ETD: 707 Are discounts needed now?; ID Theft is simple; WiFi
and public hotspots; Sales tax rates; After Long Dry Spell, Start-Ups
Get Cash
E-Tailer's Digest
etd@gapent.com
Mon, 28 Jul 2003 22:46:44 -0400
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0707 July 29, 2003
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem@gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] ID Theft is simple
[3] Are discounts needed now?
[4] WiFi and public hotspots
[5] Sales tax rates
[6] After Long Dry Spell, Start-Ups Get Cash
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
We have some interesting material today. A list member posed the question
"Do we need to discount now?" Or can we wait until before the
holidays? What do you think?
We all get those solicitation letters - the frauds. And, unfortunately,
many people fall for them. So I thought I would demonstrate how easy it is
to direct you to a phony site. Be careful.
The post in last issue about the French deciding they didn't like the
word"e-mail" brought some interesting comments from list members, non of
which are printable ;-). Leave it to the French.
Looks like we may be seeing VC funds coming back into the Market after a
three year hiatus. Yeah! Will it be 1999 all over again?
Has anybody ever tried WiFi communications in a public hotspot? I'm
curious to hear your experience, and comments about the future of WiFi.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
Dr. George Matyjewicz
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem@gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] ID Theft is simple
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Folks, if you ever get a message like this one supposedly from PayPal (or
your bank, or your digital currency company, or any other private and
personal account), destroy it fast! This one was quite good - it looked
like it came from PayPal, complete with the logo. They ask for your
PIN! It actually looks like it will be going to PayPal. However when you
look at the source code, you will see it is redirected to another site.
Here's how it works. Let's say you see a link to
http://etailersdigest.com, which looks OK. In fact if you click on this
link, you will go to ETD. If I were to do something fraudulent, I would
redirect you in the background so that you think you would got to
ETD. However with this simple code
http://etailersdigest.com@www.gapent.com you go to GAP Enterprises,
Ltd. It's a simple redirect - add the @ after the .com and put in another
site. At that site, you could have a page that looks just like PayPal (or
ETD in my example). However, the url is not PayPal.
Common sense to many is not to give out any personal information unless you
know you are on a site where you belong and it is a secure site (look for
the lock and the https). However, there are still a lot of folks who
didn't get the memo, and follow these links. Next thing you know they lose
their identity and their bank accounts. And, it isn't just newbies. One
astute businessman I know lost $250,000 and another lost over $1 million!
Be careful!
===== PayPal scam ======
Dear PayPal Customer
This e-mail is the notification of recent innovations taken by PayPal to
detect inactive customers and non-functioning mailboxes.
The inactive customers are subject to restriction and removal in the next 3
months.
Please confirm your email address and credit card information by logging in
to your PayPal account using the form below:
Email Address:
Password:
Full Name:
Credit Card #:
Exp.Date(mm/yyyy):
ATM PIN (For Bank Verification) #:
This notification expires September 31, 2003
Thanks for using PayPal!
This PayPal notification was sent to your mailbox. Your PayPal account is
set up to receive the PayPal Periodical newsletter and product updates when
you create your account. To modify your notification preferences and
unsubscribe, go to https://www.paypal.com/PREFS-NOTI and log in to your
account. Changes to your preferences may take several days to be reflected
in our mailings. Replies to this email will not be processed.
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[3] Are discounts needed now?
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What do your readers think about offering discounts to spur fall and
holiday sales. What produces the best results without giving away the
store? Are discounts important now, or do we wait until it gets closer to
Christmas?
--Janet Attard
Author, The Home Office and Small Business Answer Book
Run, market, and grow your business with help from Business Know-How
http://www.businessknowhow.com
Subscribe to our free newsletter at
http://www.businessknowhow.com/newsletter/subscribe.htm
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[4] WiFi and public hotspots
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I see WiFi (wireless fidelity) is gaining a lot more ground - in Starbucks,
at airports, bars and restaurants and even on the streets if Washington
DC. Soon, we should see it on airplanes. Gartner, Inc. estimates that the
number of public hot spots worldwide will increase to 150,000 by 2005 from
20,000 last year. Gartner estimates that there will be 75 million users of
hot spots by 2008.
Last year, 3.1 million U.S. households had wireless networks, according to
the market-research firm IDC, who expects the number to double this year.
A recent article in E-Commerce Times talked about the security issues
associated with WiFi - virus, hacking, launch spam, etc. So is it worth
it? Will WiFi be the thing of the near future? Will is help retailers
like we all hope it well?
Has anybody used public WiFi hotspots? If so, how and where did you use it.
George
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[5] Sales tax rates
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I wanted to thank CMA for contributing to E'Tailer's Digest and clarifying
the relative urgency for finding the electronic file of nationwide sales
tax rates by FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) codes in my
original question.
I understand that there is no current requirement or relative urgency.
The quote from David Hardesty in that last response says that 'under
current law' there are 'certain incentives' that encourage online vendors
to collect those taxes now. And, as you know, some online vendors do,
without Nexus.
Suppose, for a moment, an online vendor wanted to take advantage of those
incentives and wanted to voluntarily set-up his system, wanted to poise his
ordering and invoicing system NOW to collect the taxes for all 50 states.
The problem would be two-fold:
1) does his system have the capacity to handle such a task and
2) where online, or who has the information electronically? Where's the
list of every sales tax rate by FIPS code in America?
I'm looking for the answer to 2) Do any of your readers know where to get
all the codes in one electronic file by FIPS? Did I miss that piece of
information in past discussions?
Karen Hogan
an independent Great Plains consultant
an iCode Everest consultant in training
khogan@san.rr.com
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[6] After Long Dry Spell, Start-Ups Get Cash
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For the first time in three years, money pouring into business start-ups is
on the rise. Not only is that a good sign for the beleaguered technology
sector, but it also boosts the overall economy because start-ups create
jobs and innovations.
"The worst is behind us," says Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo.
Venture-capital investments in start-ups -- mostly in biotech -- soared
13.6%, to $4 billion, in the second quarter from the first quarter, says a
survey out today by San Francisco researcher VentureOne.
That VCs are boosting investments shows they expect economic growth ahead
and want to place bets while start-up values are cheap, Sohn says.
One quarter's rise doesn't guarantee a lasting shift. And the quarter's
total remains well below the record $26.9 billion in the first quarter of
2000.
Still, the jump follows other hopeful signs. Major corporations plan bigger
tech budgets next year after two years of declines. Many tech companies'
second-quarter earnings met or beat expectations. The tech-rich Nasdaq
index is up 55.3% from its Oct. 9 low.
Details at...
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/31204.html
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Links to follow
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