Chris Malta’s
EBiz Insider Blog
Successful Business Owners Know HOW and WHY Things Work
Welcome to How and Why.

Be Very Careful with AI For EBiz!
They lie about Amazon. They lie about eBay. They lie about ‘Retail Arbitrage’, Private Labeling, SEO, Importing, Site Builders, Sales Funnels, Importing from China, what

EEK! It’s Another Google Update!
According to them, everything is changing (yet again!) The earth’s magnetic poles are reversing, cats and dogs are going out for drinks together, and the

How EBiz Scams Affect YOU
Everybody who decides to open a home-based ECommerce business is going to come across a huge variety of scams. It’s unavoidable; there are literally thousands

Avoid The Point of Diminishing Returns
The point of diminishing returns is where so many eCommerce businesses go to die. It’s the invisible trap that sneaks up on you when you

Do AI Panels Steal Your Clicks?
I just got an email from a self-proclaimed “SEO expert”, breathlessly announcing a grand summit to tackle Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs) as if they’re the

Negotiate, Don’t Burn Bridges
Every seller wants better pricing. That’s obvious. The problem is that too many rookies treat negotiation like they’re hustling at a garage sale. They think

Browser Tabs Are Killing You
You think you’re being efficient. Bouncing between supplier sites, customer emails, research tools, and some half-loaded blog you forgot to finish yesterday. You’ve got fifteen

Beat Inflation with Focus
If inflation’s got your profit margins in a chokehold, stop trying to be Walmart. You’re not running a price war. You’re running a home-based business

Top 20 Wholesale Tips
I’ve been running my own businesses in wholesale and retail for nearly 50 years (yes, I started very young!), and I’ve spent about 30 of

What’s Subitization?
We all know what it’s like to walk into a store and immediately feel like turning around and leaving. Too many options, too much noise,

You’re Fixing the Wrong Thing
One of the quietest ways ecommerce eats an entire year is by convincing people they’re fixing problems that were never the real problem. Sales feel

Build a Non-Annoying Email List
If your website pops up five boxes before someone even sees a product, you’re not building a list. You’re building an exit strategy for your

Automatic Product Feeds
When you have a web site that sells products online, sometimes you come across Automatic Product Feeds from drop shippers and other wholesalers.

Want vs Need – Where the Money Is
Where does the most money actually come from when you’re selling stuff online? People always assume they just need to find something people need, slap

Trust Through Trade Shows
Let’s be blunt. The internet is full of supplier roulette. You’re one click away from a legit operation or a garage full of repackaged junk,

Threads Might Actually Be Useful
Let’s just call it what it is. X is chaos in a trench coat. Half the accounts are bots, the other half are yelling, and

Digital Hoarding
Let’s start with a confession: your hard drive is not a library. It’s not an archive. It’s a digital landfill with good intentions and terrible

Planner or Hot Mess – It Matters
Ever notice how some home biz champs glide through their day with spreadsheets that’d make a librarian weep, while others wing it in a glorious

Free Bank Accounts Cost
Free. That word looks good when you’re just starting out. Free website trial. Free logo maker. Free business checking account. It all feels smart and

Storytelling in Copywriting
Here’s something most businesses screw up; storytelling in copywriting. I know what you’re thinking. “Storytelling? I’m just trying to sell a product, not write a

The Myth of Always Available
This obsession with being available all the time usually comes from comparison. You look at massive ecommerce platforms with teams and automation and think you

Price Myths That Break You
There’s a special kind of optimism that hits when you see a low wholesale price. It’s like finding a twenty in your old jeans. You

When Profit Margins Lie
Let’s talk about the biggest fairy tale in home-based ecommerce: profit margin. Everyone loves that term. They throw it around like confetti. You see a

The Danger of Overpromising
If your marketing sounds like it belongs in a late-night infomercial, something’s off. Overpromising doesn’t make you look confident. It makes you look unreliable. When

Readable Fonts and Contrast
Half the internet looks like it was designed by people who think eyesight is optional. Tiny gray text on a slightly lighter gray background, fonts

“Just Wing It” Doesn’t Work
There’s a certain breed of seller who lives by the phrase, “I’ll figure it out.” They say it like it’s a badge of honor. They’ll

Fake Gurus and the $25K Sting
Some pitch enlightenment. Others pitch success. But the worst ones pitch a mentorship that costs more than a used car and delivers less than a

How To Price for Maximum Sales
Sell high or sell low? There are plenty of people out there who’ll tell you to do either one or both, and they’re wrong.

Pinterest Isn’t Dead
If you thought Pinterest was just wedding mood boards and cupcake fails, think again. While everyone’s out here chasing shiny social platforms and dancing on

Why Checkouts Lose Money
If your checkout process is clunkier than a busted shopping cart, you’re flushing sales whether you know it or not. A bad checkout doesn’t just

The Dreaded Staring Contest
Let’s talk about the absolute disaster that is bad eCommerce design. We both know you’ve seen websites that make you just sit there, staring at

Using Transparent Image Backgrounds
We’ve all been on websites and seen a product image that looks like someone just slapped it onto the page with a glue stick. White

Trends Are Not Your Friends
If you think jumping on the latest product trend is the secret to ecommerce success, you’re about to get burned. Trends are bait. They lure

AI Tools That Waste Time
Somewhere along the way, the phrase “powered by AI” became the new “as seen on TV.” Every tool, plugin, and Chrome extension suddenly claims to

Product Demo Media
Most products don’t need a demo video. A coffee mug? Nope. A lamp? Please. Even a fancy desk chair doesn’t need a Hollywood production to

Setting Up Your Business Name
There are a lot of mixed-up perceptions out there about what you should name your business and how you should register it.

Image Sizes for Ecommerce
When people shop online, they can’t touch, feel, or try on a product. The only thing they have to go by is your images. If

Your Chair Eats Your IQ
You think you’re tired because you didn’t sleep enough. Or because business has been a little slow. Or maybe Mercury is in retrograde again. But

Private Labeling
Here’s another favorite of the “let’s screw the sheeple” crowd. This is usually presented as a component of the Amazing Amazon Business they’re going to

AI Isn’t Hands-Off
Right now, everyone’s being told the same bedtime story. You can spin up an online business in a weekend. AI builds the site. AI tells

Every Tab Is a Trap
Be honest. You didn’t “just check one thing.” You opened your browser to grab a link, saw a notification, clicked it, remembered something you meant

Overthinking Wrecks Progress
Overthinking is the quiet killer in ecommerce. People think the big danger is bad suppliers or bad niches, but honestly, most businesses crash long before

How Inflation Hits Supplier Prices
If you’ve ever opened an email from your supplier and thought, “Wait, when did this get so expensive?”, congratulations, you’ve just met inflation. It’s that

Smart Local Pickup
Local pickup sounds easy: order online, grab it at the shop, skip the shipping drama. But plenty of stores still manage to make it feel

Your Brain is Messing With You
Building a business from home is one of the weirdest psychological experiments you can run on yourself. One day you’re fired up and full of

Don’t Outsource Easy Things
You’re not lazy. You’re overloaded. You’ve got 73 tabs open, your cat just knocked over your shipping scale, and there’s a customer asking if their

Why Segment Your Email List?
Sending identical emails to every subscriber is like shouting random pickup lines into a crowded coffee shop. Sure, someone might bite, but mostly you’re just

Should You ‘Outsource’?
Writing your own articles, blog posts and social media material? You don’t have to do that, they say…just outsource it to India or the Philippines

Transparency in Shipping
If your shipping info is buried in fine print or scattered across three different pages, shoppers are gone before you even know they showed up.

What’s A B Testing All About
Ever fired off an email campaign and felt like you’re firing darts blindfolded after three margaritas? Yeah, we’ve all been there. Email marketing without testing

Turn Your Calendar Into a Superpower
Ever seen a home biz calendar that looks like a dumping ground for every supplier call, customer ping, and “quick check-in” that’s anything but quick?

Using Real Visual Swatches
Real visual swatches show customers the truth so they buy with confidence and you stop drowning in returns.

Is Google Unbiased?
Let’s get one thing out of the way right now: search engines aren’t neutral. They’re not the friendly neighborhood librarian quietly handing you the “best”

Red Flags for Fake Wholesalers
Finding a real wholesaler feels like trying to spot a fake Rolex. Some look legit at first glance, but the second you start asking questions,

Social Media Ads – Yes or No?
Some people swear by social media ads. Others say they’re a total waste of money. Meanwhile, business owners are left throwing cash at Facebook and

SEO is a Crutch
People treat SEO like some kind of secret sauce, like it’s the only thing keeping their business afloat. But here’s the truth. SEO is a

Confirmation Bias – Silent EBiz Killer
Let’s talk about confirmation bias, the silent killer of eCommerce businesses. And no, I’m not talking about some supervillain in a Marvel movie. I’m talking

Home Based, Not Homebound
Working from home sounds like the dream, right? Pajamas all day, no commute, snacks within reach, and the ability to pretend you’re being productive while

How Your Gut Lets Scammers Win
Funny thing about instincts. They’re supposed to protect people from danger, right? But when a scam is in the air, that same gut turns into

Convenience Fees Bleed You Dry
You’re losing money. Not because of a bad product. Not because your prices are too low. You’re losing it quietly, one little transaction at a

Avoiding Oversaturated Markets
Have you ever walked into a store and felt like you’ve seen the same five products a hundred times before? Like, how many different phone

Don’t Let AI Talk To Customers
Letting an AI chatbot handle your customer conversations sounds brilliant until it introduces itself as “Greg” and promises someone a lifetime supply of free coffee

The Emotional Power of Keywords
Most business owners totally overlook how much emotion is packed into the words people type into search bars. You might think keywords are just boring

Why AI Isn’t Magic
Let’s kill the fantasy right now. AI is not a wizard, a genie, or your digital business partner who’s going to turn your online store

Consistency In Online Business
If your branding, messaging, or posting schedule changes every week, you’re not being creative. You’re being chaotic. Buyers don’t trust chaos. They trust what’s clear,

When Research Becomes Avoidance
Research has a great reputation. It sounds smart. It looks disciplined. Nobody ever got mocked for “doing more homework.” In ecommerce, research is the one

Naming Images for SEO
Something that’s probably the least exciting thing in ecommerce but weirdly important, is naming your images. Yeah, I know, nobody’s waking up in the morning

Handling Supplier Mistakes
Every ecommerce business hits bumps in the road. Orders get messed up. Paperwork gets misplaced. Shipments arrive late. Mistakes happen, and wholesalers know it. What

How Processors Judge Risk
Most ecommerce sellers lose sleep over finding customers. Cute. The real gatekeeper is your payment processor. That’s the company that lets you take credit cards,

Vent Before You Fry
There’s a point in every home-based business where the wheels don’t just wobble, they come off. You’re staring at your screen, half-reading emails, dodging support

What is the Shopify Collective?
Let me guess, you’ve seen Shopify Collective and thought, “Hey, that sounds like an easy way to make money.” Shopify sure makes it sound that

Ecommerce: Why Categorizing Is Key
Picture this. You walk into a store, and instead of neatly arranged aisles, there’s just a massive pile of random stuff. Shoes, canned beans, yoga

How to Spot a DFY Scam
You’ve seen the ads.“We’ll build your business for you while you sleep. No experience needed. Just sit back and watch the money roll in.” Right.

Smart Enough to Get Stuck
There’s a special kind of stuck that only hits people who actually know what they’re doing. Beginners flail loudly. Smart people stall quietly. They read

Stop Looking For The Perfect Product
If you’re selling online, stop stressing over finding the perfect product. I mean it. Quit scrolling through endless supplier lists, watching those YouTube gurus who

You Can’t Sell to Everyone
If you’re trying to sell to everyone, you’re selling to no one. That’s not a catchy phrase. That’s a business truth. And if you’re running

Site Templates – Should You Use Them?
Here’s something that’s quietly killing eCommerce businesses before they even get off the ground. Pre-designed website templates. You know the ones. They look nice, promise

AliExpress
There is no way you can know whether the supposed ‘drop ship supplier’ in China is real. Chinese companies are not subject to the kind

Your Keyboard Shortcut IQ
Somewhere between clicking through dropdown menus like it’s 1997 and dragging files with the grace of a confused toddler, you’ve convinced yourself that this is

Quiet Isn’t Always Productive
There’s a weird myth floating around that silence equals productivity. As if the absence of noise somehow guarantees the presence of focus. So you clear

How Google Finds AI Content
If you’ve ever wondered whether Google can tell that a machine wrote your article, stop wondering. It can. Instantly. The company built a system called

Unlock a Killer Schedule
Ever notice how some people morph into habit-sticking champs while others fizzle out faster than a cheap candle? No pixie dust or VIP club involved.

Your Business Isn’t a Hobby
Let’s talk about the silent sabotage happening right under your nose. No, not the algorithm. Not your “low engagement.” Not some cosmic punishment for missing

Still room to compete?
Here are some things I hear from people all the time. “How can my online business compete with eBay and Amazon?” “How can I compete

Exit Intent Email Capture
Picture this: a shopper is seconds away from bailing. The mouse slides toward the top corner, the phone thumb heads for the close button, and

When Optimizing Hurts Sales
Somewhere out there, right now, someone’s A/B testing the color of a checkout button for the 400th time. They’ll spend all week obsessing over whether

Get a Google Business Listing
Running an online store from home doesn’t mean you’ve got to stay locked in the basement like some weirdo running a hamster cult. A Google

SEO’s scare you every time Google burps
Let’s get something straight. Every time Google so much as burps, SEO consultants act like the world’s ending. They throw around scary words like “algorithm

Reviews: The Double-Edged Sword
Alright, let’s talk about the thing everyone pretends they don’t do, but absolutely do. You’ve been there. You’re checking out a company you’ve never bought

Google Still Shows Up
You’ve posted on X. You’ve hash tagged on Instagram. You’ve danced with your dog on TikTok. And what did you get? Crickets. Maybe a pity

Signup Forms: Your List Building Trick
Putting together an email list without signup forms is a lot like hosting a backyard barbecue without sending invitations. Sure, hungry neighbors might catch wind

Why Your Site Needs An FAQ
If your store doesn’t have an FAQ page, your customers are stuck guessing. And they won’t guess for long. They’ll leave. People don’t want to

Your Big Dreams Feed Sharks
Ever catch yourself polishing a scam’s turd into a golden egg? That’s optimism bias in full swing. It’s the sneaky brain glitch that keeps scammers

The AI Authority Gap
Somewhere along the way, a whole bunch of sellers decided that publishing content was the same thing as building authority. If the blog keeps updating

Branding Your Site
Have you ever seen a business and just know, within two seconds, that it’s gonna fail? Maybe the name is something ridiculous like “SuperDuperSavingsOnline4U” or

Write Like You Mean It
Let’s cut through the static: content still rules. Yeah, yeah, you’ve heard “content is king” since dial-up was a thing, but here’s what nobody tells

Platform vs Discretionary Shoppers
Have you noticed how some people only shop in the same big stores over and over, like their Amazon account is the only thing keeping

When Customers Ghost You
You put months into your store. The layout’s clean, the products look good, the checkout works, and traffic’s actually showing up. You finally think, “Okay,

Smart Low Inventory Alerts
There’s nothing like the 3 a.m. panic when you realize your best seller just sold out and you didn’t even see it coming. That’s ecommerce

Making Sense of Email Analytics
Sending an email and never checking the results is basically like performing karaoke blindfolded, with earplugs in. Sure, you might nail it, but you could

Pain Points Drive Sales
If your store isn’t calling out the real-life problems your customers are dealing with, you’re leaving money on the table. People don’t buy because something

The Pay to Win Delusion
Let’s be very clear about something. Just because you’ve spent money on your business doesn’t mean it’s a business. It means you’ve spent money. That’s
