Perception is Reality -

Let’s face it, the Internet makes it easy to shop. In a few minutes you can locate a number of stores that carry a product you want. You can compare products and prices easily. Gone are the days when a merchant had a captive audience of customers. Increased travel and the commercialization of the World Wide Web has seen to that.

This exposure to stores and services offered globally has both simplified and complicated something as basic as shopping and selling. There is the availability of, and constant access to, products and services consumers want. Shopping has become simple, instant, and convenient. Global competition and increased expectations of consumers has made pricing and marketing more complicated for merchants.

In a market where there are potentially limitless people selling the same product, how can an individual gain an “edge” on the competition? Continue reading…

First, it helps to define what I mean by “Price” and “Value”. Dictionary.com tells us “Price is the sum or amount of money or its equivalent for which anything is bought, sold, or offered for sale.” and that “Value is the perception of relative worth, merit, or importance.”

Price is a straightforward concept and potential customers will either pay or not pay for an item or service. Value, on the other hand, is a little more elusive. It is based on the customer’s perceptions. Not just their perception of the quality of the item or service, but their perception of what that item or service will do for them.

When a potential customer says, “I can’t afford it” in regards to a product they are saying one of two things. In one case, they do not have enough money to afford what is offered (price). In the other, they cannot justify the purchase because they do not perceive the benefit of what is offered (value).

Continue reading…

The email notifications are Auto Sent. There has been no trouble with our Auto Sender. Unfortunately, many SMTP servers have anti-Spam filters on them that search out certain words (Sale, Selling, Sold, !!) and then deem that mail as Spam.

If you aren’t receiving sales emails you may want to create a new user that can also receive your confirmation emails to ensure the issue isn’t with the email address you had previously provided.

After you have logged in you will need to click the Account tab on the home page and then click the User Management sub-tab on the Account page. On the User Management page, click the Create Username link on the right side of the page. You will then fill in all the fields on the Create Username page and click the Create Username button at the bottom of the page. After you have created the new username, you will be directed to the Edit User page and you will be able to select the users access level and the email subscriptions for the new user. Please be certain the email address on the new username is from a different domain that that on the original username. If one email address receives the confirmation and the other doesn’t that will confirm that it is a problem with the email account.