Kabbage awards TheWhineSeller.com an e-commerce Oscar for telling it like it is

Kabbage

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The nice folks at Kabbage have been using the awards season as an excuse to give out some e-commerce awards of their own creation. The previous week they gave out the Golden Globes and this week they gave out the Oscars. Here’s what they had to say about this very blog in their Oscars post:

Tells it Like it Is: Hillary DePiano

Do you like blogs that beat around the bush and don’t tell it like it is? When reading your morning gossip do you like it filtered with wishy washy pontification?

Then whatever you do, don’t read The Whine Seller, written by Hillary DePiano! She’s known for being persnickety, sure, and that’s exactly why she’s beloved. We look to her for great ecommerce advice. Just don’t expect any padding on it!

Hillary comes from a writer background (and you know how THEY are), and is the author of quite a few books. As a result, she’s really gotten to know the self-publishing world pretty well, and has some pretty strong opinions on that as well. If you’re not easily offended (or even if you are…she doesn’t care) head over and check her out!

They amuse me. Since I accidentally posted Monday’s blog post on Sunday due to a basic inability to know what date it is at any given time, I wanted to take this quick opportunity to thank them for their kind words. I like to think of myself as the e-commerce blog equivalent of Television Without Pity. Call it E-Commerce Without Pity. Spark the snark, spoil the marketplaces.

Though I don’t know about being beloved…

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5 Tips for Saving Money on Shipping Supplies and Postage

Image taken by User:Minesweeper on December 14...

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Today’s topic was a request from a IRL friend. And not just any friend! This one.

Anyway, the request was for some tips on saving money while shipping. It’s a tall order but I promised I’d see what I can do.

As soon as I started this post, I immediately realized this has the potential to become a whole series but let me see if I can do a quick and dirty compressed overview for this post. I’m hoping other readers will be willing to jump in and share their tips as well.

So, enough with the ado, here’s my top tips for saving money on shipping: Continue Reading »

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E-Commerce & Social Networking Week in Review January 28, 2012

Straight from the source, here’s what happened in the world of e-commerce, social networking and selling online in the past week: Continue Reading »

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eBay Buyer Pet Peeve: When a seller ships something stupidly

English: A blank Priority Mail Label 228, a po...

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As a collectibles seller, often times I’m buying the very same sort of items on eBay that I also sell. It’s like flipping houses except that the house was originally listed as a car. (Collectibles sellers know what I mean. ;-) )

But one of my biggest pet peeves as a buyer is when I get something from a seller that is shipped, well, stupidly.

I’m not just talking about items that arrived poorly packaged or damaged. I’m talking about the person who goes to the post office and buys a Ready Post box that is the same size as the free Priority Mail box… and then ships it Priority Mail anyway. The person who takes an item that weights 3 ounces and ships it in a Medium Flat Rate box so that you’re paying $10 of shipping when you should only be paying under $3. I’m talking about the person who ships the item in a box 5 times too large for the item increasing the weight by unnecessary pounds.

In other words, I’m talking about when a seller does something stupid about how they ship the item that ends up making it cost more than it should… because, as the buyer, I’m the one paying for their mistake. When I ship the very same action figure it always ships for around $5 so it steams me to have to pay $15 for you to ship it to me. Especially when I know that, even with lots of padding and packing for shipping, it only weights 14 ounces.

From a DSR standpoint, this sort of situation leaves me torn. Because they shipped it the way they did, shipping was much higher than usual. But with that extra heavy box, that cost ineffective Flat Rate box, etc that is literally what they paid… they aren’t trying to pull anything or make extra profit. But, as the buyer, I’m still annoyed. I paid much more than I should have on shipping and, when it boils down to it, it was the seller’s fault. But is it fair to ding their shipping cost stars because of stupidity or, to put it a little more nicely, their shipping inexperience?

Granted, this may only bother me because I’m a seller and I know more than is normal about shipping. But it still irks me to have to pay extra for someone else’s mistakes.

What do you think?

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