Not on the High Street

[Stu33]

I'm currently selling my own print designs on Etsy, and have been doing so for 4 months. Sales have gone much better than expected (I'm doing this part time after the day job is finished) and I'm looking at other channels to market.

I've got no immediate desire to launch my own store, as I see that as a goal for 12-18 months time. But I would be keen to know if anyone has any experience of selling via Not on the High Street, and how they have found it?

There is a fair bit of competition in the type of prints I make on there - so I want to be sure I'll get the ROI and maintain the margins I've been earning via Etsy. Any input welcome. Thanks.

 

[NewGardenStyle]

I've not sold on there, but you'll find it a lot more expensive than Etsy. Their commissions are much higher than Etsy - 25% - and there's a £199 joining fee. Also, there is no guarantee they will accept you, especially if there are already sellers with similar products.

Why not start your own store? The sooner you can get going the better.

 

[Page]

25% !!!

That is a take and a half

Is that off the price inc VAT

 

[NewGardenStyle]

No VAT is on top

Still, I'm sure it works out for some sellers. Personalised items seem to do particularly well on there. I guess it works if you're making your own products - probably not if you're sourcing / reselling.

 

[antropy]

25% !!!

That is a take and a half

Maybe you can raise your prices on there compared to Etsy?

 

[Gecko001]

When you say that you selling your "own print designs", do you mean that you are selling only the design, or do you mean that you are selling the items that your designs are printed on?

 

[Page]

No VAT is on top
.

I think you mean the 25% is off the price that includes VAT
So you lose 25% to Etsy and 20% to the VAT
So 45% gone from the sales figure

My guess is that many do not pay VAT anyway on ETSY due to being below the limits

And many might not be declaring anything at all - and then we are into that lovely grey area of a useless HMRC with not enough staff

 

[NewGardenStyle]

No I don't think that's right. They charge you 25% and are obliged to charge an additional 20% VAT on that 25% That 25% isn't net of VAT.

From a Guardian article: "Not On The High Street. The barriers to entry are considerably higher, but many traders say it is worth the extra effort and cost. It has 2 million unique visitors per month, which doubles at Christmas. It costs £199 (£238.80 including VAT) to join and you pay 25% commission (plus VAT) on each sale"

It's then up to the seller if they decide to declare the remainder that you receive from NOTHS, but as you say I should imagine most don't.

Etsy charge a lot less that 25% BTW

 

[Jeff FV]

re: NOTHS commission.

You pay 25% of your sales as commission to NOTHS. This is VATable, so you then pay VAT on this 25%. However, if you are VAT registered, you claim this VAT back on your VAT return (but you do pay VAT on your sale).

If you're not VAT registered, you still pay the VAT on the 25 % commission, but obviously can't claim it back.

e.g. You sell something through NOTHS for £100

You pay 25% commission = £25 + VAT (£5) = £30. You get £100 from customer.

If VAT registered you must pay £16.67 VAT on the £100, but can claim back £5 VAT, thereby making a net amount of £58.33

If not VAT registered you take home £70.

Hope that makes some sense

 

[NewGardenStyle]

The £70 figure was the one I had in mind

 

[Page]

So a VAT registered seller is losing 42% from the sale price and a non VAT registered seller 30%

That is a lot of peanuts

It does not mean it is not worth it though

 

[Jeff FV]

So a VAT registered seller is losing 42% from the sale price and a non VAT registered seller 30%

That is a lot of peanuts It is

It does not mean it is not worth it though It is (worth it)

By far our best sales channel (much as it pains me to write that!)

 

[Page]

And at the end of the day that is what counts

But it really does have to be not on the high street (high margin) to work - or am I missing something

 

[Abe Choi]

Also on the operational side, NOTHS have a certain way of shipping with the correct A4 invoice. This may slow you down if you already have a shipping workflow as you will need to follow their process and potentially duplicate your shipping workflow.

 

[Jeff FV]

Also on the operational side, NOTHS have a certain way of shipping with the correct A4 invoice. This may slow you down if you already have a shipping workflow as you will need to follow their process and potentially duplicate your shipping workflow.

Having sold through NOTHS for more years than I care to count, I have no idea what this means.

 

[Stu33]

Thanks all. The 25% I was aware of, but as for VAT on top... that's excessive. My Etsy costs are around 5% of order value as a comparison. But then again, as @Jeff FV said, If it brings in more sales, I'd be happy to sacrifice that. I may look to do a specific range of higher priced prints just for NOTHS though.

@Gecko001 I sell the physical print. Although I see many stores on etsy that do sell their prints as downloadable options. Not something I'm interested in really.