Mitnick, who can find your Social Security number online in 15 seconds. He was the hacker who was elevated to “computer terrorist” status by the FBI and Interpol. They caught him and put him in jail for five years, but there are thousands like h...
Fraud Prevention
Winning the Fight Against Click Fraud

April 1, 2006 • PEC Staff

If somebody were to tell you that 20% of your advertising budget was being wasted on fraud, would you be worried? If you advertise on pay-per-click search engines, such as Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture), MIVA, or others, you have reason to be concerned. Acc...
Business
MIVA CEO Craig Pisaris-Henderson

March 1, 2006 • Michael A. Cox

The concept is as old as sales itself. Somebody delivers qualified customer leads to you and you pay them for each lead. It is up to you to convert that lead into a sale. It’s not too hard to comprehend.
Business
Recoverysuperstore.com Offers a Web of Support

March 1, 2006 • Michael A. Cox

Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. So was Anthony Baggett. Elvis reached the pinnacle of success and then died of drug abuse in 1977. Anthony was a success and an addict, but his story is different—it’s one of hope. Anthony Baggett was, by all measure, a successful advertis...
Business
Quick Query – Scott Peterson

March 1, 2006 • Brian Getting

The Streamline Sales Tax Governing Board is the new, multi-state agency charged with simplifying the collection of state and local sales taxes. Since this will impact ecommerce businesses, we’ve asked its Executive Director, Scott Peterson, a few questions. Tell us, once more, what the...
Business
Affiliate Marketers

March 1, 2006 • John W. Dozier, Jr.

Over half of our law firm’s practice involves affiliate marketing. If we are not setting up an affiliate marketing program, we are involved in claims relating to affiliate misconduct. On the one hand, the riches to be realized by your merchant site through a successful and well managed ...
Business
Baron Bob: Wonderfully Wacky, Marvelously Successful

February 1, 2006 • Michael A. Cox

Bob Brooks got a business education at the prestigious Johnson Wales University in Rhode Island. Now he runs a $1-million-a-year ecommerce company on the Internet. It all makes perfect sense and all seems to be as it should. But to borrow a phrase from broadcast legend Paul Harvey, “now...
Business
Your eCommerce Activities Could be Criminal

February 1, 2006 • John W. Dozier, Jr.

The online world is an interesting place today for many reasons. Remember the old western movies when the cowboys came into town for several days of mischief? After weeks on the range, they would often decide on their own what laws to follow with predictable results leading to mayhem an...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Order Management Software Saves Time, Reduces Errors

January 1, 2006 • Michael A. Cox

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” When Charles Dickens opened his classic A Tale of Two Cities with those words he was thinking only about the French Revolution. But his words strike equally apropos in the entrepreneurial revolution of the 21st century. It is the ...
Business
Relentlessimprovement.com Succeeds with Nutritional Supplements

January 1, 2006 • Michael A. Cox

Peter Hitesman was a loan officer for a banking institution in what he would consider his past life. It was a job that required an extreme attention to detail, intense customer service, and often times long hours. But he traded that all in one day for a new life as the owner of his own ...
Business
Ten Things You Absolutely, Positively Need to Know When You Get Sued

January 1, 2006 • John W. Dozier, Jr.

It’s one of those unanticipated business problems. The cost of dealing with it can be overwhelming. The risk of loss to you and your business is huge. While you are in the middle of managing ecommerce operations, sales, billing, advertising, fulfillment, and the day to day challenges in...
Business
eCommerce Sales Taxes: Determine Your Liability

December 1, 2005 • PEC Staff

Nexus – What Is It? Nexus is defined as a “connection” or “link.” In the world of lawyers, accountants and auditors, a nexus is an effective connection of a person or a company to a state so that the state has the ‘right’ to enforce its laws, and more importantly, its tax rules, agains...
Business
1-800-Bakery.com Links Bakeries with Consumers

December 1, 2005 • Brian Getting

Award winning bakery chef Stephen Pazyra thinks bakery items are more than mere food. To him, baked goods represent comfort foods that evoke nostalgia, bring back memories, and make people feel good. As the co-owner of 1-800-Bakery, Inc., he strives to bring the customer experience of y...
Business
North Dakota Senator Leads National Sales Tax Project

December 1, 2005 • Michael A. Cox

Quick, what’s six-point-five percent of $171 billion. It’s about $11.1 billion. That is approximately the amount of sales and/or use tax revenues that would be due states, counties and cities on the ecommerce activity on the Internet this year, if it were all collectable, based on an ...
Business
Internet Businesses: Pioneers Still Get Arrows in Their Backs

December 1, 2005 • John W. Dozier, Jr.

When I started my first ecommerce company in February 1994 all of my friends thought I was crazy to leave a successful law practice and pursue my vision of the future…the ability to conduct financial transactions in “cyberspace”. There were less than 1,000 websites online worldwide and ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
The Shipping News: Plenty of Carriers for eCommerce Companies

December 1, 2005 • Michael A. Cox

When you ship one package through the FedEx system it becomes one of more than 6 million that the company formerly known as Federal Express moves about the globe every day.
Shipping & Fulfillment
International Shipments Worth the Effort

December 1, 2005 • Brian Getting

One of the greatest attractions of an online business is the vast number of customers that the Internet allows a retailer to reach. Web surfers from all over the world can navigate beyond the boundaries and borders that exist in the physical world to find the products and services that ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Fulfillment Help: Try Order Management Software

December 1, 2005 • Brian Getting

Online retailers know that there are many steps required from receiving a sales order to actually shipping it. For many retailers, these steps are separate and distinct: Print the order, enter it into accounting software, produce a shipping label, generate an inventory slip, email the c...
Business
A Master Over Disaster

November 1, 2005 • PEC Staff

Amid the rubble and the heartache caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita were the lost dreams of many a business owner. More than likely, those people affected worst along the Gulf Coast were too concerned for and with their families to consider entrepreneurial ventures. Get my family. ...
Business
Hiring a Sales Tax Technology Provider

November 1, 2005 • PEC Staff

Single Solution Sales tax compliance software must perform multiple operations. It must first determine the relevant jurisdiction and rules, and then calculate taxes in real time. It must then compile the data, complete and file the tax return and remit the proceeds. Make certain your ...
Business
Creating Your First Banner Ad in Photoshop

November 1, 2005 • PEC Staff

Overview As an ecommerce entrepreneur there is no particular reason that you would know what a GIF or a JPEG file is. In fact, it may be that the only tech smarts you have is that you hired someone to build and manage your website for you. However, many entrepreneurs are very hands on,...
Business
Displaying Special Characters Using HTML

November 1, 2005 • PEC Staff

Overview As a business owner, being able to publish your content to the web represents an incredible distribution opportunity. The evolution of web publishing has allowed for nearly any printed materials to be distributed online, often times for a fraction of the expense. One of the c...
Business
TheFruitCompany.com: From Farmers to eCommerce Entrepreneurs

November 1, 2005 • Michael A. Cox

Scott and Addison Webster grew up on a fruit farm in the beautiful Hood River Valley of Oregon. The farm was a family operation started by their grandfather Roy and his partner Murray Albertson in 1942. Roy and his son Wayne m...
Business
Nastygrams: Don’t Let a Legal Letter Ruin Your Day

November 1, 2005 • John W. Dozier, Jr.

It is a beautiful fall day as the early morning sun and fresh breeze cascade through your office window, an open invitation to an afternoon of golf. Then, the morning mail arrives, bringing with it a “cease and desist letter,” and you know upon reading this threat of a lawsuit that your...