July 2006

Development of version 3.0 of the WordPress Email Notification Plugin is currently underway, though behind the original schedule.

Update: What’s New?

The majority of the updates for version 3.0 are focused on improved performance with WordPress 2.x and preparing for added features in subsequent releases.

Here are a few of the new highlights:

• Better WordPress integration - This will make it easier to get the plugin up and running and will automate most of the installation.
• Improved delivery - This will fix known issues with large mailing lists and notifications being sent multiple times in some instances.
• Add the unsubscribe functionality via a form - Currently the unsubscribe option is only available in the e-mails that are sent to subscribers.
• Localization - This will allow for language specific messages.
• Database updates - This is needed for improved delivery and will allow mailing lists for multiple WordPress blogs to run in one WordPress database.

Update: When Can I Get It?

We still do not have a scheduled release date, but we’re shooting for a September 2006 release. As always, since this is done in our “free time” that may get pushed back due to the client projects that we are involved with.

Update: How Can I Help?

There are currently three ways you can help.

1. Sign up to be a beta tester. In order to make the plugin run more smoothly with Windows servers, we’re particularly looking for users running WordPress on IIS or Apache on Windows and preferably knowledgeable with PHP coding (WordPress plugin experience is a plus as well).

2. Sign up to help with localization of common text messages and documentation used in the plugin.

3. Make a donation via PayPal donation to help “free up” our time. This would be a huge help, so if you’ve found the previous version useful, please consider dropping a few dollars in the bucket.

If you have any questions or comments, please let us know.

Lately we’ve been getting a little disgusted with eBay’s antics, specifically towards their eBay Stores users.

Here’s their latest bit on nonsense…

…(Core listings — auction-style, auction-style with Buy It Now, and Fixed Price) are the foundation of eBay…they account for about 91% of the gross merchandise value sold on eBay.com

Store Inventory listings now comprise about 83% of active eBay.com listings…(and) current Store Inventory insertion fees don’t cover eBay’s costs for hosting them.

These Store Inventory format insertion fees take effect Aug. 22, 2006:

Starting Price 	   New Insertion Fee 	Current Fee
$0.01 -- 24.99 	   5¢ 	                2¢
$25.00 and higher  10¢ 	                2¢

Some Store Inventory format final value fees also will also increase, effective Aug. 22, 2006:

Selling Price 	   New Final Value Fee 	Current Fee
$0.01 -- 25.00 	       10% 	         8%
$25.01 -- 100.00        7%               5%
$100.01 -- 1,000.00 	5% (no change) 	 5%
$1,000.01 and higher 	3% (no change) 	 3%

…the best way to display Store Inventory listings on the site…is, when a buyer’s search returns 30 or less core listings, we display up to 30 Store Inventory listings.

…starting in about a month, we’ll also include an unlimited number of Store Inventory listings after all matching core listings, when the buyer clicks the Buy It Now listings tab at the top of every search results page. When the buyer hasn’t selected this option, eBay.com will display Store Inventory listings along with core listings as described above.

So, to paraphrase, eBay is saying, “Good riddance eBay store owners. We’ve crunched the numbers and you’re not worth our time and efforts. We hope to gain back the auction listings that we’ve lost over the years.”

One huge thing that we’ve noticed over the years is that many people don’t want to hassle with auctions to possibly save a few dollars. Many people want to find what they’re after, buy it and have it in their possession within a week of purchase. From what eBay has been saying, it would appear that they are oblivious to this fact.

In addition to this major issue, in the past week or so eBay decided to not allow users to use Google’s Checkout as a method of payment in an effort to strong-arm people into using eBay’s comparable (and more expensive) PayPal service (tough they deny that of course).

In the near future we will be closing our eBay store. That may be a few months down the road as we explore our options, but eBay will be getting a whole lot less of our money in the coming months and we will not be suggesting eBay Stores as on option for clients. (We will stick with eBay’s Skype service until they give us a good reason not to.) From what’s out there right now we’re leaning towards a Zen Cart installation even though it’s a little bloated and doesn’t function exactly how we’d like, but it does offer key features that we need, is reliable and is free (plus domain and hosting fees of course).

While there are options out there for e-commerce shopping cart services, most are not very user friendly and/or affordable at an entry level plus we don’t know of any that are very well publicized. If someone came out with an affordable, easy to use and well publicized shopping cart system they’d be setup to make a fortune if they did it right. If someone wants to consider offering VC for such a service, let us know.