Selling leatherwood honey online- the great Australian ecommerce experiment continues in 2014

Selling leatherwood honey online - the experiment continues.
Yes, I've revived my online honey shop at www.tastyhoney.com and so the experiment continues.
Its proving to be a somewhat frustrating experience.
Three main reasons are behind that frustration.

1, First, relatively few people buy honey online anyway.

This is hardly surprising, because grocery is one of those categories that has been slow to develop online, and for obvious reasons. It is hard to find competitively priced grocery products online.
Delivery costs mean that the total cost is usually higher than a supermarket.
So few people even look to buy honey online.

2, Second, open source shopping carts like Zencart can be hard work.

A second reason the process has been frustrating is that my original Zencart shopping cart and catalogue proved incapable of updating.
After a year of hibernation, it needed to be updated to a more current version, and to work with a newer version of SQL.
But upgrading at my current hosting provider -whitedoggreenfrog - proved problematic.
I reckon they'd changed the server permissions, and I couldn't sort them out.
Nor could I, as a relatively small customer, get my hosting provider to help me in a timely fashion with my issues.
So I have abandoned Zencart and have now revived the store in Magento community edition.
This is another free open source shopping cart software that I think is popular in the online retail developer community.
It is owned by eBay, however, and there are a number of paid versions of Magento that eBay probably prefers to support.

3, A third reason its frustrating is that, despite the poor returns, there is lots of competition

Even so, I have now got the site working, a modest catalogue of products on display, and I've racked up an initial sale.
I'm currently adding a blog, and have an Adwords promotion running to try and help build up profile, and help get the site in Googles organic results.
But even with all that, there is clearly a lot of competition our there, and the minimal margin on each jar suggests that I won't be getting rich any time soon.
Bee-keeping is one of those things that is relatively cheap to get into, and there are many, many bee-keepers out there, all producing honey.
They're all looking to sell their honey, and many do at local markets etc. (Another reason why epople don't need to buy honey online).
So there are lots of honey sites, and lots of competition for the few customers looking to buy online.
I'd of course, be grateful, for any comments, and any visitors to the site at www.tastyhoney.com

Productivity Commission recommends no change for Australia's online import tax, duty threshold

Australia’s Productivity Commission has recommended no change to the minimum $AUD1000 tax and duty thresholds for online imports.
The long-awaited Commission report was released this morning - Friday 9th December and contains 13 recommendations.
No doubt the most significant of these is its recommendation that Australia’s comparatively liberal tax and duty thresholds should remain unchanged.
There is little doubt that the high thresholds are helping power a boom in Australians shopping online at overseas websites.
And, as the Productivity Commission noted, there is also little doubt that the high thresholds are inequitable. Indeed the Commission said that there are strong arguments for reducing the low value threshold.
“There are strong-in principle grounds for the low value threshold (LVT) exemption for GST and duty on imported goods to be lowered significant, to promote tax neutrality with domestic sales.”
But the Commission found that, with the current Australia Post and Australian Customs parcel processing systems, the cost of collecting taxes and duty at lower threshold levels would far exceed any additional taxes raised.
So the Commission has recommended a working party be set-up to help design a new, more efficient system for handling parcels coming from overseas. It said that a new, more efficient system could reduce the cost of tax and duty collection on low value imports. And if the cost of processing is reduced, a reduction in the LVT could become cost-effective.
“Önce an improved international parcels process has been designed the Australian Government should reassess the extent to which the LVT could be lowered whilst still remaining cost-effective.” The Commission has also recommended that the Australian Bureau of Statistics should start collecting and publishing online retail sales data.
Or, more accurately, data on how much Australians are spending online both locally and overseas.
It said separate numbers should be reported for both spending and employment.
The ABS should also distinguish between pure-play online retailers (or etailers as they are sometimes called) and multi-channel retailers, said the Commission. Other important recommendations in the Commission’s final report included the total de-regulation of retail trading houses, including on public holidays. A number of other recommendations were also made, focussed mainly on planning issues. The recommendations are unlikely to satisfy or placate the big retailers who have lobbied hard for a reduction in the tax and duty LVT, such as Gerry Harvey and or Solomon Lew.
Industry lobbies, such as the Australian Sporting Goods Association, also unlikely to be satisfied with the Commission’s findings. But their campaign has had some positive results.
The Commission has endorsed their contention that the current LVT is inequitable, and the broader community now has a greater depth of understanding of the difficulties that the current LVT levels pose for small and mid-size Australian retailers. At the current levels, even quite small retailers can find that their imports are worth just enough to trigger customs duties and GST.
So it seems likely that the government will back the Commission recommendation that Post , Customs and the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service develop new systems that will reduce the cost of processing low-value parcels from overseas.
For more information go to www.pc.gov.au

The great eBay online honey selling experiment

Will Australians buy honey online?
I'm asking the question because I've listed some honey for sale at ebay.com.au
Its fine Australian honey from both a leading brand - Beechworth honey - which is in all the supermarkets, and a boutique supplier - Des O'Tooles - that you won't find in any supermarket.
You'll have to search very, very hard to find the listings at ebay.com.au because, unlike at www.ebay.com, there isn't a separate category just for honey at eBay.com.au
Indeed that's one of the aims of my initial experiment - to find out in which eBay category my honey will be most commonly viewed.
If you just type 'honey' into eBay's search box there are thousands of listings for honey. But they're in all the other categories. - books, clothing, fashion, etc.
My listings are in the alcohol & food category. But within that category, I'm not sure whether its best to list honey in the jams & preserves section, or chocolates & sweets, or in health foods.
Thus far it all seems irrelevant anyway because the statistics show the only person looking at my ads is me.
In any event, I figure that if I blog about the eBay honey, and include some links I might attract some search engine robots, and some traffic that way.
So, I've listed a 325gm jar of classic Beechworth honey and included a link copied and pasted out of the browser bar which seems to include the search terms.
I've also listed some Beechworth Yummy kids honey in a 325 gms upside down squeeze bottle.
And then there's the Spa Country honey produced by the O'Toole family in Daylesford, Victoria.
My first link is for the Yellow Box variety. But I've also listed some of the O'Tooles Grey Box Honey and Red Iron Bark honey.
So lets see what happens. Comments are, of course, welcome.

Google gives Ozdirect zombie immortality at comparison shopping

How long do dead onlineshops live on in Google?
Thats become an interesting question because of the story I published at eCommerce Report last week.
The story reported that online merchant -www.ozdirect.com.au - had finally been found guilty of taking peoples money and not supplying the goods.
Ozdirect's websites closed down some months ago however, and authorities report that the whereabouts of Paul Albright, - the founder and a director of Ozdirect Online Brands Pty Ltd - is unknown.
Even so, as I wrote in my story, a search for Ozdirect at Google Australia last week revealed that Ozdirect listings were still up at leading comparison shopping sites including the local version of eBay's shopping.com and its Australian partner - ninemsn.
As I write this, they've been taken down.
In fact, barely hours after the story was published, both Adam Canter from Shopping.com, and Mikaela Lancaster from ninemsn were in contact.
Adam attacked the factual accuracy of the story.

"There are no Ozdirect listings at shopping.com

said Canter.
Mikaela said that she had removed any references to Ozdirect after reading an earlier story about Ozdirect in eCommerce Report.
I replied that Google was still clearly finding listings, even if clicking through ultimately led to a parked domain for one of Albright's other domains - www.ausbuys.com
I declined the request to alter my story or retract the claim, and invited both to comment.
Only Mikaela took up the invitation.
It is of course, problematic, that pages from dead sites should continue to show up in Google.
Perhaps its inevitable because of the way in which comparison sites construct their listings and pages.
My understanding of their technology is limited but I believe that Shopping.com, GetPrice, ShopFerret and the like all use the same XML approach, incorporating an RSS feed.
That should mean an end to any listings from a failed merchant as soon as the merchants' site disappears.
I'd be any grateful for any suggestions as to why that doesn't happen and, why, in effect the comparison sites carry zombie listings for a while afterwards.

What is an ecommerce job?

What does an ecommerce job mean to you? Is it a technical job, where someone has skills in HTML programming? Or is it just about any job working in an online business.

This week I've been asking myself just what people mean when they advertise an ecommerce job.
The question has become quite pressing now that I've added an ecommerce jobs page to my www.ecommercereport.com.au web-site.
I find that the jobs I'm listing, which are selectively culled from those listed at the big generalist Australian job sites (like Seek, Careeone, My Career etc, (and some smaller niche ones like LinkedIn) are very diverse.
There are marketing jobs, technical jobs, project management and indeed a wide variety of other management jobs.
Now thats a problem because the people looking for technical jobs, involving programming, coding, design etc, are very different from those looking for marketing jobs, and/or those looking for management jobs.
I'd like to break down my jobs pages into separate sections, so as to make it easier to find those jobs they're interested in.
And I'd like your help to let me know what would make sense.
What should the categories be?

Expired domains - a business worth up to $1.5million?

Dark Blue Sea's chief executive, Greg Platz, has just told me that yes, the expired domains business they've bought is Domain 8.
And yes, he confirmed the purchase price is potentially worth as much as $1.5million if all the earn-out conditions are satisfied.
However he also confirmed that DBS has only bought Domain 8's expoired domains business.
It hasn't bought the entire Domain 8 company, and it hasn't therefore bought the Australian registrar license that Domain 8 holds.
Thats importrant for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that Domain 8 still has some very valuable assets.
Its also important because it throws the spotlight on the value being placed on Domain 8's expired domains business.
Dark Blue Sea's deal tells the world that Domain 8's expired domains business alone, could be worth as much as $1.5million if it reaches the profitability targets being forecast.
Now seeing as Domin 8's top selling expired com.au domain thus far has been printing.com.au at $8000, that a big call.
Indeed it raises as many questions as it answers.
Why pay so much, at least potentially, for what, at the moment at least, is such a small such a new business.
Of course, the payment isn't being made in cash; its being made wholly in new DBS shares.
So thats a consideration, as too is Photons latest attempted takoever.
(Any DBS share issuing will dilute Photon's current stake and make it harder for them)'.
Even so, this is a very odd deal.
For more information go to
www.darkbluesea.com
www.photongroup.com
www.domain8.com.au

eCommerce Awards - just a publicity stunt?

This week I've been looking at some new ecommerce awards down-under. Industry association, the Australian Interactive and Multi-Media Associations (AIMIA) AMBER awards and Smart Company's web awards.
Regrettably, some of the AIMIA awards, such as best online retailer, are unlikely to produce credible results.
A flawed process of nomination has produced a list of 20 contenders, probably half of whom should not be on the list at all. And some who definitely should be included are not.
Moreover the judging process is not transparent, and the results are going to be partly refelct and online poll, with all the usual issues associated with such polls.
(Such as multiple voting by contenders themselves and their associates)
Of course, in as much as the awards are primarily marketing gimmicks for their promoters, their lack of credibility is neither here nor there.
And the winners will doubtless get plenty of marketing value out of their awards.
But it is disappointing that the awards won't be credible and true high achievers in online retail down-under won't get due credit or recognition for their efforts.
The Smart Company web-awards, which also includes a best ecommerce site category, is also problematic, but for different reasons.
This time the self-nomination process involves a set of questions doubtless designed to provide marketing leads to the award sponsor, Webfirm (formerly known as Answearch).
Certainly it is hard to see why nominees should have to reveal their website revenues, and what bearing this has on the evaluation of which is the best e-commerce site down-under.
Of course, arguably some ecommerce awards are better than none, and so my criticisms might be said to be sour grapes from someone who could have, and perhaps should have created an ecommerce award with some credibility.
Or in other words, awards for most popular ecommerce site, most user friendly, most innovative and/or most appealing design.