Category: Online

Looking for shopify alternatives ? Yes there are many shopify alternatives online . But most of them are like shopify a fancy tin outside but nothing or crap inside. Shopify itself comes with some required apps to start with. Some of them are up to 30$/ month.

Recommended & tried shopify alternative

The most proven shopify alternative is ali dropshiping .Its a simple wordpress plugin. It Offers two types of simple word press plugins, A stand alone version and a woo commerce version . I would recommend woo commerce version. Ali drop shipping also offers FREE choice of themes to start with aswell as paid ready made theme. But creators of this plugin also offer custom designs to suit your need .

Features

1. The best feature i have liked in this plugin is a simple google chrome extension that lets you import any product to your store. You can edit your import while you are browsing aliexpress and looking for products.
2. With just one click you can import 20 to 40 or up to 100 reviews along their images . This is a FREE build in feature within plugin that can attract more customers.
3. Profit margin rules. You can use this built in feature of doubling or quadrupling your profit . Plugin will automatically add product price within your desire settings. You can select 2x 3x or up to 4x profits.
4. Image editing. This is one of my favourite feature. You can easily remove branding from images and make them look unique . This build in feature simply allows you to remove any logos on images.
5. importing with options . This plugin is allowing you to import not only the product but if it has options such as size, colours etc. It will import them all and again with your desire profit settings.
6. Easy ordering. Plugin stores supplier information and let you place your with supplier a piece of cake. Not only that you know how to find the product and look around on ali express to find a better deal. So not only you have imported a best looking and well description product you can also go to ali express again and find same product on low price.
7. Aliexpress cash back. This plugin also let you register with their recommended ali drop ship cash back portals and let you track cash back within the system. So each order you are making profits along with cash back .
8. to be continued……

If you are a drop shipper and thinking of selling online via dropship method but you have been told Facebook is the best place to go for or start with. Then you should read this Entire Experience

facebook-ads

Facebook now has at least the day of this writing nearly 2 billion active users and there are nearly 8 billion people in the world. They had a recent boost to its usage but few controversies brought it in to news. Like mark Zuckerberg facing US senators and other privacy issues.

Like mark Zuckerberg facing US senators and other privacy issues.

Facebook promised to fix those and that build user`s trust and we now have more active users then ever. Study shows an average user spends nearly 20 minutes using Facebook.

So in this case Facebook ads can be the best choice to reach billions but keep in mind google dominates the search web. And search is where actual buyers are.

real case study

Now in this article i will be sharing a real life experience using both services. So as heading says we will discuss Facebook ads.

Facebook ads show you various options to target the audience . For selling online conversions or CATALOGUE sale will be the best options. Where facebook says you will be charged once some one actually buys your product meaning a conversion going to happend. BUT WAIT FOR IT there is a tiny writing says WHEN YOU ARE CHARGED = IMPRESSIONS

that is right they are not going to guarantee you conversion even you select a conversion campaign as you can see in image.

So think 100 times before adding your daily budget. Here is our personal story . Facebook spend /day was £1000 with a bidding cap of £1/conversion .(image above is per registration ). Now facebook system improves our ad at 6:12 pm BST and 6:15 we pause the campaign, How much do you think cost would be ? Your guess in between this time would be 100£ or 200£ then you are wrong . IT cost us £759 for three minutes but cost per view which was at 1.47 per view. Remember our bidding cap was £1.

Now facebook quickly takes out 200+ from card and wait for the rest to settle down. It settled at 759 after 24hrs as even after pausing the campaign it kept going.

Facebook customer service.

Now here comes the actual part, There is no phone customer service just live chat (as far as we know) . They can ring you if you provide a contact number to help you optimise your campaign. This optimisation help is same as some binary option aka gambling site broker wants you to spend more money on their platform. You have a facebook refund request form . But that will be rejected straight way as you get an automated response.

In our case dispute was closed and then upon reopening we had email help. Which is not help aswell. we have been told since your daily spend was 1000/day, system tried its best to keep cost per view near to bidding cap . However ads been served you have to pay. Second question was regarding its a conversion campaign but you have charged us based on impressions. Answer was we cannot guarantee you conversions but system delivered your ad now. BOTH questions blamed on system and you have to make a payment even you haven’t done a single sale. MAIN ARGUMENT STAYED WHEN A AD IS COST PER CONVERSION WHY GETTING CHARGED FOR IMPRESSIONS OR PER VIEW AND WHEN BIDDING CAP IS 1 WHY WE HAVE BEEN CHARGED 1.47/ VIEW.

Now we have read somewhere that this kind of charges are refundable. BUT NO LUCK . Here ends the Facebook ads experience to sell online or to do drop ship.

Google shopping ads

Google shopping ads are the one of the best choice if you are selling online. As long as you have SKU or EAN numbers they will show your product to millions , THERE IS NO CHARGE ON IMPRESSION ITS COST PER CLICK. User will be coming to your site, Now its all going to depend on your landing page or website impression to turn it to a customer.

Google shopping ads experience

We are using google shopping ads for us and for our online marketing clients. So far its a unique and successful experience . Because of our Facebook experience we are guaranteeing google ads for drop shipping or selling online .

Thinking of selling online and thinking of using shopify? Then you need to read this from start to finish . Complete case study, From how much you need to start up and what are the pros and cons .

What is shopify ?

Shopify is an online eCommerce platform. Where you can sell online. its very famous within drop shippers, Most of them using aliexpress.com for drop shipping. Because ali express is the only place where you can buy individual items direct from china. You can also use shopify for ebay, Amazon and etsy.com drop shipping . But you can also use shopify for selling yourself. It comes with 3 packages starting from $29 USD with a 14 days trial.

what is drop shipping?

Drop shipping is an online selling method, Where you rely on suppliers to ship or send goods to your customers. So instead of you having any physical inventory with you, You are just using your supplier`s images to sell products and asking them to deliver to your customers.

Overall Shopify startup budget ?

You need a minimum of $200 or up to $300 USD to startup with shopify. Now shopify`s own packages starts from 29.99USD / month. Shopify comes with build in hosting so you dont have to pay hosting service. Also they will be giving you a FREE domain like yourstore.myshopify.com, But to make a positive impression you need to have your own domain. Which you can buy from shopify for $14.99/ year or you can use domains from other registrars such as namecheap, godaddy or 1and1.com. you also need a marketing budget with a minimum of 50$ to 60$ and you can use it on platforms such as Facebook ads etc. If you thinking of starting within just one niche then you also consider investing in to the product you are planning to sell. As having some custom images or videos will go long way. Shopify also need some necessary apps . Apps such as oberlo are very good to start with but after 50 orders they start charging on a monthly basis . There are tons of other apps from which few are a must have to start with.

So all in all you require a two to 300 USD before you even do any sale.

Selling with Shopify

if you thinking of just drop shipping with a simple niche instead of a broad store . Then here are some necessary steps you need for start selling with shopify.

Required Shopify apps

First off the most important and recommended app you need is oberlo. its highly recommended if you drop shipping for ali express. They have verified suppliers those offer fast shipping to any part of world and dispatch item within few working days. It also lets you know trending products within your niche or broad store. How much its selling in 6 months and how many other shopify users already imported the product to sell.

Other must have apps such as review app, turst badge apps are name of few.

to be continued….

eBay forcing sellers to pay return shipping ? The answer will be a YES & No. If you are a seller on eBay then you must get annoyed when eBay decides to accept a return in your behalf and ask you as a seller to recover return shipping charge. Even though Every seller clearly indicates buyer pays return shipping.

Some time it feels unfair when you done your job right . Pack the goods well, Deliver them on time, & for no reasons buyer decides to open a return request by misusing ebay`s return policy. Because they know if they open a dispute that they now have changed their mind about their purchase, they have to pay return shipping cost. eBay also helps them by displaying this message.

Now it looks like this is ebay`s own made rule, Because when a seller clearly indicates that return accepted within 15, 30 or 60 days and buyer pays return shipping, Then why ebay `s even asking to sellers to cover the cost?

Also EU and UK trading standard law clearly says its buyers responsibility to return the item as they received for a refund. And this is the practice all the major online selling non ebay brands follow. so it comes to very clear that its ebay`s own bully rule.

ebay  also has a problem of customer service. Each time you are going to ring for a solution their customer service representative will be located in different part of the world. Each time he or she will be making a decision on their personal opinion. They either dont know or do not wish to know what ebay rule says about this .