Greetings / Editor's Note

Your success as an online retailer depends on your unrelenting commitment to improving your business. Our success depends on our ability to provide you with the tools and resources you need to do that.

In this issue of the Doba eNewsletter, we deliver on our commitment by offering a host of articles, announcements, and tips. Here, you discover how to take advantage of May's major marketing event—Mother's Day—and how to give your website a higher profile through Search Engine Optimization services offered by Doba's newest partner, Network Solutions.

This issue of the eNewsletter also contains several important announcements about upcoming webinars, eBay Live! 2007, and a host of new suppliers who have just joined the Doba family.

We wrap up by answering a member question that's likely to have puzzled other Doba members, as well—Why is there a difference between the Doba MSRP and the manufacturer MSRP?

Whether you're looking to implement long-term improvements to your business, cash in on a major seasonal selling opportunity, or find out a little more about how Doba manages the data it receives from suppliers, this issue of the eNewsletter has something to bring you one step closer to success.

—Doba's Community & Education Staff

Table of Contents

• New Article: Ramp it up, retailers, it's Mother's Day!
• New Article: Web Success : does anybody know about your website?
• Education News: Upcoming webinars for May
• Reminder: Doba now offers Premium Education subscriptions
• Did You Know? eBay Live! 2007 is just around the corner
• Supplier News: Doba adds 32 new suppliers
• May's Member Q&A: Why is there a difference between the Doba MSRP and the manufacturer MSRP?

New Article: Ramp it up retailers, it's Mother's Day!

According to the news on the street (actually news from the National Retail Federation's 2007 Mother's Day Consumer Actions and Intentions survey), this Mother's Day is shaping up to be a bonanza for retailers. Results from the survey indicate that "shoppers are expected to spend an average of $139.14 on the holiday compared to last year's $122.16." An extra $16 may not sound like much, but that's very close to a 14 percent increase.

Learn how to take advantage of this special holiday to maximize sales and profits, as well as gain new customers.

Read the full article.

Featured Partner

3XP Web Solutions gives you everything you need to start an online business in one complete and easy system, including a web store and a merchant account so you can accept credit cards. Best of all it is seamlessly integrated with the Doba product catalog! Also included are traffic analysis tools, search engine submission, domain name registration, multi-tiered affiliate program, and more. Click here to view 3XP's special offer for Doba members!

New Article: Web success: does anyone know about your website?

The promise is always the same: If you build it, they will come. Build a nice website—maybe pay five to ten thousand dollars for the design work or have a friend build it for you—get it up and running, and people from around the world will arrive just to take in its many wonders.

You register your site with a few of the top search engines, have your business cards reprinted with your website address, and send an email blast to your friends, families, colleagues, and anyone else you think might be interested. Later, you discover a disappointing fact—you threw the perfect online party, and nobody came. Even worse, you're not getting any new customers or members from your website.

This is the shared experience of companies and organizations the world over. Just because you have a website does not mean it is working to further your business goals.

Ideally, you want your website to:

• Attract visitors who are looking for your services
• Provide information to prospective customers or members
• Be so valuable to prospects that they return to your site again and again
• Increase the number of customer inquiries
• Drive incremental sales or new memberships
• Have a positive impact on your business goals

If you don't experience any of these things from your website, you'll need to evaluate the situation and act. Network Solutions can help. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of making your website show up in the search engines and attract those targeted visitors you're after. Click here to learn more about the principles of SEO.

Once a site is "optimized" you will need to make sure the search engines know about it! This is done by registering your site with multiple search engines. There is a trick to it—each engine has it's own submission guidelines. Network Solutions accommodates this with our Search Engine Visibility (SEV) product. We do all the submission work for you.

If you'd like to take the next steps to making your website work for your business, click here for more detailed information and to find out about discounts especially for Doba members.

Featured Partner

SitePal

Education News – Upcoming Webinars for May

Tuesday, May 1 2007
Drawing Search search Engine engine Attention attention to Your your eBay Store and Listingslistings
Good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) gives your eBay Store and listings a high profile. In this Webinar, you discover the tricks of the SEO trade as Doba's Online Marketing Specialist, Ryan Roberts, and eBay University Instructor, Steve Lindhorst, reveal field-proven techniques for making your eBay Store and listings a more attractive target for search engines.

Thursday, May 10 2007
Growing a Thriving thriving eBay Businessbusiness
When you decided to start purchasing wholesale products for resale, you immediately graduated from being an eBay hobbyist to a small-business owner. Now it's time to scale up your business by taking advantage of tools that are more powerful and ramping up your marketing efforts. In this Webinar, eBay University Instructor Steve Lindhorst unveils several strategies for building and growing a thriving eBay business.

To learn how you can participate in all both of these events and more for one low price, see the next item, (Reminder: Doba now offers Premium Education subscriptions)

Reminder: Doba now offers Premium Education subscriptions

Success requires more than vision, ambition, and hard work. Our new Premium Education Webinars touch upon many of the basic and advanced techniques you need to master, and are delivered by some of the industry's most seasoned professionals. From eBay University instructors, to owners and managers of successful online businesses, to Doba staff trained to help online retailers meet their business-related goals, the people who deliver Doba Premium Education have faced the same challenges you're likely to encounter, and, just as important—they have discovered techniques and strategies that are proven to work.

In the past, Doba Webinars cost $25.00 per event, but now with the new Premium plan, you pay just $24.95 per month for ALL Doba Webinars (including all of the ones we have recorded since the first of the year). Click here to sign up or learn more about Premium Education.

Did You Know? eBay Live! (in Boston) is just around the corner

Whether you want to grow your eBay business to new heights, meet and network with like-minded retailers, learn new strategies for your business, or just meet some members of the Doba staff as we present for our fourth eBay Live! event, you absolutely don't want to miss eBay Live! 2007 in Boston Massachusetts, June 14-16.

eBay Live! 2007 is also your opportunity to see product sourcing expert and Doba CEO, Jeremy Hanks, present on the Product Sourcing Panel for the third year in a row. Moderated by frequent Doba Webinar presenter and eBay University instructor Steve Lindhorst, the Product Sourcing Panel discussion offers insights from industry leaders Jeremy Hanks, Rob Cowie of World Wide Brands, and Lisa Suttora of WhatDoISell.com.

Doba's Director of Community & Education, Mikal Belicove, an expert on business blogging and building and supporting communities of practice and business-to-business networks, will also be presenting at eBay Live! in Boston. Mikal's session, Blogging to Boost Your Business on eBay, will show you how to implement a blog in your marketing programs, which ultimately drives traffic to your eBay listings and, if done right, establishes credibility for you and your online retail business.

For more information about eBay Live! 2007, visit the official eBay Live! website.

New Doba Suppliers – 32 new suppliers added to the site

Doba's Marketplace team is continuing to work hard for you, contacting and integrating with suppliers who provide the products you have been asking for. This month we've added a whopping 32 new suppliers to the Doba Product Catalog. The following list offers some brief introductions:

• Supplier Almond is the manufacturer of The Stars From Mars Fiber-Optic Starfield, a decorative, entertaining, and perhaps even educational display that enables you to transform an ordinary ceiling into the star-studded constellation of your choice, and even create your own custom constellations.
• Supplier Arches is a furniture design and manufacturing company that produces unique, easy-to-assemble furniture for the home and small office. Arches combines the simplicity of Legos with the elegance of the finest furniture to offer modular, reversible designs that make media and office planning simple and infinitely customizable. Arches offers kits for media centers, corner and straight desks, bookcases, and more.
• Supplier Barberry is a manufacturer of ecologically friendly bamboo rugs. Bamboo has a robust root system that generates multiple new shoots for every culm (mature stalk) that is harvested. A variety of indoor/outdoor styles are available in various sizes and attractive patterns. In addition to adding a unique touch of décor, these rugs are durable, easy to clean, and environment-friendly.
• Supplier Brazil is a wholesaler of sports and lifestyle statement t-shirts. Apparel is imprinted with a wide range of popular cultural icons and sayings including Corona, Miller & Miller Lite, Rebel Flag, Me Time, and Coots & Biddy's. Brazil also wholesales officially licensed Snuggleball baby blankets, with ball attached.
• Supplier Buckthorn is an industry leader in the distribution of many products and product lines. Their home gaming line is the most developed product line in this category, featuring products bearing their exclusive brand names of "Trademark Poker" and "NexGen," and distribution agreements with such renowned gaming brands such as "COPAG" and "PAULSON."
• Supplier Caper is the manufacturer of unique, elegantly styled leather chairs for both home and office.
• Supplier Cardinal specializes in apparel for sports and outdoor adventure, offering garments made of various fabrics including polypropylene, which is known to not absorb moisture but transport to from the body to the outside of the fabric where the moisture can evaporate. Lightweight apparel that breathes naturally is perfect for athletes, campers, and others who are outside and on the go. The newest product is a genuine 100% New Zealand made with 100% New Zealand Merino wool, which can keep those wearing it warm and comfortable even when in wet conditions.
• Supplier Chi features the Bazooka bike. These bikes have all the standard features of regular bicycles with one notable exception—they can be folded up to easily fit into the trunk of your car, SUV, or the storage compartment of your motor home, travel trailer, or an airplane.
• Supplier Cloves is a distributor of unique tableware, cookware, and home/kitchen accessories from England, Italy, and Japan.
• Supplier Copper is the manufacturer of beautiful accent rugs.
• Supplier Crimson offers handcrafted decorative accessories for upscale homes and offices, accenting any room with the richness of the European Countryside look. Crimson has been in business for over 30 years offering wall hangings, faux windows, clocks, fire screens, and other decorative objects.
• Supplier Eta is the manufacturer of CPU Liquid Cooling. They have been in business for the past 12 years mainly distributing monitors and spare parts for computers and have now focused their business on liquid cooling devices for computer CPUs.
• Supplier Flax a distributor of cell phone accessories.
• Supplier Forest adds its robust collection of rings, earrings, pendants, necklaces, silver jewelry, birthstone jewelry, and watches to Doba’s jewelry category. This supplier imports directly from manufacturers all around the world.
• Supplier Indigo is an importer and wholesaler of silver jewelry. The collection offers stylish, unique sterling silver jewelry, primarily earrings and pendants. Special collections feature dichronic glass—a rich, shimmering, two-toned glass that's almost mesmerizing.
• Supplier Lavender is the manufacturer of fine designer leather handbags and Amish wrought iron country furniture. Supplier offers an excellent collection of country décor for the entire home.
• Supplier Macadamia is a national leader in home decor, with a spectacular variety of clocks featuring wall, table, alarm, table top, and indoor/outdoor pieces. A wide variety styles are available, including traditional, contemporary, retro, thematic, and even handmade glass clocks from Italy. Sizes range from 10 to 38 inches in diameter.
• Supplier Massive has been around since 1996 and was primarily known for their guitar cases shaped in the form of coffins. They have since branched out into other categories, including apparel and accessories. They are the manufacturers of Coffin Case clothing and have just gone into licensing with our Dimebag Darrell line. If you're looking to boost your line of gothic apparel, Supplier Massive is the go-to goth.
• Supplier Mastic specializes in the replication of "Vintage Revival" watches from the 1920s through the 1950s—when watches were considered works of art. Each timepiece is equipped with the convenience of a modern day, battery powered, precision quartz movement and is delivered in a handsome, lacquered wood display case.
• Supplier Pecan is a family owned business that works with independent artists to provide a venue for their extraordinary pieces. They also work with over 100 companies, both domestic and international, to bring you the highest quality merchandise. Supplier Pecan features designer and custom made jewelry, historical reproductions, gifts for special occasions, a wide range of home decor items, spectacular pieces from abroad, as well as a variety of other unique and exotic goods.
• Supplier Pikes Peak is a newly established family-owned company that specializes in wholesale distribution of airsoft goods (toy-gun-related merchandise), including name brand products such as Classic Army Leapers, Tokyo Mauri, G&G, and UTG products.
• Supplier Roosevelt focuses on factory-overrun, custom-built overrun, and end-of-cycle products. They maintain a constant supply of major name-brand notebooks, PDAs, consumer electronics and more, while offering a wide assortment of notebook computers and consumer electronics from a select group of high-profile manufacturers, including Sony, Toshiba, Fujitsu, HP, and many more.
• Supplier Rosemary is a manufacturer of the finest quality custom silk orchids, floral, plants, and trees. Arrangements offered in baskets, urns, elegant porcelain pots, and caches. Unbelievably realistic and incredibly attractive.
• Supplier Sage is the manufacturer of a great selection of leather items for motorcycle riders. Their product line includes men's and ladies' leather jackets, vests, chaps and pants, helmets, saddlebags, gear bags, and a wide variety of motorcycle accessories.
• Supplier Snake is a distributor of a wide variety of toys and collectables, including action figures, die-cast toys, GI Joe, Japanese animation toys, Lord of the Rings collectables, movies, prop replicas, Star Wars and Star Trek toys and memorabilia, T-shirts, transformers, and video games. Snake has been in the collectables business for over 10 years, and in that time they've built a reputation for finding customers the hard-to-find items they want at prices that they can afford.
• Supplier Solitude is the manufacturer and distributor of a full range of cosmetics, perfumes, and colognes for ladies and gents, including gift sets. All of their products are manufactured in England.
• Supplier Steel is a distributor that specializes in finding the most up-to-date furniture and home accessories.
• Supplier Tangerine is the manufacturer of Star Rugs. Their rugs are seventy-eight ounces of soft 100% nylon filament yarn with the perfect twist level delivering an exquisite look and feel.
• Supplier Thyme has traveled the globe to create rugs that exceed your expectations. From Belgium, England, China, Turkey, and India, they work closely with leading designers and manufacturers to bring you exclusively licensed collections that cover a wide range of fibers, weaves, designs, sizes, colors, and price points. Very classy.
• Supplier Walnut is the manufacturer of organic and natural body products.
• Supplier Watercress is the manufacturer of exquisite collections of rugs, superbly handcrafted by the master weavers of Jaipur, India, all in gorgeous designs and contemporary colors to enhance and enrich any decor. All rugs are hand knotted in the ancient tradition by master tribal weavers. These heirloom quality rugs are twenty-first century inspired and most unique.
• Supplier Yellowstone is a leading manufacturer of high quality wooden model ships, including the HMS Victory or USS Constitution. These are top-quality, hand-crafted models proudly displayed in the world's most luxurious galleries in 5-star resorts like The Venetian Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, and in museums around the world.

Many exceptional suppliers are waiting in the wings and will be added to the Product Catalog shortly. In the meantime, retailers interested in cashing in Mother's Day—which is just around the corner—should read our latest article, "Ramp it up, retailers, it's Mother's Day."

This Month's Member Q&A: Why is there a difference between the Doba MSRP and the Manufacturer MSRP?

This Month's Question: Why is the Doba MSRP sometimes different from the MSRP shown on the actual manufacturer site?

Answer: While a lot of retailers (and consumers) don't pay much heed to the MSRP, some retailers use it as an important part of their pricing strategy. Whether a retailer prices items based on a discount off of MSRP, at MSRP, or some other amount that relies on the MSRP, having an inaccurate MSRP can cause problems.

So why does the Doba catalog sometimes show a different MSRP for an item than the manufacturer shows? The problem arises as a result of our dependence on the supplier to provide us with that data.

Each supplier we work with sends us a daily data feed that contains all information about a product, including the MSRP. This process is automated. As Doba receives the data feed from the supplier, Doba's Product Catalog is automatically updated with the information in the data feed.

If any of the information in the data feed is inaccurate, such as the MSRP, that gets reflected in the Product Catalog.

Doba continues to work with our suppliers to ensure accurate information. One way that we are improving the MSRP issue is by working directly with manufacturers wherever possible.

If you have a question related to eBay, drop shipping, or running an online business, email your question to education@doba.com. If your question is highlighted in an upcoming issue of the eNewsletter, you will receive two free months worth of all your Doba-related services!