Create A Shop - Sell new and old records, CDs and cassettes at Beat Hippo

Beat Hippo is designed to be easy and speedy to set up. It doesn't matter if you're a seasoned music seller or have some old records to sell, the experience of creating an account and setting up your preferences should be child's play. To make the process even easier, I have written this walk-through describing how to create the perfect shop for you and your customers at Beat Hippo.

Step 1: Create an Account

Before you can get stuck in and create a shop, you have to create a Beat Hippo account. After you have created an account, dive in to step 2 below.

Step 2: My Shop Page

The image above shows the 'my shop' page for a hypothetical user called Proton Records. This page is like a home page for your shop. If you have uploaded profile and banner images for your user account, they will be displayed here. As you can see, this user has uploaded a profile image. The easiest way to get your shop up and running is to follow the three steps shown in this page. So, click on the first block titled 'Step 1'. This will take you to the 'shop details' page.

Step 3: Shop Details

It's important that you complete everything in this section otherwise you won't be able to add listings and start selling. To set up a Stripe account click on the yellow Stripe button.

Stripe

If you already have a Stripe account click on the link at the top of the page. This will connect your account with Beat Hippo's and you can move on to the next step below this one (VAT). If not, you will presented with a form to complete.

Stripe form guidelines

Follow these guidelines to create a Stripe account easily.

Category	Advice
Business website	If you don't have a website enter the url of your Facebook, Twitter or Discogs home page.
Business description	Retail > Other merchandise
Type of business	The majority of our sellers will select 'individual / sole traders'. If you select a different option, you will have to enter your company's details.
Registered business address	This will be either your home or business address. Don't worry too much about the term 'registered' here.
Legal name	Your first and last name.
Home address	This can be the same as your 'registered business address' (see above).
Statement descriptor	Your business name, for example 'Proton Records'.
Bank details	Enter your details as they appear on your card / statement.
Two-step authentication	Use a SMS message (easiest) or the Google authenticator app to authenticate.
Email and password	This email and password will be used to create login credentials for your account. You will be able to use these to sign in to your Stripe account.

When you've done, click the blue 'Authorize access to this account' button. Stripe will automatically connect your new Stripe account to Beat Hippo and redirect you to a page with important details, like your Stripe id. Click on the link 'your shop' to return back to the shop details page. Please note that the Stripe section should now indicate that it is completed.

VAT

Only enter your VAT registration number into this form if you are currently registered. By leaving this section blank you are confirming to us that you are not VAT registered. If you are not VAT registered just ignore this section and move to 'Refund Limit' below.

Refund limit

Enter a period in which a customer can claim a refund. For instance, if you enter 30, your customers will be expected to raise a refund request within that period. The minimum refund limit is 28 days.

Terms & conditions

This is an important section because customers have the chance to read this before they buy from you. It should include information on:

• Your shipping policy – including prices, companies and dispatch times;
• Your refunds & returns policy;
• Details regarding the type of packaging you use;
• Details about who you are and your shop;
• Any special offers and discounts.

Shipping

Creating shipping bands is far easier than it looks. For shops outside the US, usually you will need only three shipping bands: domestic, Europe and the US. For US-based sellers would only need 2: domestic and Europe. However, you can set as many shipping bands as you want - if you want to fine tune it for each country, you can do so, but please bare in mind if you don't set shipping for a country, they will be blocked from buying from you.

To create a band, follow these steps (the images show a German shop creating a shipping band for Europe):

1. Select a country (or multiple different countries) from the 'region' section;





2. Select a shipping method;
3. In the 'limits' section, enter the number of business days you expect it to take for you to complete shipping and for the parcel to reach its destination;





4. Select a shipping rule (by total price of the order, weight in grams, or number of units);
5. Add the ranges by which the price will be set - the final range must be 'and up' to complete the set (see below);



6. Set a price at which shipping would be free for your customers (optional).

Once these sections have been completed your basic details are complete and your shop is live.

Step 4: Upload Images

Although not essential, uploading images for your shop is a great way for you to show your customers who you are, while reassuring them about your standards. Uploading two packaging images lets customers see the quality of your packaging before they buy from you (see examples below).

A good shop image lets customers see what you're all about. Show buyers your shop interior or a shot of your shelves.

Step 5: Preferences

Again, this section is not essential but it's a good idea to complete if you want to fine tune your shop at Beat Hippo and let your customers know more about you. Here you can let us know more about you and your business. The two most important fields here are probably 'allow offers' and 'shop info'.

If you would like buyers to have the opportunity to make offers on all your listings, select this option - but add your listings first (see below). You can also allow offers on individual items by setting them in /user/sell/items/view.

The 'shop info' section allows you to tell your customers on Beat Hippo all about your business. All the information entered here is displayed on your public profile page available to all Beat Hippo users.

Step 6: Add listings

There are two ways to add listings at Beat Hippo. You can add individual items manually at /user/sell/items/add or request we import your inventory from Discogs. Importing your Discogs inventory is a great idea if you have a lot of records that you already sell on Discogs. It will not affect your inventory at Discogs, all we do is replicate the items you already have for sale and put them on Beat Hippo. Allow 24 hours for your inventory to be imported but on average it takes no longer than a couple of hours.

And that's it. You're ready to sell at Beat Hippo!