Some of Alan's views on this digital marketing malarkey ... there's more on: AlanCharlesworth.com

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Just a bit iffy ...

So I had ordered some hankies [a chap can't have too many hankies] from a 'shop' on eBay. Before they arrived, this notice appeared on 'my eBay' ...


This, I thought, does not bode well, it looks like the seller has been up to no good. Take note of the two messages from eBay. Ah well, it was goodbye hankies - but it wasn't a significant sum of money and I use PayPal, so I'll get it back anyway.

But hey-ho ... the hankies arrived. But in the packaging was an A4 printed message, which read:

DO YOU HAVE AN OLD EBAY ACCOUNT THAT YOU NO LONGER USE?

WE BUY OLD EBAY ACCOUNTS SO WHY NOT CONTACT US
WITH DETAILS OF YOUR ACCOUNT DO THAT WE CAN MAKE YOU A CASH OFFER.

There was then a contact email address. 

ACCOUNTS WILL ONLY BE CONSIDERED IF THEY HAVE A HIGH SELLING LIMIT.

I checked the website on the domain of that email address and it is an empty shop i.e. an online shopfront with no products.

So here's the thing. Buying a business in order to 'inherit' the goodwill and brand history that goes with it is a standard method of doing business [it's why BMW bought MINI].

However, this organization is seeking to buy businesses that have ceased trading but have some 'juice' with eBay i.e. a good sales record with plenty of good feedback.

Now, am I just being a bit of an old cynic - but why would a legitimate business want to do that?

And would I like to buy something from an eBay seller that has been 'resurrected' by a new owner who has already had eBay close them down?  Probably not ... if I knew.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

More [advertising] money than gas

Well ...  spring has sprung - and I was looking for a refill for my patio heater's gas bottle. So I searched on Google, and got ...



But when I clicked on the ad [remember, the seller has placed that ad, so they paid for my click], I got this ...


Ho hum

PS ... in case you are wondering why I clicked on the most expensive ad - I clicked on them all as none said if delivery costs were included.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

A monster of a deal?

I clicked on an ad from dealmonster.co.uk. It would seem someone can't add up. If I wanted to be really picky - as the advert said 'from £109', I think this might be committing an offense under some law or other.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Argos : closed for business?

In a distant and different lifetime, I worked in retail. If we wanted to re-merchandise a shop we did it during the night when it was closed. So why has this changed in the digital age?

PS - I'm not even going to comment about the coding error half way down the right hand site [follow my arrow].


Whoa ... update: two minutes after I did the screensave image above, the Argos homepage changed to this ...


So, Argos ... make your mind up: 'improving' or 'busy' - neither is really acceptable, but either is more acceptable than telling stories to customers.

PS guess where I am NOT going to buy the product I originally went to Argos.co.uk for?