Category Archives: Business & Entrepreneurs

Payments.Amazon.com – Checkout by Amazon

Payments.amazon.com is the official site of Amazon Payments (also known as Checkout by Amazon), an online payment processing service.

It is similar in nature to Google Checkout, Paypal and Ebillme services. Basically, the service allows businesses, consumers and website owners to use the same online credit card processing service used by Amazon.com customers. Pricing is according to a tiered structure, with monthly transactions below $3000 priced at 2.90% of the transaction amount plus $0.30 per transaction. This pricing level is identical to the pricing offered by Google Checkout and by Paypal, so the various services are competing based on features and not on price.

To sign up for an account with Amazon Payments, a business owner or e-commerce retailer needs simply to provide a business name, a billing address and US telephone number, and a business credit card number. Once you have an account, you can start integrating Checkout by Amazon into your website. There are various tools available to incorporate the service into your website. For most implementations, it is as easily as adding a snippet of Javascript into your site. If you use the optional Amazon cart, the process of implementing the service becomes easier. Checkout by Amazon can automatically calculate taxes and discounts. If you use Fulfillment by Amazon, it can also calculate shipping costs on your behalf. Amazon is a trusted name in e-commerce, and many potential customers feel uncomfortable about trusting their credit card numbers to a small business on the web, but would be totally comfortable using their existing Amazon accounts to purchase items from other retailers. Furthermore, Amazon customers tend to be more affluent and tend to cause fewer problems with returns and phone calls. Hence, using this service is a way to increase your pool of desirable customers.

If you use Checkout by Amazon, they will send you an email every time an order has been placed. It is then up to you to pack and ship your products to your customers. If you also have a contract with Fulfillment by Amazon, and store your goods with Amazon, then they will automatically ship your products without your involvement. Once the payment from the buyer has cleared, you will receive an email from Amazon Payments. To check the status of their orders, buyers can log into the payments.amazon.com website (and not the Amazon site). The service can also accommodate returns and chargebacks according to your return policy. If you have a dispute with a buyer, it also has a dispute resolution process, where both sides are required to submit evidence to substantiate their cases.

If the above introduction to the Amazon Payments service sounds interesting to you, you can learn more at https://payments.amazon.com.

www.craigslist.com – Free Local Classified Advertisements Online

www.craigslist.com – Free Local Classified Advertisements Online

Criagslist is a very popular online local classified ads site, which is located at www.craigslist.com.

The site is divided into cities and states, so that you view only ads that are in your local area. On Craigslist, you can find local classified advertisements for all kinds of goods and services, such as used furniture, used cars, guitar lessons, basically anything under the sun.

Shopping for stuff on Craigslist is as easy as searching for the thing you want, and then emailing or calling the advertiser at the provided contact information. Selling goods and services on Craigslist is also very easy. I have personally sold several small knick-knacks around the house I no longer needed for small amounts of money on Craigslist. You just take a photo of the item, and post it on Craigslist along with a description of the item and your contact information (if you are worried about privacy, you can register a temporary email address just for this). You can then check your voice messages or emails for bidders on your item, and then give the winning bidder your address so that he or she can come pick the item up and give you the payment, or you can agree to meet at a location to complete the transaction.

Posting advertisements on Craigslist is mostly free of charge; Craigslist only charges fees for job and apartment advertisements. Craigslist is mostly user patrolled, with users reporting abusive or illegal behavior (such as posting multiple advertisements for the same item, soliciting on Craigslist etc.) Despite its immense scale, Craigslist is run with less than 30 employees. While Craigslist could be charging a small sum for each advertisement to reap millions of dollars in profits (like eBay does), Craigslist’s founder Craig Newmark has refused to run Craigslist as a profit-maximizing business, preferring that Craigslist stay true to its community roots and allowing only users to suggest changes to the site (Newmark is famous for refusing to see all commercial prepositions for changes to his site).

So, if you are looking for a good way to buy and sell goods and services in your local area, do give www.craigslist.com a spin.

www.TargetSurvey.com – Target Customer Survey Sweepstakes

www.TargetSurvey.com – Target Customer Survey Sweepstakes

If you have shopped at Target stores recently, you may be able to take part in the Target Customer Satisfaction Survey at www.targetsurvey.com.

To check if you are eligible for this survey, check the bottom of your Target store receipt for the User ID and Password. Not every receipt has a User ID and Password, so you may not be able to take part in the survey even if you have purchased goods at a Target store recently. Target usually selects a random sample of its customers for its survey, although occasionally, it also selects all customers who have bought a certain product to elicit product-specific feedback from the customer. This is especially true for newly introduced products.

Once you have obtained a valid User ID and password, head on over to www.targetsurvey.com, and enter your User ID and Password into the website to start the survey. You have the option of taking the survey in English or Spanish. The Target store survey will take approximately 5-10 minutes of your time.

Once you have completed the survey, you will be entered into a Sweepstakes for a chance to win a $5000 Target gift card. (Target used to offer a guaranteed 10% rebate for your next shopping visit, but they discontinued this reward, and now you only get a chance to win a gift card.) There is one drawing every month, so you have a chance to win a $5000 gift card every month. There is also a way to participate in the survey without a receipt. You can hand print your name, address, daytime phone, email address, and date of birth on a 3”x5” card and mail that in a first class stamped envelope to “Target 2010 Summer Sweepstakes Entry, P.O. Box 1078, Young America, MN 55594-1078.

So, to enter in the Target survey Sweepstakes, visit www.targetsurvey.com.