Ebay vs. Shopify

Since setting up my ebay store - ADRL ebay Store  , several  months ago, I have been amazed at how  online retail systems have grown into a very lucrative entrepreneurial endeavour. 

Slowly, this online business has shown me that the internet has truly created a viable alternative, for those that cannot afford to set up a brick and mortar shop, to sell products and services. 

In the recent weeks, Shopify, a Canadian based e-commerce service,  that was launched in 2006, became very visible in facebook (they even provide a direct link to selling stuff in facebook). I was quite curious about this and wanted to know if Shopify would be a good alternative to ebay, or to even complement my ebay store. 

A bit of research showed that Shopify boasts of 120,000 active stores with over 5 Billion Dollars worth of transactions. I decided to sign up, especially since an ongoing facebook ad, showed a Shopify competition, where new stores can compete to win big prizes, as well as mentorship from Sir Richard Branson and other entrepreneurial gurus ( see http://www.shopify.com.au/build-a-business for more info ). 

Shopify even offers a 14 day free trial, after which you need to pay for  a starter plan (at the very least) - $14 a month (or you could choose other plans with more features and benefits -  $29 to $179 a month). 

For my ebay store, I approximately shell out around $20 a month, that includes a very good sales management dashboard system. 

Upon setting up my Shopify store, which was still  free for several more days, I had to enter  a credit card account that would be immediately charged after the 14 day trial period (I can cancel the store anytime within this period and not be charged anything, so they claim). 

I decided to give it a go, since Shopify was getting  a lot of good reviews ( and some not so good ones, in being compared to other e-stores) and was eager to post my items, as well as "design" the look of the store. 

But first, I had to set up the store system, so that I would not have any problems with the payments and shipping, once the store goes online. 

For the payment system, I decided to just go via Paypal, and postponed setting up a bank to bank payment system for later. Upon going to the shipping settings, I was asked to put in where the products will be shipped from, and it was easy enough. 

However, I noted that it did not  tie up to the AusPost system that is automatically set up in an ebay account. It also showed that it creates a default payment amount  for items shipped within Australia, and for International orders.  Shopify allows you to modify the shipping amount for local or international orders, but this made me more concerned, about giving the buyers wrong information on shipping costs. 

In my experience with ebay, it taught me to be very careful in putting in the correct weight and size, as well as where I will ship the item from, as it automatically computes the shipping cost for the buyer, wherever they may be. 

Fortunately, everytime I have to ship an item using Auspost, the shipping costs were never higher than what was paid for by the buyer, and I never had to "subsidise" any shipping costs. 

This thing alone made me hesitant about Shopify and I immediately closed my store ( so that I would not be charged anything, hopefully), and decided to do more research about their ordering, payment and shipping system before I proceed in the future. 

From what I read about Shopify reviews, the system is supposed to be simpler and easier to use for those who want to set up an online store. I guess, that being based in North America, and not having a separate site for other countries ( like what ebay has in Australia), it cannot link to  local post offices automatically. 

What is also on the minus side for Shopify (and a plus for ebay), is the capability to post items for free, if one decides not to have an online store. Note: In setting up my "now-closed" Shopify store, I saw a small link above the "menu of plans" to choose from, that said something like - Prices indicated include a store. Don't want one? .  

Maybe Shopify does offer a free system (aside from the free store trial), but my attempts to look for the information  in their website or via Google search, gave me nothing. 

For now, I will be sticking with ebay until I get to know more about how Shopify operates, and then, maybe, the ADRL ebay store -, would find another branch opening in the Shopify online mall. 

Do you operate a Shopify store? Tried ebay too? 

Which e-commerce store do you think is better?

Do share your experiences with us. 

Thanks and see you soon. 

Problems with Blogger and Google's Multiple Accounts.

I have been running some blogs for some clients these past months (as part of my job as a freelance social media marketer), and I have always used Blogger, primarily for the ease of use, as well as Blogger's link to Google (better search results? ). I also use Blogger for this blog as well as some personal blogs I published these past years. 

Recently, I started developing a blog featuring the different sights and shops in  a city called Lismore, in New South Wales, Australia - near where I reside ( I also was a resident of this city for about half a year, when I first moved to Australia). For the blog, titled "Hello, Lismore", I decided to use Wordpress, as I used to manage and edit a website / blog for a client using the Wordpress dashboard for about a year, sometime ago. I also wanted to be more adept in using Wordpress, just in case.  

I was still unsure if the choice to use Wordpress was a good decision, until today, when I wanted to update this blog with a post on "Ebay versus Shopify" (which I still have to write after this one, so do watch out for it). 

Once I logged on to Blogger, I was immediately signed in to a blog I am managing for a client - PDL Academy - at : http://pdl-cpa.blogspot.com.au/ . It was then that my problem started. 

For some reason, I couldn't log out of the gmail account I was using for that blog, and log on to this blogger account, using another gmail address. Correction, I was able to log out and log in to the Google / Gmail accounts, but the moment I proceeded to Blogger, the client account and Blog for PDL Academy was automatically signed in. And, no matter how many times I logged out and logged in, the result remained the same. 

A quick check on the Blogger help page led me to some forums and I discovered that a number of Blogger users also had the same problem.  Suggested remedies included using the Google One sign in (when handling multiple google accounts) properly. The culprit seems to be that Blogger is not linked with the Google multiple account system and Blogger immediately connects to a primary account used in the browser. 

After trying to do some troubleshooting, I decided on trying a different approach. I used a different browser. After opening Blogger on Safari ( ....pleasantly surprised with the new Safari layout. This is the first time I opened Safari since updating to Mac OS X Yosemite), I was logged into an ex-client Blogger account. However, I had no problem signing out and logging in to the Bacon & Potatoes Blogger account. 

It is funny to note that earlier, I was using the Google Chrome browser, and was having a problem with the Google log ins and outs, as well as managing Google's Blogger service. 

For now, at least, I can just go to Safari when updating this blog, but, I am hoping to find a solution to the Chrome / Blogger / Google problem in shifting from  one Blogger account to the other. 

Has anyone found an easier solution to this conundrum? 

Do share it with us here in Bacon & Potatoes, and we, as well as our "blogger" readers, will be forever in your debt. 

Thanks and see you soon.