Ok, so I've done a bit more research on this and it turns out that you even have to pay for the most basic shops on e-bay. The basic is £14.99 per month and doesn't include any kind of sales management tools without which the shop is almost useless. These sales management tools cost £4.99 per month so already more expensive than Tiger Commerce who I mentioned in my last blog post on this subject and are sounding like increasingly better value the more I look into this. Plus, the commission charges with e-bay can reach up to 10%! Surely if they're charging that much commission the online shop should be free, or at least very cheap!
Also, done a bit more digging about what the ecommerce website Tiger Commerce can offer us and there is a fair amount of additional services that they can provide like email marketing and web design services. Definitely going to go for the Tiger Commerce free trial - once the website is built... must not get ahead of myself but it's all very exciting!
Friday, 19 March 2010
creating an e-commerce website for an online shop
It may sound like a slightly random question but my friend is setting up a website for his new farm shop and would like to sell some of his products online. Think he mainly wants to sell filled picnic hampers and gift baskets online with the rest of his produce available in the shop, at least to begin with.
Now, I know the basics of how to set up a shop and how to buy and sell on e-bay but that's about as far as my knowledge of online selling goes. However, this limited knowledge is far superior to my friend Andrew's knowledge of online selling which seems to stretch as far as 'I want to sell online!'
The main drawbacks that I can see for Andrew's business if using e-bay would be that he would be competing in a national online marketplace for a company whcih he expects to generate mainly local business and that he will have limited control over the look and design of his shop, plus of course he'll have to pay commission to e-bay for everything he sells online.
I've done a bit more research into this for Andrew and his farm shop which will be opening in May (loads of notice then!) and have found an e-commerce website called Tiger Commerce which sound pretty good. They can set up an online shop on a pay-as-you-go style basis of £17.99 per month and the best bit is that you don't have to pay commission for what you sell via this shop. Also, they offer a 7 day free trial for an e-commerce website so could try before we buy. Haven't seen any other company that offer a free trial like that so figure we've got nothing to lose by giving it a whirl. Just need to get the farm shop finished and the website completed then will really tackle the e-commerce website side of things!
Now, I know the basics of how to set up a shop and how to buy and sell on e-bay but that's about as far as my knowledge of online selling goes. However, this limited knowledge is far superior to my friend Andrew's knowledge of online selling which seems to stretch as far as 'I want to sell online!'
The main drawbacks that I can see for Andrew's business if using e-bay would be that he would be competing in a national online marketplace for a company whcih he expects to generate mainly local business and that he will have limited control over the look and design of his shop, plus of course he'll have to pay commission to e-bay for everything he sells online.
I've done a bit more research into this for Andrew and his farm shop which will be opening in May (loads of notice then!) and have found an e-commerce website called Tiger Commerce which sound pretty good. They can set up an online shop on a pay-as-you-go style basis of £17.99 per month and the best bit is that you don't have to pay commission for what you sell via this shop. Also, they offer a 7 day free trial for an e-commerce website so could try before we buy. Haven't seen any other company that offer a free trial like that so figure we've got nothing to lose by giving it a whirl. Just need to get the farm shop finished and the website completed then will really tackle the e-commerce website side of things!
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