Ethical Marketplace » Listing Your First Item

Listing Your First Item

How to get started listing on Ethikl

Welcome to the Ethikl Marketplace! Operating an Ethikl shop is an exciting process that we hope you'll love. We are constantly updating this website and will be making the selling process as easy as possible for you. Here are a few tips to help you through some of the difficult parts.

To begin, sign in to your Ethikl account  
 
Step 1: Store Setup
     
First thing to set up is your store go to Main Page > Store Setup
Shop Policies and Profile: Taking the time to write a good profile page is a key opportunity as a Seller to reach out to your customers and entice them into your store by giving them a glimpse of the person behind the business and the items you are selling. Make sure you show them a bit about the maker behind the curtain; describe your process, your studio. Upload a photo of yourself or your creative process or studio to really give customers a feel for who you are.
 
Shop Banner:  If your shop was in the physical world, your banner would be the sign above the front door. Choose something that looks professional and that will give shoppers a sense of the mood or feel of your shop and makes them interested to scroll down to see more. Also upload a small avatar which sill display in the top right corner and later will be used in forums.
 
Step 2: List an item for sale Main Page > Add New Product
   
Images

Images: Your photos must not be more than 3MB or 3000KB in size. Images should not be more than 1000 pixels wide or high, as this creates a large file that may not upload correctly. Keep the image resolution around 75dpi to reduce the file size.

To upload an image: click ‘upload image' under the large box then select
‘File on your local computer' and find the image on your computer, Your photos are automatically resized for the thumbnail when you click ‘Generate Thumbnail'.
 
After you have uploaded your first product image, you can then go back and add extra images that will display as thumbnails under your listing. Select 'Detailed Images' after you have saved the first image. You can also add 'Product Options'If you wish to sell products that differ from one another but slightly (e.g. in color or in size),
 
For more information about using great images in your listing read our:
 
 
Categorise and Describe your item
 
On this step, you will categorise and describe your item listing. Use keywords in your descriptions and Meta Keyword that help shoppers find your item listing.
 
Category: Choose the top-level Category that best suits your item from the dropdown menu. Then select an additional category that most suits your item. You dont have to choose a second category. Please keep your items in only the relevant category, items that are placed in the wrong categories will be deleted.

Product name: This is your short name for you item such as “Organic Coffee” It is best to include word such as organic, handmade, fair trade, ethical, natural etc.

Short Description: Same as Product name, keep it short, it it only for searches.

Detailed description: This is your opportunity to describe your item. Include information about the size, how it was made or any unique features. Some things to consider when tagging your listing: describe what it is, shape, size, who it is for, how it was made, color, style, materials, content, motifs.
 
Use the WYSIWYG editor to format your text, give it colour, different sizes etc.

META keywords: This is how search engines will find your item. Think like a shopper: what words would you search to find this item? Look at your description and title for good keywords; make it very specific such as “organic cotton dress, handmade dress, hemp dress”. If you leave this blank, the system will fill it in with a generic set of keywords for the category it is in, so don't worry if you find this too technical.

Price and Shipping
 
Add information about your item like the price, quantity and shipping information.

Price: Enter the price of your item (not including shipping).

Quantity: If you have multiples of the same item, you can increase the quantity in stock for the listing. As the items sell, the quantity in stock will go down.

Shipping: Shipping Profiles are a way to save a specific set of shipping information, which you can then quickly apply to any item listing during the listing or editing process. Shipping Profiles work well if you have similar items that ship for the same costs. Determine your shipping costs for an item of a specific size, weight and shipping method, then create a Shipping Profile you can quickly add to your new listings for such items.Make sure you enter an amount or your sales can not be processed. Click here for more information about shipping

When you have finished entering all this information, click Save
 
Use a Shop Badge: Sellers can promote their Ethikl Shop (and Ethikl as a whole) by using “badges.”   Badges are HTML code that you can paste into your blog, website, or social networking profile and Voila!   A link right to your Ethikl shop. Download your ethikl shop badge here.
 
 
Congratulations! You now have an item for sale on Ethikl.