A D V E R T I S E M E N T Infopia Marketplace Manager Many Yahoo! Store owners have already learned why Marketplace Manager is the perfect complement to their Yahoo! Stores. Marketplace Manager allows you to increase sales, product exposure, and customer acquisition by easily and intelligently selling your Yahoo! Store inventory on multiple, high-traffic, online marketplaces. Get your FREE consultation today!

In the Spotlight:

Commission Junction Pays Off Our partnership with Commission Junction makes it easy to integrate an affiliate marketing program with your Yahoo! Store. Commission Junction helps merchants like you launch pay-for-performance marketing programs, rapidly and cost-effectively, while avoiding the hassle of running your own software-driven programs. The folks at TheFerretStore.com wrote us with details of their successful efforts: "The return on investment is superb... So far, I have been with Commission Junction since Yahoo! allowed us to go live with it, and each month my delivered impressions are growing significantly. After I pay out all my commissions, I am averaging a CPM of $2.40 -- most targeted! The convenience is wonderful. I get many companies that are trying to sell me ad space on their web sites... Having the Commission Junction account allows me to say, 'I'm not interested at this time, but we do have an affiliate program, and I would be willing to give you a rate of n% for every sale generated.' (CJ allows us to set custom rates for affiliates). This means that I no longer lose money on a pay-per-impression deal -- we only pay when there is a sale! Another advantage -- I currently have a few thousand publishers. Every web site that my store appears on is one more exposure for my company. Many search engines rank sites based on 'relevance and popularity' - the extra exposure makes my site more relevant and popular, and engines index the sites that my links are on. Commission Junction may seem expensive, but this form of advertising works! Don't get me wrong; it takes about six months to begin to see the return. Also, it is work -- you have to work your publishers by giving them incentives. You also have to update your banners and graphics frequently, but it is all worth it. This is one of the best advertising decisions I have made. Thanks Yahoo!"

Update:

New, Improved Order-Flagging Feature We've added a new feature on the order processing page to improve your ability to track orders. Merchants can now mark orders as returned, cancelled, and fraudulent. Once you've flagged a transaction, a second screen will ask you to explain why the order was returned, cancelled, or deemed fraudulent. This also supports our ongoing efforts to prevent fraud and revenue loss (and reduce their negative impact on e-commerce). In order to emphasize and enforce our strong position, we will monitor order-flagging activity in Yahoo! Store, contact customers periodically to verify returned and cancelled order status, and send legal warnings to obvious offenders. The proprietor of NeedJewelry.com was enthusiastic about the improved order page and offered some useful feedback: "Thank you for adding the cancelled and returned categories to orders. This will help tremendously with accounting and proper order filling. This is one of the best features you've added in a long time." Thanks for the thumbs-up and for all your great suggestions! Learn more about the new order page options.

What's Working for You:

The Powerful New Ad Manager In December, we introduced Ad Manager, a do-it-yourself advertising tool that lets you create and upload your own banner ad, choose keywords, and purchase a given number of targeted impressions on the Yahoo! Network. The merchants at Alltea.com wrote in to tell us how much they love the Ad Manager program: "Another impressive service from Yahoo! Store. We always use the Store tool to create our banners because it is so simple and incredibly versatile. Over the holidays we created an ad for tea gift baskets, and, based on the data from that, ran two more campaigns: one using keywords for teapots and kettles, another for a specific type of tea. The beauty is that you can monitor impressions and click-throughs and figure out which keywords work and which don't." The beauty of Alltea.com's banner design speaks for itself.

Store Building Tip:

This "Bullet-image" Does Double Duty Create a custom look and feel for bulleted lists on Item or Section pages within your Store. Use the "Bullet-image" variable to upload an icon that matches the overall look and feel of your Store, or upload an icon to use locally on special theme pages or seasonal content. We all know that products sell most effectively when accompanied by an image, but for those rare instances when you don't have access to an image for a particular product, upload an iconic bullet-image that reads "Image Unavailable." This bullet replaces the thumbnail in the contents area of the appropriate Item or Section pages. Here's how to upload a "Bullet-image": Go to Variables. Upload an image to "Bullet-image." Make sure "Bullet" is one of the selections on "Contents-elements." (Hold down the Ctrl key while you select "Bullet" to ensure that you don't deselect the other options you're planning to use.)

Request for Feedback:

We Depend on Your Success We've said it before, we'll say it again: We're always interested in your feedback. Of course, we especially like to hear about what we're doing right. If Yahoo! Store has helped you build a profitable online business, please let us know. Do you own a specialty store with seasonal products -- Celtic crafts or Irish collectibles for St. Patrick's Day; garden essentials or springtime surprises; gifts for moms, dads, and grads? Tell us about it. Do you have a Yahoo! Store rags-to-riches saga to share? Have you found financial independence? Decided to quit your day job? Are you a full-time parent staying at home while minding your store and raising your child? Have you turned a hobby or pastime into a source of livelihood? We would love to hear your special story! Submit your story.