Virtual Earth

The very open nature of the Internet has made some people vulnerable to unscrupulous parties who engage in illegal activities aimed at fooling people out of their hard-earned money. Some of the scams that have been perpetrated on the Internet include pyramid schemes and investments in nonexistent companies.

Before you conduct any financial transactions over the Internet, it is important that you verify all the information provided to you. Book clubs are especially controversial since members are asked to pay a fee before they receive their books. Some organizations that form fake book clubs do so to trick people into giving out their credit card information.

An example

One way of using book clubs to fool people is by offering virtual versions of books to those who are not aware that electronic books are not allowed by authors.

Most of the time, those behind the scam will entice potential members with electronic books that have not come out in the market yet. They usually say that they have manuscripts of the books in soft copy and are willing to sell them so you can read the book before others do. However, their sole purpose is to get your credit card information. Once they get enough credit card information, those maintaining the site can easily close shop.

What to do

If you find yourself being enticed in this way, it would be a good idea to go to the authorities. One of the agencies where you can go ask help from is the securities commission. You can have the authorities verify the company’s operations and conduct arrests if it is proven that it is involved in such scams. It is also a good idea to check the validity of the claims of any Internet-based company before you purchase anything online.

Book Clubs provides detailed information on Book Clubs, Book of the Month Clubs, Book Club Questions, Audio Book Clubs and more. Book Clubs is affiliated with Christian Book Stores [http://www.BookStores-Web.com].

The significance of multi vendor stores for small businesses had been overlooked until recently. You might have thought of putting up only your own store and wait for traffic. This worked well in the past, but the situation has changed as millions and millions of online stores have come along.

How can you change it?

The answer is… by working together! For example, if you have a flower shop, you may consider joining with other merchants in the local area selling chocolates, wines and flower vases. Or, your bookstore may consider partnering with a video store.

Your online store will now look bigger and the customer not only gets the convenience of ordering different items together, but will consider an item they hadn’t thought of buying initially. Your shopping cart can recommend companion products.

But, how does it work?

How will your store that once stood separately – like the boutique shops in a shopping mall – suddenly join hands with another?

Solution is in the multi vendor shopping cart software. It can identify the items belonging to different stores and dispatch the orders and shipping details separately. The customers will not even know that they have been to three separate stores.

Here is your business idea

The multi-vendor store presents you with an excellent opportunity. Whether or not you have your own merchandise, setting up an eCommerce site and signing up vendors will help create a “virtual mall”.

As the store administrator, you get a commission or rent from every participating vendor. The more vendors in the system, the higher the profits without additional cost.

The participating vendors benefit in the low cost of setting up and administering the store as well as by getting increased traffic. The variety of products in the mall will attract more visitors than each separate store can on its own.

The future of multi vendor stores

If the current trend continues, within a couple of years you will see that most successful online businesses are part of one or more multi vendor stores. Also, many more virtual malls will emerge to cater for local vendors.

Arapaut Sivaprasad, Ph.D. is the founder of WebGenie Software (http://www.webgenie.com) and has been at the forefront of many innovative technologies in the IT sector.

Single or Multi-vendor Shopping Cart Software with optional Joomla component is feature-rich and easy to set up. Get your free evaluation from: http://www.webgenie.com/Software/Shopcart/multi-vendor.html