You have decided to turn your passion for collecting or jewelry making into a money making venture. Great! Your thoughts are, "If I open up a small shop online in a well-known and respected online mall, and I fill it with the things I love to collect or create myself, the visitors will magically come knocking on my virtual door, the money will flow and life will be good." Nothing to it, right?

Pricing items in the online retail environment is more of an art than a science. For years before the Internet existed, there were hard and fast rules for pricing items to cover your costs and make a profit. Since the advent of the Internet, the rules have changed. But that doesn't mean it's a "free-for-all." Pricing your items to sell online can mean the difference between success and failure.

When a shop owner is first building their shop, the number of items that can initially be listed by them is restricted to ten. This preview limitation can help to expedite the initial staff review of their shop, but it also serves a second, more important purpose.

The customer support personnel for e-commerce shopping malls often receive questions from shoppers indicating they have seen an item in a mall shop that they might be interested in purchasing but are unable to determine what the shipping charges might be, and they need this information in order to make a purchase decision.

When someone moves into a new neighborhood it generally takes them a little time to get familiar with the area. Some questions that may cross their minds while unpacking their moving boxes are: Is it going to be quiet at night? Are the neighbors friendly? Are there driving short cuts that will make getting around town a little easier, or faster? Where can I go if I need help, or who can I call if I have an emergency?

We want to alert e-commerce shop owners to a disturbing trend we're seeing in the online marketplace – a significant increase in the number of fraudulent purchases. Recently, we have become aware of an alarming number of fraudulent online purchase requests, and unfortunately, some shop owners have fallen for them.