Shopify is a leading e-commerce platform with over two million merchants, holding a 23% market share of e-commerce in the United States. Shopify allows users to create and design their own website and storefront to feature and market their products.
Fun Fact: Over 457 million buyers purchased through Shopify stores in 2020.
Users can sell nearly anything on Shopify; inventory of any type in addition to intangible products and services such as downloadables, lessons, courses, and more! Shopify also allows users to create a catalog of inventory that can be used to fuel a Facebook Business Store or Instagram Store. Learn more here.
You may also be interested in the article 10 Great Marketplaces Every Seller Should Consider.
How to Get Started on Shopify
Shopify offers a 14-day free trial, so you can explore the platform and get started selling without commitment to a monthly plan. Some administrative work is required to set up your account settings, but Shopify walks the user through each step with clear instructions, video resources, and live support.
Shopify allows the user to be in control. You will choose your domain (website URL), the design and layout of your website, and your preferred settings for selling, currency, shipping, sales tax, and returns. Most other resale platforms do not allow for such control or so many options for sellers. Similarly, Shopify allows advanced tools and features to help run your shop and manage your reselling business.
Shopify Plans, Which Shopify Plan Is Best?
After the free trial, you will get to choose between three plans—first, the Basic Plan, which is designed for new e-commerce businesses. Next, the Shopify Plan is designed to grow businesses selling online and in-store. Finally, the Advanced Plan is best for large-scale businesses that require more advanced features and reporting. The advanced plan allows the most staff accounts, features, options, tools, and the best rates and fees.
It is best to start with the Basic Plan and become comfortable and successful before exploring the pricier options. Note that all plans allow for an unlimited amount of inventory and listings. To see a comparison of the features of each plan, click here.
How To Set Up Your Shopify Store
Shopify is different from other secondhand e-commerce marketplaces like eBay, Mercari, Etsy, Poshmark, Depop, and others. Unlike the rest, Shopify allows users to create their own website. The buyer is not shopping on Shopify but shopping on your store. You may choose a custom domain, so your URL does not necessarily indicate a Shopify store. Essentially, unlike a reselling marketplace, Shopify is an inexpensive but powerful website builder designed for online sales.
Before you can list an item for sale, you will have to design your store and establish settings and preferences. Shopify makes these things easy, with a clean interface and tons of resources.
How to List Items on Shopify
Now that Vendoo has integrated Shopify listing to Shopify on Vendoo is super easy! First, you must connect your Shopify account through your Shopify store URL on the “marketplace connections” tab in account settings. From here, you can quickly and easily cross-list your items to Shopify.
When listing on Shopify directly, the listing form is similar to what you can expect on most reselling marketplaces, allowing for photographs and video media, a description, and several drop-downs about your item.
How Does Shipping Work on Shopify?
You are in control of how you would like to ship with Shopify. You can establish your preferences. You can choose to ship on your own (by creating your own label yourself or with a third-party company); you can also take advantage of the shipping discounts available. “Shopify works directly with multiple carriers, each offering multiple mail classes to make the process as streamlined as possible.” The platform also allows for third-party shipping services and drop-shipping!
What are Shopify Seller Fees?
Shopify seller fees depend entirely upon what you are selling, how you sell it, and which Shopify plan you have. Of course, you pay for your subscription plan and pay upon transactions. Generally, Shopify fees after-sale are 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction under a basic plan, and the fees are reduced with the higher-tier plans. Overall, Shopify has very low seller fees compared to other reselling marketplaces.
Fun Fact: Shopify transaction fees are identical to Paypal transaction fees at the time of publication of this article.
How to Be Successful on Shopify
Remember, Shopify does not have a built-in audience. There is not a newsfeed or search field to find listings. Selling on Shopify is similar to selling on your own website, and you will be required to do your own marketing and bring customers to your store.
However, Shopify provides many tools and resources to help drive traffic and sales. It has tools to help you improve your content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) and the ability to create and run advertisement campaigns.
Get Started Selling on Shopify with Vendoo
I thought eBay was intimidating enough… so Shopify was entirely overwhelming at first. I thought it would be more challenging to use with so many settings and features. Surprisingly, the interface is super clean, clear, and user-friendly. The settings and features are incredible tools to help grow my business. Plus, there are many resources available.
The advantage of using your Shopify store to connect to Facebook Business and Instagram shops is so valuable, making your inventory accessible to the entire social media audience!
Unlock Explosive Growth: Sign Up for Vendoo and Start Crosslisting Today!
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