Feb
28
How is your shopping experience at Value City?
Filed Under Fashion & Accessories | Comments Off
jassymink asked:
I have never shopped at value city.But I hear from friends that they have great bargaing.I want to know your experience of buying there and the quality of branded stuff you get there.
I have been shopping at Loehmann’s.Is it similar to that?
NATHANIEL
I have never shopped at value city.But I hear from friends that they have great bargaing.I want to know your experience of buying there and the quality of branded stuff you get there.
I have been shopping at Loehmann’s.Is it similar to that?
NATHANIEL
Feb
28
Ei42 Online Shopping A New Face Of Online Shops
Filed Under Shopping | Comments Off
LisaLove asked:
Ei42 and the Online Shopping Encounter
Ei42 are quite modern to the internet enthusiastic to online shopping they produced and put together a solid online shopping edge bringing all together a lot of the most important online shops making life easier for everybody when it comes to online shopping.
Ei42 freed themselves to the humankind on Friday the 1st of February 2008 and barely took 4 days to hold a relationship base of further than two thousand shoppers. It is not much above a year now that Ei42 have been in the online shopping business and have many thousands of satisfied shoppers receiving cash back loyalties from the many online shops.
Online shopping is substantial with several online shops to go for. Ei42 have classified the chav from the professional online shops and put them jointly in one mammoth shopping interface making online shopping uncomplicated and well-situated with all the main stores in one simple to reach position. Not only that Ei42 have created a way, that not only will you get hold of the same manufactured goods in the online shops as in the high street shops, more repeatedly than not as soon as online shopping with Ei42 you will notice them to be less costly.
This is for 2 central reasons, the 1st is the Major online shops will be competent to suggest a notable deal to the end user when online shopping as they will be shipping straight from the warehouse, so the overheads for the business will be a good deal lesser than when you obtain from their natural shop. Secondly once you do your online shopping by means of Ei42 you will be in receipt of a cash back bonus into your balance, on the whole to say thanks awfully much for using Ei42 please call all over again.
With the great mass of online shops that Ei42 host on their online shopping interface and our important purchasing wants the cash back can quickly mount up. In short you will be in receipt of money for zilch since if you completed your purchase in the identical online shops but not with Ei42 you will be paying the identical charge receiving the produce you bought without cash back.
Ordinarily when we collect any nature of cash back from a trader it ends there.
This is what creates Ei42 so incredibly singular. Most businesses whether it is online shops or off rely on customer referrals. It was simply the other day whilst I was online shopping and I came across the Space Station Storage website, for individuals that don’t know it is a place where you can put in storage household merchandise. If you offer a acquaintance as a buyer Space Station were presenting £25 Marks and Spencer tickets. Gratitude space station but sorry I wish for further than that, how about a percent of every month’s income from the character I submit to you. We all produce referrals particularly the ones we don’t get paid for, whether it was a tape, computer game or a nice night out we all achieve it in certain way.
When you achieve a transfer to Ei42 for friends, relations, or everybody to do online shopping you will obtain a cash back commission from what they have bought, and the same for anyone that they pioneer to the laid-back online shopping occurrence. Just think you present 1 person get cash back commissions from 7 or perhaps a hundred, from people that have been initiated by others.
Ei42 offers cash back commissions for online shopping - the largest production in the globe and it is getting much bigger by the generation as further companys convert to the internet creating their online shops.
HARLAN
Ei42 and the Online Shopping Encounter
Ei42 are quite modern to the internet enthusiastic to online shopping they produced and put together a solid online shopping edge bringing all together a lot of the most important online shops making life easier for everybody when it comes to online shopping.
Ei42 freed themselves to the humankind on Friday the 1st of February 2008 and barely took 4 days to hold a relationship base of further than two thousand shoppers. It is not much above a year now that Ei42 have been in the online shopping business and have many thousands of satisfied shoppers receiving cash back loyalties from the many online shops.
Online shopping is substantial with several online shops to go for. Ei42 have classified the chav from the professional online shops and put them jointly in one mammoth shopping interface making online shopping uncomplicated and well-situated with all the main stores in one simple to reach position. Not only that Ei42 have created a way, that not only will you get hold of the same manufactured goods in the online shops as in the high street shops, more repeatedly than not as soon as online shopping with Ei42 you will notice them to be less costly.
This is for 2 central reasons, the 1st is the Major online shops will be competent to suggest a notable deal to the end user when online shopping as they will be shipping straight from the warehouse, so the overheads for the business will be a good deal lesser than when you obtain from their natural shop. Secondly once you do your online shopping by means of Ei42 you will be in receipt of a cash back bonus into your balance, on the whole to say thanks awfully much for using Ei42 please call all over again.
With the great mass of online shops that Ei42 host on their online shopping interface and our important purchasing wants the cash back can quickly mount up. In short you will be in receipt of money for zilch since if you completed your purchase in the identical online shops but not with Ei42 you will be paying the identical charge receiving the produce you bought without cash back.
Ordinarily when we collect any nature of cash back from a trader it ends there.
This is what creates Ei42 so incredibly singular. Most businesses whether it is online shops or off rely on customer referrals. It was simply the other day whilst I was online shopping and I came across the Space Station Storage website, for individuals that don’t know it is a place where you can put in storage household merchandise. If you offer a acquaintance as a buyer Space Station were presenting £25 Marks and Spencer tickets. Gratitude space station but sorry I wish for further than that, how about a percent of every month’s income from the character I submit to you. We all produce referrals particularly the ones we don’t get paid for, whether it was a tape, computer game or a nice night out we all achieve it in certain way.
When you achieve a transfer to Ei42 for friends, relations, or everybody to do online shopping you will obtain a cash back commission from what they have bought, and the same for anyone that they pioneer to the laid-back online shopping occurrence. Just think you present 1 person get cash back commissions from 7 or perhaps a hundred, from people that have been initiated by others.
Ei42 offers cash back commissions for online shopping - the largest production in the globe and it is getting much bigger by the generation as further companys convert to the internet creating their online shops.
HARLAN
Feb
27
How come shopping malls are not the social place they used to be?
Filed Under Yahoo! Shopping | Comments Off
spaceshotx7 asked:
Back over 30-40 years ago, Shopping malls were a social gathering place and public forum, but now, over the recent years, mall management have completely restricted the use of shopping malls over the country to shopping purposes only, and had security guards patroling the mall to keep it that way. There also used to not be any photography bans at malls in the old days as well. I don’t know why this is?
MITCH
Back over 30-40 years ago, Shopping malls were a social gathering place and public forum, but now, over the recent years, mall management have completely restricted the use of shopping malls over the country to shopping purposes only, and had security guards patroling the mall to keep it that way. There also used to not be any photography bans at malls in the old days as well. I don’t know why this is?
MITCH
Feb
25
What business would be good for a shopping center?
Filed Under Small Business | Comments Off
skiriduba asked:
I own a small shopping center, and need to know some businesses which would be good to try to get as tenants.
the problem with it is that the center is not highly visible so the tenants need to be the type that are not highly retail oriented. I already have a small restaurant, an insurance company, a pay day loan company. I have 2 spaces available. Please help or give ideas, thanks.
SIDNEY
I own a small shopping center, and need to know some businesses which would be good to try to get as tenants.
the problem with it is that the center is not highly visible so the tenants need to be the type that are not highly retail oriented. I already have a small restaurant, an insurance company, a pay day loan company. I have 2 spaces available. Please help or give ideas, thanks.
SIDNEY
Feb
22
The Evolution Of The Internet Family Online Shopping Mall
Filed Under Communication | Comments Off
Michael Miller asked:
Do you remember how great great grandfather did the family shopping? He would hook up his team of horses to the big wagon put in the family and trudge off across the prairie for a day or so to get to the nearest ‘general store’. Once there it was a great outing for the family. The store had everything needed from children’s store bought candy to mother’s ready made dress. If the store did not have that certain special item there was always the option of the catalog.
After the turn of the century (1900 not 2000) a couple of remarkable changes occurred that begin to alter family shopping. America began to grow up and out - at least to the oceans. And the automobile made its auspicious entrance. Now the family could get to the general store much faster. Mother loved that, she could make more trips is a shorter time.
There was, however, an embryo of change being observed in the stores themselves. The increase in populations made for more stores and a wider variety of markets. The general store began to break up. ‘Specialty’ stores began to emerge. Dress shops, drug stores, movie theaters etc. A whole group of cottage industries began to make an entrance. It is true the big boys were still ever present and getting bigger. Sears Roebuck and Co, J. C. Penny, and others were still on top, still selling through the ever present catalogs.
As our country grew through World War II it became more sophisticated. The little village grew into a city. This resulted in the concept of a ‘town square’. The big stores were usually on opposite sides of the square with the little specialty shops filling in the gaps. Usually these types of cities were the county seat so you would have a court house and a government office building. There was something else of importance that came into prominence through this period. Access to information began to grow with the appearance of the County Library.
As we moved into the 1960s the automobile presented a nightmare problem to family shopping that was totally unexpected. Traffic and Parking began to choke the city square concept. It is certain everyone still wanted to shop, but usually at the same time. It was near impossible to find a parking meter on the down town streets in the town square.
American ingenuity, as usual, prevailed. We made parking the priority item and called it all a ‘suburban shopping mall’. Now there were acres of free parking with the shops in the middle. The next major evolution was to air condition the whole shopping mall. What’s not to like? The big guys where still at opposite ends of the shopping mall. Now there was unlimited space for expansion of the specialty shops. Even better, it was all accessible on foot. Only thing left was the food court. Now family shopping had moved to heaven.
We refined and sharpen this concept to an art form over the next few decades. Some where during that period of time the government slipped in a not understood or utilized system which took the handle of the ‘internet’. So what? Nothing happened for a long time. Then the next stunning invention occurred. The mouse (computer) began to wiggle around. Do you not understand that without the mouse the computer is a black box? Put them together and we have the Personal Computer.
Somewhere in the eternal scheme of things the infinite minds of the computer geeks and nerds began to squeak and rumble. A marriage of the internet and personal computer took place. While that is a worthwhile discourse in its own right far too large for our purposes we would be remiss to pass it by without comment. It was only a few years back, in the mid 1990s that this even occurred. This is important to understand to be able to focus of the rapidity of current events, speaking of the internet online shopping. It was about 1994/95 time period that a company called Netscape came along with their commercial internet browser. It started an absolute revolution. It is not until about 1996 that Microsoft finally figured it out and came roaring down the road with their internet explorer. The race was on.
The other side of the story was the functional software development on the internet. In the beginning the only thing we could figure out for the internet was file transfer (FTP). Then it dawned on someone that if we could read from the internet why not write to the internet. Incredible concept! Websites began popping up all over the place.
We began to see a true information highway. Any company could advertise it presence throughout the world with minimal effort. The internet browser now could interact with a company’s data base. Of course, it was just a heart beat away until the website could actually sell products. The impact of this was absolutely profound. Shopping was changing course. It was now being called internet online shopping. Family online shopping was born.
Internet online shopping is now moving so fast it is near impossible to keep up from day to day. However, what goes around comes around; we are right back to the 1950s, electronically speaking. The big boys still have their big websites. But now the little specialty ishops are filling in the blanks. They can compete directly with the big companies-almost. There are online shopping malls all over the internet. Home shopping online, even discount shopping online is growing non-linearly everyday
There are now, as there always are, another set of complications that have risen with need to be addressed. There are literally millions of websites on the internet to be found or in most cases NOT to be found. This has caused the mushrooming of another incredibly fast most moving cottage industry in the form of Internet Marketing. Search engines, Pay Per Click (PPC), Website Content etc. are all now very critical to a website.
When you search during an online shopping spree, for our purposes a shopping search, it is not uncommon to get back several thousand websites. In order to truly shop you must go through one website at a time until you can find that for which you are looking. This gives rise to the word surfing.
The solutions for these problems are emerging in the form of holistic online shopping mall websites that provide categories from discount shopping online to online clothes shopping to surf through. The website bears the burden and responsibility of filtering and selecting appropriate merchants based on the subject of the website.
The next cutting edge development emerging is the ‘internet online shopping specialty ishops’. That is where a very narrow subject is the focus of a ‘mini website’. For example, a ‘Women’s Plus Size Clothing Specialty iShop’ or a ‘Family Scrapbooking Specialty iShop’. The list for online shopping specialty ishops will soon be endless. The important factor here is this type of website contains only merchants for that very specific specialty. That places all the major merchants plus many of the competitive smaller online shopping website within one click of the customer. It greatly curtails the endless surfing through each merchant website.
One last point, much like the shopping mall of old the specialty online shopping website will have the library, i.e., information highway, news links, ebooks, fresh content articles and what ever else is required to maintain a holistic family shopping environment at you finger tips.
Then the next step in family online shopping will be …
HUMBERTO
Do you remember how great great grandfather did the family shopping? He would hook up his team of horses to the big wagon put in the family and trudge off across the prairie for a day or so to get to the nearest ‘general store’. Once there it was a great outing for the family. The store had everything needed from children’s store bought candy to mother’s ready made dress. If the store did not have that certain special item there was always the option of the catalog.
After the turn of the century (1900 not 2000) a couple of remarkable changes occurred that begin to alter family shopping. America began to grow up and out - at least to the oceans. And the automobile made its auspicious entrance. Now the family could get to the general store much faster. Mother loved that, she could make more trips is a shorter time.
There was, however, an embryo of change being observed in the stores themselves. The increase in populations made for more stores and a wider variety of markets. The general store began to break up. ‘Specialty’ stores began to emerge. Dress shops, drug stores, movie theaters etc. A whole group of cottage industries began to make an entrance. It is true the big boys were still ever present and getting bigger. Sears Roebuck and Co, J. C. Penny, and others were still on top, still selling through the ever present catalogs.
As our country grew through World War II it became more sophisticated. The little village grew into a city. This resulted in the concept of a ‘town square’. The big stores were usually on opposite sides of the square with the little specialty shops filling in the gaps. Usually these types of cities were the county seat so you would have a court house and a government office building. There was something else of importance that came into prominence through this period. Access to information began to grow with the appearance of the County Library.
As we moved into the 1960s the automobile presented a nightmare problem to family shopping that was totally unexpected. Traffic and Parking began to choke the city square concept. It is certain everyone still wanted to shop, but usually at the same time. It was near impossible to find a parking meter on the down town streets in the town square.
American ingenuity, as usual, prevailed. We made parking the priority item and called it all a ‘suburban shopping mall’. Now there were acres of free parking with the shops in the middle. The next major evolution was to air condition the whole shopping mall. What’s not to like? The big guys where still at opposite ends of the shopping mall. Now there was unlimited space for expansion of the specialty shops. Even better, it was all accessible on foot. Only thing left was the food court. Now family shopping had moved to heaven.
We refined and sharpen this concept to an art form over the next few decades. Some where during that period of time the government slipped in a not understood or utilized system which took the handle of the ‘internet’. So what? Nothing happened for a long time. Then the next stunning invention occurred. The mouse (computer) began to wiggle around. Do you not understand that without the mouse the computer is a black box? Put them together and we have the Personal Computer.
Somewhere in the eternal scheme of things the infinite minds of the computer geeks and nerds began to squeak and rumble. A marriage of the internet and personal computer took place. While that is a worthwhile discourse in its own right far too large for our purposes we would be remiss to pass it by without comment. It was only a few years back, in the mid 1990s that this even occurred. This is important to understand to be able to focus of the rapidity of current events, speaking of the internet online shopping. It was about 1994/95 time period that a company called Netscape came along with their commercial internet browser. It started an absolute revolution. It is not until about 1996 that Microsoft finally figured it out and came roaring down the road with their internet explorer. The race was on.
The other side of the story was the functional software development on the internet. In the beginning the only thing we could figure out for the internet was file transfer (FTP). Then it dawned on someone that if we could read from the internet why not write to the internet. Incredible concept! Websites began popping up all over the place.
We began to see a true information highway. Any company could advertise it presence throughout the world with minimal effort. The internet browser now could interact with a company’s data base. Of course, it was just a heart beat away until the website could actually sell products. The impact of this was absolutely profound. Shopping was changing course. It was now being called internet online shopping. Family online shopping was born.
Internet online shopping is now moving so fast it is near impossible to keep up from day to day. However, what goes around comes around; we are right back to the 1950s, electronically speaking. The big boys still have their big websites. But now the little specialty ishops are filling in the blanks. They can compete directly with the big companies-almost. There are online shopping malls all over the internet. Home shopping online, even discount shopping online is growing non-linearly everyday
There are now, as there always are, another set of complications that have risen with need to be addressed. There are literally millions of websites on the internet to be found or in most cases NOT to be found. This has caused the mushrooming of another incredibly fast most moving cottage industry in the form of Internet Marketing. Search engines, Pay Per Click (PPC), Website Content etc. are all now very critical to a website.
When you search during an online shopping spree, for our purposes a shopping search, it is not uncommon to get back several thousand websites. In order to truly shop you must go through one website at a time until you can find that for which you are looking. This gives rise to the word surfing.
The solutions for these problems are emerging in the form of holistic online shopping mall websites that provide categories from discount shopping online to online clothes shopping to surf through. The website bears the burden and responsibility of filtering and selecting appropriate merchants based on the subject of the website.
The next cutting edge development emerging is the ‘internet online shopping specialty ishops’. That is where a very narrow subject is the focus of a ‘mini website’. For example, a ‘Women’s Plus Size Clothing Specialty iShop’ or a ‘Family Scrapbooking Specialty iShop’. The list for online shopping specialty ishops will soon be endless. The important factor here is this type of website contains only merchants for that very specific specialty. That places all the major merchants plus many of the competitive smaller online shopping website within one click of the customer. It greatly curtails the endless surfing through each merchant website.
One last point, much like the shopping mall of old the specialty online shopping website will have the library, i.e., information highway, news links, ebooks, fresh content articles and what ever else is required to maintain a holistic family shopping environment at you finger tips.
Then the next step in family online shopping will be …
HUMBERTO
Feb
22
Online Buyers - Save Money With Online Shopping Malls and Portals
Filed Under Fashion | Comments Off
Online Shopping asked:
The latest trend for shopping online is to use a portal, which would serve as an entrance to minor and major stores online. The difference between shopping at conventional shopping malls and shopping using portals would be that the latter offer cash back. It would be like strolling through a conventional shopping mall while receiving a coupon book from each store.
These shopping malls are able to offer their merchandise in virtually all categories and sub-categories. These categories would include music, arts, computers, accessories, home and garden, health and beauty, leisure and hobby and a lot more. Online shopping malls definitely make the shopping experience of the online buyer a breeze. It is a one-stop shop, which allows you to get your money back for every purchase you would be making. There are even stores that have monthly specials, as well as free merchandise and fee shipping.
Portal online shopping malls do require you to sign in, after which you would be allowed to shop at any store. This is so that they could keep track of the purchases you will be making so that you would be getting credit for them. Stores that are in this kind of mall usually offer cash backs that range from 1 to 40 percent.
A couple of examples would be if you would be going to a store like Target, you would get a cash back of 3 percent; or you could go to Golf Galaxy and also get a cash back of 3 percent; or go to Babies R Us and get a cash back of 3.5%. There are so many online stores with various categories that you can choose from, so you would certainly be able to find a great deal on something that would interest you, on any of these online shopping stores.
Online shopping malls and portals truly offer great shopping options to save a lot of money.
MORTON
The latest trend for shopping online is to use a portal, which would serve as an entrance to minor and major stores online. The difference between shopping at conventional shopping malls and shopping using portals would be that the latter offer cash back. It would be like strolling through a conventional shopping mall while receiving a coupon book from each store.
These shopping malls are able to offer their merchandise in virtually all categories and sub-categories. These categories would include music, arts, computers, accessories, home and garden, health and beauty, leisure and hobby and a lot more. Online shopping malls definitely make the shopping experience of the online buyer a breeze. It is a one-stop shop, which allows you to get your money back for every purchase you would be making. There are even stores that have monthly specials, as well as free merchandise and fee shipping.
Portal online shopping malls do require you to sign in, after which you would be allowed to shop at any store. This is so that they could keep track of the purchases you will be making so that you would be getting credit for them. Stores that are in this kind of mall usually offer cash backs that range from 1 to 40 percent.
A couple of examples would be if you would be going to a store like Target, you would get a cash back of 3 percent; or you could go to Golf Galaxy and also get a cash back of 3 percent; or go to Babies R Us and get a cash back of 3.5%. There are so many online stores with various categories that you can choose from, so you would certainly be able to find a great deal on something that would interest you, on any of these online shopping stores.
Online shopping malls and portals truly offer great shopping options to save a lot of money.
MORTON
Feb
20
What should I consider when shopping for a good home theatre system in the $300-$400 range?
Filed Under Home Theater | Comments Off
susan9 asked:
I am shopping for a good system just to watch movies with mostly. What specs are most important. What should I look for?
DALE
I am shopping for a good system just to watch movies with mostly. What specs are most important. What should I look for?
DALE
Feb
20
Shield Your Information While Shopping On-Line
Filed Under Internet | Comments Off
Lisa Carey asked:
Identity theft is a growing problem and as it continues to spread throughout the internet, investigators and software developers are gaining a better understanding of the practice of identity theft; how it works, how thieves conduct their practice, and how to stop the problem before it begins. Identity theft comes in many forms, like spam, phishing, e-mail scams, and personal information theft involving social security numbers, credit card numbers, and the like. Both shoppers and online merchants continue to find new ways to halt the instances of identity theft, but there are still some very sophisticated identity thieves who find ways to circumvent these and other anti- theft measures. Inside jobs account for 85% of all online identity theft and the roadblocks implemented by online services have only been marginally successful at preventing this form of theft.
For consumers who worry about shopping online and fear identity theft in its various forms, there are several new services designed to prevent this practice. One of them is Shop Shield; a new, comprehensive software product that allows consumers to shop online without worry. It works in a unique way, preventing identity theft by completely removing the consumer’s personal information from the transaction. With no personal information to steal, identity theft via inside jobs becomes impossible.
What Can Shop Shield Protect?
With Shop Shield, consumers can shop online with greater peace of mind, knowing they are fully protected from:
* Theft of credit card numbers
* Theft of bank account information
* Theft of one’s billing address
* Theft of e-mail address
* Theft of web site log-in information
How does Shop Shield work?
Shop Shield protects the consumer by substituting personal information with anonymous, temporary information each time a shopping transaction takes place. This includes both online shopping transactions and other communication that involve filling out an online registration. Shop Shield operates without using a centralized database, preventing any chance of identity theft from this large pool of data. Personal information is safe because it is stored in undecipherable, encrypted fragments that are then divided into multiple locations with varying sequences. Technology like this is even more advanced than the technological safety standards utilized by banks and it makes inside job identity theft nearly impossible.
Shop Shield further protects the consumer and averts identity thieves by substituting billing information in place of personal information, rendering it useless to identity thieves. Another plus of identity theft is that it basically prevents the common practice of selling personal information to other businesses. Online businesses can sell personal information if they want, but with Shop Shield in place, consumer information will be useless because it won’t be accurate. There will be no way to trace the personal information back to a consumer who uses Shop Shield, protecting the consumer from unwanted marketing and phishing.
Who’s behind Shop Shield?
Shop Shield is a product offered by Kemesa, which is a privately held company based in Salt Lake City, Utah with other offices, including its customer service office, located in southern Florida. The name “Kemesa” is actually an acronym for the company’s mission: “Keeps Me Safe” and its Shop Shield product has already passed in-depth security evaluations from several important agencies, including the PCI standard for the Payment Card Industry.
Do I need Shop Shield if I am already using other secure measures?
Some consumers might feel they do not need the added protection from Shop Shield because many financial transaction service providers like PayPal, Master Card Secure Code, Google Check Out, Bank of America Shop Safe, and Discover Desk Top already offer protection because they never transmit real card information. However, this protection isn’t comprehensive. Shop Shield offers added protection by safeguarding consumer billing and e-mail information. That’s a big plus.
Shop Shield is available to the general public and it includes a free beta trial. Kemesa is so confident that Shop Shield will protect against identity theft that the company adds a impressive guarantee: If Shop Shield is activated and a consumer’s personal information is compromised, Kemesa will reimburse the consumer up to $10,000 above and beyond any coverage offered by your bank or credit card company.
Identity thieves are always looking for a new way to steal personal information. Shop Shield offers a new, comprehensive technology that shields and protects the consumer from identity theft. With excellent protection like this and a generous guarantee to back it up, Shop Shield is certainly a product worth considering. It adds an extra layer of protection, providing the online shopper with greater peace of mind.
YOUNG
Identity theft is a growing problem and as it continues to spread throughout the internet, investigators and software developers are gaining a better understanding of the practice of identity theft; how it works, how thieves conduct their practice, and how to stop the problem before it begins. Identity theft comes in many forms, like spam, phishing, e-mail scams, and personal information theft involving social security numbers, credit card numbers, and the like. Both shoppers and online merchants continue to find new ways to halt the instances of identity theft, but there are still some very sophisticated identity thieves who find ways to circumvent these and other anti- theft measures. Inside jobs account for 85% of all online identity theft and the roadblocks implemented by online services have only been marginally successful at preventing this form of theft.
For consumers who worry about shopping online and fear identity theft in its various forms, there are several new services designed to prevent this practice. One of them is Shop Shield; a new, comprehensive software product that allows consumers to shop online without worry. It works in a unique way, preventing identity theft by completely removing the consumer’s personal information from the transaction. With no personal information to steal, identity theft via inside jobs becomes impossible.
What Can Shop Shield Protect?
With Shop Shield, consumers can shop online with greater peace of mind, knowing they are fully protected from:
* Theft of credit card numbers
* Theft of bank account information
* Theft of one’s billing address
* Theft of e-mail address
* Theft of web site log-in information
How does Shop Shield work?
Shop Shield protects the consumer by substituting personal information with anonymous, temporary information each time a shopping transaction takes place. This includes both online shopping transactions and other communication that involve filling out an online registration. Shop Shield operates without using a centralized database, preventing any chance of identity theft from this large pool of data. Personal information is safe because it is stored in undecipherable, encrypted fragments that are then divided into multiple locations with varying sequences. Technology like this is even more advanced than the technological safety standards utilized by banks and it makes inside job identity theft nearly impossible.
Shop Shield further protects the consumer and averts identity thieves by substituting billing information in place of personal information, rendering it useless to identity thieves. Another plus of identity theft is that it basically prevents the common practice of selling personal information to other businesses. Online businesses can sell personal information if they want, but with Shop Shield in place, consumer information will be useless because it won’t be accurate. There will be no way to trace the personal information back to a consumer who uses Shop Shield, protecting the consumer from unwanted marketing and phishing.
Who’s behind Shop Shield?
Shop Shield is a product offered by Kemesa, which is a privately held company based in Salt Lake City, Utah with other offices, including its customer service office, located in southern Florida. The name “Kemesa” is actually an acronym for the company’s mission: “Keeps Me Safe” and its Shop Shield product has already passed in-depth security evaluations from several important agencies, including the PCI standard for the Payment Card Industry.
Do I need Shop Shield if I am already using other secure measures?
Some consumers might feel they do not need the added protection from Shop Shield because many financial transaction service providers like PayPal, Master Card Secure Code, Google Check Out, Bank of America Shop Safe, and Discover Desk Top already offer protection because they never transmit real card information. However, this protection isn’t comprehensive. Shop Shield offers added protection by safeguarding consumer billing and e-mail information. That’s a big plus.
Shop Shield is available to the general public and it includes a free beta trial. Kemesa is so confident that Shop Shield will protect against identity theft that the company adds a impressive guarantee: If Shop Shield is activated and a consumer’s personal information is compromised, Kemesa will reimburse the consumer up to $10,000 above and beyond any coverage offered by your bank or credit card company.
Identity thieves are always looking for a new way to steal personal information. Shop Shield offers a new, comprehensive technology that shields and protects the consumer from identity theft. With excellent protection like this and a generous guarantee to back it up, Shop Shield is certainly a product worth considering. It adds an extra layer of protection, providing the online shopper with greater peace of mind.
YOUNG
Feb
18
Everything you Wanted to Know About Buying a Body Shop
Filed Under Business | Comments Off
Willard Michlin asked:
So you think you want to buy a body shop? A body shop can be a great investment if you have the skills necessary to make it work, and are willing to do the business actions necessary to bring in the business and keep the business profitable. I would like to help you work out if you really want to buy a body shop and, if you do, what kind of shop would be best for you.
Do you have the skills to buy a body Shop?
Most successful body shop owners come from inside the industry. They are occasionally body and/or paint men who worked in the production area as a teenager or as a young adult. This education is extremely valuable and, if you are buying a shop doing less than $1,000,000 in sales per year, is an absolute necessity.
Some owners learned the business as an estimator, working for a body shop or as an insurance adjuster out in the field for an insurance company. Another group of buyers have had no body shop experience but they grew up around cars and love them. This buyer should only buy a shop where he has a family member with experience, in the business that will be working with him or where the seller agrees to stay for 1 year and teach the buyer every part of the business.
Towing company owners sometimes want to expand into a body shop. This type of buyer has a lot of understanding about the business but needs a shop where experienced staff is staying with the company. The last group is composed of business people who figure they can run any kind of business. This type of buyer can make if he has at least one family member with experience and the buyer is a very good sales person.
Are you willing to do the business actions necessary to do the business?
In this section I would like to discuss which actions are absolutely necessary to be successful in running a body shop and if not done will guarantee failure.
The single most important action that must be taken by any new body shop owner is to bring in new business. This is twofold. 1. Everyone wants more volume and you bought the shop based on your belief you can do more volume than the last owner. 2. You must replace the volume that will be lost by the transfer to you the new owner.
You get this new volume from several sources:
1. One of them is not DRP Contracts. DO NOT BUY A SHOP BASED ON THE BELIEF THAT YOU WILL GET DRP CONTRACTS IN THE SHOP UNLESS YOU HAVE AN AGREEMENT BEFORE THE PURCHASE TO GIVE YOU SUCH BUSINESS.
2. Rental car companies. This business is relatively easy to get but you do not want to rely on this business over the long term. It is not profitable enough to cover all your fixed costs, even though it will contribute to covering the rent.
3. New Car Dealerships. This is full retail price business but the dealership will expect you to buy their business by giving them a few thousands of dollars a month or some other compensation. Remember if you can steal the business from someone else, then someone else can steal the business from you.
4. Used car dealers and auction cars. This is a good source of business with most of the money being made on buying and selling cars. This tends to be stable business if you like this kind of work.
5. Referral business. These are national body shop groups that make national deals and for 10-15% of the income will send you car work. This is a very expensive way to get business and in the end is not profitable.
6. Corporation Accounts/Fleet Accounts. This is one of the two best ways to get business. Some companies do self-insurance. Others have insurance. Regardless, a salesman can get them to send you all their business by offering good service or other remuneration (Compensation.) Corporation accounts are quite often at full price or some reasonable discount. Some people offer to drop the deductible or give some other kind of a discount.
7. Off the street. This is the best business is the whole world if you can get them in the door and keep them in the door. This is where location plays an important part in getting the business. Visiting all the businesses in the neighborhood and offering discounts to their employees or other employee benefit for coming to you can get this business. This type of business is what a good salesperson dreams of. Most established businesses tell me they did this originally but stopped going out and selling when they got busy. Funny isn’t it? The action that made you busy cannot be done any more because you are too busy. This is how you build a shop’s volume without DRP contracts. This is a profitable business for the man who doesn’t mind selling and making friends with people.
Do I really want to buy a body shop?
If you are an adjustor and feel that your employer insurance company will give you a DRP contract in a specific area, you might have a high motivation to buy a shop in that area, even if its current volume is low. If you are expecting the existing clients to stay with you, after the sale, you have to do some research on this. If the clients are from corporate accounts, car rental companies, or just off the street, you are probably correct. If the clients come from personal relationships of the seller then forget it. People of like nationality have a greater chance of turning over personal relationships.
If you are buying a shop with DRP contracts currently, do not assume that you can keep them. In fact, you must assume you will loose them the day escrow closes. Do not buy a shop that has DRP contracts unless you already have a relationship with those same insurance companies at another shop you currently own. If you are reading my article, I can safely assume you are not a multiple shop owner currently. There are a few ways to buy a DRP shop and not loose the contracts but I cannot publish this information, in as much as the insurance companies will prevent my approach from working in the future.
If you do not want to do the marketing, then do not buy a body shop. PERIOD!
What kind of shop would works best for you?
Of course you want to decide based on the estimated volume that you expect to do, what size shop you need. If you expect the volume to remain the same then you figure the rent and profit based on that number. If you know you can bring in corporate accounts, dealerships and other business then you can use a bigger shop. If you expect to only have new business that you yourself bring in then a smaller shop may work perfectly.
If you get too big a shop the rent will kill you. If you get too small you will limit your possible volume unless you put in a second shift and keep an eye on that 2nd shift. There are larger capacity shops doing small volume that can be bought very cheap or reasonably.
There are smaller, very inexpensive shops available to use as a first time shop. Then after you learn the business and prove you can bring in volume, you can buy a bigger shop and sell off the smaller one. The best guarantee of success is to start small and grow bigger.
What you do not want is to buy a large shop that you cannot fill, thereby working for the landlord.
Conclusion
Keeping all of the above in mind and to not take on more than you can chew. Buy a shop that fits your personality and ability and then move up to the bigger shop when you have proven to yourself that you have done it and can do it again. If I can be of any assistance, I am here to help.
CARMEN
So you think you want to buy a body shop? A body shop can be a great investment if you have the skills necessary to make it work, and are willing to do the business actions necessary to bring in the business and keep the business profitable. I would like to help you work out if you really want to buy a body shop and, if you do, what kind of shop would be best for you.
Do you have the skills to buy a body Shop?
Most successful body shop owners come from inside the industry. They are occasionally body and/or paint men who worked in the production area as a teenager or as a young adult. This education is extremely valuable and, if you are buying a shop doing less than $1,000,000 in sales per year, is an absolute necessity.
Some owners learned the business as an estimator, working for a body shop or as an insurance adjuster out in the field for an insurance company. Another group of buyers have had no body shop experience but they grew up around cars and love them. This buyer should only buy a shop where he has a family member with experience, in the business that will be working with him or where the seller agrees to stay for 1 year and teach the buyer every part of the business.
Towing company owners sometimes want to expand into a body shop. This type of buyer has a lot of understanding about the business but needs a shop where experienced staff is staying with the company. The last group is composed of business people who figure they can run any kind of business. This type of buyer can make if he has at least one family member with experience and the buyer is a very good sales person.
Are you willing to do the business actions necessary to do the business?
In this section I would like to discuss which actions are absolutely necessary to be successful in running a body shop and if not done will guarantee failure.
The single most important action that must be taken by any new body shop owner is to bring in new business. This is twofold. 1. Everyone wants more volume and you bought the shop based on your belief you can do more volume than the last owner. 2. You must replace the volume that will be lost by the transfer to you the new owner.
You get this new volume from several sources:
1. One of them is not DRP Contracts. DO NOT BUY A SHOP BASED ON THE BELIEF THAT YOU WILL GET DRP CONTRACTS IN THE SHOP UNLESS YOU HAVE AN AGREEMENT BEFORE THE PURCHASE TO GIVE YOU SUCH BUSINESS.
2. Rental car companies. This business is relatively easy to get but you do not want to rely on this business over the long term. It is not profitable enough to cover all your fixed costs, even though it will contribute to covering the rent.
3. New Car Dealerships. This is full retail price business but the dealership will expect you to buy their business by giving them a few thousands of dollars a month or some other compensation. Remember if you can steal the business from someone else, then someone else can steal the business from you.
4. Used car dealers and auction cars. This is a good source of business with most of the money being made on buying and selling cars. This tends to be stable business if you like this kind of work.
5. Referral business. These are national body shop groups that make national deals and for 10-15% of the income will send you car work. This is a very expensive way to get business and in the end is not profitable.
6. Corporation Accounts/Fleet Accounts. This is one of the two best ways to get business. Some companies do self-insurance. Others have insurance. Regardless, a salesman can get them to send you all their business by offering good service or other remuneration (Compensation.) Corporation accounts are quite often at full price or some reasonable discount. Some people offer to drop the deductible or give some other kind of a discount.
7. Off the street. This is the best business is the whole world if you can get them in the door and keep them in the door. This is where location plays an important part in getting the business. Visiting all the businesses in the neighborhood and offering discounts to their employees or other employee benefit for coming to you can get this business. This type of business is what a good salesperson dreams of. Most established businesses tell me they did this originally but stopped going out and selling when they got busy. Funny isn’t it? The action that made you busy cannot be done any more because you are too busy. This is how you build a shop’s volume without DRP contracts. This is a profitable business for the man who doesn’t mind selling and making friends with people.
Do I really want to buy a body shop?
If you are an adjustor and feel that your employer insurance company will give you a DRP contract in a specific area, you might have a high motivation to buy a shop in that area, even if its current volume is low. If you are expecting the existing clients to stay with you, after the sale, you have to do some research on this. If the clients are from corporate accounts, car rental companies, or just off the street, you are probably correct. If the clients come from personal relationships of the seller then forget it. People of like nationality have a greater chance of turning over personal relationships.
If you are buying a shop with DRP contracts currently, do not assume that you can keep them. In fact, you must assume you will loose them the day escrow closes. Do not buy a shop that has DRP contracts unless you already have a relationship with those same insurance companies at another shop you currently own. If you are reading my article, I can safely assume you are not a multiple shop owner currently. There are a few ways to buy a DRP shop and not loose the contracts but I cannot publish this information, in as much as the insurance companies will prevent my approach from working in the future.
If you do not want to do the marketing, then do not buy a body shop. PERIOD!
What kind of shop would works best for you?
Of course you want to decide based on the estimated volume that you expect to do, what size shop you need. If you expect the volume to remain the same then you figure the rent and profit based on that number. If you know you can bring in corporate accounts, dealerships and other business then you can use a bigger shop. If you expect to only have new business that you yourself bring in then a smaller shop may work perfectly.
If you get too big a shop the rent will kill you. If you get too small you will limit your possible volume unless you put in a second shift and keep an eye on that 2nd shift. There are larger capacity shops doing small volume that can be bought very cheap or reasonably.
There are smaller, very inexpensive shops available to use as a first time shop. Then after you learn the business and prove you can bring in volume, you can buy a bigger shop and sell off the smaller one. The best guarantee of success is to start small and grow bigger.
What you do not want is to buy a large shop that you cannot fill, thereby working for the landlord.
Conclusion
Keeping all of the above in mind and to not take on more than you can chew. Buy a shop that fits your personality and ability and then move up to the bigger shop when you have proven to yourself that you have done it and can do it again. If I can be of any assistance, I am here to help.
CARMEN
Feb
16
How exactly are shopping cart child restraints supposed to work?
Filed Under Newborn & Baby | Comments Off
rainwriterm asked:
I know this sounds like a stupid question, but I really don’t understand how they are *supposed* to work. I can sit my son in the shopping cart, adjust the belt around his waist, clip it, and it does absolutely nothing to keep him from climbing out. So, how is that one waist belt supposed to actually act as a restraining device?
FREDDY
I know this sounds like a stupid question, but I really don’t understand how they are *supposed* to work. I can sit my son in the shopping cart, adjust the belt around his waist, clip it, and it does absolutely nothing to keep him from climbing out. So, how is that one waist belt supposed to actually act as a restraining device?
FREDDY