Hi All!
This is actually my third post about shopinterest.co the site to sell from your Pinterest boards. When last we visited Shopinterest they were pretty much dead in the water. Many of us were dismayed because it held such promise. So lets see what a capital infusion can do for you.
The site is now live and you don't need an invitation. More on that capital infusion in just a minute. The site was supposed to allow you to sell from your Pinterest.com boards. Here's what they actually happens:
1. You fill out the information page to get the ball rolling including what boards you want to use.
2. They pull your listings (products) from the boards. (You can also use pictures from your computer).
3. You edit the listings (products) and add any others you want.
4. Provide your payment info.
5. Preview and launch. You don't get you exact name. I did not get wirequeen even though I own the domain name. I did a search using http://wirequeen.shopinterest.co without the numbers and it brought me to . Which begs the question why, Why I was not given the name I applied for. Emailed them last night, waiting for a reply.
Here's the screen shot of my shop courtesy of Pinstamatic.com
Here's that all important payment info:
We don’t take ownership of the items nor do we take your payments. The shopinterest platform allows your customers to pay you directly. We might include a convenience fee to be paid to us but the actual transaction is handled in between buyers and sellers
Is shopinterest free?
No, we will offer a trial period and start charging after that. You will have the option to pay per item or to subscribe on a monthly basis to get additional features and services. The subscription costs will be based on sales volume and number of items. Buyers may pay a convenience charge.Current;y they are charging $0.99 per transaction.
I did get a partial response back that the trial period would last through December 2012. According to the email the additional pricing structure had not been determined.
Questions, Questions , questions, I've contacted them for clarification on these all important issues my Creative friends. Still waiting for an answer.
Now back to the money infusion. TechCrunch featured the story as a Shopify for Pinterest. There most resent up date is here
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/25/shopinterest-the-startup-that-lets-you-sell-from-your-pinterest-boards-gets-500-startups-backing/
The article goes into the details about financing from a group called 500 startups. Francisco Guerrero the founder of Pintic and co-founder of Shopinterest is now going to focus solely on Shopinterest. Pintics will be shut down and you will be transitioned to former rival Pinfluencer.
So now the burning questions are ; What will be the monthly costs of selling on Shopinterest ? Is there offering enough to make you leave ETSY or whomever you're using to sell from? Do you care enough about Pinterest to even want to sell there?
Got questions, add them in the comments section and maybe we can get answers.
P.S. I never got the invite that Shopinterest had opened for business. Did you?
Michelle
Sign up for our free newsletter!
This is actually my third post about shopinterest.co the site to sell from your Pinterest boards. When last we visited Shopinterest they were pretty much dead in the water. Many of us were dismayed because it held such promise. So lets see what a capital infusion can do for you.
The site is now live and you don't need an invitation. More on that capital infusion in just a minute. The site was supposed to allow you to sell from your Pinterest.com boards. Here's what they actually happens:
1. You fill out the information page to get the ball rolling including what boards you want to use.
2. They pull your listings (products) from the boards. (You can also use pictures from your computer).
3. You edit the listings (products) and add any others you want.
4. Provide your payment info.
5. Preview and launch. You don't get you exact name. I did not get wirequeen even though I own the domain name. I did a search using http://wirequeen.shopinterest.co without the numbers and it brought me to . Which begs the question why, Why I was not given the name I applied for. Emailed them last night, waiting for a reply.
Here's the screen shot of my shop courtesy of Pinstamatic.com
Here's that all important payment info:
Payments and Fees:
How does shopinterest manage payments in the transactions?We don’t take ownership of the items nor do we take your payments. The shopinterest platform allows your customers to pay you directly. We might include a convenience fee to be paid to us but the actual transaction is handled in between buyers and sellers
Is shopinterest free?
No, we will offer a trial period and start charging after that. You will have the option to pay per item or to subscribe on a monthly basis to get additional features and services. The subscription costs will be based on sales volume and number of items. Buyers may pay a convenience charge.Current;y they are charging $0.99 per transaction.
I did get a partial response back that the trial period would last through December 2012. According to the email the additional pricing structure had not been determined.
Questions, Questions , questions, I've contacted them for clarification on these all important issues my Creative friends. Still waiting for an answer.
Now back to the money infusion. TechCrunch featured the story as a Shopify for Pinterest. There most resent up date is here
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/25/shopinterest-the-startup-that-lets-you-sell-from-your-pinterest-boards-gets-500-startups-backing/
The article goes into the details about financing from a group called 500 startups. Francisco Guerrero the founder of Pintic and co-founder of Shopinterest is now going to focus solely on Shopinterest. Pintics will be shut down and you will be transitioned to former rival Pinfluencer.
So now the burning questions are ; What will be the monthly costs of selling on Shopinterest ? Is there offering enough to make you leave ETSY or whomever you're using to sell from? Do you care enough about Pinterest to even want to sell there?
Got questions, add them in the comments section and maybe we can get answers.
P.S. I never got the invite that Shopinterest had opened for business. Did you?
Michelle
Sign up for our free newsletter!
Thanks for this, Michelle. I'm selling prints, posters and cards via Zazzle and Red Bubble - and it's always interesting to see other possibilities. This might lend itself well to limited editions and special hand-produced offers.
ReplyDeleteBut one thing worries me. Looking at Shopinterest's YouTube video, I wonder if they've thought enough about international markets. There's only provision for a single shipping rate ... so what if your customer is in India or Australia?
And then on their YouTube video they ask you to enter your 'state tax rate'. This assumes that the tax calculation depends only on the origin of the vendor. But European VAT is charged depending on where you're selling to as well.
The world's a complicated place, but these are fundamental issues for anyone thinking of offering a selling service on the world-wide web, and I would think their funders would want them to get this right pretty fast!
Thanks for bringing that up. I'm expecting a call from the founder and will raise the issues you presented to him.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I had heard that people were moving into using Pinterest for business but didn't know there was a way to sell from it. I can see how that would be great for crafters like you!
ReplyDelete