Archive for August, 2009
August 22nd, 2009
There is always the age-old argument, which is better, the book or the movie. It’s rare that the movie is better or even as good as the tome but there are some valiant examples: The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas, The Outsiders, Trainspotting…you get the picture.
But there are some films that do not pass muster: The Grinch, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, any of the Michael Crichton adaptations. Now, Eat, Pray, Love, the wildly successful chick-lit book is being turned into a film starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem. I can see Roberts playing the main character in all of her neurotic, semi-whiny glory. But I wonder if the film will end up being too cliche.
*Photo licensed to: Photorazzi.com
Posted in 
August 22nd, 2009
I saw something interesting over on AuctionBytes.com today regarding the changes made to the eBay Voices program earlier this week with the headline “Is eBay Phasing out ‘Voices’ Focus-Group Program?” to which my immediate, well thought out response was… “Huh?”
For those unaware, the Voices program was established in 1999 as a focus group designed to represent the many levels of community members active in the eBay marketplace. Over the years, members have both joined and left in order to keep the opinions and feedback of the group both timely and fresh. The group, targeted to sit at around 100 members to ensure eBay’s ability to effectively manage the input and discussion, had grown beyond that. As a result, and in an effort to maintain a fresh perspective from participants, some 30 longstanding members were notified earlier this week that although their dedication and tireless efforts to the program were invaluable to the eBay Marketplace over the past decade, it was time to allow new members the opportunity to provide input and counsel. It should be noted, all retiring members have been encouraged to continue providing unfiltered, constructive input to the team that manages Voices, albeit not as members of the formal Voices program.
To be honest, I hadn’t covered this news earlier in the week because I know this isn’t the first time we’ve revamped the group to keep it current. Not taking away anything from those members no longer participating in the program of course. Plus, Garnor Morantes and John Pluhowski did a great job of tracking down Ina Steiner to provide explanation and comment:
From AuctionBytes.com:
We spoke to eBay on Thursday about the Voices program news. Garnor Morantes, Senior Manager of Seller Development for eBay Marketplaces, who is responsible for Voices, said he is very happy and very proud of the program, and wanted to be clear that there are no plans to end Voices, and that eBay is continuing to recruit buyers and sellers into the program.
“This change is something we’ve been thinking about for a while and is meant to give others the chance to participate in the program. We’re looking to bring in some new perspectives, some new buyers and sellers – all levels of selling.” Mr. Morantes said that with the recent change, the Voices program now has about 100 participants, with about 10 who are exclusively buyers, and the remaining who are active sellers who may also do some buying as well. All levels of powersellers are represented.
The decision to continue to keep a group innovative and fresh with ideas seems pretty good to me to be honest and the AuctionBytes blog post seems to reflect that also. However, what I don’t understand, given the obvious attention to accurate reporting and due diligence made to obtain the background information, why is it even suggested that eBay maybe “phasing out its Voices Program” as the title asks in big, bold font?
I get that skepticism is necessary with every story and any reporter or blogger worth their salt has to ask all the necessary questions before drawing conclusions. However, to run a blog post with such an inflammatory headline, only to proceed it with comments and statements from eBay spokespeople ensuring the contrary, I don’t know what that accomplishes rather than create controversy where there really isn’t any.
On a related note, and I mean no disrespect to the Voices program at all – I know it serves a very viable and constructive purpose for the betterment of our Marketplace – but with the advent of so many social media outlets now – from blogs, to Twitter feeds, to Facebook, etc. – I would say that the entire Internet is now a “Voices” group and you don’t need to be told whether you’re a member or not to have an opinion and share that opinion wherever you see fit (like in the Comments section below for example).
Cheers,
RBH
August 22nd, 2009
Ink has never been, and will never be, a platform to further an individual’s political or personal agenda. Yes, I try to keep it as “human” as possible and like to think that I leave it all out on the table each week both here and on Twitter. Bottom line, this is a corporate blog and, as such, I have a responsibility to report facts coming out of the company and the businesses we touch and, where I can, apply my thoughts or opinion to them.
That said, when I read the Wall Street Journal article of Aug. 13, 2009, “A Global Surge in Tiny Loans Spurs Credit Bubble in a Slum” that set off a debate in microfinance circles, I really wanted to hear what the MicroPlace team thought of it. What I received in response, was passionate, compelling and so heartfelt that I asked if I could share here on Ink.
The author of the following response to the WSJ article, Ashwini Narayanan, MicroPlace GM, graciously allowed me to publish her email in its entirety. I apologize in advance for the length, but it is worth the read and I’m glad that I have the opportunity to share with you all. I’ve tried to make Friday’s posts a little different and off-the-cuff. This post is no exception. Thanks again to Ashwini for sharing her thoughts here.
Cheers,
RBH
I am sure there is some truth to what was reported to be the situation of borrowers in the villages of Ramnagar. To suggest however that what is happening there is axiomatic of the rest of the microfinance industry is to do an injustice to the hundreds of institutions (including the ones reported in the article) that work hard to service their clients in the face of amazing odds and on-the-ground complexities. It also disparages the ingenuity of millions of men and women who have courageously taken responsibility for their economic destinies and are working hard at making the most of the opportunities available to them.
I visited that village in Ramnagar not too long ago under the aegis of one of the organizations quoted in the article. And my experience, which admittedly is not statistically significant but empirical, would paint a very different picture than what the article suggests.
One of my most enduring memories will be the weekly meeting of the local solidarity group that I attended early one morning. It occurred in a cow shed rented for a rupee a week by the group. Sixty women attired in black burquas sat in orderly rows, waiting for the meeting to start while cell phones rang, dogs loitered, children in school uniforms ran around waiting for their moms to take them to school, and husbands waited patiently outside to countersign loan applications. These women had their faces unveiled as they solemnly took the oath to support each other and repay their loans. These women, their spokesperson told me, had defied their religious authority and had agreed to start this group because they wanted the opportunity to make a change in their economic circumstances. They had agreed to come unveiled in public because that was a condition of the microfinance institution making the loan – they understood it was based on trust – on knowing the person who received the loan.
As we bumped along the rutted roads of the village, the management team of the microfinance organization, our escorts, would receive phone calls from the field: One day it was a loan officer who had been beaten up because he declined a loan to a woman in the village whose neighbors refused to collateralize her loan. On another occasion, a loan officer had been jailed on allegations of rape from a woman whose husband was upset because she did not receive the loan. There was a report of a politician who apologized in public to the women in the village for supporting a loan-sharks’ violent collection methods instead of allowing them to use the services of the local microfinance organization. Someone else reported that a village panchayat in a community trial upheld the actions of a group of women who confiscated the worldly goods of a member of their group when her husband ran away with the loan money that she had applied for. It dawned on me that delivering services in rural Ramnagar was no picnic. And I was filled with admiration for the loan officers who faced these challenges and remained committed to what they did.
And then there were the amazing stories of the women I met (both Hindu and Muslim)…
I met Shantamma who had over-extended herself in financing her daughter’s wedding and was reeling under that debt. The local microfinance institution gave her a loan to buy a sewing machine which she used to start a small tailoring business. From the profits, she paid of her debt to the money lender. Today she gives lessons on dressmaking to girls in her village and dreams of opening up a school for them in town. “I was able to work my way of out of my debt because I had a way to earn a living.” She told me. I want to make sure that the other girls in this village have some vocation if they are faced with the same crisis that I was.”
Shantamma
And then there was Harina Barin, who despaired of ever finding a way to keep her children fed and in school on the income her auto-rickshaw driving husband, earned. After a couple of loan cycles owns became the owner of four vehicles which she rents out. From the rental income she managed to put her four children in private school and is financing her daughter’s dream of being a fighter pilot in the Indian air force.
Harina
I remember Harina telling me how afraid she had been to take her first loan but what a difference the experience of paying it back had made in her life. It transformed her confidence in her self, the esteem her family had for her, her attitude towards her life and her hopes for her daughter. I met women who were strong, sensible, responsible and capable, who had confidence that they could use this financial tool called credit to make a better life for themselves.
I am sure there are profligate borrowers and unscrupulous loan officers and even profit hungry institutions. But ultimately I believe it has to be about the PEOPLE microfinance is serving. The genesis of the movement is rooted in the belief that poor people can be responsible, that trust and capital can unleash their potential. Making money off the poor was never the objective. We carry the responsibility of realizing that the equation between service provider and recipient is unequal because the recipients have no leverage and no bargaining power. And no matter what happens as this industry evolves, I think it is important that we are clear that making money never becomes the sole motivation.
I get asked by many people investing on MicroPlace how we guarantee that their money gets placed with institutions that are not exploiting the poor. I welcome that question because it is absolutely the right one to ask. The MicroPlace model was created with the hope of bringing transparency to the investment process. The vision is to ensure that investors have information on the organization receiving their funds and how those funds are used. The information we provide is imperfect because there is dearth of data in the industry and there is a cost to getting that data. But we sincerely believe that investors concern and demand for accountability will serve as the impetus for higher levels of integrity and transparency of information.
I would also like to point out something about the MicroPlace model. Microfinance organizations in the field cannot raise funds directly from retail investors in the United States. They are not capitalized to do so nor are they qualified to sell securities to investors here. We therefore work investment partners based in the US who place funds with organizations in the field. The investment partners on our site are all non-profits and mission driven. Their criteria for who receives funds raised on MicroPlace are based on their credit policies as well as their mission. MicroCredit Enterprises, for example, only invests in underserved communities and organizations that do not have exploitative interest rates. Oikocredit, a pioneer in private funding and socially responsible investing, looks among other things for projects that clearly help the disadvantaged and are environmentally sustainable. You can read about our other investment partners (Shared Interest, Working Capital for Community Investment and Calvert Foundation) on www.microplace.com.
As the industry matures and the self sustainability of microfinance organizations attracts more commercial capital, the question of profit as a motive will arise, as it should. A model of enterprise where social mission and profit sit comfortably side by side still seems like an impossible concept to imagine. But does that mean that it is impossible to achieve? Institutions and markets are morally neutral. But human beings are not. We can craft the institutions that reflect our moral purpose and make choices to forge the realities that we want manifest. That is well within our power.
It is important that observers (reporters, academics, the public) hold those working in the field accountable for the objectives that we set out to fulfill. But let’s also be realistic that the process is challenging, the pathway full of pitfalls and the players inexperienced in navigating the emerging challenges in the industry. Instead of indulging in the national pastime of setting people and movements up on pedestals and then trying to find their feet of clay, could we just learn from our mistakes and move forward? Microfinance is a tool – its effectiveness depends on how well it is used. It is not perfect but it has certainly done more to make a difference in the lives of millions of the worlds working poor, than what this article would lead us to believe.
Ashwini Narayanan
General Manager
MicroPlace, an eBay company
www.microplace.com
August 22nd, 2009
Read the current newsletter and you can download 3 Free eBooks by Skip McGrath
I have just uploaded the August 20 issue of The eBay and Online Sellers News.
You can read the current issue here:
http://www.skipmcgrath.com/newsletters/current.shtml
This week I am giving away three free eBooks:
- eBay Secrets Mini Course
- Using Twitter to build eBay Profits
- The Future of eBay 2009
We also have some great articles in this issue:
- Do eBay Auction Ending Times Really Matter Anymore?
- ArtFire: Trying to Change the Landscape for Selling Handcrafted Goods Online
- Niche of the Month: Coupons Are Back
- eBay Wholesale Sources for August 2009
See Also
- FREE ~ Subscribe to the eBay Sellers News
The oldest and largest newsletter for eBay and small online sellers. - How To Start and Run an eBay Consignment Business
Complete training course by eBay PowerSeller Skip McGrath. Includes sample contracts, forms, advertising posters and ads and pre-written sales letters.
August 20th, 2009
I have a sick fascination with television programs that chronicle obsessive compulsive behavior. Yes they sadden me, but they also intrigue me too. I also will 
watch drug intervention programs in marathon format. Call it what you will, but A&E is my new favorite network. With shows like Intervention, Obsessed, and their newest addition, Hoarders, I can gawk in all of my glory. I think the appeal of these shows is that they are not sugarcoated, there are no people living in mansions pretending to look for love or get sober, this is the real deal. Even shows like the BBC’s How Clean is Your House? pale in comparison. It’s raw and revealing. While the stories are multi-layered and ofen complex, there is a sense of hope and redemption—perhaps that is why these types of series are being recognized in Hollywood, Intervention was nominated for 2 Emmys this year. It’s putting the “real” back in reality TV.
August 20th, 2009
I’ve been getting emails and comments from folks wondering how the gm.ebay.com pilot program is going. From what I can tell, things are going very well indeed. eBay issued the following statement earlier today that includes some pretty striking stats:
“In the first week of our 4 week California market pilot, we are very pleased with the results. The traffic flowing to our co-branded GM and eBay websites is strong; through August 17th, shoppers visited our virtual showroom sites 630,000 times in the 1st week and logged more than 960,000 searches of GM inventory. What’s different today is that for the first time in automotive history, consumers are going online, selecting from a broad inventory of new cars in California at great prices, negotiating through ‘Best Offer’ or simply clicking and buying hassle free.”
Additionally, eBay went on to say…
“In the first week of this pilot alone we have seen about 2,400 new car buyers enter into qualified ‘Best Offer’ negotiations online, over the phone and in person as a result of this promotion or take advantage of ‘Buy It Now ‘at an already great price. We are very excited to be partnered with GM as we together reinvent the way new car buyers connect with dealers. We look forward to applying what we learn over the remaining weeks of this pilot.”
Like I said in my original post, my wife and I are checking out this promotion to see if we’re going to participate. If we do, I’ll be sure to chronicle my experience here on Ink.
Cheers,
RBH
August 20th, 2009
On Monday, eBay announced the launch of its SM Applications program meaning that for the first time, sellers of all sizes, can access tools embedded within my.ebay.com targeted at helping grow businesses, reduce costs and streamline operations.
Due to the many different applications being made available, solving for various different business solutions, I thought it would be neat to start featuring a different application in standalone blog posts. So without further ado, I thought I’d kick things off with our good friends over at vzaar. Enjoy!
The vitals:
SM App: vzaar
What it solves for: vzaar hosts and streams video for sellers looking to improve the quality of their listings.
Why you should care: Whether you want to show the products you sell in greater detail or explain in person the range of items you sell, adding video to your listings is simple and easy to do with vzaar.
What you can do: Upload your video to vzaar from My eBay; customize your video player; select which listing(s) you wish to add the video to.
Supported browsers: Firefox 3.5, IE 7, IE 8, Safari 4, Google Chrome
Supported languages: English
Supported eBay sites: http://ebay.com
Required eBay subscriptions: Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro
Advanced Player Settings include:
* Variety of player sizes (Small, Medium, Large or HD)
* Customize your player with border colors
* Borderless Player option
* Unbranded Player option
* Auto Play option
* Brand Text option
eBay Settings include:
* Add to listing feature – no HTML skills required
* Embed video into Single or Multiple listings
* Add to About Me page
* Replace & Delete video options
About the vzaar application:
The first approved Selling Manager application featuring video, the vzaar application allows eBay sellers to quickly and easily add video to their eBay listings for a more dynamic shopping experience. In a matter of seconds a seller subscribed to Selling Manager can now shoot a product video, upload that video to their vzaar application in My eBay and insert it into any live or scheduled eBay listing.
The standard vzaar application is available free to all Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro users on eBay.com. In addition, there are a premium set of application packages available that offer advanced features such as bulk listings of video and unbranded video players.
Here’s a short demo video:
About vzaar:
Founded by two former eBay UK employees in 2007, vzaar has focused on making it as simple as possible for eBay sellers to improve the quality and look of their listings. In 2008, the company won the runner-up award for Best Design at the eBay Developers Conference, and in July 2009, vzaar made a number of its new features available to its users that includes High Definition (HD) video and Customisable Video Players.
According to the team, vzaar powers over 50,000 eBay video listings a month.
The vzaar team:
Screen shots:
vzaar video asset:
vzaar video list:
vzaar dashboard:
homepage banner:
Related:
Ina Steiner of AuctionBytes.com sat down on the phone with Jamie Parkins, COO of vzaar, to discuss the SM Apps program and what vzaar means for eBay users. It’s a great conversation worth checking out. You can download/play the short podcast HERE.
John Lawson (aka ColderICE) has a nice blog review posted too. Check it out HERE.
So there you go. I hope you found it helpful. I look forward to sharing more apps with you soon. Next up: My.ShipRush (shipping automation).
Cheers!
RBH
August 19th, 2009
An updated eBay User Agreement was posted earlier today in order to help implement the policy changes announced in the Seller Release details last month. The update is an extension of the changes announced back in May of this year.
From the AB post:
The biggest change to the agreement supports the new on-eBay resolution process and accompanying policy. With this user agreement update, the policy and process will offer coverage for all buyers who purchase an item on eBay.com. The policy provides guidance for sellers on how to avoid adverse claim decisions. In the event of an eligible claim it also grants eBay permission to deduct amounts from the seller’s PayPal account to refund the buyer. eBay will ask for permission to charge an alternate payment method in certain situations. (Note, most of the process details are now located in the policy, referenced in the User Agreement).
For more information, please refer to:
** ebay.com/resolutions
** FAQ
** Best Practices
Cheers,
RBH
August 19th, 2009
All,
The following video ran on Fox Business News this morning regarding the launch of eBay’s Selling Application Directory. It features Kristina Klausen, senior director of the Seller Platform Efficiency Team at eBay, and Terapeak CEO Fred Speckeen.
Cheers,
RBH
Watch the latest business video at FOXBusiness.com
August 18th, 2009
Reading Free by Chris Anderson recently, I discovered that one of the first home computers was designed solely to organise receipes in the kitchen, as that was about the only task for which the engineers at Honeywell thought a computer might be useful. To enter receipes required a working knowledge of Hex. It is not known whether any units were sold!
Fast forward 40 years and it turns out that computes are pretty useful for collating and sharing receipes after all. Carol Savage from MyDish recently secured funding from the famously picky Dragons of Dragons Den for her food lovers online community. MyDish is also based in the Old Truman Brewery, where only the very business businesses are located.
Carole was nice enough to answer some of my questions.
Please give us some background on mydish.co.uk
I came up with the idea for MyDish when my husband came back from South Africa after his mother had passed away. He brought back two scraps of paper with recipes on: one for Banana Bread and another for Lemon Meringue Pie. For mu husband, the recipes were so much more than a list of ingredients, they were memories. They reminded him of being a little boy. I told this story to lots of people and everyone had a similar story.
I’d recently sold a business and was looking for a new challenge so I hit upon the idea of MyDish: the internet seemed like the perfect medium to share and store everyone’s treasured recipes.
What made you want to go on Dragon’s den? Had you exhausted other funding roots or were you attracted by the additional publicity?
Of course, we didn’t actually know we’d get funding but we thought DD was a good way of raising cash and our profile at the same time. It’s been a very rewarding experience and we’re all looking forward to working with Deborah Meaden.
The surge in traffic, registrations and new recipes since we appeared last week has been extraordinary and much more than we expected. We’re still getting a lot of traffic thanks to iPlayer.
What was the Dragon’s Den experience like?
It was the scariest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve blogged it here: http://www.mydishblog.co.uk/
I didn’t see the programme before it aired, which meant I didn’t know what to expect. It was very nervous wracking not knowing what they would choose to show.
Any tips for building a community and driving traffic. Do you see likes of Facebook as a big competitor or are you in an entirely different market?
One thing we’ve found to be very successful is having an authentic and honest voice. That’s why we try and keep the site personal and friendly. We can come across as a site that people want to use.
I see Facebook as a vehicle. The great big communities are obviously very popular, but I think there’s space for niche, focussed and specialist social sites out there. We successfully use blogging, forums, Facebook, Stumbleupon and Twitter to generate traffic and buzz. Twitter in particular is very good because it’s such a conversational medium. During the show and since we’ve been able to communicate directly with viewers and visitors which has been great.
What are your plans for the future. You mentioned some interesting functionality on TV.
We have two main priorities. Developing the community and site to drive traffic. We’ve got lots of features that we want develop that we hope will be popular with members including the menu planner and a shopping planner.
Building revenue through partnerships. We’ve successfully done deals with brands like Heinz and Clover as well as linked up with Ocado and Asda, We can offer a highly engaged audience to brands which makes us a powerful aveneue for advertisier. But there has to be something in it for the members. We don’t want to bombard them with pointless, untargeted advertising.