I was contacted by Alex of Storebeez last week -
"Would you take a look at our new online market place and mention it to your readers? We have a really good offer running for December, where it's entirely free to list and sell for 6 months"
OK! As it is a good offer, that is actually free, unlike many other offers I get sent to publicise, I said I'd love to share this new website!
First Impressions of www.storebeez.com
I love the name Storebeez, it's cute and it's really easy to remember. The site has a fuss free, clean design and items and shops are not in any way overshadowed by heavy site branding or a large header area.
Whilst browsing, the products are the focus and when you land on the home page the very prominent search box encourages you to type in exactly what you are shopping for. There are also featured products and categories listed as you would expect - for now just a selection as it's so brand new!
What struck me most from the info Alex sent over were the words "Driving customers to their stores falls entirely on us". That's a pretty new concept for an online market place, that doesn't charge you an eye-popping amount to register. I'm really keen to see how this develops as users sign up and the ways in which they will approach the marketing of shops.
Facts of selling at Storebeez
If you open a Storebeez shop in December 2011 you pay no transaction fees for 6 months. Normally Storebeez would only charge you commission if you sell (no sign up, or monthly running costs), but they are waiving a whole 6 months of costs to the first shopkeepers to set up store!
So it's absolutely free, nothing to loose and free marketing from a team of experienced e-commerse entrepreneurs. If it all goes well you have an established shop and you can decide in 6 months whether it's worth the 10% commission, they will charge after your free trial ends.
It's open to all and ideally suited to people who want to quickly list item for sale - it's very straightforward to register, set up and list.
As with many other sites, you can also customise your shop, add a banner, avatar and with Storebeez you can also add a background image too.
You can list your items as 'on demand' rather than 'in stock' if you wish when listing, so there is no issue with having everything listed in more than one place if you make one of a kind items.
It is new though so there are probably a few things you'll not immediately gel with and maybe even find a few bugs, (I didn't meet any using the latest version of Chrome) - but then that's the beauty of a new platform, they are 100% focused on keeping their customers happy as they know that's the best way to grow their business - and they have that passion to get seen and succeed.
A shop ready to be filled and customised...
What do you think? Worth registering in December, even if you only have time to add a few listings - it's for free, every day for the next 6 months :)
x Hilary