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Whether a company has 2 employees or 200, sexual harassment is an issue every employer must face. Removing sexual harassment from the workplace is critically important. Learn how it is defined, how to prevent it and what to do if it occurs.

Harassment Defined
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines sexual harassment as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature […] when submission to or rejection of this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.”
According to the EEOC, the following also applies to sexual harassment:
(http://www.eeoc.gov/types/sexual_harassment.html)

• The victim or the harasser may be a woman or a man. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex.
• The harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee.
• The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
• Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim.
• The harasser’s conduct must be unwelcome.

The Cost
Victims of sexual harassment can experience stress, humiliation, depression, loss of self- esteem, damage to reputation and career, declining work performance, increased absenteeism and other effects. Sexual harassment can also seriously damage a company with decreased morale, staff turnover, declining productivity, increased health care costs, damage to the company’s reputation and legal costs.

An Ounce of Prevention
The most effective way to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace is to prevent it from occurring. The EEOC advises employers to be proactive.
“Employers are encouraged to take steps necessary to prevent sexual harassment from occurring. They should clearly communicate to employees that sexual harassment will not be tolerated. They can do so by providing sexual harassment training to their employees and by establishing an effective complaint or grievance process and taking immediate and appropriate action when an employee complains.” (http://www.eeoc.gov/types/sexual_harassment.html)

Have a Policy
All companies should have a clear and comprehensive sexual harassment policy in place and should distribute the policy to all employees. Individual state law may also require the company to post additional notices in the workplace.
Some integral elements of an effective policy:

• A definition of prohibited harassment.
• Procedures for employees to report improper behavior, also identifying the appropriate individuals to whom an employee is to direct a complaint.
• Language establishing sexual harassment as a disciplinary offense, reserving the right to terminate an employee who is found in violation of the policy.
• Non-retaliation language. Dismissing or demoting an employee who has registered a complaint is improper and illegal. If the employee can establish a connection between a complaint and retaliatory response, an employer can be found liable.

The Company Response
If a complaint of sexual harassment is reported in the office, the company must act. Both the complaining employee and the employee being accused of acting improperly must have the opportunity to tell their side of the story and no determination should be made until a full investigation is completed. False or inaccurate accusations can have extremely serious effects on innocent employees.

If it is determined that harassment took place, corrective action must be taken immediately. Depending on the circumstances and the company policy, such action might include a written reprimand, removal of authority, suspension, or even termination. All actions should be recorded in the employee’s file and an official record should be created detailing the investigation and the subsequent action taken.

What’s Next
The employer should then look to reaffirm the company’s policy and conduct additional training if necessary. If it is determined that sexual harassment did not occur, that determination should be properly recorded and communicated to all involved parties.

No matter how diligently a company tries to prevent sexual harassment, it can still occur. Companies should have the right policies and procedures in place in order to best prevent incidents and to deal with any that may arise. The liability is too great and the potential consequences are too significant to ignore.

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By: Jonathan Tenenbaum, Esq. jont@ebizinsider.com

Fresh off the holiday season, you probably sold and received gift cards. Last year consumers spent $73 billion on gift cards. Approximately 5-10% of the cards sold are never redeemed. Did you know there are some states with laws that require you to report unused cards and certificates? This raises some questions gift card sellers should be addressing:

1. How do I track gift cards?

A. Each card/certificate should have a unique identifying number.

B. Each card/certificate sold should have a start date or in using a “credit card” certificate, should have a written start date.

C. Each card/certificate should have an expiration date or the words “or as required by law”.

D. If selling different cards/certificates for different promotions, be sure to have a code to identify the card sold for each promotion.

E. Track the certificates that are actually redeemed.

F. Keep a list of outstanding gift certificates.

G. If possible, get the customer name and address purchasing the gift card. Consumers may be reluctant to part with that information, but it is very helpful when the gift card goes unredeemed.

2. How do I stay legal and report unused gift cards?

With the increased number of gift certificates sold over the past several years, state governments are taking notice. Many have established “escheat laws” as it pertains to abandoned property including gift certificates.

In the simplest terms, “escheat” refers to the process through which property that is, or is deemed to be, unclaimed or abandoned becomes property of the state after a certain period of time. All states have escheat laws that, while being similar, are all somewhat different. Each state defines how long property must be unclaimed before it is considered abandoned. Most states have a three to five year period before the gift certificate is considered abandoned. The chart below shows some examples of how the laws differ by state, according to the “National Conference of State Legislatures” website.

With each state looking to increase revenues without increasing taxes, some states have established “Unclaimed Property” reporting where depending on the state, corporations and businesses now are required to file “Unclaimed Property” returns and submit payments for the unclaimed property, which includes unused gift certificates. Most states require that gift certificates carrying a partial amount must also be turned over to the state. Reporting is done on an annual basis.

The penalty for violating the gift certificate law can result in severe penalties, including fines, multiple damages, and attorney fees.

Should you request more information, you can visit the National Conference of State Legislatures at www.ncsl.org. Here you can access each state’s statutes regarding abandoned gift certificates. Learn the laws that apply to coupons where you do business now, that way you will be able to avoid any unwelcome surprises later. eBiz

The list below shows some examples of how the laws differ by state, according to the “National Conference of State Legislatures” website.

California - Gift certificates purchased after 1997 are not subject to escheat. The escheat law does apply to any gift certificate that has an expiration date and that is given in exchange for money or any other thing of value.

Connecticut - Gift Certificates do not escheat to the state.

Pennsylvania - The consideration paid for a gift certificate or gift card which has remained unredeemed for two years or more after its redemption period has expired and for five years or more from the date of issuance if not, redemption is specified.

Utah - A gift certificate greater than $25 that remains unreconsidered for more than five years after issuance is considered abandoned. The amount considered abandoned is the price paid for the certificate itself.

West Virginia Gift certificate, three years after the thirty-first day of December of the year in which the certificate is sold, but if redeemable in merchandise only, the amount abandoned is deemed to be 60 percent of the certificate’s face value.

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By: Patty Sleboda pattys@ebizinsider.com

If you’re reeling from this year’s holiday season and want to hibernate, bring your laptop! This is a perfect time for a holiday review. While it’s good to see how well you did compared to previous years, it is also good to see how your online competitors have done. No two businesses are identical, but this may help give you a baseline for comparison and improvement.

E-commerce is still exploding. Forrester Research expected online holiday retail sales to increase 21% in 2007. How did you do? No time like the present to review the past! Many lessons from the holiday season can be carried through the year.

Your year-end review should include:

1) Website Analytics

2) Promotional Activity

3) Marketing Performance

4) Inventory Management

5) Customer Service

Website Analytics

If you created special holiday gift sections or categories; how did they perform? Rather than examining the number of people who visited those sections, instead see if the holiday promotions increased conversions. Study the data to see if people shopped via search, regular categories or the gift sections.

Many analytic programs give you this type of insight with the click of the mouse, but if you don’t have those stats readily available then compare the number of visitors to that page with the sales of the products in that area. Make a note of any changes that might boost traffic and awareness to those areas.

Promotional Activity

Promotions are more important than ever during the holiday season. Review which promotions drove the most traffic to your website and which promotions led to the most sales. Ask basic questions. What worked, what didn’t and why? Which promotions generated the best conversions? Best sales?

If you see a promotion that generated traffic but few conversions, you may need to tweak your landing page, the spot where you send your customers. If a holiday promotion worked, see if it has success during the rest of the year. Tweak and refine your promotions to boost sales.

Marketing Performance

Review your holiday marketing efforts. You might have the right message, but did you get it in front of the right people? How well did your banner perform? How about your pay-per-click marketing? Did you see any improvement during the holiday season?

Analyze the traffic and see which types of marketing provided the highest conversions. Then, focus your marketing budget on the winners.

Inventory Management

All the data analysis in the world won’t help if you’re out of stock. If you had problems filling specific orders because your inventory ran out the door too quickly, fix the problem. Review past holidays sales and plan on increasing inventory levels by September. Monitor new items or items that you feel will be big sellers during the holiday season and adjust stock accordingly.

Do you have extra inventory on hand that didn’t move as quickly as you hoped? Get rid of it! Now is a perfect time for a website promotion or e-mail blast. Get rid of any excess inventory now and fill your shelves with products that will move.

Customer Service

Service is vital during the holidays. You may have been able to get away with e-mail correspondence the rest of the year, not during the holidays. Your customers want attention! Toll-free numbers are worth their weight in gold for confused customers. Providing live chat services allows you to answer questions immediately, without requiring someone to pick up a phone. Review the complaints you logged this year and see where you can improve. While you’re at it, remember to improve your strengths too.

There is no excuse for letting your customer service voice mail fill up. If you found yourself overwhelmed this year with calls, e-mails and chats, consider adding part-time help during the peak season or talk to an outside call center.

Looking Ahead

After completing your holiday review, take the next step and create a roadmap for the coming year. Note important deadlines and dates so you don’t find yourself making changes at the last minute, or worse, the same mistakes as this past year. Make the effort now so that you can reap the rewards tomorrow (and beyond).

We all know the challenge of driving traffic to your website and trying to convert the sale. There are endless features available for your e-commerce website, but which ones will have the most effect on your shoppers? Following are some features that every e-commerce site should have available to their customers.

Claim Your Shoppers

Customer Login is commonplace among e-commerce sites. Your customers can create unique accounts, save their information for later use, see past orders placed and even set reminders to purchase items for gifts. A personalized site is easier to use and will keep your store the “go to” site. In addition to giving your shoppers this great functionality, as a merchant you can add additional marketing elements to the registration process and gather valuable material for e-mail marketing campaigns. When customers create accounts, they can request e-mail about certain products of interest. Merchants can then target certain markets when doing marketing for sales.

Make it Easy

While many shoppers may know what product they want, they still often do some research before actually buying. While your site may be better, many shoppers will purchase from the place with the most info. Adding a Product (User) Reviews section to your product detail pages will allow your visitors to read and write reviews for your products, keeping the potential shopper in the buying cycle. Merchants can also use the Product Reviews functionality to perform post-sale marketing by sending an e-mail to the shopper inviting them to express their own comments about the item in exchange for a coupon code or other special promotion.

Many shoppers like research but many more really don’t want to think about it. By offering the right products for that particular client base you can help them make their decisions.

Make it Obvious

By offering featured and/or best-selling items on your home page, your visitors see what’s hot and what’s not with your particular offerings. Display these options right on the home page so shoppers can click onto an item and start the buying cycle. Making items rotate and appear differently on each page load will also help your site appear constantly updated.

Cross Sell

Cross Sell items can help turn a 1 item sale into a multiple item sale. This works best on item pages and on the shopping cart page of the checkout process. Recommending accessories at a discount price at the time of purchase will entice your shoppers to buy more.

Help Them Navigate

If shoppers are navigating around your site, consider adding Recently Viewed Items. By implementing this feature on your category and item pages, shoppers will be able to see the last few items they reviewed and click directly into those items. Consider category page shopping tools such as a comparison feature where shoppers can see key product information side by side for many items and purchase directly from that page. This can reduce the number of page views as well as increase your conversions by making it much easier for a shopper to make an educated decision.

Don’t forget about the search aspect of your e-commerce site. Marketing Sherpa studies have shown that 48% of visitors search for an item in the search box when they first enter a site. A good internal search function that allows your shoppers to refine their searches based on price and relevance will make it easy for them to find the items they want and then make the purchase.

Summing Up

To know what features will best help your site, listen to your customers’ suggestions. Also, study your analytic data to see where you are driving the most traffic as well as getting the highest bounce rate. Use every feature you can to make your site work better and give your customers what they need. If it helps, add it. Remember, the easier the shopping process, the happier the shopper. And we all like happy shoppers…!

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By: John Tomkoski johnt@ebizinsider.com

A major challenge of e-commerce is helping your customers communicate what they want while being largely limited to using the written word. They usually don’t have verbal exchange with your sales person nor do they get to use their hands to describe what they want to buy. To compound the problem for online shoppers, there is spelling. What if it’s not perfect? Ironically, when you are in school, misspellings may cost you some points, but in the pay-per-click (PPC) world, if you don’t include misspellings in your advertising plan, it may cost you money!

When building PPC campaigns, you must keep the user in mind. Think of keyword variations that a customer is likely to use when entering a term into search. The better you can read their habits, the more you will profit!

Sometimes users misspell keywords because they do not know the correct spelling. Others misspell because they are typing too quickly and make typographical errors. Some users search by using the singular form of the term; others search by using the plural form. In cases where a brand or term includes an apostrophe or dash, some customers search with the punctuation, others leave it off.

Let’s examine a few examples by using the term “clearance baby blanket”:

Misspellings:

A common misspelling of the word clearance is: cleareance.

As a result, you may want to consider including the following keyword in your account:

cleareance baby blanket.

In addition, many people learn about products through word-of-mouth or radio advertising. In those cases, because consumers might not see the product spelled correctly at first, they may mishear or misunderstand the name of the product. This occurs frequently with brand names, so if you have such a product, consider adding an array of keyword misspelling variations accordingly.

Typos:

Many people will mis-key the word blanket as: blaket

So, it makes sense to include the following keyword in your account: clearance baby blaket

Variations:

Some users search with informal nicknames for products. In this case, we’ll consider a variation of the word blanket: blankie

This would give us a new keyword: clearance baby blankie

This is an important area where you can use your imagination to your advantage. You know your products and their “pet” names. Make sure you cover the variations.

Plurals:

Consumers are not always consistent when searching singular vs. plural forms of keywords. For example, in addition to the term clearance baby blanket, include some plural versions: clearance baby blankets and clearance babies blankets.

Symbols:

If we further explore the opportunities, we can find additional keyword variations with and without common symbols such as dashes or apostrophes:

clearance baby’s blankets and clearance babys blankets

General keywords tend to have high costs and low conversion rates; however some general keywords may be very relevant to your business. Control the cost-per-acquisition (CPA) by including a mix of general keywords (which convert at higher CPA’s), coupled with terms derived from misspellings and other variations (which convert at lower CPA’s). You can reduce your overall CPA for the entire category and get more efficient use of your budget.

Win with Logic, Imagination and Technology

So, how do you manage and target the endless number of variations when the rule is that there are no rules? Stay focused. Use logic, common sense, and a little bit of creativity. Most important, use keyword research tools! Google, Yahoo! and MSN all offer free keyword suggestion tools for account owners. Numerous companies offer keyword research software for a fee. Investigate the options and decide, but take advantage of the advances available. Always keep in mind that you want to include keywords with search volume; otherwise, you could be wasting valuable time.

Remember the keys to making the grade and capturing sales:

• Misspellings • Plurals

• Typos • Symbols

• Variations

Some search engines and keyword match types will account for certain misspellings and variations, but why take the chance? Be sure your campaigns include common keyword alternatives [in addition to the correctly spelled terms] so you can capitalize on opportunities that your competitors are missing!

Best of luck in your PPC endevors—oops! I mean. . . endeavors!

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By: Robyn Craig robync@ebizinsider.com

If you’re an e-commerce merchant, a credit card processor—usually but not always a bank—is handling your credit card business. There is also a gateway acting as an information conduit to your processor. It is critical for modern businesses to work with credit card processors and the gateways which transmit our transactions back and forth at hyper-speed. But remember, banks are businesses too. So are gateways. That means they’re in competition with other companies offering similar services. Use that basic business tenet to your advantage and the savings you negotiate around your credit card fees can add up to real money over time.

Let’s Make a Deal If you’re just starting out, don’t simply take the first offer you get. Shop around. If you’re in business and you want to stay with your current processor, fine. But get a competitive bid from another company and see if your people can match it. Prepare to be pleasantly surprised!

Know the Territory

Learn the kinds of margins your bank has to manage. Find out what the “Interchange Fees” are. Interchange is the “cost” structure in which all fees are based. Interchange fees are rates charged by Visa and Mastercard; and they are published for you to see. By comparing what your bank charges you to the published fees, a merchant can see how much money the processor is making on your account. This gives you more room to negotiate. Unfortunately, the processor makes substantially less money than the actual card “issuing” banks, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for you to save money. Keep in mind that the Interchange rates set by Visa and Mastercard are non-negotiable, only the “markup” between the published rates and what you are actually charged are.

Examine Your Fees

Remember, these are banks, so think “free checking.” There are many areas where the seemingly monolithic lender can be flexible if you know where to look.

Statement fees and supplies charges— avoid them when possible. These fees are virtually pure profit for the credit card processor. Supplies charges include things like signage, door stickers, register tapes and the like. And you need them, why? Unless you have a bricks-and-mortar store, they don’t even apply for e-business. Get them waived. The statement fee is what the bank charges you—for sending you your own bill! Sadly, it does cost them something, but pay attention! It usually costs vastly less than the fee they want to charge you.

Setup fees—Fight them. If the bank wants your business badly enough they’ll waive them.

Early cancellation fees— these generally exist in the processing bank’s contract. Fight to get these waived.

Chargeback fees— These are very negotiable. A chargeback is when a consumer says they didn’t authorize the charge to their card. The chargeback fee is the administrative “cost” for the investigation and research that the processing bank must do. Negotiate this fee. Standard chargeback fees are around $35 per incident, but you can negotiate a much better rate.

Per-transaction fees—Any little bit helps. This is the fee on each sale you ring through to your processor. Study the interchange rates. Any reduction here is multiplied times your number of sales. Any increment can be a genuine savings.

The Payment Gateway

A payment gateway is the software application for e-commerce merchants and mail order/telephone merchants that authorizes and settles the payment transaction data. In traditional retail, it is the network that transmits and encrypts the data between the merchant and the processing banks. Yahoo! provides this service as part of its e-commerce package at no extra charge. Many other platforms do not include this and so again, you have an opportunity for real savings if you negotiate. Most gateways have transaction costs involved. Negotiate these rates, or use a system like “Yahoo! Small Business Merchant Solutions” where the gateway is included at no extra charge.

Summing Up

The bad news is that the processor is only an intermediary and, unlike most banks, work at a very small profit margin. Still, any cut in your fees, especially something high-volume like a per-transaction fee, can mean a real savings over thousands of transactions. The key to remember is, you have leverage because they have competition. Watch the numbers and shop around.

For further information:

Visa Interchange Rates

Master Card Interchange Rates

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By: Joe Palko joep@solidcactus.com

A small business owner contacted me recently in a panic. A “hacker” had compromised his web hosting account and used it for “phishing.” His website had been immediately shut down and years of hard work had been lost. Phishing is such a risk to identity theft that if such activity is identified on any of your shared or even dedicated web hosting accounts, most companies will immediately delete your data without notice. This is an ugly, dangerous business and you’d better take it seriously.

How Hackers do it - Phishing is the use of fake websites which hackers establish to try to get you to reveal your username and password. Once they have your info, they attempt to log into your accounts and steal your personal information.

Hackers won’t host this information on their own web servers or websites it would be too easy for them to get caught. Instead, they attempt to discover the username and password of YOUR web hosting accounts. Once they access the information, they set up shop inside of your web hosting, where they establish replicas of popular websites such as Bank of America, Paypal, Washington Mutual, Yahoo!, etc. Then they’ll send out e-mail like the one below.

“Dear PayPal User, Recently we have made new updates to our services. We would like you to log in and see all the new features that are available at http://www.paypal.com.”

The key is, when you click the link for “paypal.com” it will go to something like: “http://www.paypal.com.securityonlinelogin.com” or it will have numbers in the url such as: “http://66.512.412.1/paypal.com/index.htm.”

This website of course is NOT PayPal. Hackers have built this to bilk you.

Protect Yourself! - As a consumer, make sure that ANYWHERE you enter a username or password, that it is positively the website you intend to visit. Don’t be fooled by looks! Remember these keys:

a) Examine the URL at the top of the page. Whatever appears right before the .com/ should be the name of the website you intend to visit.

b) Enable security features on all websites you frequently visit. For example, Bank of America requires you to choose a personal image (Site Key) where you enter your passkey. A Bank of America login page without a personal Site Key is not official. Many companies also allow you to choose an image for authentication.

c) Avoid clicking links within e-mail. If you get a security message from PayPal, instead of clicking the link inside the message, type www.paypal.com into your browser and proceed from there.

d) Run virus protection and a firewall on any computer you use to access the Internet. “Key stroke logging” programs infect your computer when you merely visit unscrupulous websites.

e) Make sure you are in a secure environment. The URL in the browser should have https: in front. Internet Explorer shows a Yellow Lock at the bottom of the screen for IE version 6. In IE version 7, the lock is next to the URL. In Firefox, the lock is at the bottom of the browser page.

f) Avoid P2P software such as music sharing programs.

Beware the “Bots” - Merchants should remember that “automated bots” or scripts are continuously trying to figure out the passwords to your website. Almost every website has the ability for FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to be used. If hackers learn your website’s FTP, they can use your web hosting account info for unscrupulous activity. To prevent this:

a) Change passwords for anything that requires frequent password use.

b) Change passwords whenever people leave your company.

c) Choose STRONG passwords. Use at least 8 characters and include capital letters and numbers (e.g. tY7uXnkZ). Avoid repetitive numbers, letters, or personal information (e.g. phone number or birthday).

d) Check the list of authorized FTP users to your website frequently, and remove access to users which no longer qualify.

e) Run firewall and virus protection on EVERY computer in your organization, even those without Internet access (many viruses are spread on removable media devices such as USB drives).

f) Avoid P2P software such as music sharing programs.

g) Scan your network frequently.

The stakes are high! For more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

E-commerce is uniquely positioned to take advantage of rapidly emerging international markets. However, all countries and products come with their own rules. Pay attention!

Know the Territory — Some underdeveloped countries are breeding grounds for fraud. Nigeria and Indonesia rarely offer legitimate sales. Remember: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Fed Ex and UPS will provide you with “free” international guides to help you understand import rules. Meat based products from the USA are not allowed into European Union countries without proper documentation. Mexico has restrictions on Chinese made fabrics. Island countries like New Zealand and Australia fear invasive species and rarely accept plant-based products. Check the import guides.

Duties, Taxes, and Postal Systems Vary Widely — All countries charge import duties and taxes, and if the receiving client does not pay them, you will. Make sure international customers understand your terms.

It is cheap to ship UPS Ground to Canada, but UPS charges a $45 - $75 brokerage fee in addition to duty and tax. The Postal Service does not. So, go postal or consider UPS Expedited Service which bundles brokerage fees into the shipping price. Negotiate these issues with your shipping carrier.

Avoid shipping regular air mail or surface mail to countries with poor postal systems. For example, air mail delivery in Italy often takes 6 months. Mexican and Brazilian postal systems have very high theft rates of packages. When in doubt, use UPS, DHL or FedEx. The Postal Service also subcontracts reliable “International Priority” to third party carriers.

Exports are profit centers for FedEx, DHL and UPS. They will create favorable export rates and offer deep discounts. NEVER pay book rate!

Verify, Verify, Verify!! — Address verification does not work on most foreign-issued credit cards. You will generally lose charge backs. Many merchants require wire transfers for initial orders before accepting credit cards. For large dollar value orders, you may want to consider setting up a separate checking account with your bank for wire transfers. Your customers can wire funds into this account and you can transfer the money into your regular operating account. Never leave a balance in a bank account used for wire transfers.

Avoid the Costly MistakesοΏ½ — Make sure all packages are documented properly, and the contents and values are clearly and correctly stated on the bill of lading. If customs in your destination country refuses the package, you will usually be responsible to pay for shipping in both directions. International sales can be a gold mine if you can avoid the land mines!