5 Reasons to Open an Online Store

Posted by
in How to / Tips on 03 January 2013, 17:49
5 Reasons to Open an Online Store
When you sell on your own online store, built with Webpin, you’re in charge. You can set up store policies that suit you, you can customize your store to look the way you want it to—and you can make changes when you want, at your pace.

Let’s explore five reasons you may want to venture to build your own online store.

Reason No. 1: Set your own policies

When you open an online store, you’re the boss. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. You decide your sales and returns policies. You don’t have to worry about unexpected policy changes that online marketplaces like eBay often make.

Online marketplaces like eBay release policy changes all the time. These can impact return policies, listing practices, photos and more—and they can cause an uproar among sellers who have to update their listings to comply with the new rules. Merchants who don’t comply may have their listings flagged and taken down.

There’s no need to worry about this happening when you create your own store. You get to decide your policies, if you’ll change them and, if you do, how much time you will give yourself to follow through. No one besides you sets deadlines. Having control over your own destiny, so to speak, is a benefit that many sellers might take the leap for.

Reason No. 2: Build brand recognition

Another nice aspect of having your own online store is that you can really build your brand. You can post your logo throughout your website and include links to your blog, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts, or other sites where you might have a presence. You aren’t limited to one About page, so you can really give your buyers a sense of who you and your business are.

And when shoppers make a purchase on your site, they know they are buying from you and not a marketplace.

Reason No. 3: Predictable selling costs

Selling on your own store also means you’ll know upfront what you’ll pay in fees before you sell an item. Webpin offers free stores, and for a small annual fee you can get your own premium domain name and remove any potential advertising from your own website.

That’s not the case on online marketplaces. There you’ll pay all sorts of fees, which may differ depending on listing format, price, or any other extra features.

All these variables can add up and, if an item doesn’t sell right away, many of the upfront fees repeat—making it tough to know exactly what you’ll pay for selling an item and what your profit will be. That can be very frustrating for sellers. But you don’t have to worry about this with your own store.

Reason No. 4: You decide your payment options

PayPal and DineroMail are the most popular ways to pay for items in Mexico and some other Latin American countries, and some online marketplaces like MercadoLibre do not support them. At least not yet.

The freedom having your own store provides continues with payment options, such as credit cards, money orders, checks, or even offline payments.


Reason No. 5: More flexibility with price

Now let’s talk sales and profits. Since you have a better idea what it will cost you to sell each of your items, and less direct competition from other MercadoLibre marketplace sellers, you may be able to increase your average selling price—and thus your profit margin—by opening your own online store.

Open your own online store now with Webpin - It is 100% Free!

What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.