SquareTrade Seller Blog

CE Retailers Adapt to Economy with Cautious Optimism

The holiday season is almost in full swing! As we ramp up for the big Q4 sales push, many in the Consumer Electronics industry  - including Best Buy and Sony - remain cautiously optimistic about the current economy.

So, how can eBay Electronics Sellers stay ahead of the game?

In this continuing series, SquareTrade takes a look at how Electonics Etailers are adapting to the economy to make their companies stand out this Holiday Season.

Prepare for Q4 and the year of the e-reader!

As consumers and retailers alike gear up for the holiday season, many are wondering what will be on this year's list of hottest items.

According to PCWorld's Brennon Slattery, we should "Prepare for the year of the e-reader."

This fall, even students at Princeton are putting the Amazon KindleDX to the test with a semester-long pilot.  Google reveals e-readers are building momentum as a trending topic.

So, what's all this noise about e-readers? More importantly, why should you care?

Earlier this week, the New York Times cited a report that projects e-reader sales will continue to skyrocket:

"By all accounts, e-readers are set to have a breakout year. Slightly more than one million of them were sold globally in 2008, according to the market research firm iSuppli. The firm predicts that 5.2 million will be sold this year, more than half of them in North America, driven by the popularity and promotion of the Kindle, which is available only through Amazon’s Web site."

Want insider info to pass on to your customers? Follow SquareTrade on twitter!

Back in May, SquareTrade launched SquareTweets - posting breaking news and deals for Consumer Electronics Consumers. 

If you aren't already following us, check it out!  Imagine how much your customers would love you for sharing the inside scoop!

FYI: Last Friday, we gave our twitter followers and facebook fans a special heads up on this week's promo - 40% off all warranties, up to $40! This includes warranties for eBay purchases too!

SquareTrade, a look back through the years

We’re changing the pace up a little this week. Instead of writing about impacting trends and news of the consumer electronics world, I thought it would be a great idea to give readers a small glimpse into our world, the SquareTrade world.

Looking back, the history of SquareTrade really got it's start in 1999. We quickly developed into an industry leader for our Seller verification seal service, and our award winning dispute resolution service. It wasn’t easy to please everyone, and being a pioneer in dispute resolution and in merchant verification meant being an innovator every single day. It also meant that we were experiencing things for the very first time in many cases, and having to come up with quick answers and solutions.

The hard work and dedication of everyone at SquareTrade is really the reason behind our numerous awards, such as our selection by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer. It is also the reason why we are the leading symbol of trust in online shopping with a seal that is on millions of eBay listings every single day.

SquareTrade took another innovative step forward in 2005 when we as a company began to see warranty plans as an extension of a way for sellers to provide peace of mind and trust to their buyers on eBay. Warranties was a market that we felt was under serving consumers, filled with companies who offered high price warranties aimed at taking advantage of a consumer's fears.

Fast forwarding to 2007, SquareTrade has now completely transformed into a warranty company. Each and every focus of SquareTrade is around how to be a better warranty company, whose goal is simply to provide the best in class, consumer friendly and affordable warranty. What we’re doing now is even more challenging than anything we’ve ever done, as we’re continually redefining how people perceive warranties. It hasn’t been easy, and even today, SquareTrade is still known among sellers as a dispute resolution company or our SquareTrade seal. We’re hoping, that in the very near future, that a seller will think of us as simply the best warranty solution provider for them, and their buyers.

PayPal to be rivaled by newcomer Microsoft - How it affects you

Bill Gates announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that Microsoft will become a player in the online payment industry. He described a system that would undercut credit card fees, making it profitable to even charge small fees for individual web based contents, services and products. This could be really good news for many of our higher volume sellers, considering their PayPal fees alone takes up a significant chunk of their margins.

While avoiding PayPal fees would be a huge incentive for sellers, it will also adversely affect one of eBay’s key revenue streams. As we pointed out in a recent post, it will be one of eBay’s 2007 priorities to have every seller on eBay use PayPal (not by choice mind you). With this in mind, it is hard to see them allowing Microsoft into the eBay MarketPlace. On a positive note for sellers, even if eBay did not allow sellers to use Microsoft's payment solution, they may still have to reduce their PayPal fees to avoid losing upset sellers in the long run. It's safe to say that Bill Gates did sellers a favor by choosing this industry to tackle.

Vegas Post: CES versus MacWorld. And the winner is.....

While the biggest buzz generator here in Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show was Bill Gate's demo of Vista, Steve Jobs and Apple reveal their next cash machine today at MacWorld, held in our very own San Francisco.

So who will be the clear winner in this showdown of giants? Surprisingly, the cell phone industry is fast becoming the runaway winner this year.

Apple launched an Iphone at MacWorld today with Cingular as their service provider (engadget has some great pics of the phone), which promises to blow every other phone away with it's sleekness and fancy features such as a super chic touchscreen. Here in Vegas, I'm getting the chance to check out the latest stock of ultra phones to hit the U.S market at CES. Samsung debut 6 models, the SGH-A727, the Ultra Music Phone,the A717, the i760, the U740, and the the T329, while Motorola rolled out 2 brand new models that works on a Linux/Java based platform. They're all really cool, and most likely have more bells and whistles than you can handle.

1 thing I'm noticing is that most of these phones, including Apple's iphone are exclusively for Cingular, who also unveiled their 3G technology, highlighted by increased broadband speeds and live video conferencing on 3G enabled cell phones such as Samsung's new SGH-A727. It looks like Cingular is vying hard to claim the incumbent seat in the US broadband cell phone industry which is ironic considering they are infamously known for slower broadband speeds compared to the likes of Verizon.

Regardless, this should spell great news for all our cell phone sellers out there. Plenty of consumers will be craving the new cell phone technology, but will choose to find an alternative to buying a new phone at Cingular's exorbet retail prices. From a buyer standpoint, I'll be looking to eBay for a great deal on a hopefully unlockable iphone (Cingular will have the 4GB iphone for $499 with a 2 yr contract).

Posted by Dave P.