Ecommerce Conversations

The balancing of copyright law with the dissemination of information on the Internet can sometimes get tangled. And nowhere is that more evident than in the recent, so-called “orphaned books” case, which involves Google’s attempt to scan and distribute the content of out-of-print books. To help us understand that federal case, and the broader implications of applying U.S. copyright law to the Internet, we are joined by Ed Green. He’s an attorney with the firm of Coats and Bennett, and he’s an expert on intellectual property law. He speaks with Kerry Murdock of Practical Ecommerce.

Attempts to simplify the administration and collection of Internet sales taxes might be the most daunting task in the ecommerce industry. There are thousands of state, county and city taxation districts in the U.S., and they all have different tax rates, and rules. But the Streamlined Sales Tax organization is attempting to make it easier for ecommerce merchants and its executive director, Scott Peterson, is here to update us on that organization’s progress. He joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

There is nothing more confusing to ecommerce merchants than credit card processing. The rates wildly fluctuate and the monthly statements are hard to follow. But yet, credit card processing is key to virtually every ecommerce business. To help us understand how merchants can save money on their processing costs, we are joined by Sloane Bouchever. He’s a credit-card ecommerce pioneer, having left Authorize.Net in 2003 — as a senior vice president — to launch what would become a leading ecommerce credit card provider. His new company is Interchange Plus Solutions, and he joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Rick Wilson The evolution of Miva Merchant continues. That pioneering platform, which first launched in the late 1990s, was acquired almost four years ago by an independent investor group that included seasoned technology executives. They have moved to upgrade the platform, enhance the company’s revenue, and generally ensure its long-term survival. One of those executives is Rick Wilson, now the company’s president and chief operating officer. He joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock to discuss the company’s recent acquisition of Hostasurus — its largest third-party host — among other topics.

There are many countries with fast-growing economies — and fast-growing Internet audiences — that are not natively English speaking. How do ecommerce merchants reach those countries, and those audiences? Through translation and localization, mainly. We’re joined by an expert on those topics. He’s Christian Arno, founder of Lingo24, a global translation and localization firm. He speaks with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Most merchants like the idea of the credit card industry policing itself, versus lawmakers getting involved. PCI Security Standards Council is the industry’s attempt to do just that. But how ecommerce merchants meet the PCI’s standards is confusing to many, and the penalty for not being compliant is hard to understand, too. Bob Russo, general manager of the PCI Security Standards Council, is with us today to help sort out these and other questions. He joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

The holiday selling season is important for many online merchants. This includes David Sasson, the founder and CEO of OverstockArt.com, a retailer of reproduced oil paintings that experienced a 25 percent increase in 2010 holiday sales, from 2009. He joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock to discuss what worked — and what didn’t work — for OverstockArt this past holiday season.

Many ecommerce merchants want to sell products to consumers in other countries. But the process is not as easy as selling domestically. The complexities can include tariffs, customs and export laws. But for United States’ based merchants, the U.S. Department of Commerce can help. That department has just published a free PDF guide to help merchants with export sales. And the official responsible for the guide is with us in this interview. He’s Ken Walsh, International Trade Specialist with the U.S. Commercial Service, an agency of the Department of Commerce. He joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

Many ecommerce merchants sell products from large manufacturers and suppliers. Increasingly, those manufacturers and suppliers also sell the same products. There’s a company, Shopatron, that refers sales from manufacturers’ ecommerce sites to retailers, who then fulfill orders to customers and profit from the sales. The CEO and founder of Shopatron is Ed Stevens, and he joins Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.

The adoption of product videos on ecommerce sites continues. Most every merchant, seemingly, can benefit from product videos and we are joined here by a product video expert. He’s Craig Wax, CEO of Invodo, a video company for ecommerce merchants, and he’s here to discuss product videos that convert with Practical Ecommerce’s Kerry Murdock.