Benefits of the Partnered Carrier programme include:

• Optimal service level with a carrier familiar with Amazon delivery appointments and inbound procedures. Amazon FCs will be able to process your shipments and make your inventory available for sale faster than before.
• Very competitive pricing.
• Amazon will take over responsibility for dealing with lost or damaged inventory in line with its standard FBA policy.
• Increased visibility as UPS’ tracking number will automatically be linked to your shipment and appear in the shipping workflow. You will able to track your shipment in Seller Central from the time it leaves your premises until it is received by Amazon’s FC.
• Easy sign up online during the shipment creation process and automatic billing at discounted rates
• Very fast pick up times. Simple contact process with UPS for shipment pick up from your premises
• No minimum commitment necessary. You can opt to use PCP on a per shipment basis

You should now be able to choose this option when you create your next shipment to an Amazon FC. Simply follow the step by step instructions in Seller Central. You will receive a fee estimate online once you input details of the consignment and can then decide if you wish to use the PCP for that particular shipment.

Amazon value feedback from their sellers. If after using the programme you have comments or suggestions about how they might improve it even further you can contact them at partneredcarriers@amazon.lu.

Since the launch the shares have skyrocketed in a very un-Facebook like manner to around $18 per share with a high of $19.77, adding over 30% to the companies valuation. Good news for investors and good news for ChannelAdvisor employees who hold shares in the company.

In a message to customers Scot Wingo, ChannelAdvisor CEO said “An IPO is an important milestone and starts a new chapter in our journey as a company. It also provides us funding to explore new ideas, expand our platform, and address new markets.”

There are two issues here – firstly the holiday notice is simply a small orange strip above the picture if you’re buying on mobile. I have to admit not spotting a holiday setting last week and then wondering why my purchase took a week to arrive – not the fault of the seller, it’s the way eBay display the message.

It’s not much bigger if you’re buying on the main eBay site (see image below). Having hoped that your potential buyers have spotted your holiday settings notification, eBay are now promising Fast and Free shipping with delivery by the 28th May.

The real problem here is when we check on the full eBay site and see what date this particular seller is returning from their holiday. They’re not due back from holiday until the 3rd of June, but eBay are promising delivery by the 28th of May.

If you are about to take some time off over the Bank Holiday and School Half Term in the UK, or Memorial Day Weekend in the US, check your eBay holiday settings but also check your listings and see what eBay are telling you customers.

At a rough estimate 40% of eBay customers are now buying on mobile devices. They see your fast and free delivery promise but even if they notice a tiny orange message at the top of their screen, there’ll be nothing to indicate the promised delivery date isn’t the date their purchase will arrive.

I can imagine that sellers will be pretty envious of the additional exposure that this gives the Outlets. If you’re selling the same products it’s hard to compete with a big banner at the top of the page directing buyers to the official outlet. On the other hand if you’ve got stock that they don’t, better prices or are fortunate to be at the top of Best Match search in the first place then buyers will probably still find your stock.

I know the first question on people’s minds will be how can they get a banner in search. The answer is probably to become a big brand high street retailer and then open an eBay Outlet. This might seem unfair. It is. The once fairly level playing field that eBay boasted went years ago. It’s also fair to add that if a buyer searches for say “Argos” that they’d want to know that they could purchase directly from Argos on eBay.

On the positive side if buyers purchase from eBay Outlets and have a great experience they could start spending more on the site. That would benefit us rank and file sellers.

Running from Saturday the 25th of May until Bank Holiday Monday the 27th of May, private sellers can list up to 100 items with a start price of £1 or more with free insertion fees.

All the normal restrictions apply such as not using professional listing tools and seller’s accounts must be in good standing. Full terms and conditions are on the promotion page on eBay… but don’t tell anyone yet, it’s not been announced on the eBay Announcement Board

Amazon have two types of feedback – Seller Feedback and Product Reviews. If you want to comment on a product which you’ve purchased from Amazon you can leave a product review, but this doesn’t impact any individual seller.

When an Amazon buyer leaves feedback for a seller it should be entirely related to the service that they provided. Any product focused feedback left for the seller will impact their overall seller reputation, but is always eligible for removal.

eBay’s feedback is different and largely these days is focused on the actual product. Whilst the Positive, Neutral, Negative rating and comment is open for the buyer to use as they see fit, the Detailed Seller Ratings are more specific. However increasingly Detailed Seller Ratings are left by eBay and not the buyer.

Currently if a buyer doesn’t contact the seller then there’s an automatic five star rating for communications. If you ship with free post you’ll get an automatic five star rating for P&P charges. In the States it’s also possible to get an automatic five star for despatch time, so long as the seller ships promptly and enters tracking information into eBay – that just leaves the product Description DSR open for the buyer to rate.

As Amazon is catalogue based it makes it easier for them to separate the product rating from the service rating, but service is what eBay have been trying to improve over the past few years and yet eBay feedback is focused more and more towards the product. As largely eBay products aren’t catalogued it’s reasonable that buyers be able to rate the product, but should eBay separate product feedback from service feedback?

As a seller would you prefer feedback to be product focused or service focused? Personally I think service focused feedback is a more valuable indicator for buyers as most sellers have a wide range of inventory and one buyer being unhappy with one product doesn’t mean the seller’s service standards aren’t stellar. On eBay however feedback is slanted towards product comments and stars, sellers giving poor service can still have great detailed seller ratings simply by ensuring that they qualify for automatic five stars whenever possible.

Without a doubt Tamebay’s favourite for the garden is the helicopter hammock – we’re hoping for some good weather to relax in the garden over the weekend.

There are plenty of other things to buy though and here are a few of our other top picks. If these aren’t for you take a look through the Bank Holiday Bonanza as there’s sure to be a deal that catches your eye.

New faster 2 day service

From 5th June 2013, CollectPlus customers will have two parcel services to choose from; the new 2 working day Standard Service and the existing (re-named) 3-5 working day Economy service.

With parcels typically delivered in 2 working days, the new CollectPlus Standard service will be perfect for customers who have items that need to be delivered quickly. This will be an ideal service to fit eBay’s designator as a standard service and CollectPlus’ existing service marries eBay’s economy service designator.

Costs for the CollectPlus new standard service will be will be: Light (0-2kg) £5.59; Regular (2-5kg) £7.19; and Heavy (5-10kg) £9.29 (Prices quoted include VAT).

This service follows CollectPlus’ ‘one size fits all’ approach to sizing with a current size limit of 50x30x30cm for items sent using the service. We hear that these dimensions are being revised and will be increased in the near future so watch out for further announcements from CollectPlus.

CollectPlus Volume Rewards

From the start of June 2013, CollectPlus is introducing a new reward scheme for customers who buy 50 parcel labels or more from the CollectPlus website each month.

As a ‘pay as you go’ reward scheme, there are no contracts to sign or volume thresholds to commit to. CollectPlus customers will automatically qualify for a Bronze, Silver or Gold volume reward as long as they buy at least 50 parcel labels from the CollectPlus website each month.

The Volume Rewards scheme has three tiers (Bronze, Silver and Gold) with discounts of up to 10%. I really like this concept – there’s no commitment, it’s simply a loyalty discount where the more you spend the more you save the following month and is ideal for small businesses who may not be able to commit to larger regular volumes.

Changes to CollectPlus 3-5 working day Economy Service

The bad news is that CollectPlus will be increasing its Economy parcel service prices on the 5th June 2013.

Revised CollectPlus Economy Service prices from the 5th June will be: Light (0-2kg) £4.89; Regular (2-5kg) £6.19; and Heavy (5-10kg) £8.29

Whilst the CollectPlus has held off raising prices for this service since its launch in 2010, like many other businesses in the UK, they say that they have seen operational costs including fuel and transport, rise to the point that they can no longer continue to absorb all of these increases.

CollectPlus highlight their commitment to provide their customers with a great value service through the combination of:

• A fully tracked service that comes with £50 compensation cover as standard
• One standard charge throughout the UK – so no extra charges for delivery to Northern Ireland and the highlands and islands of Scotland
• A network of over 5,250 parcel stores that are open when customers need them – early ‘til late, 7 days a week
• A Volume Reward scheme that offers up to 10% off the cost of sending a parcel when customers buy 50 parcel labels a month or more on the CollectPlus website.
• An upcoming increase in our ‘one size fits all’ parcel sizing that will allow customers to send even larger parcels

They add that their Economy Service is still highly competitive against Royal Mail 2nd Class; for example, a 2kg parcel label is more than £3 cheaper (vs the Royal Mail 2nd Class medium size parcel price) when sent with CollectPlus. That’s £4.89 inc. VAT vs £8.00 with the Royal Mail 2nd Class.

Price rises are never welcome and those sellers who will be harder hit are those sending heavier parcels through the CollectPlus service.

Introducing Store Feedback

Customer feedback on the service CollectPlus stores provide is crucial, they say, in helping to ensure all customers have a good experience. As such, customers will shortly start to receive emails asking for their feedback on their store experience when they dropped off or collected a parcel.

The process is quick and easy and customers will be asked to rate their store experience between 1 and 5 stars (with 1 being very poor and 5 being excellent). Customers will also have the opportunity to leave additional comments and all feedback will be anonymous. CollectPlus will not be publishing the feedback but customers will be able to leave their name and contact details should they want a response.

By introducing this element, CollectPlus will be able to ensure that poor store experiences are acted upon and good ones recognised within their network.

Today we will take a look at what Braintree have to offer.

Braintree

Braintree offer an online payment gateway, that is software that allows you to process credit card payments from your website and/or application. With Braintree you can quickly get up and running with everything you need to process credit card payments, including an online payment gateway, merchant account, credit card storage, and recurring billing – all in a single solution.

Importantly Braintree operate in the UK, they’ve also got a lifetime discounted price for Google Checkout Merchants.

Bill Ready, Braintree CEO told us “We are honored Google is referring its merchants to Braintree. It’s a great endorsement of the quality of Braintree’s payment solutions, and we’re very excited to welcome these merchants to Braintree. The team has been working to ensure that the transition to the Braintree payments platform is easy and that the merchants have a smooth transition with as little impact as possible to their operations”.

Bill went to to tell us that Braintree is already the global payments platform for many of today’s most successful merchants, including Uber, Fab, Airbnb, Angry Birds and more. Some of the reasons Braintree is their preferred payments solution, include:

• Mobile Ready: Braintree is the leader in mobile payments with $2B in annual volume and mobile-specific client libraries.
• Going Global: Ready to go worldwide with merchants as the scale. Currently, Braintree is working with companies in more than 40 countries and accepts payments in more than 130 currencies.
• Data Portability: Clients own their data; so it goes where they go.
• Recurring Billing: Braintree’s recurring billing tools take the pain out of billing for SaaS, media subscriptions, recurring donations and other cyclical billing.
• Security: Braintree’s secure Vault performs credit card tokenization by replacing credit card data with unique tokens that allow for the same functionality and control as the original credit card data.
• Rave-worthy Customer Service: Braintree commits to exceptional customer, for every merchant, anytime.

Even if eventually Google Wallet comes to the UK, merchants will still need a payment processor. Whilst it was an integral part of Google Checkout, payment processing is not a feature of Google Wallet. Braintree payment processing is the option that Google has chosen to recommend.

Of course it’s impossible to ship once you’re courier has collected for the day so eBay now give you the facility to specify a cut off time. After your chosen cut off time eBay will adjust estimated delivery dates to reflect the fact that you won’t be shipping until the next business day.

There’s no real benefit here if a buyer opts for an economy or standard delivery service. The real benefit is for those buyers willing and wanting to pay for an urgent order to be delivered speedily. If as a seller you wish to you’ll now be able to display that you can deliver via a guaranteed 24 hour service and buyers will see that they can receive the product tomorrow, not as was previously the case the day after tomorrow.

We’re expecting the same day despatch option to be rolled out on eBay UK some time in June. In the mean time if you’d like to get ahead of the game we have spotted that you can already specify your cut off time for same day shipping, so that you’re ready to apply same day shipping revisions to your listings as soon as they’re available on the UK site.