Michael Roebuck's Blog

Kelly, one of our Yahoo! Store designers and Ninja Death Squad Founding Member sent a Skype message out to us the other day that we all thought was common knowledge. Apparently it's not and therefore I decided to post about it.

Every Yahoo! store owner is familliar with the "Image" field of a page. This is where you hit the "Image" button, find the picture on your hard drive and upload to your Yahoo! Store. Yahoo automatically assigns it a name and it's variables are controlled by the settings on your site. It's a beautiful thing.

Do you ever link to those images from a different page? For example, have you uploaded an image for an item but then gone into the source code to get it's name and then linked to it from a different page? If you have, you could be in for a surprise!

Yahoo! renames those images as often as every publish! See the graphic below. The graphic was called:

yhst-6934xxxx228119_1917_96751 when first uploaded

yhst-6934xxxx228119_1917_57950 when store was re-published

So, if you ever link to those images from an outside reference, be aware that Yahoo! could rename the image at any time. Once renamed, your external reference will no longer work.

To fix this, either upload the image to your "LIB" file (if you have one) or upload the image to the hosting side of your Merchant Solutions store.

On Wednesday, August 23, I posted an article about adding PayPal as a payment option to your Yahoo! Store. Based upon feedback, I have updated the article. If you are not accepting PayPal as a payment method for your Yahoo! Store, you need to start! Contact me to set it up for you. The new article can be found by visiting the below link:
Integrating PayPal into your Yahoo! Store and Increase sales by 300%
Or reading Below:

Increase sales by 300% with PayPal

If you are a Yahoo! Store owner and are using the new Yahoo! Checkout, then you must be accepting payments from PayPal. This isn't a question, it's a statement!

Before Yahoo! integrated PayPal with the checkout process, we were using a PayPal hack that inserted a PayPal link on the order thank you page. This was nice because it allowed customers to pay via PayPal and still comply with Yahoo! Terms of Service. Unfortunately, customers could check the PayPal button to place an order and never go to PayPal to pay. Nevertheless, it was the only option available to sell product on your Yahoo! Store via PayPal. Below is a graphic of what it looked like:

Notice how you are already on the order confirmation screen? This order has already been sent to the merchant for processing and the customer hasn't paid yet. It's a nice option as the customer can click on the PayPal logo and the PayPal account is automatically loaded and populated with the sale amount, but the merchant needs to log into PayPal before shipping to ensure payment was paid. (Note this option is still available for those of you not wanting to upgrade to the Yahoo! Checkout Version 3 yet.)

Now enter Yahoo! Checkout Version 3. This new version actually integrates with the PayPal API and takes you to PayPal to pay for your items before finalizing the order. Here is what your payment section of the shopping cart will look like with the Yahoo! Store PayPal Integration:

Since this is located in the shopping cart and uses an API, this means that the payment is approved in PayPal before the order is even completed. No more customers "forgetting" to pay! It's a beautiful thing.

What I didn't realize was exactly how beautiful it really was. Here is one case study.

One of my clients sells green widgets. Now these green widgets are fairly expensive and not something you'd find on eBay. In other words, not something that I would say demanded a PayPal checkout option. After all, only eBay people use PayPal right, and this was not an eBay product. Also, with the current PayPal hack, PayPal amounted for only .6% of sales (Yup, less than 1%). Therefore it was low on the priority list. we eventually upgraded the shopping cart and eventually added PayPal as a payment option.

Now, with the PayPal integration in place, PayPal revenues are amounting to just under 10% of total sales. I know, amazing right? An increase of over 300% as well as now 10% of sales are being paid for with PayPal! Now, keep in mind that I don't see all this as 300% additional revenue, but I do see where we did receive an increase. PayPal is an alternative method of payment. Would all the orders have come in anyway with a credit card? I don't know. That's just something that will remain unknown for now. But regardless, lots of people obviously want to pay using PayPal and not a credit card.

We aren't talking chump change either. Here are the sales numbers:

• PayPal Revenue Before PayPal Integration = $7,500 per month.
• PayPal Revenue After PayPal Integration = $35,497 per month.

So before you jump in and think sales will increase 300%, don't hold me to that. It's simply another way for customers to buy from you. And as my Dad always told me; "If someone is willing to give you their hard earned money, take it any way you can, and thank them very much."

Contact Michael Roebuck at All Web Promotion at 815-883-9462 and get PayPal added as a payment method in your Yahoo! Store today!

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Articles may be reproduced in their entirety providing below footer is included:

Michael Roebuck is General Manager of All Web Promotion, Inc.
All Web Promotion, Inc. is a full service Search Engine Optimization and Yahoo! Store Web Site Design company. You can have an e-commerce web site designed or re-built and optimized for you for much less than you think. Request a free Web Design Quote or visit our site for more of our services and free resources at http://www.allwebpromotion.com.

Additional information, resources and blog posts regarding Yahoo! Stores can be found on his personal web site located at http://www.michaelroebuck.com.

Copyright © 2006 Michael Roebuck. All Rights Reserved.

Being in the Yahoo Merchant Solutions web site design business, I'm privy to a few benefits. One being a recipient of product samples from people whose web sites we might work on. Michelle, one of my designers, presented me with a sample of Habby Flakes: Pure Habanero Pepper which this article is about.

I normally do not write about clients and the products they sell, but this product is truly awesome and definitely worth mentioning. You see, I've been drying peppers and creating my own hot pepper seasoning for years. I've experimented with adding numerous dried ingredients to make that perfect combination and quite frankly, drying these items is a big pain in the butt. Sure the house smells nice with the fresh scent of peppers and the like, but it's still a lot of work.

Enter Habby Flakes: Pure Habanero Pepper. They have a product that is a great blend of habanero peppers and probably some other secret stuff. With my free sample, I've been putting it on my lunches here at work: pizza, spaghetti and an array of chunky soups.

The peppers come in a small test tube type vial with a shaker top. This is beautiful because I can take my Habby Flakes with me when I travel and the shaker top allows me to shake the flakes on my meal without going overboard. You can control your hot level; from one shake for the wimps who just want a hint of hot to the psychos who want pure fire. You control how much you want.

At first, I thought the price was a bit high but when I actually started using the product I realized I was wrong. This isn't your typical hot pepper mix like the pizza joint has. Literally, a few shakes is all you need! My first impression was that I'd need a lot to feel the effect. Not so with Habby Flakes. A few shakes of the vial and your good to go. I tend to like my food hot and if I'm not sweating, it ain't hot enough! Habby Flakes made me sweat and my nose run within bites. It's good stuff! I'm still using my first vial and I estimate it to be good for about 10 individual lunches so it does last a fairly long time. Did I mention the portability? It's small enough to fit in your purse or pocket with ease. Karl Ribas, who also received a sample, has told me that he took his vial with him when we went to the SES show in California. Greedy bum didn't share any with me though! It's a hair longer than 3 inches and just under 1/2 inch wide. Very portable.

My only complaint is the label. But let's face it, there is only so much room to write on. It mentions Habby Flakes are good on pizza, burgers and chile. What about eggs, sub sandwiches, soups, meat, potatoes, etc. etc. Move over Tabasco and Old Bay; You've been replaced by Habby Flakes: Pure Habanero Pepper!

I guess the purpose of the story is that if you like spicy foods and hot peppers, you've really got to try Habby Flakes. Tell them I sent you. You won't get anything but if enough people mention my name, maybe they'll send me more! I already bought a 10 pack as I'll need vials here at work, at home, in the cars and my wife's purse.

Habby Flakes: Pure Habanero Pepper Official Website