Ecommerce Legal documents

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

Hi all,

First post for me, don't know where else to go!
I have been trading for some time as a business, but am now at the end stages of building a online garden machinery shop.
Being an authorised dealer/reseller for many manufactures and my purpose is opening the shop for mainly drop shipping purposes.

I have a platform with integrated ecommerce. My products are ready to go and although the shop side of things has not been uploaded, I've come to a grinding halt.

The ecommerce requires some legal documents to upload or at least fill in. I am in a bit of a quandary as this is not something I am good at.

I was wandering how other managed to overcome this problem, do I have to go out and get professional assistance or can I use templates?

I am sure someone on here can point me in the right direction. Honestly i don't like it when i cannot deal with an issue but this is really getting to me. I cannot progress unless these documents are online.

Any help appreciated..
paul

fisicx · Oct 17, 2023

What sort of legal documents?

DontAsk · Oct 17, 2023

Your question is too vague. What exactly is "the e-commerce?". What is it asking for?

PayPal and Ebay, for example, will ask for proof of the company. This will differ whether you are Ltd or sole trader. E.g., company registration number, VAT number, ...

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

Terms and Condition
Privacy Policy
Returns Policy

They are the legal forms its asking for..

I quote" Your store’s legal documents are displayed on your website as separate pages. Add the necessary legal pages to inform customers about various aspects of your services and protect your business from violating rules and regulations."

fisicx · Oct 17, 2023

Well that's easy.

There are many websites where you can download templates or you can pay someone to write them for you.

Or you visit your competitors sites and see how they did it.

What platform are you using to build your website?

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

IONOS My Website NOW eCommerce Pro

fisicx · Oct 17, 2023

madaboutmowers said:
IONOS My Website NOW eCommerce Pro

Oops. Before you go any further I suggest you rethink what you are doing. Ionos are the absolute pits and their site builder equally naff.

You are going to get locked into a potentially expensive and substandard product. Escape now while you have the chance.

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

Ive been with them for 2 years, just upgraded to this ecommerce package.. my actual website is doing quite well, and to be honest i've not had an issue with them at all. So suggestions then for a good website builder and ecommerce package.. This is going to be painful as my website is actually doing ok locally and need it to stay that way..starting again is going to be so hard as ive spent weeks building the shop. although not online yet.
I mean the actual website part of my package is doing ok

fisicx · Oct 17, 2023

Keep the store and website separate.

Get a new domain name for the store and self host. I’d go with Wordpress. Totally free and has so many free upgrades and options you never be limited.

If you get a bit of help you can get a working store up and running in a couple of hours.

The last part is quite important, getting help will save you so much time and effort.

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

I agree but would like my shop to be known and linked to my brand or company name. sending customers to another site from my website doesn't seem very professional. This is a bit demoralising as i have spent weeks building the 450 products on this new platform.. don't get me wrong if IONOS is not great then im willing to change, but due to google already grabbing my website and listing is good locally i feel i should stay instead of starting over.
I agree with what you are saying about making it separate and i will take your advice i think. Im actually scared of changing things.. I get lots of calls right now and am very busy but of course customers find me via google.. on IONOS platform.. yes i need help but dont have alot of funds for that.. i need it to be acceptable and nice looking on a very tight budget.. like evryone i guess.

fisicx · Oct 17, 2023

You link the two together.

Loading 450 products shouldn’t take long. You put it all together in an excel spreadsheet and import.

Did a site recently with 3000 products and we were up and running in a couple of days.

But I do understand what you are saying, if you are happy with what you’ve got then carry on. I’d just have second thoughts at £700/year. That sort of money could get you a fantastic site built - far better than anything Ionos can provide. And once paid for would be free forever.

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

fisicx said:
Get a new domain name for the store and self host. I’d go with Wordpress. Totally free and has so many free upgrades and options you never be limited.

If I'm looking at the right site, it's already on Wordpress.

@madaboutmowers Why are you not using the Woocommerce plugin?

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

oohhh now im a little excited as although i don't have £700 pounds to find immediately.. you have drawn my attention to how much it is actually costing per year.. didn't think of it that way sir..
So I'm thinking, if i was to start over.. and you was me.. You would go WordPress all the way? who would you choose to host your WordPress sites with?
And are you talking £700 would pay for my website and ecommerce shop forever?
The main issue i have when building this shop is alot of my items are dropshipping, not all but most.. and they provide me with a CSV file which i have to spend days and days converting to what the IONOS shop needs.. for example i get the description as one 1000 word paragraph on the CSV file and i then have to edit it within the shop..Takes so long..I also have an issue with legal documents like returns policies, privacy polies etc etc..
Im really scared of doing anything as this is my livelihood. but do need to get a shop up and running.. I have this great opportunity to earn more money..
I think what i need is have someone build, look after and maintain my website.. expensive i guess..

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

why am i not using woocommerce plug in??? not sure how i would even do that sir..

Im guessing i would have to change my package about right?

I think woocommerce may be a whole different package...

Think it may be wordpress based but i can only access a website builder not the wordpress bit of it..IONOS controls that from its builder i think..

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

madaboutmowers said:
why am i not using woocommerce plug in??? not sure how i would even do that sir..

If I have this right, you have a Wordpress website hosted by 1 & 1 Internet. If that's the case, you don't need Ionos at all.
You simply install the Woocommerce plugin and upload your products. It takes a little setting up but it's free. So you might be able to pay someone to do it for you.

fisicx · Oct 17, 2023

And you wouldn’t have to edit online, you can do it all in the CSV.

Which as an aside would need redoing anyway as supplier descriptions are usually rubbish.

And they are pants as doing variants.

And their images are mostly rubbish.

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

i have a website builder hosted by IONOS (1and1). I dont actually have access to the wordpress side of things as far as i know.

fisicx · Oct 17, 2023

You must have access, it's a wordpress site!

If you don't have access then someone is taking you for a ride.

Move away from 1&1/Ionos - they really are the worst (and have been for years). You are hosted in Germany on a server with 13,000 other sites.

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

madaboutmowers said:
Think it may be wordpress based but i can only access a website builder not the wordpress bit of it..IONOS controls that from its builder i think..

Then you should move away completely from 1 & 1 / Ionos and find a new hosting company. As your business grows, you'll find your costs will increase.

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

madaboutmowers said:
I dont actually have access to the wordpress side of things as far as i know.

If they don't give you access to the Wordpress dashboard, you won't be able to migrate the site. The good news is that there's bugger all on the site to copy over to a fresh Wordpress install.

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

IONOS are saying its not wordpress based... www.madaboutmowers.co.uk

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

It looks like you registered your domain with Ionos. If you have access to the domain DNS settings, you can point the domain to a new host.

madaboutmowers said:
IONOS are saying its not wordpress based..

Yes it is.

fisicx · Oct 17, 2023

They are telling porkypies. It is a wordpress site.

What have done is restrict what you can do with your site. But if they are saying it's not wordpress they are lying and not to be trusted.

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

fisicx said:
What have done is restict what you can do with your site. But if they are saying it's not wordpress they are lying and not to be trusted.

More marketing hype to make punters feel like it's a good decision.

fisicx · Oct 17, 2023

This is why 1&1 have such an appalling reputation. It's all shiny on the outside but all junk when you get under the hood.

Horrible cheap shared hosting.

13,000 sites at £6/month is almost £1million/year for one server. And they have thousands of the things. Big profits for a rubbish service

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

I am actually quite angry now.. had a chat with IONOS and they are categorically saying my package is not WordPress based.. If i want to the WordPress route i would have to rebuild both my website and shop from scratch, i believe that was going down the woo commerce route.. I am so angry, as you guys know it takes a lot of work to get the right product working for you in business.. I m gutted..
I am also at a loss of what to do now, i don't even know where to start..
I can downgrade my package and just keep the domain with them and point dns to a different server and go for a new package somewhere else, i can downgrade keeping the website package but start a new package with a separate domain name somewhere else.. or i stay where i am.
Maybe i need to spend some money and just get someone to sort this for me.. its hard enough running my existing business without the damn shop...
Any ideas how much this would cost for doing the above...
Thanks for the advice so far..

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

One more thing whilst im on here, how do you guys know its wordpress based? you dont have to answer it but would be interested to know..

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

madaboutmowers said:
I can downgrade my package and just keep the domain with them and point dns to a different server and go for a new package somewhere else

This

madaboutmowers said:
One more thing whilst im on here, how do you guys know its wordpress based?

There is a Chrome extension which tells anyone which CMS a site is using. Or you hit CTRL+U and take a look at the source code.

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

madaboutmowers said:
Any ideas how much this would cost for doing the above...

Some of it would be up to you, like getting new hosting and pointing the nameservers. You could be talked through installing Wordpress or learn from Youtube. Setting up your pages, header, footer and menus etc., plus copying your content over is only 3-4 hours work and the cost of that will depend on who does it and if you have any hidden pages.
Setting up Woocommerce is going to depend on how much you can do yourself and how 'matched' your CSV files are to the Woocommerce fields.

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

Thankyou, Ok so help point me in the right direction.. so do you think i should go wordpress all the way with both websites? keeping the shop seperate with a different domain.
Or is there a better solution with another provider that would help me do both.

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

madaboutmowers said:
Thankyou, Ok so help point me in the right direction.. so do you think i should go wordpress all the way with both websites? keeping the shop seperate with a different domain.

You only need one website and the Woocommerce plugin installed on that website.

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

You should also understand that there is more to selling online that putting your products on your website. This is why you hire professionals to help or at the very least come to a forum and ask questions.

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

any providers come to mind? you guys seem to know your stuff, so im guessing im looking at you to tell me where to go..lol any recommended providers that have the WooCommerce plug in?

fisicx · Oct 17, 2023

Doesn’t quite work like that. You find a host and then install Wordpress and woocommerce.

There are plenty of decent hosts. I use Ukhosting.net. Not had any issues in all the years I’ve been with them.

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

So yes im appreciative of all your help but by the sounds of it i need to take a step back, sort the provider, website and ecommerce out first on the correct platforms then when i get stuck come back to ask for help. Im pretty good at SEO so im happy to try and deal with that side of things..
bit scary transferring, redesigning a website again after just doing it.

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

madaboutmowers said:
any providers come to mind? you guys seem to know your stuff, so im guessing im looking at you to tell me where to go..lol any recommended providers that have the WooCommerce plug in?

There are thousands of plugins available through Wordpress. It's simply a matter of going to the plugin repository within your Wordpress dashboard and searching for Woocommerce. Then hit Install and then Activate. That's it. Then you go to settings and add your shop details and a couple of other settings. Wordpress is free and Woocommerce is free. There are hundreds of Woocommerce tutorials for beginners on YouTube.

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

so i just need a hosting company, was looking at HostingUk.net but not sure which package to choose any ideas?

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

You could check with @fisicx on HostingUK. Things to look for are free SSL, cPanel and daily backups.

I use Krystal Hosting. It might be a little more expensive but they are next to perfect.

madaboutmowers · Oct 17, 2023

So ive been looking at the krystal.uk Emerald package. Think this may be sufficient do you all agree? Which if i am right i can have two websites on the same platform. I think with two different domains..

Shopclicks · Oct 17, 2023

madaboutmowers said:
So ive been looking at the krystal.uk Emerald package. Think this may be sufficient do you all agree? Which if i am right i can have two websites on the same platform. I think with two different domains..

Yes, Emerald is sufficient and you can have multiple domains. Do you need more than one?

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