|
Search Engine |
Google |
| Website |
http://www.google.com |
| Overview |
Without a doubt, Google is the dominant search engine
in the internet and capable of presenting to the buyer hundreds of product
offerings with just a click of the button. Google search results can be divided into two main
categories, organic and sponsored. Organic search results are generated from
information collated by Google spiders and crawlers that continuously search
the internet for relevant information. Sponsored results are paid
advertising from companies offering their products or services for sale to
the public. Organic
searches are preferred and given more weight by most google searchers.
Google has also launched many complimentary services including a Pay-per-Click product comparison service that will go head to head with
companies like Price Grabber, Nextag, etc |
| Buyer Risk |
Google does not offer any
pre-screening of sellers or guarantee that
sellers will live up to their representations. Any individual or entity can
buy ads on google as long as what they are offering is not in violation
of a law. Buyers are left to fend for themselves. To the inexperienced buyer, it is often quite difficult to determine
if a seller is running a garage operation
with no inventory
or a multi-million dollar merchandising operation utilizing sophisticated
order fulfillment services. It is however possible to compile information on these individuals or companies with a little time and know how. Indicators that
will suggest the type of operation include: 1) how long has the company and
website been operational 2) source of inventory (i.e. Authorized
Dealer) 3) Place of operation (residential address or commerical
establishment) 4) Verifiable contact information (use of PO boxes, cell
phones, Toll Free numbers, anonymous email like gmail and yahoo are negative
indicators) 5) Reviews from public rating system such as BBB, Reseller
Rating, ect. Getfeetwet Navigation, Inc has a FREE service as part of its
"INFORMED BUYER PROGRAM" that provides a company profile on
request. Click =>
HERE
.
Alterntively, you can review or request the company profiles from the Blog below
 |
mailto:sales@spearhook.com?subject=Request: Instant Price Match Request&Body=Quick Price Match Request:___' +
Pro
| Buyer Protection |
Credit Card Fraud Protection |
| Seller Performance Feedback |
Only available via third party rating services (e.g.
Reseller Rating).
Rating integrity has been questioned as no prior purchase is required to
post feedback. Sellers can spam the rating by posting positive feedback
using fictitious email accounts. |
| Buyer Seller Communication and Relationship |
Excellent: Transactions are handled directly between buyer
and seller. There is no middleman like eBay and Amazon that monitors
communication between buyer and seller and confines communication to just
the completion of the transaction. |
| Pricing Model |
Excellent: No additional commission charged to sellers by
middlemen like Amazon (13%+) and eBay (8%+). Sellers are free to dictate
their price based on their cost (product cost + shipping cost + portion of
total advertising cost) plus desired margin. Margins for commoditized
products are slim due to competition among sellers advertising the same
products for sale. |
|
Market Place |
eBay |
Amazon |
GetFeetWet Navigation, Inc |
| Overview |
Popular among bargain hunters who are willing to take more
risk with unverified product sourcing in exchange for more savings.
The place to go to when searching for "used", hard-to-find, or
discontinued products. |
Popular among buyers looking for fair value and reasonably
safe shopping environment. Large number of sellers and inventory offers a
true market place where clients are given a clear picture of what a
fair price should be. Products offered are identified by UPC or ASIN codes
making it easy to compare apples to apples. |
Company has been in business for 15 years and has
established a reputation as a one-stop-shopping destination. Offers one of
the largest catalog of marine and hunting equipment (over 120,000 SKUs from over 1100 manufacturers).
Direct relationships
with manufacturers and a network of partner distributors provides
highest level of order fulfillment in terms of product availability and
timely delivery of products. |
| Buyer
Risk |
Risky: The low cost and very marginal requirements to establish an eBay
account makes selling in eBay convenient and attractive.
Unfortunately, the same factors also makes it an ideal place to dispose of goods
that were acquired under suspicious circumstances. eBay will act on any reported
illegal activity if reported and confirmed. This does not however does not deter
or
prevent illegal "fencing" activtities. Sellers engage in this illegal "fencing"
activities have grown sophisticated over time and are now difficult to distinguish
amongst the rest of seller population.
The lack of the requirement for sellers to provide proof
of ownership or legitimate
sourcing option coupled with the reputation of eBay as the place to search
for basement pricing creates an environment where buyers willing to ignore prudent
buying practices in favor of huge savings can encourage "fencing" activities.
Finally, as mentioned above, eBay will not hesitate to suspend or cancel the account
of any seller for violation of any of its policies. A buyer account can be suspended
and overnight disappear from the eBay
platform thus effectively terminating any
business relationship.
Caveat Emptor.
|
Moderate: More stringent seller requirements
at Amazon plus demographics of Amazon clients who typically prefers to
lessen the risk of associated with eBay basement pricing makes Amazon a more
safe environment for the buyer and a less preferred by individuals looking to dispose
or profit from illegally acquired goods.
Amazon has very high standard
in terms of seller performance. A seller account can be suspended with no detailed
explanation other than the seller has been in violation of Amazon policies. There
is a very long list of ex-Amazon sellers than congregate in forums narrating their
unfortunate experience with Amazon. Strangely enough a significant number of these
sellers are not doing anything illegal but have simply been victims of circumstances.
Again, once an account is suspended, it is virtually impossible to regain selling
priveleges thus effectively terminating any business relationship. |
Good:
Companies longevity (15 years of continuous operation) under the same company banner is an indicator of
company's commitment to its customers. The company's operations are housed in a
commerical property that it owns which again is an indicator of a long-term commitment
to the business. |
| Buyer Protection |
Good: eBay Safe Harbor, Credit Card Fraud Protection,
Seller Performance and Compliance Polices (weed out non-performing sellers,
sellers of illegal merchandise, non-compliant sellers), buyer feedback
reviews |
Good: A-Z Claims, Credit Card Fraud Protection,
Strict Seller Performance and Compliance Polices (weed out non-performing
sellers, sellers of illegal merchandise, non-compliant sellers), buyer
feedback reviews |
Good: Credit Card Fraud Protection, Non- Conditional
Guarantee of Order Fulfillment, Third Party Rating Service such as Better
Business Bureau (click
HERE), Operates from its own commercial office and warehouses. |
| Seller Performance Feedback |
Good: Buyer Feedback
|
Good: Buyer Feedback |
Good:
Better Business Bureau, Reseller Rating,
Forum Feedack, Testimonials |
| Transaction Supported |
Auction, Fixed Price, Best Offer |
Fixed Price |
Fixed Price, Price Matching, Bundle Pricing, Volume Discount |
| Buyer Seller Communication and Relationship |
Moderate: Communication between buyer and seller closely
monitored by eBay and must be done within the ebay messaging system.
Exchange of email and contact information outside ebay are not encouraged
and considered a policy violation in most cases. |
Moderate: Commnication between buyer and seller is monitored
by Amazon and must be done using their proprietary messaging system. eMail
information are not allowed to be posted. Clients need to be comfortable
dealing with a seller behind the Amazon curtain. |
Excellent: Access to company staff using all means of communication
(email, phone call, chat service, blogs, forums) are fully supported.
Clients can choose to deal with a dedicated representative with the rest of
the company acting as backup. Representatives are not paid on commission and
participate in a team oriented profit sharing. |
| Order flexibility |
Rigid: eBay prohibits any transaction that
will result in additional items being purchased outside of ebay even as part
of an original eBay purchase transaction. Sellers must post in eBay the additional
items and Buyer must buy them as a separate transaction. |
Rigid: Products are sold in Amazon based on
their UPC or ASIN code which means that there will be only one product per
product listing. Custom bundles cannot be offered as Amazon product grouping
is based on standardized code. Supplementary transactions done outside
Amazon as part of an original order is considered a policy violation |
Flexible: Offers one of the largest catalog in the industry
from which a multi-item configuration can processed as one single order and
avail of savings flowing from consolidated shipping and total order
discounts. |
| Shipping Flexibility |
Flexible: Seller may choose to ship to an address other than
the billing address of the buyer. Payment Information about the buyer is
known to the seller as the seller processes the payment directly. |
Rigid: Amazon performs all the background checks on
buyers and does not share payment information with sellers. Seller must ship
to the registered Amazon address of the client. Amazon will not reimburse
sellers that do not sell to the registered Amazon address of the client. |
Flexible: Company will ship to any address once client
identity has been verified and that the client is the authorized user of the
card. |
| Long-Term Support |
Unpredicatable: eBay sellers span the full spectrum of
seller types, from garage operations to multi-million dollar operations. No
eBay seller is guaranteed access to eBay services as part of an ongoing
relationship. eBay has strict company policies that must be adhered to
buy sellers. Violation of any of these policies may result in outright
suspension of the sellers account and effectively terminating the business
overnight. |
Unpredictable: Amazon sellers are on average bigger
operations that ebay sellers. The Amazon selling policies are strictly
enforced. It is not uncommon to hear about a seller than a 99% approval
rating and been selling though Amazon for many years and find out that
his selling privileges have been suspended. Amazon does not share in detail
what accounts are suspended. All that is known is that once the account is
suspended, it is almost impossible to get selling priveleges back and the
seller and his company disappears in thin air. |
Fairly Predicatble: Company has been arond for 15 years and
owns and operates it main office/warehouse in Moorpark, California. Company
has full control of its fate as on-going business concern. |
| Pricing Model |
Expensive: eBay charges sellers a final
value commission fee that can range from 8% to about 12% of the purchase price
for any transaction completed. This fee is added to the total cost of the buyer
and will ultimately be reflected on the selling price.
The price of an item purchased from a manufacturer is expected to be higher in eBay
with all else being equal relative to a buying the same item outside of eBay.
eBay however offers a unique buying opportunity for individuals who have inventory
or goods to dispose of. Significant savings can be realized from this "garage sale"
type of transactions. |
Most expensive: Amazon
charges sellers a commission fee that averages 16% of the purchase price for
any transaction completed. This fee is added to the total cost calculation of the
buyer and will ultimately be reflected on the selling price.
The price of an item purchased from a manufacturer is expected to be higher in Amazon
with all else being equal relative to a buying the same item outside of Amazon..
The reputation of Amazon as safe shopping environment and fairly priced product
offerings seem to justify the higher price that Amazon buyers are willing
to pay relative to alternatives offered outside Amazon. |
Competitive:
Company uses cost plus pircing that simply looks at the invoice cost of any product,
credit card transaction fees and a handling fee that can be anywhere from $10.00
to $45.00 depending on the size and weight of the product.
Several pricing programs such bundle pricing, deeply discounted or free shipping,
price matching,etc makes pricing very competitive. |
| Product Wararnty |
Unpredictable: Manufacturers will known to void product warranties
if the product is purchased in auction style markerplace such as eBay. Buyers
are advised to give the manufacturer a call or otherwise check the manufacturer
website for information about warranties. |
Predictable: Amazon marketplace does not present any issues
that may void the warranty provided by the manufacturer. |
Predictable: GetFeetWet does not present any issues
that may void the warranty provided by the manufacturer. |