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?
Friday, October 16, 2009
Friday, October 09, 2009
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
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
Friday, September 04, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
50+vendors at OnlineRetailer trade show
There were more than fifty companies and businesses exhibiting at the trade show for the Online -Retailer conference in Sydney earlier this month (18-19 August).
Most enjoyed strong and even enthusiastic interest from the more than 2,600 people who attended.
And indeed the whole event suggested something of an industry finding and recognizing itself for the first time.
(Certainly the industry backed the event much more whole-heartedly than the Onlineshop conference and expo your editor organised in Melbourne back in 2007.)
So its worth looking in some detail at the companies who were exhibiting at OnLine Retailer, to help identify who are the newbies and the johnny come latelies, and who are the real deal, here for the long-term and likely to be there next year.
To start with, it was impossible to go past IBM, who paid handsomely for the prime spot for its booth, immediately in front of both the doors exiting the conference halls, and directly in the line of sight for those entering the conference venue.
IBM has, at least in Australia, has never previously shown any interest in the local industry, and despite all their glitz, had no local retailers as examples in their brochures.
Definitely newbies.
Other major exhibitors who clearly spent big on their booths were eBay and PayPal - both clearly well known in the local industry and significant players.
Larry Bloch's company got my vote for the cheekiest and most innovative display and marketing materials - faux breakfast cereal boxes, and they too are definitely significant players.
Melbourne IT, had a largish booth for their Advantate joint-venture with Fairfax. But most of the punters appeared to be not that interested and this Newbie looked a little out of place.
New Zealand company, eStar Online, by contrast, had a big booth in the centre of the expo, and their people were confidently spruiking a impressive list of corporate clients who've adopted their web solutions. Obviously the real deal.
Of the two banks there, the Commonwealth, with their evolve service, were prominent, popular and well-prepared. You might question the evolve service itself, because it has a number of confusing variants - one of which bundles cart and payment gateway - but their show presence was clearly well-prepared.
In comparison, the NAB's booth was unimpressive, and the fact that it was tucked away doiwn the back made it look like a marketing afterthought.
Still, neither the ANZ or Westpac had any presence whatsoever, and their absence was conspicuous.
Other payments players, such as eWay, Transaction Network Services and even Paymate were however present in the show. Matt Bullock's eWay, as always, stood out with a big and bright booth featuring plenty of staff and lots of enthusiasm.
Verisign too, did well, with a large booth that featured an educational game inviting people to pick the difference between a phishing site and a legitimate web-site.
A number of paid search advertisers and agencies such as FirstRate, Permission, Amblique and others were also prominent in the show.
I was surprised too, by the number of logitics and freight companies exhibiting. It wasn't just Aussie Post there; DHL had a big booth, and others I hadn't come across previously such as Temando, Exalt and e-Go.
Various market researchers were there too, such as Coremetrics, Experian Hitwise and Webtrends, Panalysis.
Salmat's Lasoo and Rob Wong's Catalogue Central both had booths promoting their online catalogue and shopping services, whilst The Yellow Envelope too, was there promoting its direct marketing services.
The boys from Powerseller had also clealry spend big on the show but were still playing hard to get, saying that they can't say more ahead of the launch later this year.
There were lots of others I didn't get to visit, and some who were telling interesting, or perhaps I should say curious and unlikely stories about their products and customers.
But generally speaking the show was informative, well-prepared, and useful to those attending.
It was surprising not to see Microsoft, or Google, or Yahoo there.
But maybe next year.
Most enjoyed strong and even enthusiastic interest from the more than 2,600 people who attended.
And indeed the whole event suggested something of an industry finding and recognizing itself for the first time.
(Certainly the industry backed the event much more whole-heartedly than the Onlineshop conference and expo your editor organised in Melbourne back in 2007.)
So its worth looking in some detail at the companies who were exhibiting at OnLine Retailer, to help identify who are the newbies and the johnny come latelies, and who are the real deal, here for the long-term and likely to be there next year.
To start with, it was impossible to go past IBM, who paid handsomely for the prime spot for its booth, immediately in front of both the doors exiting the conference halls, and directly in the line of sight for those entering the conference venue.
IBM has, at least in Australia, has never previously shown any interest in the local industry, and despite all their glitz, had no local retailers as examples in their brochures.
Definitely newbies.
Other major exhibitors who clearly spent big on their booths were eBay and PayPal - both clearly well known in the local industry and significant players.
Larry Bloch's company got my vote for the cheekiest and most innovative display and marketing materials - faux breakfast cereal boxes, and they too are definitely significant players.
Melbourne IT, had a largish booth for their Advantate joint-venture with Fairfax. But most of the punters appeared to be not that interested and this Newbie looked a little out of place.
New Zealand company, eStar Online, by contrast, had a big booth in the centre of the expo, and their people were confidently spruiking a impressive list of corporate clients who've adopted their web solutions. Obviously the real deal.
Of the two banks there, the Commonwealth, with their evolve service, were prominent, popular and well-prepared. You might question the evolve service itself, because it has a number of confusing variants - one of which bundles cart and payment gateway - but their show presence was clearly well-prepared.
In comparison, the NAB's booth was unimpressive, and the fact that it was tucked away doiwn the back made it look like a marketing afterthought.
Still, neither the ANZ or Westpac had any presence whatsoever, and their absence was conspicuous.
Other payments players, such as eWay, Transaction Network Services and even Paymate were however present in the show. Matt Bullock's eWay, as always, stood out with a big and bright booth featuring plenty of staff and lots of enthusiasm.
Verisign too, did well, with a large booth that featured an educational game inviting people to pick the difference between a phishing site and a legitimate web-site.
A number of paid search advertisers and agencies such as FirstRate, Permission, Amblique and others were also prominent in the show.
I was surprised too, by the number of logitics and freight companies exhibiting. It wasn't just Aussie Post there; DHL had a big booth, and others I hadn't come across previously such as Temando, Exalt and e-Go.
Various market researchers were there too, such as Coremetrics, Experian Hitwise and Webtrends, Panalysis.
Salmat's Lasoo and Rob Wong's Catalogue Central both had booths promoting their online catalogue and shopping services, whilst The Yellow Envelope too, was there promoting its direct marketing services.
The boys from Powerseller had also clealry spend big on the show but were still playing hard to get, saying that they can't say more ahead of the launch later this year.
There were lots of others I didn't get to visit, and some who were telling interesting, or perhaps I should say curious and unlikely stories about their products and customers.
But generally speaking the show was informative, well-prepared, and useful to those attending.
It was surprising not to see Microsoft, or Google, or Yahoo there.
But maybe next year.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
AIMIA announces eCommerce Awards
Australia's Interactive and Multi-Media Association (AIMIA) has announced a new awards competition for ecommerce and online services.
The awards are to be known as the AMBERS. Entry is free and larger companies, with more than 1 million users a month, will be entered automatically.
Entries close on August 20 so make sure you get your site or service entered.
If you can't find the link at the AIMIA web-site or via a Google search you can find it at the foot of my eCommerce Report story.
The awards, which are being promoted in partnership with publishers - Online Banking Media -
are in seven categories.
They include best online banking site, best online insurance, best only travel site, best online retail, best mobile commerce service and best online application process.
AIMIA's awards for web-sites, the AMY's, are now well-established and highly regarded in the web design and hosting industries.
So this new award is hoped to do the same for ecommerce.
Thats probably unlikely, at least in the first year.
For starters, AIMIA has relatively little presence in the ecommerce sector, and it is doubtful if many online retailers or online travel businesses see it as very relevant.
The online travel sector, in particular, is already well served by a large annual conference event - No Vacancy - and associated online travel publication - Travel Trends produced by Martin Kelly.
Likewise the online retail sector is gathering next week in big numbers at the Online Retailer event in Sydney.
Of course, with onlinebanking media's solid presence in the finance sector, the online banking site and online insurance site awards will be keenly contested and worth having.
But I'm not so sure about the rest.
Likeiwse I'm not so sure about the proposed judging of the awards which is in two parts.
In the first part an online survey is going to find which sites the online surfers pick as the top 5 sites in each category.
The survey is to be conducted by a Sydney based company - Brandmanagement, or, more accurately, its wholly owned subsidiary - Coredata.
In the second stage of the award judging, the top five are going to be evaluated by another Sydney company -Access Testing - for usability.
The winners will be determined by some weighted combination of the results in the two stages.
The final 5 at the end of stage one will be announced in an onlinebankingmedia publication, and the winners will be unveiled at a dinner in Sydney on October 15th.
Of course the whole awards initaitive is a commercial venture for those involved.
There are four platinum sponsorships being offered for the awards at $9000 each, and 6 gold sponsorships at $6500 each.
If all the sponsorhips are sold that'll makes $72,000 in revenues for the awards, most, if not all of which is belived to be going to AIMIA.
Certainly Brandmanagement and Access Testing are beleived to be providing their services gratis. And as dinner tickets are priced at $199 each it is hard to believe that the awards dinners is not going to be a profit maker too.
Anyway, eCommerce Report is considering whether we should inject some of our expertise into these awards to make them more credible.
Let me know how we could be remunerated for donig so and why these awards might be worth supporting.
The awards are to be known as the AMBERS. Entry is free and larger companies, with more than 1 million users a month, will be entered automatically.
Entries close on August 20 so make sure you get your site or service entered.
If you can't find the link at the AIMIA web-site or via a Google search you can find it at the foot of my eCommerce Report story.
The awards, which are being promoted in partnership with publishers - Online Banking Media -
are in seven categories.
They include best online banking site, best online insurance, best only travel site, best online retail, best mobile commerce service and best online application process.
AIMIA's awards for web-sites, the AMY's, are now well-established and highly regarded in the web design and hosting industries.
So this new award is hoped to do the same for ecommerce.
Thats probably unlikely, at least in the first year.
For starters, AIMIA has relatively little presence in the ecommerce sector, and it is doubtful if many online retailers or online travel businesses see it as very relevant.
The online travel sector, in particular, is already well served by a large annual conference event - No Vacancy - and associated online travel publication - Travel Trends produced by Martin Kelly.
Likewise the online retail sector is gathering next week in big numbers at the Online Retailer event in Sydney.
Of course, with onlinebanking media's solid presence in the finance sector, the online banking site and online insurance site awards will be keenly contested and worth having.
But I'm not so sure about the rest.
Likeiwse I'm not so sure about the proposed judging of the awards which is in two parts.
In the first part an online survey is going to find which sites the online surfers pick as the top 5 sites in each category.
The survey is to be conducted by a Sydney based company - Brandmanagement, or, more accurately, its wholly owned subsidiary - Coredata.
In the second stage of the award judging, the top five are going to be evaluated by another Sydney company -Access Testing - for usability.
The winners will be determined by some weighted combination of the results in the two stages.
The final 5 at the end of stage one will be announced in an onlinebankingmedia publication, and the winners will be unveiled at a dinner in Sydney on October 15th.
Of course the whole awards initaitive is a commercial venture for those involved.
There are four platinum sponsorships being offered for the awards at $9000 each, and 6 gold sponsorships at $6500 each.
If all the sponsorhips are sold that'll makes $72,000 in revenues for the awards, most, if not all of which is belived to be going to AIMIA.
Certainly Brandmanagement and Access Testing are beleived to be providing their services gratis. And as dinner tickets are priced at $199 each it is hard to believe that the awards dinners is not going to be a profit maker too.
Anyway, eCommerce Report is considering whether we should inject some of our expertise into these awards to make them more credible.
Let me know how we could be remunerated for donig so and why these awards might be worth supporting.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Intabill dead - in voluntary administration
John Parks, from KordaMentha, has confirmed that the business known as Intabill is, in Ausralia at least, dead and defunct.
The controversial Brisbane headquartered business that provided payment processing services for some of the world's leading poker sites, has gone under.
Reputedly, the business owes its creditors around $80million.
Parks said that the administration is formally for BTProjects Pty Ltd, the company through which Con Sciacca and Daniel Tvetzkoff ran their Intabill business operations in Australia.
Intabill Inc, is itself not an Australian company.
It is actually registered in one of the Caribbean island tax havens.
News of the voluntary administration appeared in the Australian media today after the administrators were appointed yesterday.
Readers of eCommerce Report will not have been surprised by the news, as we have been reporting for some time not just on Intabill's woes, but also on its various claims and the issues they raised.
One obvious issue is an Australian regulatory framework that allows a payments processor to evade any regulatory oversight whatsoever because it is formally incorporated off-shore.
The controversial Brisbane headquartered business that provided payment processing services for some of the world's leading poker sites, has gone under.
Reputedly, the business owes its creditors around $80million.
Parks said that the administration is formally for BTProjects Pty Ltd, the company through which Con Sciacca and Daniel Tvetzkoff ran their Intabill business operations in Australia.
Intabill Inc, is itself not an Australian company.
It is actually registered in one of the Caribbean island tax havens.
News of the voluntary administration appeared in the Australian media today after the administrators were appointed yesterday.
Readers of eCommerce Report will not have been surprised by the news, as we have been reporting for some time not just on Intabill's woes, but also on its various claims and the issues they raised.
One obvious issue is an Australian regulatory framework that allows a payments processor to evade any regulatory oversight whatsoever because it is formally incorporated off-shore.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Koorie card/Black card tenders closing soon
Tenders for the Australian government's Northern Territory Intervention 'Basics' EFTPOS card are due to close next Thursday the second of July.
A large cast of banks, card organisations and payments businesses will be trying to win the contract, which is expected to be awarded in September this year.
The card was created following the Australian government's NT intervention, (which was prompted by evidence of child abuse in some Aboriginal communities.
It enabled the government to implement a key part of the intervention, namely the new policy of Aboriginal income management.
Under this policy, Aboriginals must spend at least half of any government payments they get on approved items.
Because of the hasty way in which the government intervened in the NT, the initial Basics card contract was awarded to UK owned - Retail Decisions - without a tender.
Now however, the government is going to tender and opening up the opportunity to others to profit from controlling the way in which Aboriginals spend their incomes.
A large cast of banks, card organisations and payments businesses will be trying to win the contract, which is expected to be awarded in September this year.
The card was created following the Australian government's NT intervention, (which was prompted by evidence of child abuse in some Aboriginal communities.
It enabled the government to implement a key part of the intervention, namely the new policy of Aboriginal income management.
Under this policy, Aboriginals must spend at least half of any government payments they get on approved items.
Because of the hasty way in which the government intervened in the NT, the initial Basics card contract was awarded to UK owned - Retail Decisions - without a tender.
Now however, the government is going to tender and opening up the opportunity to others to profit from controlling the way in which Aboriginals spend their incomes.
Monday, June 22, 2009
CoreMetrics online spending numbers look dodgy
Lots of online news services have rushed to publish numbers purportedly showing that Australian online shoppers are "returning to the web in droves to peruse global e-commerce websites and make online purchases."
Trouble is, the numbers come from a June 18 press release issued by a US online marketing services provider - CoreMetrics. And they look decidedly dodgy.
For example, CoreMetrics claims that its numbers derive from a survey of "the buying habits of more than 75million shoppers world-wide."
But there is a very real question of whether there was any actual surveying done.
Instead it may well be that the numbers were extrapolated from the behaviour of online shoppers as monitored by cookies or similar tracking tools at CoreMetrics customer sites.
Certainly there are some very strange results being reported. One that caught my eye is the average order value numbers. These show the average online purchase for a Chinese online shopper is worth $US163, and for an Indian online shopper is $US91.
By comparison, CoreMetrics found the average order value for an Australian shopper at $US90.
Results like that suggest that something is very wrong with CoreMetrics data and should suggest extreme caution and even scepticism about any conclusions drawn from them.
Trouble is, the numbers come from a June 18 press release issued by a US online marketing services provider - CoreMetrics. And they look decidedly dodgy.
For example, CoreMetrics claims that its numbers derive from a survey of "the buying habits of more than 75million shoppers world-wide."
But there is a very real question of whether there was any actual surveying done.
Instead it may well be that the numbers were extrapolated from the behaviour of online shoppers as monitored by cookies or similar tracking tools at CoreMetrics customer sites.
Certainly there are some very strange results being reported. One that caught my eye is the average order value numbers. These show the average online purchase for a Chinese online shopper is worth $US163, and for an Indian online shopper is $US91.
By comparison, CoreMetrics found the average order value for an Australian shopper at $US90.
Results like that suggest that something is very wrong with CoreMetrics data and should suggest extreme caution and even scepticism about any conclusions drawn from them.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Mystery solved - dStore executive behind bogus eLance invitation
Mystery solved.
Michael Hellwig, a marketing analyst at Brisbane based online department store dStore - has been flushed out as the person who advertised a bogus job at eLance.com.
The job was for a journalist to write for a new Australian ecommerce blog, up to nine a hours a week. The ad attracted at least two responses from freelance journalists.
But the job isn't genuine and Hellwig is just wasting their time.
Hellwig isn't actually identified at eLance as the advertiser but when eCommerce Report contacted him he confirmed that the new ecommerce blog at http://www.ecommerceworld.com.au/ was his, but said it was just an experiment in search engine optimisation.
Later, after the invitation for job proposals at eLance was pointed out to him, Hellwig changed his tune, and said that he'd exaggerated the job.
As if that weren't bad enough, Hellwig also said that the new blog had nothing to do with his dStore job.
But one of the stories the site carries is about dStore, and its planned push into bricks n mortar retailing.
The story gives no indication that the publisher is a dStore employee and only adds to the general bad odour around this site.
Michael Hellwig, a marketing analyst at Brisbane based online department store dStore - has been flushed out as the person who advertised a bogus job at eLance.com.
The job was for a journalist to write for a new Australian ecommerce blog, up to nine a hours a week. The ad attracted at least two responses from freelance journalists.
But the job isn't genuine and Hellwig is just wasting their time.
Hellwig isn't actually identified at eLance as the advertiser but when eCommerce Report contacted him he confirmed that the new ecommerce blog at http://www.ecommerceworld.com.au/ was his, but said it was just an experiment in search engine optimisation.
Later, after the invitation for job proposals at eLance was pointed out to him, Hellwig changed his tune, and said that he'd exaggerated the job.
As if that weren't bad enough, Hellwig also said that the new blog had nothing to do with his dStore job.
But one of the stories the site carries is about dStore, and its planned push into bricks n mortar retailing.
The story gives no indication that the publisher is a dStore employee and only adds to the general bad odour around this site.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
eCommerce.com.au mystery
It looks like www.ecommerce.com.au is off the air, and I'm guessing thats because either its current owner or a new owner is gearing up to become an ecommerce publishing tycoon.
Certainly a brand new member at eLance has requested proposals from interested freelance journalists to work part -time on a new Australian ecommerce news site.
The invitation at eLance says "I am in the process of setting up an Australian news site for the ecommerce industry and am seeking writers to write articles on ecommerce news for the Australian region."
Maybe the would-be publisher thinks that eCommerce Report isn't doing a decent job as an "Australian news site for the ecommerce industry".
I'd obviously like to talk to this person to find out why, but I'm not sure who it is.
Its probably the person who registered the domain.
whois records show that online shopping software company, Gate13 (now owned by the web payments company - Securepay) is the owner of the domain.
So I'll be trying to contact them.
Certainly a brand new member at eLance has requested proposals from interested freelance journalists to work part -time on a new Australian ecommerce news site.
The invitation at eLance says "I am in the process of setting up an Australian news site for the ecommerce industry and am seeking writers to write articles on ecommerce news for the Australian region."
Maybe the would-be publisher thinks that eCommerce Report isn't doing a decent job as an "Australian news site for the ecommerce industry".
I'd obviously like to talk to this person to find out why, but I'm not sure who it is.
Its probably the person who registered the domain.
whois records show that online shopping software company, Gate13 (now owned by the web payments company - Securepay) is the owner of the domain.
So I'll be trying to contact them.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
eBay au unveils new rules for Certified eBay Educator
eBay Australia's new Certified eBay Educator programme is now up and running.
Details of how to become certified are spelled out in a 17 page contract that must be agreed to before sitting the online exam.
Developed by Sydney based market research company, Stokes Mischewski, the new programme replaces the former eBay 'Education Specialist' arrangement with PowerU university in the US.
Any current eBay user with a feedback score of more than 50 and a feedback rating of more than 98% is entitled to sit the online exam.
And once the exam has been passed, you are entitled to style yourself a Certified eBay Educator and start offering eBay training courses.
Under the contract eBay trainers have to use specified textbooks including How to use eBay.com.au and How to use PayPal, both written by eBay Australia's customer insight manager, Todd Alexander.
For more info email to aucategory@eBay.com
Details of how to become certified are spelled out in a 17 page contract that must be agreed to before sitting the online exam.
Developed by Sydney based market research company, Stokes Mischewski, the new programme replaces the former eBay 'Education Specialist' arrangement with PowerU university in the US.
Any current eBay user with a feedback score of more than 50 and a feedback rating of more than 98% is entitled to sit the online exam.
And once the exam has been passed, you are entitled to style yourself a Certified eBay Educator and start offering eBay training courses.
Under the contract eBay trainers have to use specified textbooks including How to use eBay.com.au and How to use PayPal, both written by eBay Australia's customer insight manager, Todd Alexander.
For more info email to aucategory@eBay.com
Thursday, June 04, 2009
eCommerce publishing heats up down-under
Earlier this year we started getting a new daily online newsletter in our email inbox called Digital Media.
It styled itself 'Australia's journal of the new media revolution' and with a daily pdf edition, original stories written by respected IT journo - Natalie Apostolou, and a web-site featuring all the polish of publisher Reed Business Information, the future looked bright.
But something seems to have gone wrong.
The daily email hasn't appeared for a while and visitors to www.digital-media.net.au will find that some of the links aren't working and the content hasn't been updated for weeks.
Publishing is a tough market, and particularly online, where the barriers to entry are mininal.
A good example is online retailing. Australia now has two new online publications focussed on the sector. The first is www.eTailToday.com.au, published by the same people at Octomedia who produced Inside Retailing.
eTailToday offers a free daily email newsletter, but the content appears to be all recycled and produced from web feeds. There doesn't appear to be any actual journalism involved.
There is definitely some original material at the other new player, published by two Melbourne men -Nathan Huppatz and Mark Freidin.
Launched this week at Internetretailing.com.au the service targets much the same market as etailtoday.
Internetretailing.com.au looks to have some good content and so, even though it overlaps with what we do here at Australia's first, original and still the best ecommerce publication in the land - our eCommerce Report - we wish the newbies well.
It styled itself 'Australia's journal of the new media revolution' and with a daily pdf edition, original stories written by respected IT journo - Natalie Apostolou, and a web-site featuring all the polish of publisher Reed Business Information, the future looked bright.
But something seems to have gone wrong.
The daily email hasn't appeared for a while and visitors to www.digital-media.net.au will find that some of the links aren't working and the content hasn't been updated for weeks.
Publishing is a tough market, and particularly online, where the barriers to entry are mininal.
A good example is online retailing. Australia now has two new online publications focussed on the sector. The first is www.eTailToday.com.au, published by the same people at Octomedia who produced Inside Retailing.
eTailToday offers a free daily email newsletter, but the content appears to be all recycled and produced from web feeds. There doesn't appear to be any actual journalism involved.
There is definitely some original material at the other new player, published by two Melbourne men -Nathan Huppatz and Mark Freidin.
Launched this week at Internetretailing.com.au the service targets much the same market as etailtoday.
Internetretailing.com.au looks to have some good content and so, even though it overlaps with what we do here at Australia's first, original and still the best ecommerce publication in the land - our eCommerce Report - we wish the newbies well.
Friday, May 29, 2009
ICANN down under in Sydney - June 21st-26th
ICANN is arguably the Internet's supreme governing body.
So its meeting in Sydney from the 21st-26th June is an opportunity to see the inner workings of Internet governance at close hand.
And certainly there are some issues on ICANN's agenda whose resolution could prove very significant for the future of ecommerce and online businesses everywhere.
A proposal to extend domain names into non Latin characters, for example, could open the door to email and web addresses in Chinese or Arabic characters.
The proposal is referred to as Internationalized Domain Names or IDN's and will certainly be discussed at the upcoming Sydney meeting.
So too will the proposed liberalization that would enable anyone to set-up their own top level domain. Instead of dot.com, you could pay the $150,000 plau fee to ICANN and have your own domain, e.g. dot.coke, or dot nike, or dot paris etc.
Thats why ICANN is important, and seeing as it only meets 3 times a year, the Sydney meeting is a rare opportunity to be up close and personal with ICANN.
There is no charge to attend, so get online and register if you're interested.
Head to http://syd.icann.org
So its meeting in Sydney from the 21st-26th June is an opportunity to see the inner workings of Internet governance at close hand.
And certainly there are some issues on ICANN's agenda whose resolution could prove very significant for the future of ecommerce and online businesses everywhere.
A proposal to extend domain names into non Latin characters, for example, could open the door to email and web addresses in Chinese or Arabic characters.
The proposal is referred to as Internationalized Domain Names or IDN's and will certainly be discussed at the upcoming Sydney meeting.
So too will the proposed liberalization that would enable anyone to set-up their own top level domain. Instead of dot.com, you could pay the $150,000 plau fee to ICANN and have your own domain, e.g. dot.coke, or dot nike, or dot paris etc.
Thats why ICANN is important, and seeing as it only meets 3 times a year, the Sydney meeting is a rare opportunity to be up close and personal with ICANN.
There is no charge to attend, so get online and register if you're interested.
Head to http://syd.icann.org
Monday, May 25, 2009
Aussie retailers are ecommerce dummies says Daniel Petre
Australian retailers' ecommerce incompetence is part of the reason why News Ltd cash-box, Netus, has partnered with US online retailer, CSN Stores to set-up Buyster.
So said former Microsoft executive and Netus co-owner, Daniel Petre, in the AFR this morning.
Buyster is a local knock-off of CSN. It is using the exact same approach that, in just six years, has built the US company into a business with $US200million in annual sales.
Or in other words, Buyster is setting a range of online stores targetting niche markets, and using the same centralised online infrastructure.
In the US the company has more than 200 online stores, including luggage.com.
In Australia Buyster has already opened four online shops; lighting, barstools, mountsandstands and kitchenware. Office-chairs will be the next to come online.
According to Petre, Buyster is a joint-venture with CSN and one of just five investments that Netus has made since it was set-up a few years back.
For more information see our upcoming eCommerce Report story at www.ecommercereport.com.au or go to www.buyster.com.au
Thursday, May 21, 2009
eCommerce Report now on Twitter
You can now talk to us via our Twitter account - our Twitter name is ecommerceau.
So you can follow us by Twitter if you like.
We're not sure whether this will be useful to our readers or not, but we're keen to see what all the fuss is about.
I plan to post ( or tweet, as they say) our latest weekly email update.
And anything else that feels useful or relevant.
Let me know what you think, whether it works for you, or whether its just information overload.
So you can follow us by Twitter if you like.
We're not sure whether this will be useful to our readers or not, but we're keen to see what all the fuss is about.
I plan to post ( or tweet, as they say) our latest weekly email update.
And anything else that feels useful or relevant.
Let me know what you think, whether it works for you, or whether its just information overload.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Evolve not intended to replace existing payment gateways says CBA
Australian businesses connected to the Commonwealth Bank for the processing of their Internet credit-card transactions will not have to replace their existing payment gateways with the bank’s new eVolve service.
Dominic White, the CBA’s general manager of merchant solutions said that the service is being offered to new merchant customers and to those looking to accept credit-card transactions online.
“”Merchants who’ve already integrated a gateway into our MasterCard Internet Gateway service, using products from Dialect or SecurePay or eWay, for example, won’t need to change”, he said.
“This is more about being able to offer a simpler product, including an online shop-front, to merchant customers looking for that sort of solution.”
White said the genesis of the eVolve service dated back about two years ago, when the CBA went to the market.
“We contracted MasterCard who in turn contracted Premiere Technology to do the development work.”
“But some of our guys have virtually lived at Premier in Melbourne for the past two years” he said.
White said there were a small number of merchants using a product developed by CardLink to support batched IVR transactions that might be asked to migrate to the new service.
For more information go to
www.commbank.com.au/evolve
Dominic White, the CBA’s general manager of merchant solutions said that the service is being offered to new merchant customers and to those looking to accept credit-card transactions online.
“”Merchants who’ve already integrated a gateway into our MasterCard Internet Gateway service, using products from Dialect or SecurePay or eWay, for example, won’t need to change”, he said.
“This is more about being able to offer a simpler product, including an online shop-front, to merchant customers looking for that sort of solution.”
White said the genesis of the eVolve service dated back about two years ago, when the CBA went to the market.
“We contracted MasterCard who in turn contracted Premiere Technology to do the development work.”
“But some of our guys have virtually lived at Premier in Melbourne for the past two years” he said.
White said there were a small number of merchants using a product developed by CardLink to support batched IVR transactions that might be asked to migrate to the new service.
For more information go to
www.commbank.com.au/evolve
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Australian Online credit-card fraud up again in 2008
Official statistics released last Friday show that Australian online credit-card fraud was significantly higher in 2008 than in the 2007.
Overall credit and charge card fraud increased to a rate of 53.2cents in every $1000, up from 44.7cents in 2007.
Most of this is believed to involve online credit-card fraud.
But the publicly published statistics don't break down the figures into separate online and other categories.
So calculation of how much Australian online card fraud has increased is not possible in these figures alone.
However the statement issued by the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) along with the statistics clearly points the finger of blame online.
"The increases in Australia's credit and charge card fraud were driven by increases in Card-not-present fraud and Counterfeit/Skimming, which continued to trend upward in 2008."
APCA CEO, Chris Hamilton, said that the industry is taking steps to address the problem by implementing initiatives such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS).
And he said that banks and card companies are helping by giving online consumers additional security passwords under MasterCard's SecureCode and the Verified by Visa.
Overall credit and charge card fraud increased to a rate of 53.2cents in every $1000, up from 44.7cents in 2007.
Most of this is believed to involve online credit-card fraud.
But the publicly published statistics don't break down the figures into separate online and other categories.
So calculation of how much Australian online card fraud has increased is not possible in these figures alone.
However the statement issued by the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) along with the statistics clearly points the finger of blame online.
"The increases in Australia's credit and charge card fraud were driven by increases in Card-not-present fraud and Counterfeit/Skimming, which continued to trend upward in 2008."
APCA CEO, Chris Hamilton, said that the industry is taking steps to address the problem by implementing initiatives such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS).
And he said that banks and card companies are helping by giving online consumers additional security passwords under MasterCard's SecureCode and the Verified by Visa.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Nick Bolton's Bottle Domains in more trouble
The domain name smarties at Nick Bolton's Australian Style have done it again - stuffed up, that is.
Over the weekend they attempted a bulk transfer of some twenty thousand customers domain names from one of Nick's accredited registrars to another.
The move was no doubt pre-emptive, and intended to forestall any loss of customers when Nick's domain name registrar business - Bottle - loses its accreditation from industry regulator, Au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA).
That may not happen next week, or even next month.
But happen it will, because Bottle undoubtedly covered up the fact that its systems were hacked into back in 2007.
That put Bottle in breach of its accreditation agreement with auDA, and left both looking silly earlier this year when the hacker was caught selling Bottle's customers credit card details online.
So Bottle is going down, even if Nick has been able to forestall it in the Victorian Supreme Court for a while.
Moreover the attempt to save customers from going elsewhere has also failed miserably.
auDA blocked the transfers, and has now locked down all Bottle's customers' names.
See the official announcement at www.auda.org.au
Over the weekend they attempted a bulk transfer of some twenty thousand customers domain names from one of Nick's accredited registrars to another.
The move was no doubt pre-emptive, and intended to forestall any loss of customers when Nick's domain name registrar business - Bottle - loses its accreditation from industry regulator, Au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA).
That may not happen next week, or even next month.
But happen it will, because Bottle undoubtedly covered up the fact that its systems were hacked into back in 2007.
That put Bottle in breach of its accreditation agreement with auDA, and left both looking silly earlier this year when the hacker was caught selling Bottle's customers credit card details online.
So Bottle is going down, even if Nick has been able to forestall it in the Victorian Supreme Court for a while.
Moreover the attempt to save customers from going elsewhere has also failed miserably.
auDA blocked the transfers, and has now locked down all Bottle's customers' names.
See the official announcement at www.auda.org.au
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Au eTailers get special daily news service
Online retailers in Australia have been poorly served by local publishers and conference/event organisers.
We found that out for ourselves a couple of years back with our Onlineshop2007 event.
There just wasn't any single channel we could find to cost-effectively promote the event.
And similarly, we found it difficult to find anyone who was writing or commenting on news and developments affecting the local online retail sector.
Two years later however, and the situation is much better.
Only today we stumbled across a new daily service from Octomedia which is dedicated to local online retailing. You can find it at www.etailtoday.com.au
Another with publishing aspirations in this area are the boys up on the Gold Coast putting together a mega online retail event in Sydney later this year.
Their site at www.online-retailer.com.au suggests they're attracting plenty of local industry support, and good luck to them.
Overseas, of course, there are numerous online publishing effort devoted to online retailing,
Shop.org in the US springs readily to mind and www.imrg.co.uk is also impressive.
I also like a new site I stumbled upon today called www.ecommercepodcast.com.
We found that out for ourselves a couple of years back with our Onlineshop2007 event.
There just wasn't any single channel we could find to cost-effectively promote the event.
And similarly, we found it difficult to find anyone who was writing or commenting on news and developments affecting the local online retail sector.
Two years later however, and the situation is much better.
Only today we stumbled across a new daily service from Octomedia which is dedicated to local online retailing. You can find it at www.etailtoday.com.au
Another with publishing aspirations in this area are the boys up on the Gold Coast putting together a mega online retail event in Sydney later this year.
Their site at www.online-retailer.com.au suggests they're attracting plenty of local industry support, and good luck to them.
Overseas, of course, there are numerous online publishing effort devoted to online retailing,
Shop.org in the US springs readily to mind and www.imrg.co.uk is also impressive.
I also like a new site I stumbled upon today called www.ecommercepodcast.com.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
PayPal to launch local developer/partner programme
PayPal has announced it will be launching a new Certified Developer and Partner Programme down-under.
The announcement, dated 28th April 2009, released by PR company - the De Wintern Group, said that the programme would "recruit developers and solution providers to help meet the growing demand for online payments outside of the retail sector."
I'm not sure what this says about the four local Certifed PayPal developers already listed on the company's website at https://www.paypal-portal.com/developer/directory/#Asia%20Pacific
Maybe they don't work outside of the retail sector. Or maybe PayPal feels a new special breed of payment gateway developer is needed to deal with non-profit businesses.
In any event PayPal is also promising new tools and resources specifically for local non-profits.
Apparently a localized version of the web-site template service offered by US company, Blackbaud will be released down under later this year. It will be called BlackBaudNow.
The announcement, dated 28th April 2009, released by PR company - the De Wintern Group, said that the programme would "recruit developers and solution providers to help meet the growing demand for online payments outside of the retail sector."
I'm not sure what this says about the four local Certifed PayPal developers already listed on the company's website at https://www.paypal-portal.com/developer/directory/#Asia%20Pacific
Maybe they don't work outside of the retail sector. Or maybe PayPal feels a new special breed of payment gateway developer is needed to deal with non-profit businesses.
In any event PayPal is also promising new tools and resources specifically for local non-profits.
Apparently a localized version of the web-site template service offered by US company, Blackbaud will be released down under later this year. It will be called BlackBaudNow.
Friday, May 01, 2009
New certified eBay Educators (CeE) program down-under starting a little late
eBay Australia's new Certified eBay Educator program is a little late in starting. When the company announced the new program back on the 24th March, it said it would be launched in April.
"The exam, logos, certificates, contracts and other relevant materials will be available from mid April"
Thats not happened but I'm sure the launch can't be too far away.
Thats because whats going to be offered will be, compared to the former the Education specialist programme run by the American Research Institute's PowerU division, much simpler and cheaper.
If you've got a feedback score of more than fifty, all you'll have to do is complete a free online exam.
To register your interest in becoming a trainer all you have to do is email the Sydney based market research company who is running the program - Stokes Mischewski
ebay_educator@stokesmischewski.com.au
I reckon this is a good move by eBay Australia. Thats because selling on eBay isn't hard once you figure out a few things.
But the complexity of the previous programme, its expense and the numerous changes at eBay in recent times have all helped to prevent regular training courses for newbies being offered by commercial providers.
What do you reckon? Is it a good idea? And will it make a difference? Are Stokes Mischewski the reight people to be running this? And why is it running late?
"The exam, logos, certificates, contracts and other relevant materials will be available from mid April"
Thats not happened but I'm sure the launch can't be too far away.
Thats because whats going to be offered will be, compared to the former the Education specialist programme run by the American Research Institute's PowerU division, much simpler and cheaper.
If you've got a feedback score of more than fifty, all you'll have to do is complete a free online exam.
To register your interest in becoming a trainer all you have to do is email the Sydney based market research company who is running the program - Stokes Mischewski
ebay_educator@stokesmischewski.com.au
I reckon this is a good move by eBay Australia. Thats because selling on eBay isn't hard once you figure out a few things.
But the complexity of the previous programme, its expense and the numerous changes at eBay in recent times have all helped to prevent regular training courses for newbies being offered by commercial providers.
What do you reckon? Is it a good idea? And will it make a difference? Are Stokes Mischewski the reight people to be running this? And why is it running late?
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Bolton wins, auDA loses, Bottle Domains lives on (for the moment)
The injunction stands. Nick Boltons Internet domain name business - Bottle Domains - can continue registering Au domain names.
That’s the long and short of last week's Supreme Court action in Melbourne where industry regulator – au Domain Administration Ltd – failed to overturn an emergency injunction granted to Bolton’s company – Australian Style Ltd.
The injunction will stand, at least until a trial is held, on or about June 24th this year.
auDA’s authority as an industry regulator is clearly diminished by the Court’s decision, and the judgment of both auDA chief executive, Chris Disspain, and auDA’s legal advisers at Maddocks will no doubt be subject to some scrutiny.
That’s because auDA should have been able to strip Bolton of Bottle’s license without any difficulty After all, there is no doubt that there has been a serious security breach at Bottle Domains.
Indeed the Court heard that Bolton has admitted details of some 5000 customer’s credit cards were lost. The Court also heard that auDA only found out about the security breach from the Australian Federal Police.
auDA certainly didn’t hear about it from Bottle or Bolton.
However the Court clearly has some sympathy with Bolton’s argument that auDA’s reason for de-licensing Bottle Domains, namely that Bolton should have disclosed the security breach back in 2007, when it happened, is based on the false premise that he knew about the security breach.
The Court heard that back in 2007, Bolton had been phoned by Ryan Tabbara, owner of Perth based registrar – Aust Domains.
Tabbara told Bolton that one of his (i.e. Tabbara’s) staff had discovered a security flaw in the system that both Aust Domains and Bottle were using. A small amount of data had been downloaded for testing purposes.
Tabbara apparently also supplied Bolton with a patch for the flaw and that, according to Bolton, was all he knew of it.
However earlier this year it has become clear that much more than just test data was downloaded.
Indeed, as we’ve previously reported, some 60,000 records were lost, and then offered for sale on the Internet.
For more information go to
www.auda.org.au
www.bottledomains.com.au
www.austdomains.com.au
That’s the long and short of last week's Supreme Court action in Melbourne where industry regulator – au Domain Administration Ltd – failed to overturn an emergency injunction granted to Bolton’s company – Australian Style Ltd.
The injunction will stand, at least until a trial is held, on or about June 24th this year.
auDA’s authority as an industry regulator is clearly diminished by the Court’s decision, and the judgment of both auDA chief executive, Chris Disspain, and auDA’s legal advisers at Maddocks will no doubt be subject to some scrutiny.
That’s because auDA should have been able to strip Bolton of Bottle’s license without any difficulty After all, there is no doubt that there has been a serious security breach at Bottle Domains.
Indeed the Court heard that Bolton has admitted details of some 5000 customer’s credit cards were lost. The Court also heard that auDA only found out about the security breach from the Australian Federal Police.
auDA certainly didn’t hear about it from Bottle or Bolton.
However the Court clearly has some sympathy with Bolton’s argument that auDA’s reason for de-licensing Bottle Domains, namely that Bolton should have disclosed the security breach back in 2007, when it happened, is based on the false premise that he knew about the security breach.
The Court heard that back in 2007, Bolton had been phoned by Ryan Tabbara, owner of Perth based registrar – Aust Domains.
Tabbara told Bolton that one of his (i.e. Tabbara’s) staff had discovered a security flaw in the system that both Aust Domains and Bottle were using. A small amount of data had been downloaded for testing purposes.
Tabbara apparently also supplied Bolton with a patch for the flaw and that, according to Bolton, was all he knew of it.
However earlier this year it has become clear that much more than just test data was downloaded.
Indeed, as we’ve previously reported, some 60,000 records were lost, and then offered for sale on the Internet.
For more information go to
www.auda.org.au
www.bottledomains.com.au
www.austdomains.com.au
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Au Domain name regulator loses another legal battle
Australia's domain name industry regulator - au Domain Administration Ltd. appears to have lost another legal battle.
This time its in the Supreme Court in Queensland. Melbourne based registrar - Domain Directors (i.e Instra Ltd) brought an action against auDA there to stop the regulator stripping the company of a domain name - auregistry.com.au.
Part of the problem is that the name is so close to that of the official Australian domain name registry - ausregistry.com.au
AusRegistry can't be happy about Instra having the name. But as Instra had first registered the name many years ago it has a very solid claim to the name.
However when Instra advertised the name for sale late last year, auDA reacted by setting in motion the process for deleting the name.
Instra responded by appealing to the Supreme Court for an injunction and the case was listed for hearing on the 2nd Feb 2009.
Industry sources have told eCommerce Report that the hearing didn't go ahead because auDA has effectively conceded.
This is the second time in the last year that auDA has lost a major court battle.
As we reported in eCommerce Report last year, auDA spent 2 years and a lot of money defending an action by a Melbourne based Internet entrepreneur to get his domain names back.
But eventually, auDA ceased defending the action and agreed to restore the names.
We reported that auDA had lost the case and promptly got a call from auDA's lawyers threatening to sue us.
It seemed that we couldn't say auDA had lost the case because they had settled, and the case had not actually been decided by the courts.
auDA has now lost another legal action.
No doubt it will claim the action wasn't lost because it was never decided by the Court.
Even so, Instra didn't lose its domain name and that fact speaks itself in terms of deciding who won and who lost the legal battle.
The full story will soon be at to www.ecommercereport.com.au
And in the meantime check out www.auregistry.com.au
This time its in the Supreme Court in Queensland. Melbourne based registrar - Domain Directors (i.e Instra Ltd) brought an action against auDA there to stop the regulator stripping the company of a domain name - auregistry.com.au.
Part of the problem is that the name is so close to that of the official Australian domain name registry - ausregistry.com.au
AusRegistry can't be happy about Instra having the name. But as Instra had first registered the name many years ago it has a very solid claim to the name.
However when Instra advertised the name for sale late last year, auDA reacted by setting in motion the process for deleting the name.
Instra responded by appealing to the Supreme Court for an injunction and the case was listed for hearing on the 2nd Feb 2009.
Industry sources have told eCommerce Report that the hearing didn't go ahead because auDA has effectively conceded.
This is the second time in the last year that auDA has lost a major court battle.
As we reported in eCommerce Report last year, auDA spent 2 years and a lot of money defending an action by a Melbourne based Internet entrepreneur to get his domain names back.
But eventually, auDA ceased defending the action and agreed to restore the names.
We reported that auDA had lost the case and promptly got a call from auDA's lawyers threatening to sue us.
It seemed that we couldn't say auDA had lost the case because they had settled, and the case had not actually been decided by the courts.
auDA has now lost another legal action.
No doubt it will claim the action wasn't lost because it was never decided by the Court.
Even so, Instra didn't lose its domain name and that fact speaks itself in terms of deciding who won and who lost the legal battle.
The full story will soon be at to www.ecommercereport.com.au
And in the meantime check out www.auregistry.com.au
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