Feature

TIAS

1.a  Hits per month

~180,000,000

1.b  Unique visitors per day

~200,000

1.d  Unique items listed

~520,000 unique items

1.e  Total inventory (some items are in multiples)

1.6 million total items

1.f   Inventory $ listed at selling price

$150 million

1.g  Pages on site

1,000,000 +

2.a  Stores-based merchandise display

yes

2.b  Site-wide search engine

yes

2.c  Search engine methodology

results returned based on relevance to customer search term; identical items weighted by sale price

2.d  Site-wide display of merchandise by category

yes

2.e  Organization of merchandise in category-based display

chronological; newest first

2.f  Customer has 'own account' and can view order while in process at store

yes

2.g  Customer can see all orders placed in the mall on a single 'statement'

yes

2.h  Shipping /tracking information posted to order is accessible to customer online

yes

2.i   Customer is automatically notified of order shipment and order status changes

yes

2.j   Customer orders placed through shopping cart

yes

3.a  Individual support via email

yes

3.b  Group support via bulletin board system

yes

3.c  Bulletin board  type

open

3.d Online tutorial

yes

3.e  Context sensitive help

yes

3.f  Option for custom design and programming

yes

3.g  Frequency of software features, additions and upgrades

monthly

3.h  Offer individualized business coaching and site performance improvement tutoring

yes, no charge for basic support

4.a  Each store has an individual appearance

yes

4.b  Stores permitted to have individual backgrounds, colors, text, etc

yes

4.c  Each store has individual search engine

yes

4.d  Ability to create and use custom inventory categories

yes

4.e  Ability to list in multiple categories

no

4.f  Limitation on number of items displayed

no

4.g  Ability to customize store performance (sales tax collection, shipping calculation, customer messages, inventory status set after order complete etc.)

yes

4.h  Store can define text content without using HTML

yes

4.i   Ability to define automatic inventory discount structures (after x days, change price by y%)

no

4.j   Option for displaying inventory at offsite auction

yes

4.k  Shopping Cart

yes, free

4.l   Integrated credit processing w/ cart

Optional, not required

4.m Payment methods supported in shopping cart

money order, check, bidpay, paypal, billpoint, amex, visa, mc, diners club, electron,

4.n  Real-time tax calculation in shopping cart

yes

4.o  Supports multiple taxing bodies per store

yes

4.p  Supports tax rates by county, parish, zip code

New York, NJ and California

4.q  Real-time shipping calculation in cart

yes; supports sliding scale calculation or UPS

4.r  Shippers supported

FedEx Ground
Best way: 2 Days
Best way: 3-7 Days
Best Way: Next Day
Don't ship
Pick Up
Federal Express 2-day
FedEx First Overnight
FedEx Priority Overnight
FedEx Standard Overnight
FedEx Express Saver
UPS 2nd Day Air
UPS 2nd Day Air AM
UPS 3 Day Select
UPS Canada Standard
UPS Ground
UPS Next Day Air
UPS Next Day Air Early A.M.
UPS Next Day Air Intra
UPS Next Day Air Saver
UPS Worldwide Expedited
UPS Worldwide Express
UPS Worldwide Express Plus
Viking
USPS 4th Class Book Rate
USPS Express Mail
USPS Priority Mail Insured
USPS Priority Mail Uninsured
USPS Registered Mail
USPS Regular Mail
USPS Regular Mail Insured
USPS International Airmail
USPS Economy Parcel Post
USPS International Ground
Emery Worldwide
Chronopost Express
Chronopost Priority
Chronopost Regular
Canada Post Air Mail
Canada Post Surface Mail
Canada Post Xpresspost
New Zealand Post Air
New Zealand Post Economy
New Zealand Post Express
Airborne
Purolator
DHL
Royal Mail Air Freight
Royal Mail Surface Freight
Pakmail
Pakmail Priority
Customer pick-up
RPS

4.s Ability to create and issue coupons to customers ('use this coupon for $x off on your next order over $y')

yes

4.t  Coupon processing in shopping cart

yes

4.u Ability to stock and sell downloadable items (pdfs, documentation, images, software, etc)

yes, dispensing of item is integrated with shopping cart; requires real-time credit interface

4.v Ability to define inventory units of measure and display throughout system

yes

4.w Ability to define inventory units of sale and show this as quantity of purchase  in the shopping cart ('this item is sold in lots of six, so the consumer sees 6,12, 18 etc in the quantity selection')

yes

4.x Ability to define minimum purchase quantities in the shopping cart this item is $10 in quantities under 10 and $8 in quantities of 10 or greater)

yes

4.y Store owner can define and use optional inventory fields

yes; optional fields are Year, Type, Weight, Size, ISBN, Author, Publisher, Edition, Pages, Dealer, Price, Retail/Book Price, Purchase Cost, Minimum Auction Price, Reserve auction price, UPC Code, Make Vs Buy, Country of Origin

4.z System generates pick tickets for shippable orders

yes

4.aa System generates customer invoices

yes

4.ab System generates paper file copies of orders

yes

5.a Email / spam filtering

optional

5.b Links page

yes

5.c Tip of the day (or other variable content)

yes

5.d Site Calendar

yes

5.e Merchant Account

yes, optional; will assist sites in obtaining merchant account.  One-time charge payable to merchant account vendor

5.f Store owner can have own domain name

yes, extra charge if URL hosting is provided by TIAS

6.a Supports batch upload of inventory data

yes, .csv, zip or txt

6.b Supports batch export of inventory data

yes, .csv

6.c Supports batch export of order data

yes .csv

6.d Supports real-time synchronization with external inventory system

yes, (FAST XML-based protocol)

6.e Supports real-time synchronization with external system shopping carts

yes, (FAST XML-based protocol)

6.f Supports data interchange with UPS Worldship

both import and export

6.g Licensed UPS API developer

yes

6.h Licensed USPS API developer

yes

7.a Inventory allocation; pick ticket generation by order priority and location

yes

7.b Bar-coded inventory picket ticket printing optimized by location code,

yes (extra charge item, this is a LARGE piece of client-based software and also requires the purchase of an electronic scale and a bar-code scanner)

7.c automated inventory relief based on processing of bar-coded pick tickets) Automated interface of shipping process to external shippers (shipment registration, label printing, etc)

USPS, UPS (extra charge item, see above; account must have daily pickup option arranged with UPS if UPS is desired.  Worldship is a better choice for small organizations)

7.d Annual Physical Inventory (generate count sheets, support batch input, provide trial balance and actual reports)

yes

7.e Inventory transaction visibility

yes, (shows all changes in price, title, quantity, reservation/allocation/release activity by shopping carts, sales, etc)

7.f Multiple warehouses per store

yes, common use is for stores that sell things like restoration supplies or display items to show buyers a fixed amount of product while maintaining larger stocking levels (for instance, the store may have 100 of something, but displaying a LONG dropdown list tends to blow up Netscape and there's no point if no one buys more than 5 of the item)

7.g Inventory Types Supported

Almost any type of inventory that can be sold online.  Specific support for these types:

1. one-of-a-kind,

2. replenishable,

3. serialized / non-serialized (includes features for serial number generation and dispense)

4. downloadable

5. time based (appointments, events)

8.a Allow creation of purchase orders for recurring items

yes

8.b Ability to define inventory items as 'made', 'purchased', 'drop ship' etc.

yes

8.c Ability to define critical stocking levels on items and to receive automated reporting of stocking level threshold triggers

yes

8.d Ability to create POs from items at or below critical stocking levels

yes

8.e  Support Inventory receiving versus PO

yes

9.a Ability to upload inventory in batch to auction

yes

9.b Auction upload fees

no

9.c Limitations on number of items at auction

no

9.d Automatic interface from closing auctions to secure shopping cart

yes

9.e Revenue reporting on auction revenue, margins, etc.

yes

9.f Licensed eBay API developer

yes

10.a Dealer listings on main 'mall' page

Optional, no more than twice per week, no charge

10.b New site promotion type and cost

yes,  main mall page and in newsletter

10.c New site submission to search engines

free submission to 85,000 search engines and utilities

10.d Scheduled marketing events

yes; 'secret sale' and other events to drive interest and site traffic

10.e Site indexed by public search engines (Google, Yahoo!, etc)

yes

10.f Ability to feature merchandise on store's own pages

free

10.g Ability to feature merchandise on site home page or category pages

$5/5000 impressions on the main page, billable in $1 increments; $1/2000 impressions on other pages.

10.h Automatic inventory feed to offsite sales venues  (Froogle, Yahoo! shopping, Yahoo! Classifieds, etc)

yes; all inventory uploaded nightly

10.i Dealer can list inventory on more than one site

yes

10.j Dealer tools include the ability create and use email lists from prior sales

yes

10.k Ability to create targeted email lists (by product type, geographical region, and by customer performance characteristics such as annual or lifetime sales value)

yes

10.l Ability to create physical mail lists/labels (by product type, geographical region, and by customer performance characteristics such as annual or lifetime sales value)

yes

10.m Newsletter or other routine corporate publication program

Newsletter:  254,000 circulation, distributed 2x week; Antique Business News (trade publication) 1x month

10.n Purchased print advertising

no

10.o Company has active press interface program (major media -- Time Magazine, WSJ, other similar mainstream periodicals as well as specialize print and broadcast media such as Kovels)

yes

10.p Corporation is active in conferences, shows and other public forums

yes

10.q Provide discounted 'show' opportunities for dealers and customers

yes

10.r Free, downloadable professional marketing materials (business cards, tent cards, store placards, etc)

yes

10.s Other advertising materials -- shopping bags, pens, etc

Available at shows and other physical venues only; no charge.  Actual items available vary, shopping bags are common

10.t Portal links (MSN, AOL, Yahoo! etc)

Yahoo!, MSN

11.a Sales tax reporting

yes

11.b Cost basis reporting on sales

yes

11.c Revenue /margin reporting by product line (category)

yes

11.d Revenue /margin reporting by month, day, year

yes

11.e Uncosted inventory report/ costed inventory, etc

yes

11.f Physical Inventory Trial Balance / Application reports

yes

11.g Credit Card Clearances by day, by month, and year, card type

yes

11.h Credit Card Declines by day, by month and year

yes

12.a Detailed Daily Traffic reports (traffic source, referring phrases, etc)

Extensive; standard web-trends type reports

12.b Trended Site Traffic

yes

12.c Advertising Measurements (views and click thrus on banners, feature items, etc, by location)

yes

12.d Customer Returns analysis

yes

12.e Abandoned Shopping Cart Trends

yes

12.f Abandoned Shopping Cart Detail

yes

12.g Open Orders Reporting

yes

12.h Order Backlog Reporting

yes

12.i Customer History Analysis

yes

13.a Monthly fee per item listed

no

13.b One-time fee per item listed

no

13.c Option for monthly-paid fixed price store

yes, $99 (merchandise must qualify, however)

13.d Commission on fixed price sales

10%

13.e Commission on auction sales

2%

13.f Minimum monthly fee

$29.95

13.g Mandatory fees (advertising, etc)

none

13.h Fees for enhancing search engine performance

TIAS does not accept payment for improving the rank of sites in our results.

13.i Main page listing price

Free to store owners

13.j Payment Structure

Fixed price sites billed in advance, commission sites in arrears

14.a Year founded

1995

14.b Corporate Structure

Delaware Corporation, domiciled in Texas, privately held

14.c Financing type

Revenue-based

14.d Financial Health

Excellent