1. B2C
2. Shopify or Amazon
3. Amazon and TCGPlayer.
4. What do you do if you have to return or exchange the item? What is the return or exchange policy? Is there a time limit? How do you do this? Are there any fees/charges that the customer must pay? Amazon is really lenient with returns, if the Magic card boxes are open then they won’t accept the box back. In TCG player they policies for venders. There is the shipping fee for returning amazon and sometime TCGPlayer.
https://help.tcgplayer.com/hc/en-us/articles/24768427937943-Seller-Guide-to-Refunds-and-Returns
5. What forms of payment are accepted? Card
6.Are there any shipping costs? How much are they? Shipping cost unless you have amazon prime or buy a over a certain amount. TCGPlayer has a shipping fee that varies from Vender to vender.
7. Are there any taxes? How much are they? Sales tax. Shipping tax.
8. Depending on the vender on TCGPlayer there is. TCGPlayer has different shipping depending on the vender. Amazon also has different shipping rates.
9. N/A
10. Card verification, secure password required, and account verification on TCGPlayer. Amazon is a little less strict given you don’t need to verify your card info however their business security would trump TCGPlayer.
What is the first step for an e-commerce?
Having an idea of what you want to do and forming a plan for completing this task.
What are the best options for sourcing your product?
Usually talking with the manufacturer if you need bulk product. Otherwise you can source a lot of your product on amazon being that it is often sold there for cheap. Out of country is also another great option, keep in mind the shipping fees depending on the size of the product.
How should you store customer information?
Starting out, you should keep in mind that you’ll more then likely have security breaches in the future. Storing customer card information should not happen during this setup and starting out. Something you should implement when you have proper security and have managed breaches before. Keeping card number might work, however having the user put in CVS code and billing address should be required in order to keep your customers safe.
How will customers reach out?
Keep in mind that there will be customer issues. You should have some way for customers to reach out to you. You can have a phone number, email, support tickets, or whatever way you see fits your customers.
How will you handle returns?
Customers at some point have some sort of problem with your product. You should consider paying the return shipping fee if you want happy customers or consider not taking returns when a product is broken or not to customers’ standard.
Shipping is important, will you only ship to the states or out?
Having international shipping can end up having a lot more returns and broken products but it can also allow for a wider customer base. The shipping fees are also increased.
How should you ship your product?
Consider adding warning for batteries or fragile depending on the product. Alongside making sure you following shipping laws when shipping your product. There is limits when it comes to battery shipping such as only allowed on cargo planes if it’s a multicell battery. You also need to have proper packaging inside the box/letter you’re providing for the customer. If you’re shipping glass, you should use bubble wrap. If you want to leave a lasting impression on a customer, use a colored box with your logo and neat design.
How can you stand out against other businesses online?
Providing customers with a proper website that follows SEO tricks and tricks can make a huge impact. You also want to make it easy to use, navigate, purchase, and safe for customers to use. If a site is untrustworthy people will start spreading the word that your site shouldn’t be used or that it can’t keep customer information safe. This can ruin a business. You will also need to market your business in places or in ways unique for your business. Standing out can come in the form of reaching your target audience by finding different ways to market and promote. Sponsorships are a big thing in the world of social media. Giving large content creates a script and money to promote your product.
How can I manage my product?
Making sure your inventory is stocked is important. Otherwise, your shipping times can change from a week to 3 weeks depending on your shipping. Keeping your inventory stocked and buying more when running low will help keep these errors down. You can use inventory management software which should be easy to intertwine with your site or taking occasional inventory. If both happen, you should limit these shipping problems most of the time.
What comes first inventory or website?
This can happen in any order. When considering when to start your inventory you should start by tackling your website incase some issues arise during this period and you aren’t left with
Plugins
Starting off with WooCommerce. It is one of the most recommended Plugins for general online stores. Considering that it has both a free and paid options. This is a great way to start out and test your store. It offers a great deal of tools from discount code, multiple languages, multiple currencies. Plenty of extensions for WooCommerce too, helping ad functionality. The sheer abundance of extensions can cause problems for new users trying to find ones that fit for them. On the downside there is no immediate support if you run into issues on your site, only option is to submit tickets to WooCommerce for help.
Easy Digital Downloads is a good for online downloads. Has multiple extension, optimized for online download, and in-depth reporting for your site. This is a great plugin for online downloads but anything this would be a last choice. There is a great paid option but they also offer a free version.
MemberPress is good for membership sites. Having a lot of control of content that is provided to users. Limiting access for users that don’t have proper membership to access. The ability for extensions is also prominent here. However, after getting multiple extensions it gets confusing when handling the memberships. This is also a paid plugin.
BigCommerce is a paid plugin for general online stores. Comparing to WooCommerce there isn’t as much of an option when it comes to themes and extensions. This can potentially limit what you do with your site. It does however offer a lot more reporting and statistics for your site. Such as UPS and access to your other marketplaces on amazon or other popular selling platforms.
Shopify is a very beginner friendly plugin and easy to learn plugin. Starting out there is a lot of concern around the payment system that Shopify charges from their own tax for using their plugin to paying a fee for not using the built in payment methods. The upside has to be it’s versatility. Being great handling multiple sites and built in tools for cart recovery. It has a very user friendly user interface, offer AI tools to help with production. They also have an extensive list of extensions.
Plugins and Themes
Each plugins have their own select themes. Each having varying degrees of use and success for your store. When considering which plugin to use, consider the themes they offer and if they are right for your website. There are usually paid themes that get expensive. These paid themes can offer a lot more for your site.
My Choice
My choice would have to be Shopify. Something beginner friendly and easy to use. I understand that it’s limited