FAQ

General

Pricing

Sign-Up & Termination

TheFind.com

General

Q
Can you list my products on some other site? I want to list on shopping site XYZ.
A
Possibly. Please contact us and we can provide a concrete answer. In general, VersaFeed focuses on large, proven shopping channels. There are hundreds of channels out there — we feel it is not in our clients’ best interest to list on niche/unproven shopping sites.
Q
Why wouldn't I just list my own products on these shopping sites?
A
Managing data feeds and generating conversions from them is a full-time job. Unless you have technical staff with time to spare, outsourcing your feed management to a third party company is a good idea. VersaFeed stays on top of changing feed specifications, uses a variety of feed optimizations, and ensures that your inventory data is updated every 48 hours.
Q
Company XYZ also offers product data feed services. Why are you better?
A
Other companies that generate data feeds require more work than VersaFeed's solution. Competitors simply provide you with their software which helps you generate data feeds — they don't actually create the feeds themselves. Your technical staff will still need to learn a new tool, integrate it with your product spreadsheets, and finally generate and upload feeds on a regular basis as your inventory changes. With VersaFeed, you simply continue to keep your website up-to-date, and we'll do the rest. More info »
Q
What kind of a traffic/sales boost can I expect?
A
It's extremely difficult to guess this number. If you have thousands of products and are not listing on any shopping engines, the results can be very dramatic (e.g., 50-100% increase in traffic). If you are already listing on a variety of shopping engines with decent quality feeds, the boost will often be more modest (e.g., 10-20% increase in traffic).
Q
How do I know you are actually boosting my site traffic/sales?
A
This is accomplished through Google Analytics™, a free website tracking tool that Google offers. Using this tool, you can see exactly how many visitors and sales are generated through VersaFeed channels. Please see this page for more details.
Q
How does VersaFeed compare to search engine advertising campaigns like Google AdWords™?
A
Search advertising campaigns are another good way to generate sales on your site. However, successful search advertising takes a significant amount of time, research, and continuing maintenance. Keyword bids and ad copy must be monitored and adjusted to insure ROI. Our experience is that unless an ad campaign is watched closely, it frequently turns negative ROI.

On the other hand, using VersaFeed to push your product inventory to the various shopping sites is straightforward. Your costs are known, we manage the technical aspects, and you monitor results via Google Analytics. Determining ROI is a fairly straightforward process. If you're looking to increase your online sales, we recommend starting with VersaFeed and then moving to search advertising as your budget dictates.
Q
We would like to expand beyond the base package. What shopping engines do you recommend?
A
If you're going to list on sites beyond Google Product Search, TheFind, and Bing Shopping, make sure you have Google Analytics setup to track conversion rates. It's easy to get buried in pay-per-click fees if you're not careful. That being said we generally recommended the following:
  • Bing (they're free)
  • Pricegrabber (large audience, good bidding tools)
  • NexTag
  • Shopzilla
  • Amazon

Pricing

Q
What does the introductory rate cover?
A
The introductory rate is $97.50 per month, lasts for two months, and will list your products on Google Product Search and TheFind.com.
Q
Does the introductory rate cover listing on premium sites (Amazon, Bing, Shopzilla, Yahoo, etc.)?
A
No. If you wish to list on any of the premium sites during your two month introductory rate, you will need to add the site's additional fee to the introductory price.
Q
How much is VersaFeed service once the introductory rate expires?
A
Once the 2 month introductory rate expires, VersaFeed base service typically costs $195 to $295 per month depending on how many products you retail. Exact prices are listed here.
Q
What additional fees are there beyond the base price?
A
There are additional fees only if you wish to list your merchandise on any of the premium shopping sites (Amazon, Bing, Shopzilla, Yahoo, etc.). If you do, there are two additional fees:
  • 1) VersaFeed typically charges a $50 to $75 monthly fee per premium shopping site. Setup fees may apply as well. Exact fees are listed here.
  • 2) The fees that the premium shopping site itself will charge. These vary tremendously and are detailed in the "Cost" section of each individual shopping site.
Q
So there will be fees from VersaFeed and the shopping sites we list with?
A
There is always a VersaFeed monthly charge to manage your data feeds. If you choose to also list your products on pay-per-click (PPC) comparison shopping engines (e.g., Shopzilla, Pricegrabber, NexTag) you will need to pay those companies for any click fees. If you only list on the free shopping engines (Bing, Google, TheFind) there will only be the VersaFeed management fee.
Q
I have multiple sites that need VersaFeed service, do you offer a discount?
A
If your websites are similar we can sometimes offer a 10% to 15% discount for additional sites. However, if the sites run different ecommerce software and/or have significantly different layouts, we usually cannot offer a discount. Please contact us for a specific project to see what discount we can offer.
Q
I just want to list my products on a single premium shopping site (e.g., Amazon.com). Do I still need to pay the base fee and the additional price for the premium shopping site?
A
Contact us with a specific request and we can generate a custom price quote.
Q
When does billing begin?
A
Billing does not begin until after your products are live on Google Product Search. Typically this occurs one to three weeks after sign-up.
Q
If I make significant changes to my website, will I be charged any fees to continue service?
A
If your website changes significantly, we may charge a one time fee to rewrite your product extraction engine. This fee will not apply for modest website changes and never applies if you simply add or remove products or change product pricing. Examples of significant changes include complete overhauls of the site layout or changing ecommerce platforms.

Sign-Up & Termination

Q
What's the sign-up process like?
A
First, talk with a VersaFeed sales engineer to decide what shopping sites might be best for your company. Then we'll need to get a variety of info (e.g., what shipping methods you offer, what states you charge tax in, what payments your website accepts, details on your products, etc). At that point, we can begin the process of creating your accounts and the corresponding data feeds (this typically takes between 1 and 3 weeks).
Q
Is there a contract or minimum time commitment for VersaFeed?
A
No. There is no contract or minimum time commitment. You can cancel at any time.
Q
What happens if we don't like the service?
A
You can cancel at any time and we will pro-rate the charges to the day of termination.
Q
What are site verifications and why do they have to be done?
A
Site verifications are required by TheFind and Google Product Search in order to list inventory. They are a way of proving that you own your website and are authorizing VersaFeed to upload data feeds on your behalf. Site verifications are usually accomplished by either putting a special file on your website, or, setting a meta-tag in your homepage.

TheFind.com

Q
Who is TheFind?
A
TheFind is a relatively new shopping engine. It does not have the same popularity as other larger comparison shopping engines, however, it costs nothing to list your products on TheFind.com. For this reason, we include TheFind in our Base Package.
Q
Can the TheFind really generate traffic?
A
It depends; many retailers do indeed receive significant traffic from TheFind. However, some retailers only receive a trickle of visitors from TheFind. Rarely, clients will receive no traffic from TheFind (see next FAQ).
Q
Why am I unable to find my products on TheFind.com?
A
VersaFeed cannot guarantee that your inventory will appear on TheFind.com. We can guarantee that we will create an account for you and send data feeds of your inventory to TheFind. However, TheFind is a young shopping engine and as such, it has occasional issues that are beyond our control. Sometimes, these issues can even include not displaying your inventory accurately or completely.