Returning After a Decade Away -Talk to Me About How Things Have Changed

[DragonLady]

Hello (again) everyone! :)

Many years ago I had a cute little boutique website selling buttons and sewing supplies using Zen Cart. I enjoyed it very much, sold a LOT of stuff, kept myself gainfully employed and paid my bills for years. However, I reached a point where I felt like I was spending more time updating and patching the shopping cart than I was spending packing my orders, so about ten years ago I gave up the Zen Cart store in favor of an Etsy shop. Etsy cost far more in the long run, but my customer base was right there, and it was a good platform for selling supplies to those who were, in turn, selling the stuff they made with them. I formed a lot of mutually beneficial relationships, and even made a couple of true friends.

When the sales tax laws changed to require sellers to collect sales tax for every jurisdiction I was happy to be selling through Etsy as they took care of all of that. When the pandemic hit, I had a mini avalanche of sales as people were stuck at home and wanting a hobby.

Then, my sales suddenly stopped. I mean, dead stop. I went from making $20,000 plus in profits to not being able to cover a .20 cent listing fee. I didn't know what happened and still don't know the whole truth. I'm not here to talk about any of that...just to explain why I decided the universe was telling me it was time to turn off my computer and get a real life. Which I did, and I am so glad and grateful for it.

These last few months I've found myself coming full circle; like a person lost in the woods that just keeps walking past the same rock and resting under the same tree. At first, I ran from it -No; don't look back, I'm not going that way- but now I've decided to embrace it. I've learned a lot, I've enjoyed what I've been doing, and I've gotten a lot of ideas I hope are good that I would like to try out.

So, here I am....I've downloaded the latest version of Zen Cart and tomorrow I will likely put my toes in the water and see if I still remember enough to get it installed without having to ask too many dumb questions. o.O

Speaking of questions...that brings me to why I'm writing this book.... Please tell me how things have changed in the world of e-commerce and how you're handling the changes.

Has competing with the various marketplace sites become more difficult, or are customers still appreciating the more personal customer service and unique shopping experiences of smaller businesses?
How do you all figure out the sales taxes to various jurisdictions and how do you pay it?
Are gift certificates still worth the hassles? I know there have been changes to the laws around them and suspect they may not be viable unless you have physical cards you can sell through brick-n-mortar stores?
If you have a brick-n-mortar alongside your e-commerce site, do you believe having both leads to more sales? With the death of malls and all the empty buildings I see I'm not sure anyone really goes out shopping anymore? I know I buy almost everything online now but I may be the exception?

If you were in my shoes, is there something you would want someone to tell you now before extracting the files?

Finally.... If I end up having to choose another 3rd party alternative -either free or paid- does anyone have recommendations for me to look at?

Thanks for taking the time to read all this. I'm happy, so far, to be back and looking forward to regaining my sea legs. :)

[ChuckPhillips]

Welcome back DragonLady! I have been running a ZC store for about 12 years. I use pretty much the same marketing strategy to this day, that is a well optimized size with excellent UX, and an efficient Adwords campaign. I'm building a long term repeat customer base of B2B clients.

The sales tax issue is complex. Services like Taxjar, Avalara or TaxCloud can be integrated with your store and handle the tax calculations. There is good news though - you probably don't need to worry about that right now. Most states do not require you to register and collect sales taxes until you ship at least 200 orders or $100,000 into that state per year. Some states are more lax, others more strict, but until you have a significant sales volume this is not an issue.

[swguy]

The release notes from all prior releases back to 1.5.0 are online, if you want to read them.

https://docs.zen-cart.com/release/

[DragonLady]

you probably don't need to worry about that right now. Most states do not require you to register and collect sales taxes until you ship at least 200 orders or $100,000 into that state per year. Some states are more lax, others more strict, but until you have a significant sales volume this is not an issue.

Most likely that is very good news as there are probably not enough months in this year now to make that many sales, let alone that many into one state.
Do you know if there's a current list somewhere of the requirements of each state, or does each state have a page I need to visit?

[DragonLady]

Oh, good to know! I probably won't try to read them - a bit dry, I think- but nice to know they're there in case of trouble. :)

[ChuckPhillips]

Current summary of state sales tax nexus laws:

https://www.taxjar.com/sales-tax/economic-nexus

[DragonLady]

Current summary of state sales tax nexus laws:

https://www.taxjar.com/sales-tax/economic-nexus

Ahhha, you're great! Thank-you!!!

[swguy]

Another resource for learning about recent changes is the What's New page:

https://docs.zen-cart.com/user/about_us/whats_new/

[DragonLady]

Another resource for learning about recent changes is the What's New page:

https://docs.zen-cart.com/user/about_us/whats_new/

Thank-you!

[dw08gm]

Hello (again) everyone! :)

Many years ago I had a cute little boutique website selling buttons and sewing supplies using Zen Cart. I enjoyed it very much, sold a LOT of stuff, kept myself gainfully employed and paid my bills for years. However, I reached a point where I felt like I was spending more time updating and patching the shopping cart than I was spending packing my orders, so about ten years ago I gave up the Zen Cart store in favor of an Etsy shop. Etsy cost far more in the long run, but my customer base was right there, and it was a good platform for selling supplies to those who were, in turn, selling the stuff they made with them. I formed a lot of mutually beneficial relationships, and even made a couple of true friends.

When the sales tax laws changed to require sellers to collect sales tax for every jurisdiction I was happy to be selling through Etsy as they took care of all of that. When the pandemic hit, I had a mini avalanche of sales as people were stuck at home and wanting a hobby.

Then, my sales suddenly stopped. I mean, dead stop. I went from making $20,000 plus in profits to not being able to cover a .20 cent listing fee. I didn't know what happened and still don't know the whole truth. I'm not here to talk about any of that...just to explain why I decided the universe was telling me it was time to turn off my computer and get a real life. Which I did, and I am so glad and grateful for it.

These last few months I've found myself coming full circle; like a person lost in the woods that just keeps walking past the same rock and resting under the same tree. At first, I ran from it -No; don't look back, I'm not going that way- but now I've decided to embrace it. I've learned a lot, I've enjoyed what I've been doing, and I've gotten a lot of ideas I hope are good that I would like to try out.

So, here I am....I've downloaded the latest version of Zen Cart and tomorrow I will likely put my toes in the water and see if I still remember enough to get it installed without having to ask too many dumb questions. o.O

Speaking of questions...that brings me to why I'm writing this book.... Please tell me how things have changed in the world of e-commerce and how you're handling the changes.

Has competing with the various marketplace sites become more difficult, or are customers still appreciating the more personal customer service and unique shopping experiences of smaller businesses?
How do you all figure out the sales taxes to various jurisdictions and how do you pay it?
Are gift certificates still worth the hassles? I know there have been changes to the laws around them and suspect they may not be viable unless you have physical cards you can sell through brick-n-mortar stores?
If you have a brick-n-mortar alongside your e-commerce site, do you believe having both leads to more sales? With the death of malls and all the empty buildings I see I'm not sure anyone really goes out shopping anymore? I know I buy almost everything online now but I may be the exception?

If you were in my shoes, is there something you would want someone to tell you now before extracting the files?

Finally.... If I end up having to choose another 3rd party alternative -either free or paid- does anyone have recommendations for me to look at?

Thanks for taking the time to read all this. I'm happy, so far, to be back and looking forward to regaining my sea legs. :)

Me too! Upon spending more than 6 months per year dealing with a multitude of upgrades, I too decided to better spend my time trying to write a book or two. Then I hear the writers that sell best are those with social media sites and can afford to pay for PR. Everything it seems comes with massive learning on the j-curve. After several years of writing and research I have neither a complete book nor live website, but I have massive experience in doing both. Hopefully soon everything will quickly fall back into place.

Wishing you and every other couldabeen wannapreneur the very best of luck in your endeavours.