ETD: 731 Excellent customer service; Holiday sales forecasts;
eBay User Verification fraud; Audra Herbals (M) Sdn. Bh.d; VeriSign
sells Network Solutions
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post@gapent.com
Mon, 20 Oct 2003 08:35:29 -0400
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0731 October 21, 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] Excellent customer service
[3] Holiday sales forecasts
[4] eBay User Verification fraud
[5] Audra Herbals (M) Sdn. Bh.d
[6] VeriSign sells Network Solutions
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
I'm in Boston conducting a Galileo/Magique user conference. Folks are
coming in from all over the country. Should be fun.
Today I share some pleasant customer service experiences. It's nice to see
that for a change.
Holiday forecasts are in. What do you think? How are you poised for the
holiday season?
Be careful with the latest fraud guaranteed to take all your money on
eBay. Of course, our members can't be fooled now can they?
We have another member profile today, which will be at our site for
posterity at our "Members: Who Are You?"
http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And we have a form
there for you to tell us about you. As I said when I first proposed this
idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we often don't know
anything about each other. So, tell us who you are and what you do.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem@gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Excellent customer service
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I had some excellent customer service experiences this week which I have to
share. We are buying another condo in NJ and needed to transfer and add
telephone services. I called Verizon and the CSR answered with something
like "How may I help provide you with excellent service?" We worked out
the details of the install, including her verifying that the lines were
available, and I would have not problems with the install and the
DSL. When finished, she asked "Did I do my job by providing you with the
excellent services that you expected to receive?"
That seems to be the trend now-a-days. Ask the customer to state their
"problem." Get a buy in that asks if you solve their problem you will have
done the job. Solve the problem. Do a trial close - ask if you solved the
problem. Then close the deal. It makes everybody happy - no loose ends.
Does anybody use this experience in their business?
The second great experience was with Hoyt Hutcheson, a real estate agent in
Atlanta. They normally have a reputation much like used car salesmen. Not
Hoyt. First he put the house up for sale at a high price as we
asked. Next he had us spend approx $5,000 for "pristine" fix ups - simple,
little things that sell the house. Then he qualified all buyers before
even showing them the house.
On Thursday, 10/9 he called and said he has a very qualified
buyer. Friday, 10/10 we sign contracts. The buyer wanted to close on
Friday, 10/17 - one week later! Hoyt coordinated everything - the lawyer
(only need one in Atlanta), mover, utilities and even had a garage sale for
us. We went to Atlanta on Wednesday to direct packing and disposition of
our offices, and on Friday we closed! All didn't go smoothly, however,
Hoyt handled everything. It's no wonder he sold 17 homes in 4 months in a
market where they are experiencing 6,500 foreclosures per month!
It's nice to have great customer service for a change.
George
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[3] Holiday sales forecasts
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With the holidays fast approaching, retailers are looking forward to an
exuberant selling season following last year's utter disappointment.
The National Retail Federation, a trade group, is estimating a healthy 5.7%
increase in holiday sales this year, to $217.4 billion. Deloitte & Touche
LLP, using a slightly different measurement, predicts a 6.5% to 7% rise.
"No Grinch expected this holiday season," the consulting firm proclaimed.
It expects discounters and online retailers to do especially well.
Yet even before stores have dusted off their holiday ornaments, some
economists and market researchers already are expressing more somber views
of Christmas 2003. Citing several recent factors -- a rise in
bargain-hunting, stalled consumer confidence, high consumer debt -- these
forecasters say many early expectations for a rosy season may be too
optimistic.
A recent poll of 2,403 consumers, by Port Washington, N.Y., market-research
firm the NPD Group, suggests as much. Sixty-eight percent of respondents
said they will spend about as much as they did last holiday season. Nearly
one in five (19%) said they will spend less, while 13% said they expect to
spend more. Shoppers' average intended budget, according to NPD, is $637,
or a shade under the $641 cited by survey participants last year.
This Christmas, there is even more at stake than usual. The U.S. economy is
eking out a slow recovery and holiday sales will be a key indicator of
whether the upturn is real. Retailers, which depend on the holiday season
to make up almost a quarter of annual sales, can't help seeing hopeful
signs: Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 27 this year, meaning one more selling
day in the traditional, pre-Christmas holiday-shopping window compared with
last year. Last week, the major retail chains reported surprising sales
gains of more than 6% for September.
Details at...
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106625638275049300,00.html
(may be subscription only)
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[4] eBay User Verification fraud
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Here's another fraud perpetrated by a scam artist trying to get your eBay
account information. The e-mail looks legitimate, and even appears to have
the correct secured eBay account. If you analyze the e-mail and hover over
the link in the e-Mail, you will see that it goes to a redirected site
which looks just like eBay's. However when you look at where you are, you
will see it is not a secured site (no https) and it is not even eBay's -
it's http://211.35.244.54:199/index.htm
Be careful! Here's the message:
---
Dear eBay User,
During our regular update and verification of the accounts, we couldn't
verify your current information. Either your information has changed or it
is incomplete.
As a result, your access to bid or buy on eBay has been restricted. To
start using your eBay fully, please update and verify your information by
clicking below:
https://scgi.ebay.com/saw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?VerifyInformation
Regards,
eBay
**Please Do Not Reply To This E-Mail As You Will Not Receive A Response**
------------------º><º snipped º><º-------------------
If by chance you decide to enter the correct secured address from above,
you do get eBay, with this message:
Input Error
There was an error in your input. Please go back and ensure that all fields
are properly filled in.
George
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[5] Audra Herbals (M) Sdn. Bh.d
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Since 1989, we have been manufacturing and supplying herbal products such
as haircare, skincare,body care and healthcare products under the "Audra"
brand. We are also the operators of the Audra Herbals Treatment Centre in
Malaysia.
For the past 14 years, we have successfully treated hair loss with visible
results assured within 1 to 6 months (depending on the individual hair loss
pattern). These are genuine hair loss products and we also operate our own
treatment centre.
We are better than our competition since our products genuinely work and we
have brought lots of joy to many hair loss sufferers. We started the
business because there is genuinely a need for such products in the market.
Our products are marketed via Word of mouth and newspaper advertisements.
It costs about US$2,000 per month.
You have to email us your order at henna@tm.net.my We also have a website
at :www.la-brazilian.com
Theresa Petrose, Director
Audra Herbals (M) Sdn. Bhd.
No. 11, Lorong Ara Kiri Satu
Lucky Garden, Bangsar.
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan
Malaysia 59200
Tel: 603-20944500
Fax: 603-26936772
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[6] VeriSign sells Network Solutions
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VeriSign has announced it plans to sell its Network Solutions business unit
to Pivotal Private Equity, a Phoenix, Arizona-based firm known for
acquiring underperforming companies, for approximately US$100 million.
According to VeriSign, $60 million of the deal will be in cash, with the
remaining $40 million in a senior subordinated note. VeriSign, which will
retain a 15 percent stake in Network Solutions, expects the deal to be
completed during the company's fourth quarter.
Gartner principal analyst Ted Chamberlin told the E-Commerce Times that
Network Solutions, which VeriSign purchased in 2000, has been dragging down
the company's revenues; therefore, divesting this domain-name service makes
sense. Because of the present economic climate, he said, Pivotal was able
to acquire Network Solutions for pennies on the dollar.
Details at...
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/31890.html
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Links to follow
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GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.gapent.com/
Sarbanes-Oxley 2002 http://www.sarbanes-oxley2002.com
E-Tailer's Digest http://www.etailersdigest.com
ETD Archives: http://topica.com/lists/etailer/read
Prior to 29 Dec
1999 http://etailersdigest.com/archives/index.htm
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