setting up online shop

chareverett

Hi, I want to start a little website selling home/garden and seasonal items. I'm researching it all as I go but I think I should start off selling on FB and Instagram to gain some capital then start a website. Does this sound right and any tips or suggestions from anyone? Thank you 

CKhalvashi

No reason why you can't go for the website aspect straight away, it would likely reduce your costs overall.

There's very little that a free decent Wordpress theme, a few plugins, £20 and an afternoon can't achieve for a basic store.

I've always paid someone to do website stuff, and was quite surprised at how easy it is to do yourself when setting up a website for a project we'll be launching in January.

Savvy_Sue

How are you going to find your buyers? Why should they buy from you and not others?

Make sure you're aware of the law regarding online sales.

soolin

chareverett said:

Hi, I want to start a little website selling home/garden and seasonal items. I'm researching it all as I go but I think I should start off selling on FB and Instagram to gain some capital then start a website. Does this sound right and any tips or suggestions from anyone? Thank you 

FB marketplace can be very successful, I do very well on there but it isn't really enough on its own to generate a good income as it is very variable and can be time consuming with people asking daft questions- or not paying or not collecting. My main sales are usually on ebay where it costs more but is very straightforward, people see the item, they buy it and I post it- end of.

Instagram can be good but that depends on what sort of following you currently have, I don't use it much so don't sell there.

As Savvy_Sue says regardless of where you sell remember to be aware of the business rules and regs, for instance you must have a return policy and accept all change of mind returns, you must display your geographic address visibly and you need to be registered with HMRC.

Potbellypig

Facebook is one option but there are generally so many of the same sort of items being sold on Facebook these days. How you stand out from the competition and get people to notice you is the difference. You'll only sell so many to people you know.

soolin

Potbellypig said:

Facebook is one option but there are generally so many of the same sort of items being sold on Facebook these days. How you stand out from the competition and get people to notice you is the difference. You'll only sell so many to people you know.

I don’t think I’ve ever sold to anyone I know on Facebook. Marketplace is huge, I even get questions about purchases from people in Europe , although at the moment I’m not shipping outside the Uk so have to decline.
 I don’t sell on my own feed nor do I bother much with groups - except some specialist collector groups depending on what I have , but basically just on marketplace, I don’t pay to upgrade my listings but I do use all the marketplace tools and use items specifics (brand, condition etc).

The one really annoying thing about marketplace though is the bot they use to weed out unwanted ads as it runs a haywire sometimes. I have been stopped from listing a Beswick horse and similar as it goes against their animal policy 🤔

chareverett

Thank you everyone. I've read up on all the laws, still not entirely sure on insurances i may need? 
 

Savvy_Sue

Depends what you are selling, what harm might be caused if the products are defective, whether anyone is coming to your premises, what your premises are. 

Could be worth approaching an insurance broker? 

Are you making or buying in what you're selling? 

Where are you storing your stock? (Note: your home insurance will NOT cover this. You need to declare it to your insurer and your landlord / mortgage provider. If you are having a large number of deliveries, this may be deemed to be a 'nuisance' by a landlord, but permission to run a business from home should not be unreasonably refused by a social landlord. Private landlords may not be able to give you this permission because their own mortgage conditions may prevent it.)

If anyone is coming to your premises (whether home or elsewhere) you need liability insurance. 

And if you employ anyone else, then you need employers liability. 

Emmia

Depending on what you're selling, you could also list on Etsy - I've noticed a number of sellers there have Etsy listings and separate websites (I'm going to be honest I frequently see an item on Etsy and then check for a direct website)

JayD2020

Take a look at Shopify, or a free alternative wordpress with WooCommerce plugin. You'll only need to buy your domain and some web hosting which is pretty cheap. Finding someone to put this together would be reasonably cheap via peopleperhour. Once set up, you'll need to look at payments.. Stripe, PayPal, etc... Then run ads on Facebook, twitter