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If you are a member of BlogCatalog, you can now join this blog's neighbourhood at dawanda-shop-directory.

What is Paypal?

Here is a copy of my explanation from the guide to buying and selling on the right hand panel and the Paypal link.

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I have always found Paypal easy to use as both a seller and a customer of on-line stores. As a payment system it's popularity is growing day by day and is widely used on both larger forums, such as Boots, eBay, Etsy and DaWanda to smaller business websites. I would recommend Paypal as a quick and reliable banking system.

Paypal describe their service as (direct quote);

Founded in 1998, PayPal enables any business or consumer with an email address to securely, conveniently and cost-effectively send and receive payments online. Our network builds on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards to create a global, real-time payment solution.

PayPal has quickly become the leading payment network for online auction websites, including eBay. With over 100 million account members worldwide PayPal is also being increasingly used at other e-commerce sites. Users can send payments for free via their PCs or web-enabled mobile phones.

On eBay, DaWanda and Etsy Paypal can easily be used to make immediate payment for purchases at the checkout. Paypal make the payment on your behalf either from funds you have in your Paypal on-line account (which takes 10 days to add from your bank account), or your credit card (Mastercard, Visa, Maestro, Amex, Switch, Solo, Delta or Visa Electron), or by echeque (if you have no funds in you Paypal on-line account then Paypal will withdraw the amount from your bank account in 10 days to pay for your items).

Equally you can also receive payment from buyers through the same methods and the monies will be stored in your on-line Paypal account. You can then transfer any money received to your personal bank account, but note charges may occur if you withdraw less than the limit (see your account for details - in Britain the limit is £50). You should also note as a Seller, that Paypal will charge a percentage per transaction. Details of these are available on the Paypal site.

All you need is a UK, most European or US bank account to open a Paypal account... I think there are plans to role this system out to other countries soon.

The link to Paypal is http://www.paypal.com/

A Special Thank You!

A special 'Thank you' goes to Le Bar du Vent aka Mehrio68 for translating the DaWanda Promo Bag thread into French for me and for helping to bring the communities of DaWanda together.

Introducing... Emma S!

1 DaWanda Shop Name: EmmaS
2 DaWanda Shop URL http://emmas.dawanda.com/
3 When did you open your shop? in April 2008
4 Are you in the DaWanda Shop Directory here? No
5 What Category are you under? N/a
6 What do you sell? mostly shawls and scarfs, knitted or crocheted, made of silk, cashmere and some bags.
7 Describe 2 of your current products.
a white shawl>-- lace -- for a wedding (silk/cashmere), a small bag made of crocheted flowers (silk).
8 Tell me a bit about you... I grew up in a family where everybody loved to create things out of wood, wool, fibers, learned to sew, knit and crochet as a child, studied history and learned many things about the clothes that people wore in former times and how they were made, love to use old books and catalogues to create patterns that look old and vintage -- but actually aren't ...
9 Do you have a website, or blog? www.schaffarben.de

How to leave Feedback for a buyer or a seller.

So you have your purchase, or your sale and the transaction is over... what better way to let everyone know how it went, than to leave some feedback. Not sure how to do it?

Buyers leaving feedback for Sellers

• Log in to your account
• Under 'My DaWanda', press 'Purchases and Sales'
• Press 'Purchases' on the left hand side and here you will find a list of your purchases.
• Find the sale number and seller you have received your item from and press 'rate the seller' on the right hand side.
• Select your rating number from 1 to 5, 5 being excellent.
• Add your comment
• Here you also have an option to leave a picture... this could be your entry to the DaWanda photo competition which happens month at http://en.dawanda.com/photo
• Press save and you are finished

Sellers leaving feedback for Buyers

• Log in to your account
• Under 'My DaWanda', press 'Purchases and Sales'
• Press 'Sales' on the left hand side and here you will find a list of your sales.
• Find the sale number and buyer you have sent your item to and press 'rate the buyer' on the right hand side.
• Select your rating number from 1 to 5, 5 being excellent.
• Add your comment
• Press save and you are finished

So why should I leave feedback?

Feedback is a great way to let everyone know how your transaction went... it's also very helpful for sellers who can use feedback as recommendations of their work for potential buyers. However, it is always important that feedback is fair and reflective of a number of aspects of the transaction... so remember;

1. how did I find the product?
2. how did I find the customer service?
3. was the item packaged well?
4. was it sent in good time? Remember here that sellers cannot be responsible for delays by the shipping carrier!
5. if I had a problem on receipt was the seller helpful?

Weigh up all of this information and assess which mark from 1-5 is fair, for example if the item arrived broken from the shipping carrier, but you were refunded by the seller and you found the seller helpful then a rating of 5 is still very fair!

It is also always good to remember that as a buyer your feedback from sellers will help you too and you will be rated on the following aspects;

1. did you pay in good time?
2. did you check correspondence with the seller regularly?
3. did you provide the correct shipping information on your DaWanda order?

So enjoy shopping with DaWanda and help promote the community by leaving some feedback today,

Sara x

Written by Sara of Sara's Texture Crafts

Profile Pages as Advertising Tools

Earlier on in the year I was asked by another selling forum to write an article about Seller profiles. I decided to use this opportunity to show that profile pages can be used as an in-store marketing tool to benefit both you (the Seller) and your customers. I am now posting a version of this article here, as I think it has benefit to our DaWanda community.
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Taking the time to write a good profile page is your key opportunity as a Seller to reach out to your customers and entice them into your store with a background to the business and products you are selling. Whilst selling forums often advise which bits of information you post here, there is no hard or fast rule about how you should present it. There are however ways in which you can strive to write a great profile page and maximise your opportunity to sell.

Here are some options I think could help on DaWanda;

The first paragraph is key. If you watch a film, you can usually tell within the first 10 minutes whether you want to keep on watching, well it’s that same thing with profile pages… your first paragraph is the key to keeping your customers reading.

Get friends and family to read your first paragraph – does it spark interest? Raise positive questions? Or make them want to read more?

Follow this with a clearly defined layout. Not all buyers have the time/want, or need to read your entire profile each time they visit. So define your layout by use of titles, line breaks or capitalisation of key words. That way your buyer can skim down the page to look for the heading they're interested in, without reading through the whole thing to find the answers to their questions.

Next make your profile text easy to read. It is important to be as clear and concise in your wording as possible… you want to keep their attention once you have got them past the first paragraph! It is also worth remembering that DaWanda is a global market place, so English is not necessarily everyone’s first language.

And finally, write in a friendly and approachable manner, remembering to keep it professional.

Like few other selling forums DaWanda is starting to gain a real sense community spirit about it, so capitalise on this! Shoppers and fellow Sellers like to spend time getting to know a shop before they buy, so don’t be afraid to write a bit about your self, or your business. Do remember to keep a professional edge to your profile though… after all you are a business, whether you sell the extra bags you knit whilst sat in front of your telly, or you are a full time operation! Buyers must feel that you take your products and business seriously. So striking a balance here is key.


- All of this is great, but what do I include? Well, let’s have a look…

Firstly, tell me something about yourself. Adding a short biography can give buyers so much information about you as an artist. Feel free to tell me a bit about your background, where you come from and how you started your business. Tell me about what inspires you and your craft passions.

Secondly, tell me something about your business and your products. Give your readers an idea of what you are setting out to achieve. What is your mission/why are you selling me this?

You could include:

Is your business a part-time venture, full-time or a charity?
What sort of products do you sell?
What is the idea behind your products?
What’s special about them?
How are they manufactured?

Remember, although you want to be informative you do not want to scare your reader off at this point with a hard sell!

Keep your shop policies and additional product information in the relevant area. Listing your policies here would be duplication. Try to keep these is the provided boxes, that way they will show up under each listed item.

And Lastly! Remember that what reads as a great profile is entirely personal to the reader, so don’t worry about competing with your fellow sellers; write something that you feel comfortable with publishing.


Lots to think about? Yes, I think so. A well written profile page is something we should take our time over and use to try and capture the essence of what we are about. Your profile page is where you get to show the energy and joy you have and to inspire potential buyers.

Written by Sara of http://en.dawanda.com/shop/SarasTextureCrafts