If one or all of the following applies to you, please raise
your hand – “I want to sell something on the Net”, “I have no technical
or coding skills”, or “I don’t want to be bothered with a merchant
account”.
Do I have your attention now? How about if I told you that there’s a
quick and easy solution to your online selling problems? Well, thanks
to Google, your prayers have been answered. Google Labs is a testing
ground for new services thought up by the geniuses who work there. One
of their latest concoctions is called “Google Checkout Store Gadget“.
Its basic function allows you to copy and paste some code onto any
webpage or blog, and become an instant merchant selling your own
products.
Let’s take a look at the “man behind the curtain” to see how it all
works. The very first step is to open a Google Checkout Merchant
account, which is easy to do by going to http://checkout.google.com/signup
Fill out all of the required information, and you’ll also need to input
a bank account here your hard earned sales funds will be sent to.
Google Checkout will process all incoming orders for you. The orders
will appear under the orders tab”. On another note, make sure to uncheck
the box that says, “my company will only post digitally signed carts”,
then hit the save button. Also, make sure to write down your “Merchant
ID” number as you’ll need it later on.
The next step is done using a Google Docs Spreadsheet which will
track all your inventory. Google provides a template that can be copied
which can be found here, http://tinyurl.com/yhebl4y
. Take out the “dummy” product information and replace it with your
own. There are separate columns for each item, even for shipping
information. Each product can have its own separate shipping charge if
need be. Keep in mind when filling it out that it can be viewed by the
general public, so don’t include any private information in it.
After you’ve entered all your items, hit “share” in the upper right
hand corner, and publish as a “web page”. Also, check the box that says
Automatically Re-Publish when changes are made.”
Google makes it easy to set up your online store by using http://storegadget.googlelabs.com
. It takes you through the process step-by-step, and when finished you
click on “start publishing” and select where you’d like to embed the
code, for example your website, Blogger, etc. Copy the code and paste it
where you want the gadget to appear. There are no coding skills
necessary, and anyone can do it. Really, it’s that simple.
If adding to a Blogger Blog, go under “edit layout”, add a
“gadget”, then click “add your own”, and paste the gadget code. Now
you’re selling items from your Blog that quickly.
So what’s all of this going to cost? There is a small transaction
fee charged by Google Checkout for any monthly sales as follows:
Under 3,000.00 2.9% plus .30 per transaction
3,000.00 to 9,999.99 2.5% plus .30 per transaction
10,000 to 99,999.99 2.2% plus .30 per transaction
If you’ve been putting off getting up a store front because you
thought it was too difficult or technically complicated, Google really
has simplified the process. With “store gadgets” even a child can sell
online.
For more information see these resources:
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Merle’s Mission Blog – a passion for net marketing, affiliate
marketing, social networking. An avid Blogger and writer with several
niche sites to her credit. Find out more at
