“The iPad 2 is attractive, smart, and fun to be around – Just like your Valentine,” says Apple. And with that, they are offering free engraving through the Apple online store. “To my sweetheart, who loves Angry Birds almost as much as she loves me,” perhaps.

Apple has a Valentine’s Day gift guide as well that suggests iPad accessories, iPhone gifts, as well as designer gifts to compliment various Apple devices.

Apple is also offering free shipping on any item that’s on the Valentine’s Day gift guide, even if it doesn’t reach the $50 threshold usually set for Apple’s free shipping.

If you’re going to get your beau an engraved tablet for Valentine’s Day, just make sure they know to get you more than a box of chocolates.

I don’t think much more explanation is needed.

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One thing’s for sure. Time is running out.

But they did begin a helpful initiative that should coax hesitant buyers into snatching up smaller items via the online store.

Starting today, Apple is offering free shipping on everything – no matter how inexpensive. Usually, you have to hit $50 before Apple’s free shipping kicks in. This could boost online sales of smaller items like cases, chargers and other accessories.

Although Apple is not participating in the Cyber Monday deals, they did have a sale on Black Friday both online and in-store. That one-day-only sale saw discounts as small at $10 to discounts totaling $100 on larger items like MacBooks. From the initial reports, it looks like that one-day sale was a success. Apple sources have reported that the day was the biggest day in terms of retail sales in company’s history.

It’s a running joke that Apple rarely gives anyone a discount on anything – and there is some merit to it. Their Black Friday deals weren’t as ambitious as some other retailers. And they aren’t participating in any deals today, on the biggest online shopping day of the season.

But free shipping on everything is helpful and it might make it easier for people to order smaller items without feeling like they are wasting money.

The free shipping period ends December 22nd.

Lex Friedman, of Macworld.com, wrote a humorous piece about how his baby woke him up in time to place his iPad 2 order, “After the 4 a.m. (Eastern) diaper change that he demanded early Friday morning, I fired up my laptop to place my online order—mere minutes after Apple began accepting such online requests.” he concludes the story, “As my bleary, sleep-deprived eyes studied the online Apple Store’s iPad selection screen, I saw that it was indicating iPads would begin shipping in 3 to 5 business days.”

There’s bound to be all sorts of crazy yarns to pile up as the iPad 2 goes on sale later today. WebProNews has already reported of a gentleman who was willing to pay $900 for a place in line, along with the added cost of actually buying the device.

At least with the online purchase, you know what you’re getting into. It might not be pleasing to wait 2-3 weeks, or have to wake up at 4 a.m. but it sure beats the onslaught of what is bound to happen at 5 p.m.

Paul Misener, Amazon VP for Global Public Policy gave a testimony at a hearing in Washington on the future of the U.S. Postal Service (hat tip to Eric Engleman). Here are some notable quotes from that (the entire statement can be read here):

"Amazon enjoys a strong and extensive relationship with the Postal Service. The USPS is an integral part of the service we provide our customers. Globally, we spent well over a billion dollars last year on outbound shipping – an increase of over 20% from 2008. In dollars, we spend nine figures annually on the USPS, with over two million shipments per average week via the Postal Service."

"While they may be willing to wait until Monday or Tuesday for a bill they don’t really want; an advertisement they didn’t ask for; or a magazine to which they subscribed long ago; they expect the items they purchased this week to be delivered as soon as possible."

Netflix takes a different view. "A well-functioning Postal Service, positioned over the long haul to meet changing customer and consumer demand, is more important than maintaining current delivery frequency," said Netflix chief service and DVD operations officer, Andrew Rendich, at that hearing. (via Bloomberg Businessweek)

While Netflix certainly accounts for a great deal of mail deliveries around the country, its interests are quite different than those of Amazon’s, so the difference in opinion isn’t that hard to believe.

For one, Netflix believes the future is in streaming when it comes to movies, and it would just as soon have customers using its streaming service more. In fact, the company is making deals with distributors to bolster their streaming catalog. Don’t be surprised if streaming becomes the main business model for the company in the future.

At the same time, it is also in Netflix’s best interest for customers to rent a lower rate of DVDs by mail. This means less shipping costs for them while they get to charge the same amount to customers. Amazon on the other hand wants to get its products to customers as quickly as possible to keep them ordering more.

What do you think about the idea of Saturday mail delivery coming to an end? Are you for it or against it? Discuss here.

"December proved to be a strong month for the retail category with Tuesday, Dec. 15 ranking as the heaviest online spending day of the year – and of all time – at $913 million," said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix.

"Holiday seasonality also fueled visitation to Shipping sites, which continually see their highest volume of traffic during the month of December."

Not surprisingly, retails sites climbed in December as Americans search the Internet for holiday deals. The top gaining retail categories were jewelry/luxury goods/accessories, sports/outdoor, and flower/gifts /greeting sites, each growing more than 20 percent compared to November.

Jewelry/luxury goods/accessories sites attracted nearly 23 million visitors during the month, representing a 30 percent increase from November. eBags led the category with 2.9 million visitors (up 28 %), followed by Coach.com with 2.2 million visitors (up 26 percent), Zale Corporation with 2.1 million (up 48 %) and Kay Jewelers with 1.7 million (up 69 %).

Sports/outdoor sites grew to nearly 39 million visitors during the month, a 25 percent increase compared to November, led by eBay Sports with 5.1 million visitors (up 21%), trailed closely by Cabelas with 5 million visitors (up 26%). Dicks Sporting Goods followed with 4.6 million visitors (up 39%) and Sports Authority with 2.9 million visitors (up 29%).

Flowers/gifts/greetings sites saw a 23-percent gain, reaching nearly 39.8 million unique visitors in December. American Greetings led the category with 13.6 million visitors (up 18 %), followed by Gifts.com with 6.8 million (up 49 %), Hallmark with 5.6 million (up 46 %) and 1-800-Flowers.com with 2.9 million (up 48 %).

Traffic to shipping sites spiked in December as Americans rushed to ensure delivery of their gift purchases in time for the holidays. The category attracted 36.6 million visitors during the month, representing a 33-percent increase in traffic. UPS sites led the category with 19.7 million visitors (up 51 %), followed by USPS.com with 15.9 million (up 40 %) and FedEx with 12.6 million (up 36 %).

The e-card category grew 29 percent to 31.7 million visitors. The most visited site was Evite with nearly 8 million visitors (up 16%), followed by AG Interactive with 6.7 million (up 46%), MyFunCards with 5.7 million, and 123Greetings with 4.3 million (up 55%).

Related Articles:

>Cyber Monday Deals Attract Online Shoppers

>Walmart Wins Thanksgiving, Amazon Wins Black Friday

>Online Retailers See Strong Cyber Monday Sales

Now the company has added two new features allowing customers to provide feedback on both Amazon’s and manufacturer’s packaging. Customers can now rate Amazon’s packaging on a four-point scale ranging from "too small" to "way too big."

The information is then used to improve the way Amazon ships products to customers. Customers can also rate how easy it is to open the manufacturer’s original packaging, ranging from "very difficult" to "very easy."

Amazon has also introduced the next phase of its Frustration-Free Packaging initiative, and offers items from electronics manufacturers Kingston and Monster in easy-to-open, environmentally friendly packaging.

"Kingston strives to be as eco-friendly as possible and we’re proud to be a part of Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging efforts," said David Sun, co-founder and chief operating officer, Kingston.

"The majority of Kingston memory products that are sold on Amazon.com come in easy-open, recyclable cases that are just slightly larger than the products themselves, and we’ve even reduced the size of the product guide to fit this smaller package."

eBay sellers can now import their information into WorldShip without having to manually enter data. Sellers can export shipping data from WorldShip and automatically update their orders with UPS tracking numbers.

Jordan Colletta, UPS
VP of Customer
Technology Marketing

eBay  sellers can also process international shipments using UPS Paperless Invoice, an international shipping option within WorldShip. This option allows sellers to submit commercial invoices electronically, saving paper and speeding Customs clearance for their buyer’s orders.

"Direct data transfer of eBay order information to and from WorldShip provides sellers an easy way to ship UPS without the hassle of re-keying information. This frees up precious time for sellers to grow their business," said Jordan Colletta, vice president of customer technology marketing at UPS.

WorldShip is a Windows- based shipping software geared towards sellers who ship five or more packages per day.

"The Paperless Invoice capability within WorldShip and the seamless integration to eBay Selling Manager Applications are two great reasons for eBay sellers to take advantage of this professional productivity tool – all at no cost to the seller," added Colletta.

Contracts with shippers may protect Amazon and some others as companies look for ways to cut costs. Companies such as Amazon and Overstock depend on low or free shipping to attract business.

Free shipping has helped Amazon remain competitive against its rivals. Amazon and other major online retailers have been able to continue to offer free or low cost shipping by reducing waste in other areas.

"Given the surge in fuel costs, it would seem at some level Amazon has got to be facing an impact, given the fact that Amazon Prime’s price has been the same since 2004," Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney told Reuters.

Amazon’s shipping cost increased 47 percent to $128 million from $87 million in the most recent quarter. Total sales were up 37 percent.

"Clearly this has become an increasing source of loss to the company, and an increasing part of their cost structure," Mahaney said, while noting that Amazon is "remarkably focused" on managing its costs.

Amazon has been able to continue to offer its free and discounted shipping because it locked in its transport rates before oil prices rose dramatically.

The strong desire to avoid higher shipping prices will drive more Amazon customers to join Amazon Prime which allows customers to pay a flat yearly fee of $79 for unlimited shipping or customers will buy more items to qualify for Super Saving shipping which requires a minimum $25 order.
 

Lower insertion fees for the first three tiers of media categories give sellers a little relief, as they made enough complaints to prompt eBay to move quickly on that issue. But eBay will not back off its feedback changes.

Sellers can kick and scream all they want about the new feedback system, but that isn’t going to change. The best discounts for sellers from the Detailed Seller Rating (DSR) program means sellers will have to impress buyers on several points.

One of those points directly hits sellers in their wallets. Buyers can rate shipping and handling charges as one of the DSR factors.

As pointed out on the Bits Blog, buyers have long complained about huge shipping fees. Ebay’s Lorrie Norrington, President of eBay Global Marketplace Operations, said in a message from the company the changes focus on improving buyer trust in the marketplace.

A noble statement, but Norrington left out the other part of the shipping fees issue. Sellers routinely jack up shipping fees in order to skirt eBay’s Final Value Fees, which are a percentage of the closing price.

Shipping fees are not part of the Final Value equation, and sellers quickly realized they could offer an item at a lower price and make up some profits on shipping. If you ever wondered how a $6 shipping fee for a book manifested itself as a $1.38 stamp on an envelope, in an example I’ve seen, now you know where the other $4.62 ended up: in the seller’s pocket and out of eBay’s reach.

eBay will turn buyers into a de facto shipping police force through the DSR program. If sellers price shipping as a profit center, buyers who deal with those sellers may choose to knock the shipping cost portion of the DSR down in response.

A survey at Auction Bytes found sellers consider feedback changes as having the most impact on their business. 98.3 percent said this impact would be negative.

eBay did not have much of a choice but to finally act on buyer perceptions about high shipping fees making eBay a bad deal. Norrington said they will monitor the data associated with the program, and eBay will take action if buyer trust fails to improve.