Session One: Online Selling

Creative Cycle Online
Entrepreneurship Project
1

Session One:
Online Selling

CREATIVE CYCLE ONLINE ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROJECT

Aims
2

 Set up eBay and Etsy accounts

 Learn the advantages and disadvantages of each

platform
 Discuss the potential risks of each platform


Steps to sell a product online
3

 Register a PayPal account
 Register an account with an online selling platform
 List your products
 Delivery
 Post-Sales Management: Returns, Reviews,

Analytics
 Tax


Requirements
4

 A computer
 An internet connection
 An email address
 A bank account or credit card
 A product (with pictures)


Other Sites?
5

 There are a number of other sites to sell on such as

Amazon and ASOS Marketplace
 BUT eBay and Etsy are the biggest sites for the
type of products you will be selling
 These sites also give the sellers the choice to
choose the information they wish to disclose
 Thus you can opt to have no personal information
showing


eBay
6

E B AY I S A N O N L I N E A U C T I O N A N D S H O P P I N G W E B S I T E I N W H I C H
P E O P L E A N D B U S I N E S S E S B U Y A N D S E L L A B R O A D VA R I E T Y O F
GOODS AND SERVICES WORLDWIDE


Advantages & Disadvantages (eBay)
7

Advantages

Disadvantages

 Simple to use
 Huge traffic (over 14

million active users in the
UK alone)
 Receive assistance from
eBay with regards to
returns and refunds etc


 Fees are relatively high
 Negative feedback

destroys reputation

Registration
8

 On the top left corner of the homepage, there is a

register button
 Registration will require a few important details such
as your name, email and a password


Privacy
9

 eBay gives the seller the option to choose their own

user ID
 Done automatically by eBay initially but can be
edited later from “My eBay”
 Only the user ID will be shown to buyers and
therefore privacy is ensured


Selling a Product
10

 On the top right hand

corner, hover over the
button saying „Sell‟
 Click „Sell an item‟
 After filling out an
address, you should be
able to create a category
for the product you are
selling


Listing a Product
11

 After clicking

create your
listing, you can
add pictures of
the product
 Recommended
high resolution
pictures
 Select condition
and add a small
description
highlighting the
main features of
the product

Pricing
12

 Choose either a fixed price or an auction
 Advised that you select fixed price as evidence shows

you will be 10% more likely to sell your item
 Enter the price and the sale duration


Delivery
13

 Most important option is whether you will charge the customer

for delivery or whether you will pay the delivery charge
yourself
 In this case, as this is a small product, it is advised you pay
the delivery charge yourself
 Delivery fees will be discussed in the additional section


Preview
14

 This is how the demo item should appear on eBay:


Fees
15

 There are three types of fees on eBay:
1. Insertion fee – Paid whenever an item is listed on

eBay even if it doesn‟t sell - £0.40 per listing
2. Final value fees – Paid when the item is sold –
10% of the value of the total transaction
3. Feature fees – Only applicable if optional features
are selected however it is advised that these
optional features are avoided


Feedback
16

 Buyers can leave either positive, neutral or negative

feedback
 This is in addition to the reviews they can write
 Good sellers tend to have over 99% as it is the norm
on eBay to leave positive feedback on the vast
majority of cases


Returns
17

 If you've agreed to issue a refund for an item, you

must do so within 3 days of promising the refund or
within 3 days of receiving the returned item
 If the buyer doesn't receive the refund within 3 days,
eBay will refund the buyer by deducting money from
your PayPal account
 You'll need to ensure your credit card details are
added to your PayPal account to use this
reimbursement payment method
 The seller is liable to pay for delivery on the return
unless you have opted not to (can be done through
my eBay)

Analytics
18

 To access data on your online shop:
1. My eBay
2. Account (hover over)
3. Subscriptions
4. Sales Reports
5. Subscribe
 Sales reports enable you to track your sales and

fees on a monthly basis


Etsy
19

ETSY IS AN E -COMMERCE WEBSITE FOCUSED
O N H A N D M A D E O R V I N TA G E I T E M S


Advantages & Disadvantages (Etsy)
20

Advantages

Disadvantages

 Cheaper fees than eBay
 More specific to the type

of product
 No risk of not receiving
the money as you can
post the item out after
receiving payment


 Strict guidelines – must

be vintage or handmade,
to be sold on Etsy
 More complicated to set
up

Registration
21

 Register an account by

clicking „Register‟ on the
top left hand corner of
the page
 After registering, click
„Sell‟ on the top left hand
corner of the page


Registration
22

 Then, you have to choose your language, currency

and shop country


Setting up of Shop
23

 Next, you can start setting up your shop
 Complete each of these 4 tabs and you will be ready

to open


Choose your Shop name
24


Shop Look and Branding
25

 Banner: 760 x 100 pixel image at the top of your

shop
page
 Shop title: Description of shop and the types of
things you
offer
 Shop Announcement: Often used to welcome
buyers or
promote sales


List items for Sale
26

 Describe who made it, what item is it and when did

you make it, and whether it is a physical item


Categorize your Item
27


Select Variations
28

 Can include information like size, color, dimensions


Add Images
29

 Add images to let buyers have a feel of the item
 Images should be between 800-1000 pixels

wide, but the height can vary


Item Information
30

 Add a descriptive title
 For description, remember to include size, materials

used, how it was made and any unique features


Additional Attributes
31

 We can add recipients, what occasion this is for and

also custom styles


Tag your Listing
32

 Titles and tags will help aid search results when

buyers are looking for your item
 Simply put, “What words would you use to search for
this item?


Selling Information
33

 Price: Enter desired price, less shipping.
 Quantity: Listing fee is £0.12, no matter how many

you list
 Transaction Fee: 3.5% of transaction price
 Shipping information: First, enter the processing time
- the length of time between when your item is
ordered when it will be shipped.
 Enter the country that you are shipping from - add as
many countries to ship to as you'd like, with separate
shipping costs for each country

Selling Information
34


Tax Information
35

 Every individual has to sign up with the tax








authorities in the first 3 months after they have
opened an Etsy account
You can register it online at
http://online.hmrc.gov.uk/shortforms/form/CWF1ST?
dept-name=CWF1&sub-dept-n
Make sure you also complete the Class 2 NI
exemption if you don't expect to make more than
about £5000 in the tax year
The information is available at
www.hmrc.gov.uk/working/intro/class2.htm
You can include a tax in your price


Adjust Photo and Publish Listing
36

 After reviewing the listing, click adjust photo to

highlight how you want your picture to be seen,
whether you want to emphasize a certain part of the
picture


Changes
37

 To make any changes to your item, please click the gray

"Edit" button
 To save your listing for later click the "Save as Draft" button
 For later viewing:
1. Your Shop
2. Listings
3. Drafts
 If you are satisfied with your listing, click the blue "Publish"
button to make it public
 You will be charged £0.12 when you publish your listing

Shipping
38

 Shipping and fulfillment are handled by sellers

individually, leading to a lot of flexibility and also
decision making
 Etsy has Shipping Profiles that work well if you have
similar items that ship for the same costs
 You can determine your shipping costs for an item of
a specific size, weight and shipping method, then
create a Shipping Profile you can quickly add to your
new listings for such items


Returns
39

 Return policies are up to the seller
 You need to fill out your policies in order to be

covered under seller protection so it's really
important to do
 Look around at similar shops and read their Policies
 Click on your shop at the upper right side, then look
at the left side, click on information and appearance,
then policies


Analytics
40

 Etsy's Shop statistics show you both the volume of

the traffic in your shop as well as the traffic sources
 This is available under:
1. Your Shop
2. Shop Statistics
 You can also use Google Analytics by linking your
Etsy account to Google


Additional Notes
41

T H I S S E C T I O N W I L L L O O K AT I N F O R M AT I O N
T H AT I S R E L E VA N T T O B O T H E B AY A N D E T S Y


Setting up a PayPal account
42

 Go on the PayPal website, www.paypal.com
 Click on sign up and select your country and language
 3 options: personal, premier and business - it is

recommended for small scale businesses that you go for
the premiere account (this is required to sell)
 Complete personal information and enter bank account
or credit card details - No details are showed to buyers of
your product
 Choose website payment standard rather than pro for
accepting payments online as this does not incur a
monthly charge
 This video summarises the steps:
http://www.wikihow.com/Set-Up-a-PayPal-Account

PayPal Fees
43

 For sellers, PayPal takes a fee of £0.20 for every

transaction you make
 In addition to this, PayPal takes between 1.4% - 3.4%
depending on the number of monthly sales
 A full breakdown is shown below
 PayPal fees will also be discussed in the accounting
session


Shipping
44

 Calculate rates by weighing and measuring

dimensions, with a host of various mail services to
choose from (Eg. http://www.royalmail.com/pricefinder)
 As seen from the next slide, Royal Mail 2nd class
stamps would be the cheapest based on our entered
weight of less than 1kg, and small parcel
 It covers compensation, which will be explained later
but does not have tracking services
 Royal Mail Signed for 2nd class stamp would be a
better alternative if you wanted a proof of delivery

Shipping
45


Shipping
46

 Proof of shipping: Ask for this at the post office to

protect yourself against a buyer who claimed he had
not receive your item
 International Shipping: If you are selling to a lot of
international buyers you should check out Etsy
Shipping Labels. You can enter all of your customs
specifications while purchasing your label, then we
will fill out the form for you, and include all
information on your printed label


Compensation for Damage
47

 Royal Mail may pay compensation for damage or

part loss if an item in a postal packet has suffered a
degree of harm that reasonably impairs the material
function or contents of the item, solely as a result of
its transmission through the post, and excluding
liability for any pre-existing damage
 Royal Mail expects customers who are posting items
that have an intrinsic value to take these to an
access point that can provide them with appropriate
evidence of posting an item with Royal Mail. (e.g
Certificate of posting)

Royal Mail Insurance Policy
48

 Royal Mail‟s Retail Compensation Policy for Loss

covers the following products:






1st class stamped, metered and VAT exempt account mail,
including items sent using SmartStamp® and online postage
2nd class stamped, metered and VAT exempt account mail,
including items sent using SmartStamp® and online postage
1st and 2nd class Royal Mail Signed for™ mail when used in
conjunction with stamped,metered and VAT exempt account
products above


Compensation for Loss
49


Compensation for Loss
50

 Claims for loss must be made within 80 calendar

days of the date of posting, or no claim will be
entertained
 Royal Mail advises customers to claim as soon as
possible after an event has occurred to enable
enquiries to be made promptly
 Evidence can be proof of delivery as well


Packaging
51

 Use proper packaging when packing your product.

(i.e. hard boxes and bubble wrap for jewellery)
 Important as you do not want to deal with the
hassles of damaged product


Reviews and Feedback
52

 Reviews and feedback are especially important in

online selling
 They are one of the main reasons a buyer will
choose your product
 Therefore it is important to maintain a certain
standard which will encourage positive reviews


Review: Steps to sell a product online
53

 Register a PayPal account
 Register an account with an online selling platform
 List your products
 Delivery
 Post-Sales Management: Returns, Reviews,

Analytics
 Tax


The End
54

 Thank you for listening
 Any questions?


Session One: Online Selling

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Editor's Notes