Marketing Tips: A McProblem, Web Design and a Coke

In this episode of Help! My Business Sucks, Andrew Lock spotlights a marketing misstep at McDonalds, talks about choosing effective color for your Web design, offers a resource that simplifies loyalty cards, and shows Coke’s winning twist on a popular theme.

Site Building with Photoshop and Dreamweaver

Many people working with Web sites will begin by developing the site in Photoshop and only move on to Dreamweaver when the basics design is settled. The integration between Photoshop and Dreamweaver means it is easy for you to take anything from a small piece of your design up to the entire layout direct from Photoshop into Dreamweaver. In this article, I’ll show you some ways that you can take advantage of the integration between Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

You can copy and paste a portion of an image from Photoshop into Dreamweaver and size and optimize it there.
(Click for larger image).Importing and Copying Photoshop Images

Dreamweaver can directly import Photoshop PSD format files. Click where an image should appear on your page and choose Insert >Image and select a PSD file to import. The image will appear in the Image Preview dialog and here you can size the image (File tab) and optimize it for the Web. Click OK when you're done, type a name for the image and click Save to save it to your site's folder.

You can also copy and paste images from Photoshop. You can do this by selecting an image in Photoshop and then choosing Edit >Copy to copy from the currently selected layer or choose Edit >Copy Merged to copy from all layers in the image. Next, return to Dreamweaver, click where you want to insert the image and right-click and choose Paste.

The Image Preview dialog opens and this is where you can size and optimize the image. Click OK when you are done, type the name to use to save the image and click Save.

Editing in Photoshop

You can export any image you have on a Web page in Dreamweaver directly into Photoshop for editing. Select the image, right-click and choose Edit With >Photoshop. Photoshop will open with the image in place. Make your changes to it, select the entire image and choose Edit >Copy Merged. Return to Dreamweaver and paste the altered image over the original and save the changes.

Use the slice tool to slice your Photoshop layout into pieces.
(Click for larger image).Slice a Photoshop Design

Another way to use the integration between Photoshop and Dreamweaver is to take the basics of a page design you have created in Photoshop and slice it into pieces that you can use in Dreamweaver. This lets you develop your Web site in Photoshop and reuse pieces like images and buttons in Dreamweaver.

To slice your image in Photoshop, click the Slide tool and drag over the area that will be your first slice. All Slices must be rectangular and the portion of the image you haven't selected is considered a slice too, so don't be surprised if, by creating one slice, your image is divided into two or three slices. Keep dragging to create each additional slice – you will typically create slices for buttons, page header, main body area, footer and so on.

Once you’ve created your slices, switch to the Slice Select Tool and double-click on each slice in turn. Rename each slice so it will be easier to identify in your code later on.

Once you’ve sliced your design you can save it ready-to-load in Dreamweaver.
(Click for larger image).

To save the slices, choose File >Save for Web and Devices. Click the ImageSize tab and resize the image if desired. Use the two-up layout to determine the correct format to save the slices in and to optimize them. Click Save, and you'll be prompted to select a folder in which to save the files.

From the Save As Type drop-down list make sure to select HTML and images (*.HTML) and from the Settings drop-down list select Other to configure the settings to use – this is valuable if you want to generate CSS to reassemble the slices rather than using a table which is the default setting. To use CSS, select Other, click Next five times, select the Generate CSS option and click OK. Make sure that All Slices is selected from the Slices drop-down list, type a name for the HTML code file and click Save.

Now go into Dreamweaver and open the HTML file that you just saved. This opens the code page with the image slices in place, and you can inspect the code by clicking the Code button. Once you’re in Dreamweaver you can make all the required changes to your page including adding text and configuring links. You can save the design as a template, and then use it to build the individual pages of your Web site.

The integration between Photoshop and Dreamweaver makes it easy for you to design your site in Photoshop and then take parts of the design or the entire design into Dreamweaver in order to code your finished pages.

Helen Bradley is a respected international journalist writing regularly for small business and computer publications in the USA, Canada, South Africa, UK and Australia. You can learn more about her at her Web site, HelenBradley.com

Ebay Watch: eBay and Online Marketplace News

EBay Revises User Agreement

In early May eBay announced changes to its user agreement, with the biggest changes focusing on the new eBay Resolutions policy, as well as the new eBay Purchase Protection policy (see “EBay Clarifies Buyer and Seller Protection Obligations”).

This past week Senior Counsel for eBay, Scott Shipman, announced that the latest revision would address obligations of buyers and sellers in transactions where a buyer has alleged receipt of a counterfeit item.  Under the revised agreement:

Buyers and sellers shall work in good faith during the resolution process to determine that the item is not counterfeit. If buyer and seller cannot determine that the item is not counterfeit, buyers are required to send the item back to the seller. Cost of return shipping will be paid by the buyer or eBay, unless both buyer and seller have agreed otherwise. Covered claims that meet the conditions and are not excluded will count as a violation by the seller of eBay’s prohibited and infringing items policy. If eBay determines the buyer is not acting in good faith, eBay may restrict or eliminate the buyer’s ability to return items or make future claims. Sellers shall not list, advertise, or cause that item to appear for sale, barter or trade on any eBay Inc. Web site or service.

The new user agreement is effective immediately for new members registering, and on June 14, 2009, for current members. Customers who do not agree with the user agreement are advised by eBay to close their account.

EBay to Offer Auction Listing Promo in June

This week eBay also announced a zero-dollar insertion fee promotion on some listings, starting June 16, 2009. This promotion will be available on a seller's first five auction-style listings (Regardless of your start price) when you list with eBay’s Sell Your Item form or Simple listing form. The final value fee for these listings with zero-dollar insertion fees will be 8.75 percent of the sales price or $20, whichever is lower.  The promotion applies only to the first five items listed during the promotion period.

iOffer Announces New Bulk Lister

In other online marketplace news,  iOffer has announced a bulk editor that will help its sellers to edit multiple item listings more easily and also to maintain current inventory. With the bulk editor, iOffer says that sellers can update an item's price, quantity, condition, description and shipping in three simple steps, allowing sellers to focus on marketing and customer satisfaction.

Another handy feature, shipping profiles, lets sellers create multiple profiles and apply them to different listings. For example, you may want to specify some items for international shipping, or you might want to apply free shipping on other listings. With this new feature, you can attach a shipping profile to existing or new item listings.

MedWOW Launches Medical Equipment Marketplace

MedWOW.com, a newly launched marketplace, aims to connect buyers and sellers of used medical equipment. According to MedWOW, the site launches at a time when more health institutions are looking at purchasing pre-owned medical equipment due to the current global economic recession.

The site offers a medical equipment catalog and search engine, a pre-purchase inspection service, and a multi-lingual interface that provides users of the site with a questions and answers mechanism. The site is designed to let buyers and sellers communicate through a list of professionally written questions and answers that are unique for each specific device. The questions and answers are automatically translated into the user’s preferred language.  Buyers also have access to professionally written Buying Tips for specific devices.

MedWOW is free for buyers however we noticed — hidden away in a FAQ on the Web site — that MedWOW charges sellers 50 percent of item sale price. Sellers looking for a niche medical equipment site should really look into MedWOW's fee policy before registering and listing. Smaller, individual sellers may not do as well as wholesalers on this site due to the steep final fee.

Vangie Beal is a seasoned online marketplace seller, frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com and avid online bargain hunter. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com.

An Introduction to Payment Gateways

Virtually all e-commerce sites accept credit cards as their primary form of payment. To accept credit cards, you need a merchant account with a bank. A payment gateway is simply a service which connects your Web site with the bank. While there’s a bit more to it than that, in essence that’s all it is – a way to take payments online.

Typically, when a customer enters credit card details on your Web site, those details are sent to the payment gateway, which then does some hard work in the background and processes (or rejects) the transaction. It then tells your shopping cart whether the payment was accepted or rejected. All this happens in a few seconds while the customer is waiting. The money is then transferred to your bank account – when that happens depends on the terms of your service.

It’s a diverse industry and the description above is the most common scenario, but there are many variations on it.

There are three basic types of payment gateways. The first is an API (Application Programming Interface). This means that the customer never sees the payment gateway Web site – your shopping cart talks to it seamlessly in the background. This is generally the best option as it’s a transparent experience for the shopper, rather than being transferred to another site at the crucial moment of taking the money.

Adding Authorize.Net as a gateway is as simple as filling in this form on this shopping cart.
(Click for larger image).

APIs sound a bit scary, but your shopping cart vendor should have done the hard work to support it, so there’s very little work for you, the shop owner, to do – see below for more. The only catch with this option is you’ll need a secure certificate installed on your server. These start at around $100 per year and work their way up quickly.

The second type is a third-party payment gateway. The customer starts the checkout process on your site, but completes payment on the payment gateway site. While this can be simpler to setup in some cases, the experience is unsettling for the customer, and you’ll probably lose a few sales. Some third-party payment gateways allow you to customize the page design.

There are also integrated payment gateways. In this scenario, you don’t need a merchant account from your bank – the payment gateway does everything for you. For start-up businesses, this can be an easy start. Generally the fees are higher for an integrated service, but the trade-off is simplicity for the shop owner. The best known integrated gateways are PayPal and 2Checkout.

How to Choose a Payment Gateway?

The first thing you need to know about a gateway is whether your shopping cart supports it. Unless you want to do some programming, you need to check for support. Most shopping carts support at least a dozen gateways, so check the list on your shopping cart vendor’s Web site.

Different payment gateways support different features. The most common features that you might need include:

Fraud detection: If your business is susceptible to a lot of fraudulent transactions (for example, you sell digital goods or mobile phones) then you should ensure your chosen gateway has fraud detection technology. You may pay a little extra for this, but it could be worth it. A shop selling women’s fashion will have far fewer fraud problems, so the extra cost (if there is one) may not be worth while. Additionally, if your business is classed as “high risk” – especially adult sites – many gateways won’t take your business.Virtual terminal: This is a place where you can log in and manually process transactions among other things. For example, if you do phone orders, a virtual terminal may be important.Recurring fees: If you have a service that takes regular payments – a monthly subscription for example – make sure your gateway supports this.Fees: Of course, the fees the payment gateway charge are important. Be careful as there are a range of fees, and some services can get pretty imaginative on how to charge you. Fees might include a setup fee, monthly/yearly fee, fee per transaction (fixed or percentage), withdrawal fees (getting charged to get paid – amazing!), chargeback fees (these can add up quickly), fraud detection fees and possibly more. You’ll need to have an estimated number of transactions per month before you start to work out the best service for you.There are many other issues to consider, such as accepting foreign currency, so you need to look at your individual requirements.Setting up a Gateway

Generally, setting up a payment gateway is easy. When you sign up, they’ll usually give you a customer ID, API key or similar. You go into your shopping cart, choose the payment gateway you’ve signed up for, and enter the details provided. That’s it!

There’s usually a “test mode”. This means the shopping cart will be integrated with the payment gateway, and will talk to it, but won’t actually process the transaction. Sometimes they have a special credit card number for test mode (Visa card 4111 1111 1111 1111 is a popular one) – check with your payment gateway for more details.

Choosing a payment gateway can be tricky. But apart from sign-up fees (which can often be waived if you ask nicely), it’s not too hard to switch to another if your service isn’t performing well. With easy integration and low barriers to switching, it’s a buyer’s market out there.

Mark Baartse is founder of Shopping-Cart-Reviews.com , the leading shopping cart information site. He lives in Sydney, Australia where he works on e-commerce sites, helping to maximize their profitability. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/markbaa .

Seller Profile: The Dreamy Giraffe

Four years ago, if someone told Kathy R. Jeffords that she would one day be a self-employed artist with a successful business; her reaction would have been laughter. That is because in 2005 Jeffords, who actually studied to be a writer, was working full time as a legal secretary and sketching just for fun.  

“Years ago I never would have considered myself an artist,” Jeffords said. “I was working a full-time office job, and sketching was something I did during work breaks to relieve stress.”

 In 2005 Jeffords discovered that ACEOs (art cards, editions and originals) were making a splash on eBay. These small collectible art cards were being sold by artists on the auction site, and Jeffords says that she was rather surprised when she sold her first one.

Kathy R. Jeffords' collection of cute big-eyed girls, boys, and critters is available on her Etsy Web shop.
(Click for larger image).

For this artist, the realization that people were willing to pay for her art —collections of fun, whimsical and cute big-eyed girls, boys, and critters—was more important than making a few dollars on eBay

Despite having made sales on eBay, Jeffords still considered her art a hobby until the day came that she could no longer handle work-related stress.  Having saved a little nest egg for a future home purchase, she decided to live off that savings instead, and give herself four months to try selling her artwork to earn an income.

From eBay to Esty: The Dreamy Giraffe is Born

The decision to be a self-employed artist was a good choice; however Jeffords says that nearly a year after listing on eBay, sales started to taper-off.  Around that time she discovered Etsy, a popular niche alternative site that offers crafty sellers a platform for selling all things handmade.  After some initial research, Jeffords decided to use Etsy as the main venue for selling her artwork.

“In using Etsy I found a community of people doing what I love to do,” she said.

 The community feel was just one of several factors that encouraged Jeffords to open an Etsy Web shop. The site was easy to use, and questions about running a Web shop were immediately answered by the staff and others in the community. 

According to Jeffords the hardest part of using Etsy is choosing a name for her Etsy shop name.  She finally decided on The Dreamy Giraffe, and this marketplace is now one of her main channels for selling her original acrylic paintings and reproduction prints.

In addition to having an Etsy shop, Jeffords also manages her own Web site, TheDreamyGiraffe.com
(Click for larger image).The Business of being a Self-Employed Artist

In addition to having an Etsy shop, Jeffords also launched her own Web site, TheDreamyGiraffe.com.  Here you can find art samples, a mailing list and information about the art and characters.  For online sales Jeffords links to her Etsy shop.

Eventually Jeffords would like to incorporate a shopping cart on her own site, but for now the Web site is mainly used for people to contact her about custom artwork and commission pieces.  She offers a newsletter sign-up form on her site, and through e-mail she can stay in contact with customers and send out monthly updates and sale promotions.

Jeffords also uses Twitter (@dreamygiraffe) to update clients on new arrivals and promotions. She said Twitter has been a great tool and she has obtained commission work through Twitter contacts.  

Jeffords also maintains a blog and has considered using MySpace and Facebook Fan pages to market her artwork; however, she feels it is best to keep a strong presence one on social site rather than spreading herself too thin trying to maintain a presence on multiple sites. 

The biggest hurdle that artists often struggle with maintaining the business tasks to encourage sales.  Jeffords says that right now she is limiting her painting and marketing endeavors to just the things she enjoys doing—a perk of being a self-employed artist.

Jeffords also says that being active is her key to success. “You have to continuously tend your shop; freshen it up with new items, you have to market yourself, keep in contact with clients, and work hard to be successful.”

In addition to Etsy Web shop sales,  Jeffords says she has increased private sales through her site, and is considering opportunities for  a line of greeting cards and collectible stamps—new ways to expand The Dreamy Giraffe business and her goal of “Making The World Cute, One Painting At A Time”.

Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG.

Twitter Tools Likely Choice to Build Revenue

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Twitter is working on various ways to make money from its fast-growing microblogging service, but advertising is an option that is not currently being considered.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said on Monday that the company is developing various add-on tools and services for the businesses and professional users of Twitter, which could create a revenue stream for the company. He said Twitter plans to introduce some of these tools by year end.

But Stone dismissed the notion of selling advertisements on the popular service at this time, even though ad revenue is the main way most Web start-ups manage to stay in business while keeping their service free for consumers.

"There are a few reasons why we're not pursuing advertising -- one is it's just not quite as interesting to us," Stone told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York via videolink from San Francisco.

Stone said serving up ads alongside Twitter messages could also annoy users. And he said Twitter doesn't have, and isn't seeking to hire, the staff to create an advertising-based business.

"There are no people at Twitter who know anything about advertising or work in advertising. So we don't have anyone there to make or take those calls," said the executive, whose real name is Christopher Isaac Stone. He acquired the Biz title based on a childhood mispronunciation of his name.

Double Staff By End of 2009

Twitter, a two-year-old, venture capital-backed company that lets people send 140-character messages, or Tweets, has enjoyed explosive growth in recent months. Visitors to Twitter jumped 83 percent in April from the previous month, to reach 17 million, according to comScore data.

Stone co-founded Twitter with Evan Williams, who is the chief executive, and Jack Dorsey. Venture capital backers include Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.

Twitter is searching for ways to make money from its popularity. Stone said the San Francisco-based company now has more than 40 employees and plans to double its staff by the end of the year.

The company turned down a $500 million acquisition offer from privately-held social media firm Facebook last year, sources told Reuters earlier. According to media reports, Internet search giant Google Inc has also held talks with Twitter about a potential deal.

During Google's quarterly earnings results conference call last month, CEO Eric Schmidt said Google would be happy to pursue an advertising partnership with companies like Twitter.

Stone said on Monday that Twitter would remain free for consumers and businesses, and that the company's main focus at the moment is developing new features for commercial users, such as "lightweight analytics" and a directory of commercial accounts that would verify that businesses on Twitter are legitimate.

He also said the company has had talks with cell phone carriers to make sure that Twitter works on their text messaging networks, and said it was possible Twitter could strike revenue-sharing agreements with some of the carriers.

Twitter closed a round of financing earlier this year pegged at $35 million by media reports, and Stone said the company was not under any pressure by its investors to earn a profit in the near future. He also dismissed the notion of an initial public offering soon, saying the company was only two years old.

Stone would not disclose the rate at which Twitter is burning through its funds, but said its model allows it to continue operating in its current fashion for the next couple of years.

He acknowledged that Twitter's rapid growth cannot last forever.

"We were joking in the office that if this growth rate continues week over week, we'll run out of people on planet Earth to sign up to Twitter by the end of the year," Stone said.

By Alexei Oreskovic

Facebook Attacks Seek Passwords to Other Web Sites

If you re-use passwords, Facebook may be your weakest link. In recent days, hackers stepped up attacks in which the social networking site's users were sent links that led them to phishing sites. And while Facebook credentials may not be particularly valuable on their own, they could be used to access other sites.

"About one-third of all people use the same password for every Web site they access. That's lunacy," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security firm Sophos. "If criminals grab Facebook credentials, they may also obtain access to eBay, PayPal, Amazon, and Gmail accounts."

Reports have indicated that Facebook users are receiving messages that direct them to a malicious link. The phishing site to which they are directed is a typical phishing attack -- it looks like Facebook but asks users for their Facebook username and password. In some cases, users may also be directed to underground pharmaceutical vendors.

Read the Full Story

Shopify Buys into Power of PowerReviews

PowerReviews, a provider of customer review and social commerce solutions, announced that it is partnering with Shopify to provide easy access to PowerReviews Express to Shopify’s more than 5,000 online retailers.

PowerReviews Express is an award-winning customer reviews solution designed specifically for small and medium-sized retailers.  In fact, PowerReviews Express was the recipient of a Small Business Computing 2009 Excellence in Technology Award (See the E-commerce Winners here) .

Darby Williams, product manager for PowerReviews, said that they see a dramatic shift in how people make decisions when they buy online.  Product reviews, according to Williams, are no longer just a nice-to-have feature, but something customers expect you to have. “The last holiday season showed that 81 percent of all purchases included customers reading reviews. By not offering on-site product reviews, it reduces your sales potential,” said Williams.

Key benefits for Shopify retailers include:

A quick and easy installation process.  Shopify retailers can launch product reviews within minutes.Rapid (and automated) review collection. PowerReviews sends an e-mail to Shopify’s customers 21 days after purchase, asking them to submit a review. The result is a ten times higher response when compared to having a “Write-a-Review” link on a product page.  PowerReviews Express Offers Features for SMBs

If you want to add user-generated reviews to product pages but don’t have the time to moderate the content, PowerReviews can handle that task for you as an additional service.  A PowerReviews moderator reads each customer-submitted product review and screens it for inflammatory and non-product-related content. This saves retailers time and also ensures quality user-generated content.

Other features include:

Review Snapshot: an at-a-glance review summary that streamlines the research process for consumers.Verified Buyer: a feature that builds consumer confidence with more credible reviews.SEO Mini-site: a search-engine optimized version of the reviews that drives a significant increase in natural search traffic to a retailer’s site.Affinity Views: lets consumers find reviews from people just like them. The SEO Perks of User Reviews

Williams pointed out another benefit PowerReviews offers e-tailers. It adds customer reviews directly to the product pages, which can help you get a higher natural search placement on search engine result pages (SERPs).

Since Google and other search engines like fresh content, these user reviews can help boost rank for some words and phrases that customers use in the product review.  The PowerReviews’ SEO Mini-site feature offers a search-engine-optimized version of userproduct reviews to help increase the natural search traffic to a retailer’s site.

Pricing and AvailabilityPowerReviews Express is now available for Shopify merchants.  Retailers who host their own shopping site can also integrate PowerReviews Express in three basic steps.  You simply need to provide product information, choose one of 2,500 review forms provided by PowerReviews, and then add some basic Java code to the site. 

Pricing for PowerReviews Express starts at $80 per month.

Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG.

E-com Report: The 8th Annual Merchant Survey

Optimization is the new buzzword according to the E-tailing Group's Eighth Annual Merchant Survey, which provides  responses from 190 merchants in the first quarter of 2009. The survey addresses trends in strategy, merchandising and marketing online.

The survey showed that all merchants with e-commerce responsibilities recognize that the online channel is a key element of multi-channel success. According to Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group, “the pressure for performance is greater than it has ever been, as senior management seeks profits while customers demand more from every e-commerce experience."

Revenue Trends and Profitability Goals

This year, more than one-third (34 percent) of surveyed merchants anticipate that their Internet revenues will be down or flat in 2009 when compared to 2008. This, according to Freedman is a trend to monitor as in the past this channel has consistently delivered year-over-year growth. The balance of respondents continues to see growth but most project revenues up in just the one to 15 percent range.

While profitability remains merchants’ number one strategic goal, the report indicated some management dissatisfaction with ROI and dropping conversion rates.  Cost-effective customer acquisition and retention play key supporting roles, along with the customer experience.  

According to the e-tailing group, profitability means scrutinizing desired revenue goals and being diligent regarding cost savings. An ROI mentality prevails with resources stretched and budgets cut, forcing merchants to operate more efficiently. Still, 70 percent of those surveyed still intend to invest the same or somewhat more in e-commerce as they did last year, as it is the fastest-growing part of their business.

When asked how they thought e-commerce investments would be impacted in 2008, the merchants responded as follows:

No change (8 percent) Investing somewhat more than 2008 (36 percent) Investing about the same as 2008 (26 percent) Investing somewhat less than 2008 (22 percent) Investing significantly less than 2008 (8 percent)Understanding Customer Behavior

The report also discusses the tools and metrics merchants use to guide their decision-making.

More so than in prior years, customer behavior may significantly impact performance for several reasons: shoppers are slower to purchase or limit purchases, and they tend to research both product and price before making commitments. Testing helps merchants understand what works in this climate where analytics and performance data substantiate decision-making.

Analytics and sales history are the two sources of information that merchants rely on to make merchandising decisions. There is also a growing dependency on conversion data for 68 percent of surveyed merchants this year, versus 53 percent last year. Two other areas showed substantial change between 2009 and 2008. Enhancing customer service gained ground (43 vs. 32 percent) and increasing personnel declined (15 vs. 26 percent), showing that overall this year, merchants are doing more with less.

Web Site Tweaks

While merchants tweak their sites for optimal performance and ROI, there is also continued emphasis on targeted e-mail, refining on-site search, upgrading Web site designs and enhancing onsite merchandising.

More than three-quarters of the merchants responding indicated they plan to improve performance with more targeted e-mail programs.  Coming in a close second, 71 percent said they plan to improve their site search. More than half want to add customer-generated content, such as user reviews.

Forty-four percent of the participants anticipate changing e-commerce platforms within three years; however, given current resource constraints and economic instability, the e-tailing group realistically foresees that tweaking platforms instead of upgrading will be the focus.

"Platform upgrades may be on many wish lists, but 2009 will be remembered for refinement of navigation, onsite search and website tweaks," summarized Freedman. "Merchants who truly optimize e-commerce and multi-channel potential with relevant and profitable selling solutions will survive and thrive as the dominant players in their categories."

Vangie Beal is a seasoned online marketplace seller, frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com and avid online bargain hunter. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com.