Notes on selling
How to sell from a link in your bio: photographs, pricing, delivery and the small decisions that turn a follower into an order.
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15 min read
How to take payment as a small seller
Bank transfer, cash on delivery, chat apps or cards. What each rail costs you, what it demands of the buyer, and what it leaves on your desk afterwards.
12 min read
Using Telegram to take orders for a small business
Telegram can open a chat with the order already typed, which Instagram cannot. Here is how to run an order desk on it without losing track of anyone.
11 min read
How to work out delivery charges
Work out what a parcel really costs you, band it by weight, and see why a single flat delivery rate quietly loses money on every heavy order you send.
11 min read
How to write an order confirmation
The most-read message you will ever send, and most sellers waste it on a receipt. Six things it has to say, with templates for every payment rail.
12 min read
Insurance, and what can actually go wrong
Most of what goes wrong for a small UK seller is not insurable. Work out which risks a policy answers, which your courier answers, and which are just yours.
14 min read
Invoices that get paid
What an invoice must contain before a company can actually process it, and how to chase a late one without wrecking a relationship you want to keep.
13 min read
Keeping records when you hate paperwork
Bookkeeping for a small online shop is four columns and ten minutes a week. Here is the smallest system that survives a tax return and a bad month.
13 min read
Keeping track of who has paid
The seven-column spreadsheet that actually works for tracking payments in a small business, how to run it in ten minutes a day, and when to stop.
13 min read
Link in bio tools compared, from a seller's point of view
Four kinds of tool, one link, very different economics. What each one takes, who holds your money, and how fast you can get your first sale out of it.
11 min read
Marketplace seller fees compared, layer by layer
The headline commission is never what you pay. Five layers of fee, what each one is charged on, and how to work out your real all-in rate per order.
12 min read
Memberships versus one-off sales for creators
A membership is recurring work, not recurring revenue. The churn arithmetic, what you owe members every month, and when a one-off product wins.
11 min read
Mother's Day and the delivery cliff
It falls on a Sunday, and most couriers do not deliver on Sunday. Why your real deadline is Saturday, and how to plan a one-day peak backwards from it.