Online group buying comes to Israel

November 15, 2010 - 9:47 AM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, Food, General, Israeliness, Life 

It was only a matter of time until someone in the English-speaking population in Jerusalem came up with it – an online group buying site.

While hundreds exist in the US like Groupon, offering substantial bargains on everything from dental checkups to restaurant menus, the concept hadn’t yet arrived in Israel until David Shadpour, a native of Los Angeles and a recent immigrant here, launched the deals site GroopBuy.

According to a story in In Jerusalem, Shadpour turned his frustration at being unable to bargain and haggle in local stores do to language restrictions in to a business idea.

Groopbuy promotes a daily offer that Shadpour calls “outrageous deals” from a variety of business and services, all set at more than 60 percent off the regular price. A minimum number of people must purchase the deal through the site before the offer closes. If this minimum is not reached, buyers receive an e-mail informing them that their credit card has not been charged. However, if enough people do sign up, as soon as the deal ends the credit card transaction goes through and customers receive a printable coupon via e-mail.

“The success is in the volume,” says Shadpour. “It only works if enough people buy the deals.”

Presently, Groopbuy is operational only in Jerusalem, but there are plans to roll out in Tel Aviv and Ra’anana, before eventually taking the model nationwide.

Already there are more than 100 deals set to appear on the site, and firms are contacting the company daily to get their business online, according to Shadpour.
Bargains that have been posted on the site in recent weeks include manicures and pedicures, laser hair removal, piano lessons, horseback riding, paragliding, ulpan lessons, and take away sushi.

But Shadpour said that he’s turned many companies down for not reaching the level of service and standards that Anglo consumers expect and demand.

“I’m not going to include businesses just because they offer a good deal,” he explains. “If they give bad customer service, I am not interested in featuring them on the site.”

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Nostalgia Sunday – eBay Within Reach

October 11, 2009 - 11:31 PM by · 3 Comments
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture 

The big dinner table discussion in recent weeks has been, “When is eBay actually coming to Israel”? And while we still await the long-promised opening of Israel’s second IKEA like the coming of the Messiah (it is taking that long) it looks like eBay could make Neiman’s Nostalgic Notions on the Net a reality in the near future.

And about time, too. Last April, Ynet reported that eBay had launched a Hebrew-language interface. But even before that, as one might well imagine, enterprising Israelis were buying and selling second- (and first-) hand wares over sites like Yad 2 — and eBay as well. (For more on that, read blogger Dudu Cohen’s article or watch this Channel 10 news item from last year. Both only in Hebrew, unfortunately).

The question in all cases: how to receive remuneration in the absence of a full-service electronic payment and fund transfer system. In other words, how does one get paid (Illuminea’s Miriam Shwab wrote an excellent blog posting at the time) and even more significantly, how does one pay the Israeli tax authorities their share? And don’t think they aren’t wondering the exact same thing.

Last month came big news when PayPal announced it was launching Israeli operations… er… more or less. According to Globes, “Although eBay has a Hebrew-language site eBay Israel with product prices listed in both dollars and shekels, as well as a search function for popular items, Israeli buyers have only limited options for paying through PayPal. They have to open an account using an international credit card, but they cannot withdraw money accumulated in the account because PayPal has no agreement with Israeli commercial banks.” Again, this will likely be resolved at least by the time that IKEA in Rishon LeZion opens its doors.

All this is simply a preface to the mind-blowing notion that we Israelis will finally be able to unload our old crap to make way for new crap, just like everyone else in the western world! Imagine how great it will be to be able to buy and sell the following:

A limited edition Coca Cola bottle with Hebrew lettering and a Star of David on the neck.
star_of_david_cola_bottle

A decorative metal bowl manufactured by the PalBell company, which operated in Tel Aviv from 1939 to 1956 and set the standard for kitschy Judaica from the Holy Land.
PalBel_platter

Sheet music featuring lovely Seventies songstress Ilanit… hmmm…wonder how much I can get for my copy!
Ilanit_sheet_music

Or this lacquer wall plate etched with a picture of an Israeli dancer. I’m pretty sure my Aunt Sarah had two of these hanging in her rec room.
black_enamel_Israeli_dance_platter

And I can’t wait to unload the boatload I’ve got of these things!
yemenite_turquoise_pin

Oh, there is no end to the fun we’ll have, once we open up our little eBay store in dot-C-O-dot-I-L-land. But seriously, for those who are sincerely motivated and interested in learning more about eBay in Israel, go to the eBay global site, and select “Israel” under the “Country” drop-down menu. There’s a User Group as well. Any number of Israeli companies have sprung up to give courses and sell books about how to make money on eBay but its probably best — and cheapest — to start with this series of YouTube videos, again in Hebrew only.

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You Day

October 28, 2008 - 1:26 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General 

The anticipation and excitement began already last week, even while we were celebrating Sukkot – an exciting enough event on its own, if you ask me. But when that letter came, we just started counting down the days – and then the hours – to Sunday.

Why all the excitement? You Day!                  youday.jpg

So what’s You Day, you ask? Only the best day of the year to go shopping! You Day is the reward for us loyal customers who frequent a local “big box” supermarket all year, buying groceries with their You Card branded Diner’s Club debit card. The previous two times the store ran You Day, there were great bargains to be had – so much so that by the time me and my Significant Other arrived, they were out of half the sale items!

Well, this time we weren’t going to lose out – so bright and early on Sunday morning, we shlepped down to the store to take advantage of the bargains. And what bargains they were! Would you believe half-price – on a whole bunch of stuff we actually use! And unlike the usual requirement to get deals at this store, there was no minimum purchase of non-sale items required. Just free and easy shopping for a whole bunch of half price items! The only limitation – you could purchase just two of each item. Fair enough – and for us, not a problem, since my SO had her own You Card. So we were able to get four of each item!

Now, I’m no fool; I know how sales work (in Israel, the U.S., or anywhere). Loyalty program or not, nobody is giving away anything for half price. So you expect a little pre-sale price inflation, where the store raises the price on items and puts them back “on sale” – so you end up saving less than you expect. And You Day prices were no different, although I have to say some of them were genuine bargains (except for the instant coffee, where they basically doubled the price, so you would end up paying the “normal” price in the deal).

And so we shopped. And shopped some more. And when it was all over, we took our purchases up to the cash register, and watched with great satisfaction as the printout listed an item, a price – and a 50% discount!

There’s a theory about grocery shopping that says how sales and bargains, no matter how good they are, are basically a consumerist ripoff. Just walking into the big supermarket with the bargains means you’re going to end up spending more than you planned; far better to do your shopping at the not so cheap and much more limited neighborhood makolet (grocery store). The bigger the bargains, the more you end up spending, buying stuff you don’t really need.

But does that theory really apply when almost all the items in your shopping cart are half price? Did we buy items we didn’t need? I’ll admit it; we bought four of almost all the sale items, including things we didn’t buy on a usual basis (because they’re usually too expensive!). So, in one sense, it was a good day for bargains – but on the other hand, the makolet would have helped keep spending down. I guess the strategy works – even with all the bargains, we still spent nearly 1,000 shekels between the two of us, the second highest amount we have ever spent in any “walk down the aisle” at a supermarket!

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