Author: Rodney Laws

Online payment is a vital part of modern life. 

Just about everyone buys things online, with many of us relying almost entirely on ecommerce (only paying for things like groceries in person). It’s become supremely convenient over the years, too, going from horribly clunky during the dial-up era to slick and mobile-optimized today. Due to this, most people barely give it any thought.

Is it smart to be so accepting, though? When you buy something at a brick-and-mortar store, you’re directly interacting with a real person, giving you contextual clues about the safety of the transaction. When you buy something online, you’re sending money into the digital realm and trusting that everything will work. What matters, then, is how that transaction is handled.

This is where digital wallet services enter the picture. 

They allow their users to do various things: transfer money (regular bank transfers or international money transfers), withdraw money, deposit money, receive money, set up recurring payments, etc. You’ve surely heard of PayPal, which is the most commonly-used digital wallet service. But what about Skrill?

In this Skrill review, we’ll cover the things you need to know about Skrill. What it is, how you open an account, how it works, and — most importantly — whether it’s safe. Let’s begin.

What is Skrill?

Skrill is a general digital wallet system that provides a typical range of transfer and payment functions, though it has some features that set it apart from its competitors.

Originally known as Moneybookers, Skrill was launched in 2001 (for comparison, the first version of PayPal was launched in 1999), and has grown significantly over the years. In 2015, it became a subsidiary brand of a multinational company now known as Paysafe. 

Most notably, it offers a platform with some convenient advantages for those who habitually use multiple currencies and spend a lot of money. Think of high-level online gamblers, traders, or miscellaneous international operators. It currently supports 42 currencies (with PayPal only supporting 25), allows each user to store money in four currencies (PayPal doesn’t do this at all), and rewards big spenders through a VIP treatment program which grants them lower fees, higher caps, better support, and even tickets to special events.

While PayPal still has plenty of advantages (it processes transactions much faster, doesn’t charge for moving money between accounts, and is supported by essentially everyone), there’s clearly a market for Skrill as an alternative — assuming it’s comparably safe, of course.

How do you open a Skrill account?

The process of opening a Skrill account is straightforward. You first need to register a basic user account using your full name, home country, and primary currency. When you log in, you’ll need to choose a six-digit PIN for security purposes: make a note of this so you don’t lose it.

You then need to go through the account verification process. This will require you to deposit funds (just a couple of dollars from a suitable debit card or credit card will do) and upload some form of ID (a photo of your passport, for example). You’ll also need to upload a photo of yourself with a piece of paper showing SKRILL and the date, and verify your address through uploading a relevant document or enabling geolocation.

Once you’ve completed these steps and all your data and documents have been reviewed and approved, your Skrill account will be fully active and ready to use. 

You can start using your Skrill wallet to make online payments, accept payments, send money to personal and business accounts, and generally manage your financial activity.

How does a Skrill account compare to a regular bank account?

If you haven’t used a digital wallet system before, you might wonder what exactly Skrill users get from their participation. How are Skrill accounts different? Why can’t you simply use a standard bank account? 

Look at it this way: when you’re planning to go to a store, you can withdraw cash to use in the event that card payments won’t be accepted. The underlying source of your money is the same (your bank account), but the path of delivery is different.

In that vein, you can think of Skrill payments as routing services. When you’re trying to buy something online, making a typical bank transfer isn’t necessarily an option: it depends on what the website supports, and many sites — particularly overseas — won’t support a direct payment from a credit card or debit card. And even when you can pay directly from your bank, you can run into problems with payments being disallowed because your bank suspects fraud.

Transferring money from your bank account to your Skrill account, then, gives you more freedom to send money whenever and however you want. 

Alternatively, you can simply leave your debit card details attached to your Skrill account and use it as a proxy whenever useful without ever making a money transfer to your Skrill wallet.

Using a service like Skrill also provides you with various protections in case you need to cancel a transaction or take action against fraud (Skrill customer support is very responsive).

What is the Skrill Money Transfer service?

Making a payment to an international bank account can be tricky because the financial services might not be compatible — and then there’s the matter of foreign exchange rates. 

Skrill money transfers, though, are fast, easy, and economical. There are no Skrill fees for transfers between accounts, and you can sign up to forex alerts to notify you of the best times to convert.

Accordingly, whenever you have an international money transfer to arrange (you might want to send money overseas to support a family member, for instance), Skrill is there to cover you. Choose the right time to take advantage of the aforementioned exchange rate alerts and you can save a reasonable amount of money in the process, too.

Can you trust Skrill?

Now that we’ve been through the core details about Skrill, we can get to the titular question: is Skrill a service that you can rely on? 

The simple answer is yes, it is. It’s been in operation for a long time, is owned by a huge company, and gets extensive use from many people who guard their money very carefully. If there were anything to be worried about, they’d go elsewhere.

If you’re an ecommerce customer and you’re often interested in buying things from overseas, using Skrill will allow you to use exchange rates more efficiently. You can buy other currencies at optimal times and store them within your wallet to be used whenever you want. You can also take advantage of the large range of supported currencies to really go global with your search.

And if you’re an ecommerce merchant, then you should absolutely make an effort to support Skrill transfers among your payment methods. If someone wants to use Skrill to pay you, that’s no reason to be concerned. It falls in line with all electronic money regulations, and works in a very similar way to other digital wallet systems you likely already support. 

Wrapping up, the answer to the core question is clear: yes, you can trust Skrill. It’s a legitimate tried-and-tested solution to online payment problems, and fully deserves its niche within the digital wallet marketplace.

In 2021, protecting customer data must be one of the top priorities of all ecommerce stores. 

As the industry continues to grow, customer data plays an important role in developing marketing strategies and informing design decisions. However, it is most useful as a symbol of trust between the customer and the store. If a customer trusts a brand with their sensitive personal and financial data, they’ll have no problem becoming advocates for the brand. This makes protecting this data a fundamental part of running a successful store. 

But how do you protect customer data while also ensuring the safety and prosperity of your wider business, employees and reputation? Let’s take a look at five ways you can protect customer data as an ecommerce store. 

How does the data protection landscape look right now? 

The widespread adoption of remote working as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic threw up a number of new challenges for businesses eager to stay on top of cybersecurity and expand into the growing reliance of ecommerce. 

While many ecommerce businesses have continued to operate warehouses with employees on-site, much of their administrative, marketing and customer service staff have been working in makeshift home offices. While this was a necessary step, it has also opened up private company and customer data to a slew of new security issues. 

Without the watchful eye of senior staff or integrated office security systems, customer data is perhaps more accessible to thieves than ever before. Creative scams such as fake Zoom emails have looked to target perhaps less tech-savvy workers using new tools for the first time. With more scrutiny needed, businesses have been forced to give up time for training and security software integration. 

On top of this, existing scams have continued to see a rise in frequency, such as:

• Phishing
• Malware
• Ransomware
• Denial of Service

From Spotify to local travel institutions, 2020 and 2021 have seen more high profile data breaches, in some cases caused as a result of this less-observant working environment. 

How to protect customer data

Now that we have some necessary context, let’s look at five ways ecommerce store owners can protect their customers and business. 

Only collect valuable and useful data

While it might seem like all customer data is valuable, the key to operating a safe, secure and trustworthy ecommerce store is to focus on only retaining the data you’ll actually use. 

After all, if you lose that data, it could very well become a huge liability. 

When almost every landing page on your store is optimized with creative CTAs and pop-ups just waiting to collect customer details to inform your marketing, you can quickly find yourself with more data than you know what to do with. In most cases, the most valuable data is about the customer journey, rather than their personal traits and information. 

Ask yourself next time you’re trawling through your findings, “how much of this do I actually need?” The chances are, very little, and savvy hackers are aware of this. The most sensitive information is often left better uncollected, as it means much more in the hands of these cyber criminals. Next time, think before you collect. 

Avoid storing card information

Card information, in particular, should be handled with care and only stored if absolutely necessary. 

Fortunately, all ecommerce stores can operate without the need to retain this data. In fact, doing so would be a significant violation of PCI standards. 

Were your business to lose this sensitive information, it would lead to legal penalties for damages and losses caused to customers along with a significant reputation hit. As a rule of thumb, avoid this practice, or use offline storage to keep them away from the prying eyes of hackers. Using trusted payment facilitators such as PayPal further secures your payment processes. 

Use SSL protection

That little padlock icon next to the URL is more than decoration. SSL certificates are an essential investment for any ecommerce business looking to not just attract customers, but retain them long-term. 

This certificate will prevent attacks with access to your site from analysing customer web traffic, stopping them before they can steal card info, passwords and other sensitive info.  

Ideally, you should look to integrate SSL protection into your:

• Checkout pages
• Sign-up pages
• Customer login pages
• Any pages where customers are asked to input information or passwords

Having this protection on your site immediately builds trust with the majority of shoppers and ensures browsers aren’t highlighting your site as potentially dangerous. 

Keep all software up to date 

I know the constant notifications are annoying, but it pays to take the time to update your software.

Applications and software still running on old versions are prone to hackers. They can be easily penetrated by those exploiting existing vulnerabilities that developers have looked to fix. These updates aren’t meaningless — they’re designed to keep the service safe and secure to use. Just like you, these developers are looking out for their customers. 

To avoid any potential losses or damage to your machines, ensure you’re updating all your software (particularly security patches) as frequently as possible. 

Improve training and awareness in-house

Finally, incorporating cybersecurity training and scam awareness into your employee training is an important step towards developing a more safe and secure business. 

Times have changed, and improving your team through robust training programs on company time is an important part of accelerating your business. As an ecommerce store, how to handle and store customer data should be an integral part of your development strategies. 

Run your employees through the changing nature of cybersecurity, incorporating tests and scenarios into the program to give them real-world experience accessing potential threats and warding off hackers. If they regularly use particular tools, systems and software, ensure they’re fully up to date on their developments and provide reading materials around their roles to complement their training. 

It’s important not to let your business organically develop a culture of fear around cybersecurity. Yes, customer data and the protection of your business is important, but this can and should be taught as the responsibility of business leaders. Empowering your staff to feel confident in their own skills and comfortable asking questions is vital. 

Building a safe and secure online store is easier than it sounds. Sure, the constant updates and developing scams sound intimidating, but they’re part and parcel of running a modern online business. 

Take the time to implement these measures and you won’t just feel less stressed, but immediately see a better relationship between yourself and your customers. 

Want to learn how to sell online? Well, you’ve come to the right place. 

When starting an online business, you enter a competitive playground broader in scope than any brick-and-mortar store. Selling online has never been more accessible, but with that comes competition that challenges even the savviest of business owners. 

With that said, however, the hassle of establishing an online presence is offset by reaping the rewards such a platform offers your business. 

Ecommerce allows your business to grow beyond borders and reach brand new audiences. In this article, we define online selling, outline the best ecommerce ideas, and help you establish an efficient selling platform. Read on as we explain how to sell online.

Online selling definition— and why should your business care? 

Ecommerce, otherwise known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, is the process of buying and selling goods or services over the internet. In the UK alone, online retail sales grew 74% year-on-year, and accounts for 35.2% of all retail — a record that beats any sales peak in recent memory. 

Nowadays, it’s nigh-on impossible to imagine life without the internet, which is why online selling is enjoying a purple patch as the logical evolution of commerce around the world.

Here are the incentives to sell your products online: 

✅ Facilitate business growth

✅ Requires a relatively small investment

✅ Sell products online 24/7

✅ Reach a global audience

✅ Flexible business management 

When selling products online, you can control your business, manage growth around the world, and never need to close shop — all with a relatively small investment (as long as you have access to a reliable internet connection).

With that said, ecommerce isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme that will guarantee you a windfall of sales, nor a wave of new customers without first putting in the hard work. 

Here are some inevitable ecommerce risks you should watch out for: 

❌ Online security and privacy issues 

❌ Platform or system reliability 

❌ Lack of traffic to convert

❌ Warehouse and shipping logistics

Want to sell your products on the web? Learning how to sell online is about maximizing the benefits by mediating the risks. Below we explore the best ecommerce ideas that can help you establish a manageable and efficient online presence.

Best ecommerce ideas for selling online

Establishing an online store is about finding a profitable idea to launch your operation, whether this is a desirable business model or a must-have product.

For many aspiring entrepreneurs and savvy business owners, discovering an idea to take advantage of is easier said than done, but sometimes the simple ideas are best. 

In this section, we discuss a few ideas that can have you start selling online with confidence in 2021. 

Dropshipping 

Dropshipping is an ecommerce fulfilment model that doesn’t require you to store a large amount of inventory. Instead, when users make a purchase on your online store, you source the product from a third-party distributor like Oberlo who holds the inventory and ships the product to your customers. 

The dropshipping model is a great way to start selling online because it suits nearly any size business, from dabbling in merchandise to running a multinational enterprise. 

For smaller businesses and startups, operating a dropshipping store means you can mediate around some of the inherent risks that come with ecommerce. Here’s why: 

• It’s cost-effective: less capital required and low overheads to maintain growth 
• It’s easier to test: gauge customer appetite without buying lots of stock
• It’s more manageable to scale: most of the heavy lifting is done by suppliers
• It’s flexible: manage your store from anywhere at anytime

These benefits make dropshipping an attractive online business idea for 2021, but flexibility and convenience come at a price. For example, being so reliant on third-party suppliers, you might discover quality and delivery issues of your control — this can reflect badly on your brand, so make sure you wholeheartedly trust your supplier and their service. 

Print on demand

Print on demand (or POD) is an easy way to get into selling online. 

It’s very similar to dropshipping, with one big difference — when someone orders an item via your website, it goes to a third party supplier who will print the specified design onto the product before it is shipped to the customer.

This means that you can easily personalize your products with your own branding and unique designs. 

You can read more about print on demand and the best POD apps you can use here.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is an ecommerce model that allows you to make money anytime, anywhere — and all without selling a product. Instead, you supply a valuable service for another, much larger business. 

Affiliate marketing is the process by which you earn commission by delivering traffic to another businesses website. Businesses regularly work with affiliate marketers because the process spreads marketing responsibilities across several parties and websites rather than relying on an in-house operation. 

What do you get in return? When another business leverages your talents to market its brand, you’ll be rewarded with a share of the profit. As an affiliate (or creator) the business provides you with a link so they can track who is responsible for a sale, thereby allowing you to earn commission on a per click, per lead, or per-sale basis. 

With affiliate marketing, you can enjoy the flexibility of running an ecommerce website and have the potential to achieve high ROI, but only if you have strong marketing knowledge and possess the expertise to rank effectively in search engine results pages (SERPs). 

Stay on top of trends to find opportunities for your online store

Every aspiring entrepreneur or seasoned business mind dreams of predicting the next big thing, but sadly there is no way of knowing for certain what trends will gain traction in the following years and months. 

However, you can maximise your chances by keeping your finger on the pulse and staying on top of what is selling in the here and now. 

Google Trends, for example, is a great platform to explore what the world is searching for, and identify products and services currently rising in popularity by extracting online search results. 

You can also conduct keyword research using a paid tool like Ahrefs or go online for free using Google Keyword Planner. This allows you to see what customers are searching for in your chosen niche and use it to find ideas that can make you money. 

Failing that, however, you can always stick to selling what you love. While this might sound sentimental (and it is), if you’re passionate about something it’ll show up on your ecommerce platform through product descriptions, marketing campaigns, and social media content. Do the research first, but if there is demand for something you love, you’ve got the best of both worlds. 

Choose how to sell online: best ecommerce selling platforms

Image: Pixabay

Selling products online is a daunting process when you’re unsure how to get the process rolling. In this section, we explore the best selling platforms available to you. 

Use an ecommerce store builder

Creating your own online shop using builders like Shopify or BigCommerce is a great way to secure a domain name and get your store up and running quickly in return for a monthly fee. 

Read our ecommerce reviews as we compare the best online store builders for 2021 to help find a platform that works for your goals and online selling needs. 

Use a WooCommerce plugin for WordPress

Turn your WordPress site into a lucrative sales channel using the WooCommerce plugin. 

Installing the app is free, but you’ll have to pay for other elements like hosting, website maintenance, and theme design. Plus you’ll likely need some knowledge on coding given WooCommerce is open-source software. 

Use online marketplaces

Selling using an online marketplace like eBay, Amazon or Etsy is among the quickest and easiest ways to sell and shop products. 

These marketplaces have built authority and trust with their user base — plus you’re virtually guaranteed round-the-clock site functionality and trading. 

The downside of using an online marketplace is they tend to charge a fee or commission to sell your product. For example, to sell on eBay your listing is subject to charges like a final value fee. 

Summary: how to sell online and establish your store 

Selling online is easier than ever before, but the best ecommerce platforms know competing in such a market is a challenge. Use this guide to help navigate around the world of online selling and establish a fruitful ecommerce presence in 2021. 

When you’re setting up an ecommerce store, one of the business models you might be considering is print on demand. 

It’s a fairly easy way to get started in ecommerce, with fewer upfront costs than other models. Plus, if you’re thinking of using Shopify, there are plenty of print on demand apps that can streamline the whole process from ordering to fulfilment. 

In this article, we take a look at the best print on demand apps to use with Shopify and weigh up their pros and cons so that you can find the right fit for your business. 

What is print on demand?

Print on demand (or POD) is a business model that allows an ecommerce store to sell products on a per-order basis, so you don’t have to buy stock in advance of making a sale. You use a third-party supplier who offers white-label products such as t-shirts, hats, and phone cases, and then customises them with your own design. 

Print on demand is similar to dropshipping — when someone purchases an item, you place an order with your supplier, who will print the design on the product and ship the order directly to your customer. 

What are the benefits of print on demand?

Print on demand offers a number of benefits that make it the perfect business model for new stores and entrepreneurs. 

No upfront investment

To set up a print on demand business you don’t need to invest a lot of money into buying your stock upfront. You pay for the products as and when someone places an order.

Easy to set up

With print on demand, you don’t need to have the space to store the stock and you also don’t have to deal with the packaging and shipping of products to customers. All of the logistics of fulfilling orders are handled by the printing business.

Flexibility

You can offer a wide range of products using print on demands apps and it’s easy to try out new products and react to customer demand. 

How do you start a print on demand business?

It’s really simple to get started with a print on demand business. These are the key steps: 

• Decide what products you want to sell
• Create the designs you want to be printed
• Come up with a name and brand for your store
• Set up an online store using an ecommerce platform like Shopify
• Find a print on demand Shopify app that can create your designs
• Start marketing your store and products

If you want to kickstart an ecommerce business without too much hassle, then starting a print on demand business is a quick and easy option.

Best print on demand Shopify apps 

If you’re looking to run a print on demand business using Shopify, these apps will make it straightforward and cost-effective. A number of these print on demand apps will also integrate with other platforms.

Printify

Printify is one of the most popular print on demand apps to use with Shopify. It offers a wide range of products at affordable prices and will connect you to printing partners around the world. Using Printify you can create your own designs, which means it’s good if you have your own unique designs to sell or you want to create personalised designs. The app also has a mock-up generator so that you can preview the design before you order.

It’s easy to set up and start using Printify for print on demand and it also integrates with other ecommerce platforms such as Etsy and WooCommerce.

Key features

• Automated ordering, printing, and shopping
• Products are shipped with your store’s branding
• Generate mockups before ordering 

Pricing 

There are two Printify plans:

• Free: You can connect the app to three stores and create an unlimited number of designs. The free plan also includes 24/7 customer service access.
• Premium: Connect the app to ten stores and you get up to a 20% discount on all products ordered.

Printful

Image: Printful

Printful is a print on demand company that specialises in offering custom embroidered products, alongside printed and engraved designs. There are no set up costs and it’s free to use Printful. You just need to list the products on your Shopify store — then when someone places an order for an item on your Shopify store, it is automatically sent through to Printful for fulfilment. They’ll then print, pack and ship the order using your store’s branding on the packaging.

It has the option to create product mockups to see what a design will look like and you can order samples of products at a discounted rate. If you don’t have your own design that you want to be printed, then Printful offers a number of templates that you can edit and customise with your customer’s request.

They operate and ship to a number of countries around the world including Europe and the USA. 

Key features

• Automatic fulfilment when an order is placed
• Add your own branding to your products
• Professional photos of your products to use on your site

Pricing

Printful is free to use with no set up costs — you just pay for the products you order and shipping. 

Pixels

Pixel is a well-established print on demand Shopify app that offers a huge range of products and works with a number of large brands. You can use them to sell anything from canvas prints to coffee mugs or tote bags.

The app offers an automatic ordering, inventory, and tracking system that can save you a lot of time as a retailer if you’ve got a large online store.

Key features

• Fast shipping options — 2-3 business days to be dispatched
• Multiple manufacturing locations around the world

Pricing

It’s free to set up Pixels and you only pay for the products and shipping costs. 

TeeLaunch

TeeLaunch is another popular print on demand app that sells a varied range of products. It’s free to set up and use, and you only pay when you order the products. The ordering process is completely automated so that it goes through to fulfilment as soon as your customer makes a purchase.

However, the app doesn’t offer a mockup generator or any templates, so you can’t preview what the product will look like. This also means you’ll have to create your own mockups for designs to use as product photos on your store.

TeeLaunch is a fairly basic option, but it has all the functionality that a small ecommerce business would need.

Key features

• Automated fulfilment when an order is placed
• Straightforward to set up and free to use

Pricing

TeeLaunch is free to set up and use, you just have to pay for the products and shipping.

CustomCat

Image: CustomCat

CustomCat offers one of the largest catalogues of print on demand products. This means if you’re looking to sell slightly different products that other apps don’t offer, then this might be the best choice for you.

It also offers all the key features that other print on demand Shopify apps have such as automatic ordering, a fairly short 2-3 day fulfilment time scale, and white label shipping. While some retailers have experienced issues with the quality, delivery time, and customer support, it’s a good choice if you want a wider product range.

Key features

• Over 350 different products to choose from
• Automatic ordering system
• Add your branding to the packaging

Pricing

CustomCat is free to install and offers a completely free plan with no monthly fees. However, it does have a paid plan for $30 per month, which offers you savings on each product. If you’re expecting to sell a lot, it might be worthwhile choosing this paid plan so that you pay the discounted price for the products you order.

Printy6

Image: Printy6

Printy6 is a really simple print on demand app that’s easy to get set up through Shopify. It allows you to customize different types of products and then add them to your online store.

Printy6 offers free shipping worldwide, however, it can take up to seven days for the orders to be printed and then another 5-17 days for products to be delivered. Once an order has been shopped, Printy6 will send you a notification with tracking details so that you can keep your customers up to date.

Key features

• Good catalogue of products
• Free worldwide shipping
• Integrates well with Shopify

Pricing

There’s no set up cost for Printy6 and it’s free to use — the only thing you have to pay for is the products.

JetPrint 

JetPrint is another great print on demand Shopify app that’s popular because of its wide product range and easy to use interface. Their products are all extremely high quality and they promise a quick turnaround to get products printed and dispatched within four days.

Key features

• High-quality products
• Free worldwide shipping

Pricing

JetPrint offers worldwide shipping, free of charge, and there’s no setup costs or monthly fee. The only part you pay for is the product that you’ve ordered. 

Our opinion: which is the best print on demand Shopify app?

The best print on demand Shopify app for your business will depend on your business’s requirements and priorities. 

If you’re looking to offer a wide range of products in your store or you want to sell something different from other print on demand businesses, then CustomCat is probably the best option. 

Overall though, the two best all-round print on demand apps are Printful and Printify. They’re both free and easy to use, with a mockup generator so you can preview designs, and the order and fulfilment process is automated. 

Printful is known for high-quality products, with accurate production and shipping times — which means for larger businesses it’s often the more reliable choice. However, Printify specialises in embroidered products and can often handle more complex designs. If you’re deciding between Printful or Printify, then it will probably come down to the type of products and designs you want to sell, the cost and shipping times. 

Print on demand is a good business model if you’re starting a new ecommerce store, and there’s a huge number of apps that can help with producing and fulfilling your orders. The key things to consider are the product range they offer, their prices, and the delivery time scale. 

Starting an online business? First, you need a killer idea followed by partnering with a trustworthy supplier.

By numbers, Alibaba is the largest ecommerce company in the world, making up 80% of China’s online shopping market — but is it a safe space to source products with confidence? 

Marketplaces like Alibaba and AliExpress make it easy for your business to find a manufacturing partner or wholesale supplier all around the world, yet selling remains a daunting process for many entrepreneurs, not least because of the potential security risks it poses to your operation.  

In this article, we explore all there is to know about sourcing products from Alibaba and outline how to stay safe using a platform so broad in scope.

What is Alibaba — and is it safe? 

Alibaba is a comprehensive B2B marketplace and ecommerce directory that connects suppliers with buyers all over the world. 

While most of the platform’s clientele are from Asia, the Alibaba group has a strong presence on the global stage, owning three Chinese marketplaces: Taobao, Tmall and Alibaba.com.  

Image: Alibaba.com

There isn’t much you won’t be able to find when sourcing products on Alibaba, which is why, alongside the Amazons of the world, this marketplace is one of the most popular online shopping destinations on the web. 

But one question remains: is Alibaba safe? 

Since launching in 1999, Alibaba has become an attractive platform for buying and selling — and for the most part trading companies, merchants, and suppliers on Alibaba are reputable and trustworthy. The company also offers a robust trade assurance policy, which protects your payments amongst verified suppliers through its bespoke payment platform.

Trade assurance protects you and your business from getting scammed or receiving poor quality products through Alibaba. But as with any online marketplace where many moving parts are involved, making a purchase does not guarantee a seamless user experience. 

To avoid scams on Alibaba, you must do your due diligence and avoid something that feels too good to be true. Read on as we explore how to improve your safety and spot a red flag when finding products on such a gigantic marketplace. 

Avoiding scams and choosing trustworthy suppliers on Alibaba 

Sourcing products on Alibaba is generally a safe process, but it’s even more secure for those who know what they’re looking for. In this section, we explain how not to get scammed on Alibaba and help you source quality products for your customers. 

Have a safe buying experience with Alibaba trade assurance

The aforementioned trade assurance offered by Alibaba is a great way to keep your money safe from bad suppliers. Trade assurance protects against scams or receiving otherwise poor quality products from a supplier you thought you could trust. 

When payment is made through Alibaba.com, the trade assurance protects your online order to provide greater peace of mind. It works alongside extended customer service to give you a refund if its verified suppliers let you down. 

Here are some of the benefits of using Alibaba’s trade assurance solution: 

• Payment security: track money and recoup payments stored safely before product delivery
• Better support: easier to get a refund if you’re not happy with product quality

Relying on this service is a great way to source products you can sell with confidence, but not every supplier is signed up to the scheme, so there are some extra measures you should know about before making your order…

Use a Gold Supplier

Gold Supplier is a visual trust indicator for buyers looking for serious, professional suppliers. 

Image: Alibaba.com

This is a premium service where suppliers pay a membership fee for gold status on the Alibaba platform. 

Members are subject to safety checks via a third party supplier assessment in return for a more comprehensive way to promote products and maximise exposure — this makes Gold Suppliers among the most reliable operations on Alibaba. 

As a buyer, you can spot a Gold Supplier status by looking out for an icon like this: 

Safeguard by checking a supplier’s verification status

Gold Supplier isn’t the only verification process on Alibaba. Often it’s advised to check a supplier’s verification status across a number of levels. 

Alibaba has its own verification system, which works as a safeguard for buyers by ensuring its suppliers are a legally registered business. 

Not sure what you’re looking for? Alibaba’s levels of verification look like this: 

Image: Alibaba.com

These evaluations and supplier audits are carried out both by Alibaba and a third party inspection/auditor — meaning the checks are a solid, unbiased solution for finding trustworthy suppliers.

Use a secure payment method during checkout

Protect your bank account on Alibaba using a safe payment method that guarantees you a refund. Here are a few payment methods available and how safe we think they are: 

• Secure Payment: Alibaba uses Alipay to hold payment until orders are delivered
• Paypal: not an official Alibaba partner, but provides a safe payment gateway
• Letter of Credit: great for high-value transfers, but quite complex
• Direct transfer (credit card): only use if you completely trust the supplier
• Western Union: don’t use, there is no way of recovering your money

Choosing a safe payment method is important because not all suppliers support trade assurance, which makes it a little more tricky to get a refund and recoup shipping costs. 

Communicate with your Alibaba supplier 

Found a trustworthy supplier on Alibaba and settled on a safe payment method? Now you should build a professional understanding and ask any questions needed to clarify things. 

Here are some examples of what you should ask your Alibaba supplier: 

• Minimum order quantities (or MOQ): most overseas suppliers are open to negotiating a lower order quantity despite what is listed on the product page if a buyer is genuinely interested. 
• Production pricing: asking how much each item costs to manufacture is important for understanding profit margins because Alibaba only supplies a broad guide per unit. 
• Production time: getting exact dates in place is important so you know when an item can be delivered to your customer — this is especially important for those operating a dropshipping model. 

Getting to know Alibaba suppliers plays a vital role in building professional trust. Remember to ask lots of relevant questions, acquire information, and establish your quality standards. 

Get samples from your potential supplier

Need some extra reassurance before committing to a supplier? Check the quality of your purchase by asking for a sample product. Samples are an important part of the quality check process, especially as you cannot touch what you see on the screen. 

Some suppliers charge for samples because they receive lots of requests; others supply them at a discount or for free — it depends from supplier to supplier, but don’t commit to a large order before doing your due diligence and inspecting the product for yourself. 

Ecommerce marketplaces don’t get much bigger than Alibaba, which makes it all the more important you know how to stay safe, secure your brand, and source quality products for your customers. 

Use this guide to help navigate the ecommerce giant and build a fruitful partnership with trusted, professional suppliers.

Shopify is an online ecommerce platform with a huge range of features and plug-ins that make it a flexible option for store owners and businesses of all sizes. If you’re an ecommerce entrepreneur looking to set up a new online store then Shopify is probably one of the platforms you’re considering. But how does Shopify work? And how do you get started with it? 

We’ve put together a beginner’s guide that covers everything you need to know about starting online stores using Shopify. 

What is Shopify? 

Shopify is a cloud-based software for setting up an online store and selling products. It has a range of pricing plans and features that will meet the needs of new ecommerce businesses as they establish and grow. 

The popular ecommerce platform provides a number of different tools that allow you to run all aspects of your ecommerce website from listing your products, to customer engagement and marketing, payments, and managing orders. 

As well as setting up an online store, Shopify also has a POS (point of sale) feature that can be used for sales in a physical store, so that both parts of the business are linked. 

How does Shopify work? 

Shopify works on a monthly subscription, which gives you access to a cloud-based system for running an online store. It provides you with an online storefront, a payment processor, shipping management, and marketing tools. 

When you sign up and log in to your Shopify account you’ll have access to a dashboard where you can manage your store including setting up your website, adding products, and processing orders. Shopify offers a number of free and paid templates to use to design your site, and these can be edited to fit your requirements and convey your own branding.

The monthly subscription also includes secure web hosting for your website and a free SSL certificate, as well as access to customer support via phone, email, or live chat, whenever you need it.

While Shopify’s software has the main tools you’ll need as a merchant to run an ecommerce business, you can also find lots of plug-ins that give you additional functionality in the Shopify app store (more on that later).

Pros and cons of using Shopify 

Shopify is a huge ecommerce platform with thousands of retailers using it to run their business. These are a few of the reasons for and against using it for your store.

Pros of Shopify

• Easy to use: You don’t need a lot of technical skills to set your store up using Shopify. Everything is really straightforward and it’s simple to design a store that reflects your brand.
• Low cost for new stores: Shopify offers a 14-day free trial so you can test it out and make sure it’s right. If you decide it’s for you then the basic plan is $29 per month, which is a good starting point for a new store. There are also plenty of good design themes for free so you don’t have to spend a lot on the design.
• Lots of support: Shopify does a lot to support its retailers and help them build a successful business on the platform. As well as access to the customer support team, they provide free courses, guides, and their blog is full of useful information.

Cons of Shopify

• Learning the platform: Shopify is easy to use but it does take some time to learn how to use it and understand where to find everything that you need, so you’ll probably need to watch some tutorials.
• Costs can add up: While the Shopify platform comes with all the basics for running an online store, larger businesses will need additional functionality from plugins and apps. The monthly cost for these on top of the Shopify subscription can quickly add up.

For the majority of users, the pros of using Shopify outweigh the cons — but it’s about finding the right ecommerce platform for you and your business, so only you will be able to decide whether Shopify is for you or not. 

What to sell on Shopify

You can sell pretty much anything that you want to using Shopify. Popular categories include fashion, beauty, home and lifestyle, and gardening products. It’s a good idea to pick your niche and start selling products that are popular and in high demand to make sure your Shopify store is successful.

There are a number of things that Shopify prohibits retailers from selling including:

• Counterfeit or unauthorised goods
• Gambling-related products
• Licenced materials without appropriate authorisation (i.e. selling music without the copyright holder’s permission)
• Adult content and services
• Drug paraphernalia

Aside from this, the ecommerce world is your oyster.

How to use Shopify for your online store 

If you’re thinking of using Shopify to run your ecommerce store, these are a few of the key features that you should utilise to make sure you’re getting the most value from the platform.

Using Shopify Payments 

Shopify Payments (now known as Shop Pay) is Shopify’s own payment processor, which accepts payments from all major debit and credit cards. 

If you don’t use Shopify Payments then depending on your plan, Shopify will charge you between 0.5% and 2.0% for every transaction processed on the platform. By using Shop Pay, these additional transaction fees for payment processing are waived.

However, you’ll still have to pay processing fees whether you use Shop Pay or different payment providers, so it’s worth properly comparing which option works out best. Shop Pay allows customers to save their email, credit card, and shipping information so that they can pay faster the next time they shop with you, which can improve the shopping experience.

Shopify themes and templates 

Image: Shopify

Shopify offers a lot of templates and themes that make it simple to create a well-designed, branded website for your ecommerce store. 

There are a handful of free themes available in the theme store that can be easily tailored using a drag and drop editor to your requirements, providing a quick and affordable way to build an online store when you’re just starting out. 

And if you want to invest in something more advanced, there’s a huge range of premium paid templates. All of the templates on Shopify are responsive so they’re mobile-friendly, and you should be able to find one that suits your store and branding.

Add a blog

Shopify comes with all the basic functionality to add your own blog posts to your ecommerce store. It doesn’t offer anything too advanced but from your Shopify admin panel, it’s quick and easy to write, edit, and publish your content. 

Publishing regular blog content is a key way to boost your store’s rankings in search engine results pages, attract visitors to your site, and build up awareness of your brand.

Shopify POS

Shopify POS is a point of sale system that makes it easy to coordinate online and offline sales channels for your store. So if you run a physical store, or even just have pop up shops every now and then, you can use the POS to to process credit card payments. 

All your stock will be synced from offline sales so that your online inventory is kept up to date. This is an important feature if you’re looking at multichannel retail to grow your business.

Shopify marketing tools 

As well as blogging functionality, Shopify offers a number of marketing features and tools to help you sell your products. It’s easy to set up and manage Google Shopping campaigns, as well as social media advertising campaigns. There’s also a marketing dashboard report that provides you with an overview of how your marketing efforts are performing. 

Shopify app store

Image: Shopify 

Shopify has a huge marketplace for add-ons that can give you extra functionality to make running your shop a lot easier. A few key add-ons that are usually worth investing in are: 

• Shipping software: Help streamline your shipping process by importing orders and creating shipments and printing labels in bulk. Choose one with inventory management to make your processes even more efficient. 
• Payment gateways: Adding additional payment options can often encourage customers to make a purchase. 
• Email marketing: Make it easy to gather your customers’ email address into a mailing list and send out follow up marketing emails to customers and anyone that signs up.
• Site security: Keep your site secure and build up trust with potential customers.

There’s a lot to choose from, and the Shopify app store can be a bit overwhelming if you’re new to it. If you’re feeling stumped, you can visit our handy guide on the best Shopify apps for help choosing the right apps and tools for ecommerce success. 

How to get started with Shopify

If you’re thinking about using Shopify to run an ecommerce business then get started by signing up to their free 14-day trial. This gives you an opportunity to test out the platform and assess whether it’s right for you. 

Set up your shop, pick your store name, decide on a design for your storefront and then add in your products. Spend some time getting to know the more advanced features, and any areas that you might need help with or additional plugins. 

If you decide that Shopify is the right choice for your business then you need to choose the right pricing plan: 

• Basic Shopify plan: $29 per month for an online store, unlimited products, two staff accounts, four inventory locations 
• Standard Shopify plan: $79 per month for up to five staff accounts and five locations.
• Advanced Shopify plan: $299 per month for 15 staff accounts and eight locations, plus third-party calculated shipping rates. 

If you’re starting out really small or you already have a website, then the Shopify Lite plan allows you to add products to your website or blog and accept credit card payments for $9 per month. 

Overall, Shopify is one of the best ecommerce platforms for entrepreneurs and retailers looking to establish an online shop that they want to scale up and expand. It offers all the basic features, and the Shopify app store can give you the added functionality you might need as the business grows. 

When you’re looking for suppliers for your ecommerce business, one term that’s likely to come up is ‘MOQ’ or ‘minimum order quantity’. It can be a bit confusing if you’ve never heard the term before.

Knowing what MOQ means will help you find the right suppliers to work with and negotiate the best deal to suit your business. 

In this article you’ll find everything you need to know about MOQ meaning, why they’re so important, the advantages and disadvantages, as well as how you can meet them. 

MOQ meaning: What is minimum order quantity? 

MOQ stands for minimum order quantity, which refers to the smallest number of products or units that a supplier is willing to sell at one time. The MOQ is set by suppliers and manufacturers to ensure that any orders placed with them are big enough to cover production costs and ensure they make a profit.

The MOQ can vary hugely between different suppliers — some may require orders of 100,000 units or more, while others will only require you to order 100 units. The amount and the cost will depend on the product, the manufacturing process, where they’re based and a number of other factors. 

Sometimes it is possible to negotiate with a supplier on their MOQ, but this will depend on their profit margins and whether they can guarantee they’ll still make money. For example, you might be able to get a lower MOQ if you agree to place future orders with them. 

Why do MOQs matter? 

Not only do MOQs mean that the supplier or manufacturer covers their costs and makes a profit, but it’s also a way of ensuring that they find the right businesses to partner with. With a set MOQ, they can establish the scale of their business and the size of businesses that they can work well with. 

Large businesses that require thousands of units on a regular basis need to find suppliers that can meet that demand. If a manufacturer’s MOQ is high, they’re going to have the materials and resources to produce enough products. 

On the other hand, smaller businesses only need a few hundred units or less each time they order — so it’s important that they find a supplier that can work with those units and keep supplying a smaller amount on a regular basis. 

Advantages and disadvantages of MOQ

Image: Pexels

The main advantage of MOQs is that they are likely to give you the best price per unit or product. Because you’re buying in bulk, the manufacturer is usually offering a significant discount on the price it would cost for an individual product. 

In most cases, the higher the number of units you buy, the lower the cost per unit will be — so if you’re definitely going to be able to sell something, you can maximise your profits by buying in bulk. 

However, this does mean that you have to have the finances to cover the upfront costs of your products. For suppliers with a high MOQ, this could mean that you need thousands in cash to pay, which is sometimes difficult for new businesses. And if you can afford to buy large quantities, you need to be sure that you’ll be able to sell the products and make a profit.

Negotiating an MOQ

Minimum order companies are especially difficult when you’re starting out as a retailer. If you find a supplier for the products you want but can’t meet their MOQ either because of the upfront cost or because you can’t store the inventory, then it’s often worth talking to them to find a way to make it work:  

• Ask your supplier to produce the full MOQ, pay upfront, but see if they have storage facilities to keep hold of half of the products until you’ve sold the first half. This helps with inventory management and gives you some time to make space for the rest of the order. 
• Pay for the MOQ but only take as much of the products as you can store — the supplier can do what they want with the rest of the production run. This is only really a viable option if you’re getting the products at a good enough price that you can mark up the ones you do receive and still make a profit. 
• Find out if there’s some way that the manufacturer can lower the production cost by changing the materials. 

It’s always worth asking to establish if one of these is a viable option for you and your business. However, there are a few things you need to consider when negotiating.

What to consider when negotiating

It’s always important to remember that for most suppliers their MOQ is there for a reason — it’s the best price that they can produce those products at to run their business. 

If you do manage to negotiate the minimum order quantity or price down, there’s a good chance that they’ll have to make the money back in another way. This could mean that they use cheaper materials that lower the quality of your product, or they try to make them more quickly, so there’s more likely to be problems or mistakes. 

It can also damage your relationship with the supplier if you push too hard to get a better deal. They might agree to work with you this time but in future, they’ll be less likely to or they’ll prioritise other clients. It’s important to establish a good relationship with suppliers so that they’re willing to offer you good deals in the future and keep producing high-quality products. 

Pre-order to meet MOQ

Alternatively, you could try offering products to pre-order to your customers. This means that you can get the money from your customers before placing an order with the supplier so that you don’t have to front any of the costs involved.

However, this requires you to effectively promote your products. You need to make sure that your products are something shoppers are willing to pay in advance for and you also need to make it clear that they won’t receive the products straight away — it could be weeks or months before you’ve made enough sales to place the order with your supplier. 

Finding suppliers for your business 

If the supplier you want to work with isn’t able to negotiate on their MOQ and you really can’t meet it, then there are plenty of other suppliers and manufacturers out there. Go back to Google and dig deeper for alternatives or use a supplier directory and find ones that will be able to work with your requirements.

There are a lot of suppliers that have a low MOQ or don’t have one at all. And you can also find wholesale products on sites like AliExpress, where you can purchase them as individual units. These costs might be slightly higher for each unit but it’s a more accessible way of sourcing your products as an entrepreneur or new business. 

You could also try looking at other ecommerce businesses that are similar to you in size and in the same niche or selling the same type of products. Investigate which suppliers they use for their products and get in touch with them. 

Other factors to consider with a supplier 

Image: Pexels

If you’re just starting out and don’t have a lot of money to invest in your stock upfront, then you might be tempted to just pick the supplier with the lowest MOQ. However, there are a few other important factors to consider: 

• How much more you’re paying for each unit and whether it suits your pricing strategy. Will you be able to price them competitively and still make a profit?
• The quality of the products they’re producing and whether they meet any safety standards that are required. 
• How easy are they to work with? Is it easy to get hold of their support team and discuss your orders? 
• Do they have a good track record of fulfilling orders on time? 

You’ll often have to find a balance between a supplier with an MOQ that fits your finances and capacity, but also provides you with good quality products, on time, that you can make a profit on. 

MOQs are often one of the key deciding factors when it comes to choosing a supplier. 

Consider all these points, and spend some time looking for suppliers that can meet your requirements, but don’t try to drive their MOQs down too far. Remember there are plenty of suppliers out there, so you will be able to find one that works for you.