Common Sense eCommerce

Never mind the controversy surrounding Heather Mills and the allegations of being a gold-digger, etc. Throw that out for a minute and look to her bravery.

One leg real, one leg prosthetic, she danced. And danced she did on television in front of millions of viewers. She may not have danced perfectly, she may have stumbled once or twice, but she had the courage to get up in front of the world and give it her best shot.

What does this have to do with eCommerce and Small Business? Nothing and everything really. She’s one of those reminders that no matter what we think we can’t do or what obstacles stand in our way, that we can find ways to overcome them.

She also did this all for a passion of hers - animal welfare. Kudos and I will have to add her to my list of people I’d like to meet.

Heather Mills Voted Off Dancing with the Stars

Saw a clip in the news the other day about a town in New Jersey which has the honor of having the most eBay user of any other town or city in the U.S.(link here).

It was probably pretty easy for eBay to do this: all they had to do was look at the demographics of the zip codes in their user base and compare the figures to population tables - then come with an eBay Per Capita thing. Then plant it in the in press. Then go to the town and have a party!

Maybe eBay is looking for ways to get their name mentioned in the mainstream media alongside something other than a scam or a funny looking cheese sandwich? Kudos eBay for brand tweaking.

Two weeks ago, Lisa Nowak was just one of many NASA astronauts. Perhaps I shouldn’t say ‘just’ as she did manage to break many gender, ‘good old boy’, and age barriers. Today she is, well.. news and tabloid fodder. And interestingly enough, memorabilia items from her better days are now worth a great deal more than ever before.

And where else would we see this but eBay? As I write this, a signed photo from her heyday is going for $10,000 (link here). The photo went from something sitting in a box to instant valuable memorabilia.

Would it have been worth that much prior to her arrest? It might have made some money, but hardly this level! This is proof that if you can capitalize on news items, you can turn them around for a big profit on eBay. A little lucky? You bet. A sustainable business? Hmm. Memorabilia can be a profitable business if you can make it work. But you need to have a keen eye and good instincts for possible newsworthy items. This seller gets kudos not only for having that keen eye, but remembering to mention where the proceeds are going!

Tags: eBay Collectables, Lisa Nowak eBay, eBay Memorabilia, NASA Memorabilia

One of my pet peeves in life is waiting in line.  It has to do, I think, with a larger part  of me that doesn’t like time wasters - the kind that waste my time when I’m trying to get something accomplished.  Oh, I can mitigate this somewhat by bringing my web enabled cell phone with me, or if I’m really expecting a long wait, my iPod.  Or I can try striking up a conversation with someone else in line.

Retail establishments and other organizations with waiting lines often spend lots of effort and money developing ways to make their lines move faster.  This is ok - a moving line is always better than a line that only nudges every few minutes. 

What about accepting that there will be lines and just doing something to make the time in line more enjoyable? That’s exactly what one of the local Bank of America branches near me has done.  Banks often have the worst lines.  Not all teller transactions are equal and some of them seem to take enormous amounts of time. 

This Bank of America branch simply put up a few large flat screen TV monitors, mounted at near eye level in various places so that you could see the TV from any point in line.  It was not that elaborate - I would say the screens were basic 25 or 27 inch models piping a cooking channel from cable or satellite.  But it was just a ‘little thing’ that made my trip to the bank less un-enjoyable. Plus I got a great idea for a no-crust, no-bake pumpkin pie!