I’ve been doing giveaways for the last two weeks now, but this one’s different and that has me all excited. I hope you like it too. 🙂
***Scroll to the bottom for the giveaway!!***

A few days back I heard of Ezebee.com for the first time. Curious cutlet that I am I headed straight to it and was left a little overwhelmed with the options. After a little lurking around, I realised it was a site that helps artisans sell their creations for people like you and me to buy. It’s a new online marketplace that is launching in India.

But there are other sites like that already, there’s ItsHandMade.com, CraftsVilla.com, and Afday.com that operate in India, so what makes ezebee.com different? Here’s Alice from ezebee.com answering that question and others.

[The ezebee.com guys are also giving away EZB’s worth $25 each to 5 lucky people. Check out the giveaway at the end to participate.] 🙂

Q. Hi Alice. Let’s start out with a little bit about ezebee.com.

Alice: Ezebee.com is an online platform where anyone in the world can sell anything they like, for free! It’s really easy to sign up, create a shop and start selling on ezbeee.com. We are not just your online shop, but also a social network where you can meet like­-minded people and connect with local and international vendors.

Q. How and when did ezebee.com first get started?

Alice: The idea behind ezebee.com was created in the summer of 2012, when friends, Ossian and Frank, discovered that there are many small businesses really struggling in the economic crises and the only way to keep these companies going, is to go online. It can be a lot of hassle to design, market and run your own website, especially with little time and money, so that’s where ezebee.com was formed! Ezebee.com is a place where small business owners can sell, network, blog, create events and keep their social media all in once place.
It was in February 2013 that ezebee.com was launched.

Q. Where is ezebee.com based out of?

Alice: The main office of ezebee.com is located on the sunny Mediterranean island Mallorca, in Spain. All our staff are very busy, but it is always nice to have good weather outside to enjoy after a hard days work! However the platform is of course, international!

Q. Which countries does ezebee.com work in?

Alice: We have showrooms in over 140 countries and counting, and the site functions in 9 different languages!
Our main markets at the moment are India, Germany and Spain.

Q. Why did you choose India for ezebee.com?

Alice: ezebee.com began in Europe but as we began to grow more and more, we decided to head outside of the continent. India is a country full of talented artisans and many of them struggle with setting up their company or doing things online. As ezebee.com is completely free of charge, we wanted to open into a market which could really see the benefits.

Q. Are there any special requirements for selling on ezebee.com?

Alice: You can really sell anything on the platform, as long as it’s legal! We do not think creativity should be restricted so if you are a business or individual who wants to share their products or services, you can, with us!
It’s easy! You can sign up in just a few minutes – or faster if you connect via Facebook or Twitter. Get started now!

Q. Do sellers have to ship their own products or do you provide shipping?

Alice: Shipping is done by the sellers in the best way for their company. They ship the items straight to the buyer in order for shipping to be as easy and fast as possible.

Q. Can users buy products from anywhere in the world?

Alice: Yes, users can buy products from any country as long as the seller is willing to ship internationally, most of them are, but you should check first!

Q. There are many different types of currencies shown. How does a buyer go about buying in his/ her countries currency?

Alice: There are a lot of different currencies on ezebee.com because we want to make it possible for anyone to sell with us. If you want to buy in your own currency, you can make an international transfer online, without a problem. For international transfers, it is probably better to use our internal currency EZBs as these will avoid transaction fees or exchange rates.

Q. What are EZB’s? How can users buy them? How much is one EZB worth?

Alice: EZB’s are the points we have on ezebee.com and can be used to swap and trade within the marketplace. One EZB is equal to about 1$ and translates to each currency accordingly. You can buy EZB’s on the site here ezebee.com/credits. You also earn them for being active on ezebee.com!

Q. How is ezebee.com different from other online e-commerces?

Alice: We are completely free and do not take commissions and there are no fees for opening a showroom with us. We believe that anyone should be able to start their company and sell online, despite where they are in the world or how much money they have.
We also have an internal currency where users can buy and sell products without needing money, this also helps people in countries with weaker economies sell for fair prices.

Q. If ezebee.com does not charge a commission. How does it make money?

Alice: Just like other big online companies such as, Google, Youtube and Facebook, we make money from advertising on our website.

Q. Any tips for people who are thinking about selling on ezebee.com.

Alice: Growing a business is like bringing up a child, you have to care for it and maintain the attention! When you make a presence online, people will notice and it will help to build a trust with the public. Stay active on the platform, be genuine, and talk to people!

The interview answered my many questions about Ezebee.com [Thanks Alice :)]. I hope it helps you decide about using it to buy and sell too.

If you are an artisan or small business, please do try out Ezebee. I’d like to hear how it worked out for you. I’d also like to know which other online marketplaces you use and which ones you like best. (This information is just for my knowledge and interest and is in no way related to Ezebee.com.) 😉

Disclaimer:
I have not received any payments for this post from Ezebee.com or its associates.
But they have offered giveaways, so on to it now. 🙂
 

Giveaway

 
This giveaway is open to all countries and sponsored by ezebee.com. To participate please follow instructions in the Rafflecopter widget below.

Five winners will be chosen by a random drawing at the end of the giveaway. Each winner will receive 25 EZB’s worth $25 in their account at ezebee.com.

There are three ways to participate and each activity gets you one entry. The Twitter and Facebook activities can be done everyday to earn extra entries until close of contest. 🙂

Happy Shopping and All The Best! 🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
I have always thought of Twitter as a cocktail networking event, only online. It’s a place filled with lots of varied people and diverse conversations. Just about anything under the sun is discussed on Twitter, from traveling to teleporting.

Imagine a room full of on-going conversations, the place filled with chatter so indistinct, it’s noise and noisy when you first walk in. It’s also overwhelming and disconcerting like a a real room full of people you don’t know.

But if you squared your shoulders, took a deep breath, smiled and stepped up to the bar, things would start to change. Take a sip of that cocktail and look around, listen to talk around you.

As you listen the indistinct babble will start to pop words. Some may be interesting to you and you’ll gravitate towards the conversation that most catches your ear. After hanging around on the fringes slowly you’ve venture an opinion and before you know it you are a part of the conversation.

Soon another word in another part of the room catches your attention and you move on to the new conversation. And so on the evening goes, talking and meeting new people.

Working a networking event takes time and patience. It also requires listening skills as no one wants to only listen. These rules apply to Twitter too.

When trying to figure out how you can use twitter personally or for your business, the best way to start is to sign-up and then sit back and listen. Let the conversations come to you, get a feel of the pulse of the space, and then say what you’d like to say.

Follow people because you genuinely want to follow them, not because they are celebrities. Interact with those you follow. Be genuine in your conversations. Be yourself.

P.S. – I’m going to be talking more about Twitter as the weeks go by. I’m taking this on my chin, so please let me know what you think of this post. Did it help you? And leave me questions you have in comments and I’ll try to answer them. 🙂

 
P.S. – Day Nineteen of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge.

Twitter is one of the networks that should be in your top 5 when you think social media, however it’s placement on that list is based on your type of business.

If you run a small business, managing your own social media makes sense financially and for branding. But when you are doing everything yourself, you have to choose carefully what you spend your time on.

So, how do you know if Twitter is for you? Before you decide to launch your company on twitter you should sit back and figure a few things out.

Objective

Evaluate what is your objective is to use Twitter for your company/product and what you would like to achieve from it. Being clear at the start makes it easier to decide what you will do on Twitter and how much of it. You’ll be able figure out whether you need a company profile or a personal profile. It will also help to measure ROI.

Audience

Twitter is quite a popular network in India but not everyone is on it. For example you may not find a lot of retired folk on it but you will find a lot of celebrities and young people. So gauge your audience carefully and see if they hang out on Twitter. Twitter is the network for you if it’s users are your audience.

Relevance

A good place to start is with some searching and reading. Look up keywords that are important to your business and assess how much people talk about it. For Example, if you are into a herbal products business, search for words like hair, shampoo, herbal, etc. and see how many people are talking about the topic. If you find enough chatter, Twitter is worth getting into as you can make relevant conversations.

Activity

Look for others doing similar business to you on Twitter and study the activities they do on their news stream. Make note of the things that have worked for them and the mistakes they have made. These learning will help you chose your activities well and make them a success.

Time

Remember that your time is limited. Also remember that becoming successful on Twitter takes time. With all the information you have gathered you can now figure out how much time managing your twitter profile will take. Can dedicate that much time consistently?

With all this in mind, now look at Twitter and see where it fits in your Top 5. For that matter you could use this same yardstick to measure any other network too.

After all this assessment if you know for sure that Twitter is the next network to add to your social profile, go to Twitter.com and click Register. All the Best!! 🙂

P.S. – If you are wondering what to do next, I’ll be covering that and more as the weeks roll by. Leave me any questions you have in comments and I’ll try and answer it. 🙂

 
P.S. – Day Twelve of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge.