Finally, users can now begin using the newest open-source eCommerce software and latest platform to hit the market, Magento. We have reported about it before and also had the privilege to interview their CEO, Roy Rubin. To date, that interview has generated the most traffic to our blog than any other interview, or article for that matter. Many of us have been eagerly anticipating the release of this software since, quite frankly, it’s really the only other open-source solution, other than osCommerce. By the looks of things, others have also been frothing at the bit to get their chance to test and ultimately use Magento’s platform.

I will make this short since there is only one site on the Big Thanks for this week. For those of you who have not followed this series recently it is part of a regular weekly posting we do here on eCommerce Optimization to personally thank other bloggers/sites who have either mentioned our site in a post or have added us to their blogroll.

Yahoo! Shopping Overview:

Yahoo! Shopping, a comparison shopping engine powered by Yahoo!, acts as a destination marketplace for thousands of merchants and millions of products. The shopping interface features easy to use price, brand, item type and other refinement features designed to help shoppers find the items they desire in a quick and efficient way. The merchant tools help sellers list, manage and track their products or items within the shopping portal. Shoppers can buy directly from merchants once they have found what it is they were shopping for.

This news is definitely worth reporting, it even made both Techcrunch and Mashable in the same day.

What’s the news you ask? Well, earlier today comparison shopping site TheFind.com announced that they have acquired designer fashion site Glimpse.com for an undisclosed amount of mullah (rumored to be less than $100K). The announcement appeared on Glimpse. TheFind.com originally launched in 2003 and Glimpse launched just this year. It’s a fine acquisition for TheFind and a great accomplishment for Glimpse founders Frank Han and Steve Lemon.

Recently, after logging in to Google Base, I noticed a new feature that appears on the “My Items” tab underneath “Active Items,” “Inactive Items” and “Bulk Upload Files” (see screenshot below). The feature asked me to answer questions about my items like “In the following product description, does ‘Silk’ refer to fabric such as a silk tie?” The answers it provided for me to choose from were, “Yes,” “Not Applicable” and “No.” Since the word ’silk’ on my site refers to a material which fake plants are made from I answered “No.” The note Google leaves states that “a record of your answers will be retained by Google and used to improve the quality for your feed as well as our own products and services.”

Note From eCopt: This article has been updated since it originally posted. It now features answers directly from Google about the Base Question feature. See eCopt's questions and Google's answers at the bottom of this page.

Bazaarvoice develops outsourced technology, services, analytics, and expertise to encourage and harness word of mouth marketing and bring it closer to a company’s brand and customer experience. Clients include sites like QVC, Home Depot, Dell, Overstock, Macy’s. Sears, Petco and roughly 100 other top online retailers. Partners include companies related to shopping portals, site searching, navigation, email marketing, a/b split testing, Web analytics, eCommerce platforms and more including companies like Smarter, ShopWiki, Google, MSN, IBM, Mercado, Core Metrics and Channel Intelligence.

Visit the Bazaarblog for more information on Bazaarvoice and other Bazaar products. You can also gain valuable insight and knowledge from the Bazaarvoice bloggers surrounding the consumer product review and user generated content spaces.

Earlier this month we reported, among others, that Yahoo Shopping was the first to introduce security information in comparison shopping listings by partnering with ScanAlert to include Hacker Safe security seals within Yahoo Shopping. That post also mentioned that this was the first of three announcements due out this month and we speculated that other comparison shopping engines would follow suit, including Hacker Safe seals within their own CSE listings (Pronto.com, etc).

We have two new BIG Thanks to give out this week. One site that added us to their blogroll and another that mentioned eCommerce Optimization in one of their posts or articles. We have started doing this each week as a way to publicly thank the sites that help support eCommerce Optimization. It is also a great way for our readers to find out about new blogs and sites they may not have read or heard of before.

Shopify has been getting quite a bit of coverage lately due to their new pricing model and the launch of the Shopify Marketplace. Their stores have great designs and a number of features to help merchants build and display an Online store for a small cost each month (free - $299.00) and percentage of each transaction (0.5% - 2.0%).

Shopify Marketplace is a place where Shopify store owners can showcase their store brand, products and design in front of many new shoppers and potential customers who visit and shop from the Shopify Marketplace. In addition, the Marketplace features a Shop of the Day on the front page that gives those stores the ability to receive even more exposure for their brand name and product line.To include your Shopify store and products within the Marketplace you must login to your account and request an API so you can opt in.

Microsoft Expression Studio, a set of professional design tools designed to give users the flexibility to bring their visions to reality, whether they are designing standards-based sites, rich user experiences on the desktop, or managing digital content. The Studio tools include Visual Studio 2007 Standard, Expression Web, Expression Design, Expression Blend and Expression Media.

You can purchase Expression Studio for $599.00 or you can upgrade any of the individual Expression tools to the complete Studio for $349.00. A complete set of Studio FAQ’s and Individual Expression Program FAQ’s are available here.