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E-commerce platforms

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  1. #1

    E-commerce platforms

    Hi all, I've self published a book and aim to sell it online (it is already in the bookstores in my home country). Does anyone have a recommendation for a simple online e-commerce platform that does not require me to set up a company and have a merchant account? What is the simplest way to receive credit card payments to your normal, personal bank account in HKG?

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  2. #2

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    For tax purposes in Hong Kong I think you need a Sole Proprietorship at least. Then once you have that Business Registration things become easier.

    In any case, can't you just use Paypal?


  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by Maracas Bay:
    Hi all, I've self published a book and aim to sell it online (it is already in the bookstores in my home country). Does anyone have a recommendation for a simple online e-commerce platform that does not require me to set up a company and have a merchant account? What is the simplest way to receive credit card payments to your normal, personal bank account in HKG?
    PayPal should work. You connect your PayPal merchant account with your personal bank account and get your money from this way. Unfortunately, PayPal has a quite expensive commission but when I faced some problems with sellers/buyers, I found PayPal very useful and helpful from law point pf view. So I rely on them, definitely.
    shri likes this.

  4. #4

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    Paypal is cheaper than other CC processing options - many of whom will require deposits etc. Local banks are hopeless when it comes to small businesses selling online.

    AniaSway likes this.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    Paypal is cheaper than other CC processing options - many of whom will require deposits etc. Local banks are hopeless when it comes to small businesses selling online.
    Yes, for example, when talking about merchant account in Hong Kong bank, prices and terms are just ridiculous.


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  6. #6

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    Easy / cheap way to do it

    1. Go to wanchai register a sole proprietor business (should take 15-60mins)
    2. Login to paypal and setup an account registered to your business (15mins)
    3. Honestly if you want to be lazy just go to get some kind of Godaddy/shopify commerce hosting and link it to your paypal... if you get a voucher (google it) or they have sale you can generally get a massive discount.

    I'm assuming you have a domain? If not you can maybe get one in a package from godaddy or try internetbs (very cheap and free private whois), or go with whoever you're comfortable with using for the domain.

    You can link paypal to your personal bank account as a sole proprietor.. there are better eCommerce solutions but the godaddy one is simple as hell, and you can make s

    Last edited by HKHK154; 07-07-2014 at 12:00 PM.
    shri and mkst like this.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by HKHK154:
    Easy / cheap way to do it

    1. Go to wanchai register a sole proprietor business (should take 15-60mins)
    2. Login to paypal and setup an account registered to your business (15mins)
    3. Honestly if you want to be lazy just go to get some kind of Godaddy/shopify commerce hosting and link it to your paypal... if you get a voucher (google it) or they have sale you can generally get a massive discount.

    I'm assuming you have a domain? If not you can maybe get one in a package from godaddy or try internetbs (very cheap and free private whois), or go with whoever you're comfortable with using for the domain.

    You can link paypal to your personal bank account as a sole proprietor.. there are better eCommerce solutions but the godaddy one is simple as hell, and you can make s
    Shopify's lowest priced plan charges 2.9%+$0.30 per transaction which is pretty much same as Paypal's commissions.

    What benefit would one get with Paypal? I've heard so many horror stories of their chargeback practices over the years that I'm hesitant to choose them if I were to startup an ecommerce site.

  8. #8

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    wayland - do they accept HKD and local currencies and transfer to bank accounts locally in Asia without any additional charges?


  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by wayland:
    Shopify's lowest priced plan charges 2.9%+$0.30 per transaction which is pretty much same as Paypal's commissions.

    What benefit would one get with Paypal? I've heard so many horror stories of their chargeback practices over the years that I'm hesitant to choose them if I were to startup an ecommerce site.
    I use Shopify and I use PayPal linked to Shopify and haven't had a problem in the 4 years I run my store. Regarding the horror stories I think it depends on what type of products you sell and in what geographic region...usual practice is to not accept orders from high risk countries. Or to ensure that the order is placed from and the shipping address are using roughly the same IP address.

    Friends of mine who run stores selling iPhone cases, cheap electronics, etc, do get hit with chargebacks but it's not that bad. About 3%. Sometimes it's 5% for those selling junk Shanzhai electronics where they know themselves the quality isn't so great. For example, no name car dvd players and tablets that would only hold 2 hours of charge.

    And yes once upon a time PayPal really sided with buyers, but in my experience it's been fair. Most of the chargebacks result from customer complaints about not receiving. In which case, send by registered airmail (if your profit margin allows) or have the customer pay for registered airmail. Or if you items are in the 30USD range go with epacket service. This way there is proof of receipt.

    As for PayPal freezing accounts I think that was overblown. That happened when a lot of sellers (mostly China-based) were selling knockoffs. Like fake UGG boots and fake high-end luxuries, fake RayBans stuff like that. And well...PayPal had no choice when the original brands came knocking on their doors.

    Oh by the way, about Shopify one of the original reasons I went with them over Volusion and Big Cart etc was that they don't charge for bandwidth. Maybe the competition doesn't charge now either, but back then it was a concern for me.

    Whether to go with Shopify's payment processing or PayPal, I never tried Shopify's in-house payment processing. I've been using PP since forever. I've joined it to a Hangseng account and forward myself money when I need it. Yes, true I get killed on the exchange because I sell in USD and I need HKD to spend here, and let's check...

    As of right now, PP is using this rate:

    1 US Dollar = 7.55253 Hong Kong Dollars

    which is really bad, when you consider that the Google rate is 1/7.75

    but then again, cost of doing business...

    Hope that helps

    PS - if you don't have a domain, I'd recommend registering it through Shopify. Sure can register elsewhere but then if you're not tech savvy will have a hard time pointing the domains, changing the name servers, etc. It's not bad, but for some people, that's a huge headache.

    PPS - the basic shopify templates (free ones) are just so so unless you're good with CSS and Shopify's own liquid syntax languages which isn't too steep to learn. Best to go with one of their paid templates which isn't so bad, about 150 USD.
    shri, alfeno, wayland and 1 others like this.

  10. #10

    Join Date
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    Excellent post Grandfastermash!

    As an alternative to Shopify, I'm considering WordPress+WooCommerce at the moment. It's more work but I just don't like the idea that you can't take your site off shopify and host elsewhere should you decide to. I'll report back with my experiences later.


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