The Bigger They are, the Harder They Fall

You've heard them before. Some of the most commonly uttered standard bits of consumer advice for online shopping are:

• Always trust the big names
• Buy only from online retailers whom you’ve heard of
• Big Firms are more likely to perform than small fry

Wrong, wrong and wrong! Any review of recent trends among major online retailers will tell you that the only thing the above three points have in common, is utter nonsense. Not sure? Let’s look at some news items.   

Reuters reported earlier this year that The Sharper Image, home to exotic and futuristic gadgetry, filed for bankruptcy protection after years of slipping sales, stiffening competition and product image problems.

RedEnvelope Inc., a well-known online catalog gift retailer disclosed recently that it was running out of funds, filed for bankruptcy and announced a deal to sell itself to Creative Catalogs Corp.  A little later, well-known home furnishing retailer Linens ‘n Things followed suit.

In fact, of the 500 companies listed in the last 3 years in the Internet Retailer 500 (equivalent to the Fortune 500 of the offline world), 130 sites are no longer live.  Some may have moved their sites, but, like no pulse, this is often a sign of death.   

Obviously, size and reputation of an online seller are no assurance of the future viability of an online merchant.  Even the biggest merchants on and off the web are vulnerable to failure in a time of economic contraction. The advantage that they do have though is that their fall cannot be predicted by the average buyer -- which is not really an “advantage” to the average consumer at all. If it was so before, size is definitely no longer a proxy for stability.
 
Examples like those of The Sharper Image abolish this piece of folk wisdom in the market, and give food for thought to buyers looking to protect themselves against this uncertain and almost unpredictable fate of being left hanging overnight with a worthless plastic gift card, or worse, a freefall in the merchant’s performance.   

In this time of retail turmoil especially, consumers are in a hot spot on how to protect themselves against this sort of risk.  So in these troubled times for the rapidly growing wild west of online shopping, who will take that risk for consumers?   If the consumer can’t trust the big name or the well-known online merchant to be reliable, who can they trust?

Well, you saw this coming, but the answer is: buySAFE. In fact, you can always trust a buySAFE-bonded merchant to not bail on you! The buySAFE Seal on a merchant’s website makes two promises:

1. The Merchant has been vetted, approved, and is constantly monitored by buySAFE – it’s one of the best sellers on the web;
2. If you DO have a problem with a buySAFE Merchant’s performance (even including the bankruptcy of that merchant), then buySAFE ensures that you get your money back – all of it.  Fast.   It’s no longer YOUR problem, it’s buySAFE’s problem.
 
buySAFE has bonded millions and millions of online transactions, and no honest consumer has ever lost a penny. Now that’s a piece of wisdom that actually means business.    

Today's blog was contributed by Madiha Qureshi, Communications Associate

Comments

[Cash Back At eBay]

Thanks for bringing this report on BuySafe -- I'll give them a look. (Also, I had no idea about RedEnvelope and Sharper Image.)

Anyway, the reason that I'm writing is that eBay could stand to learn a few things from BuySafe. I'm still crossing my fingers that eBay will turnaround and instill trust again. The trust issue is with the sellers and not the buyers of eBay. Thanks to PayPal it's safe for buyers to buy on eBay. We just don't think it's safe for sellers to sell on eBay.

Regards,
M.C. Nygard
still currently Platinum PowerSeller
www.cashbackatebay.com