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Designer FAQ

We understand and appreciate that new designers to Hello Pretty want to know the platform before they invest the time in creating their shop and uploading their product. Here we answered the most commonly asked questions.

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Why should I choose Hello Pretty?
Hello Pretty offers the best, most affordable and best value service for getting your products online chop-chop, no mess no fuss. If you haven’t already, check out our Sell page for a list of features, testimonials, and other reasons why our site and service is awesome. Give us a shot – it costs you nothing. Mahala.

What kind of website traffic, conversion rate, and sales do you have?
We don’t publicise this information.

How many customers are registered on your site?
We don’t publicise this information either, but regardless, the shops that do best are those who market to their own specific audience. The customers browsing Hello Pretty have a wide variety of interests: some are looking for jewellery, some furniture, some are shopping for stuff for their wedding or things for babies. Build your brand and make it easy for your customers to find you and where to buy your products online, and the people browsing your products will be exactly who you want.

What is your marketing reach?
Our marketing reach is consistently growing. Check out our social media profiles (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest). We put a paid boost on all content that we post.

We also have a mailer called Pretty Cool that at the time of writing (August 2019), has over 44 000 subscribers.

Remember though that it’s impossible for us to advertise everyone, and the way you’ll make sales is by marketing your brand and store.

What categories perform best? Worst?
While it’s interesting to know this, it probably also isn’t relevant to your own shop, unless you plan on changing what you produce based on the answer :). Regardless, the category that does best on the site is jewellery. Jewellery is easy to buy online as a customer can get a very good idea from photos how it will look on them and the quality of the product. Clothing is more difficult when selling as an independent designer as a customer may question if it will look good on them and be confused about what to do in the event that they don’t like it after trying it on. In all cases, be sure to describe the product in as much detail as possible including size and material.

Of course, even amongst the categories that perform best and those that are most challenging, there are plenty of outliers because so much comes down to your individual brand and how you market your products. We have jewellers that make hundreds of sales, and others who don’t market their brand and store and thus don’t bring in their sales.

How do I get paid?
Take a look at our Payout FAQ. This should answer all your questions about payouts, and a few more.

Am I charged the R10 payout fee every week?
No. You’ll only be charged the payout fee if you’ve made sales during that period. Made one sale in that period? R10. Made fifty sales in that week? Still only R10.

How do you calculate commissions and other fees?
We explain all of our fees on our Sell page, but sometimes it also helps to have a detailed example:

  • Assume your shop is on the Starter plan (15% commission, 5% payment processing fees)
  • In a single payout period, you make two sales, one for R250, and a second for R350. These amounts include the shipping fee that the customer pays during checkout.
  • The total amount you’ll be paid out will be computed like so:
    • Commission = (R250 + R350) x 15% = R90
    • Payment processing = (R250 + R350) x 5% = R30
    • Payout fee = R10
    • Your payout = R250 + R350 – R90 – R30 – R10 = R470

For more information on pricing your products, check out out pricing calculator.

Can you suggest a courier to use?
As a starting point, take a look at our courier directory. In the meantime, we recommend you use a contract free service such as Pargo, Aramex drop boxes or your local PostNet while you figure out the best courier to use for you. Typically you’ll get better rates after you sign a contract with a courier though.

We do not support or recommend the SA Post Office, except for shipping orders overseas. Please don’t use the post office for sending orders within South Africa.

Who pays for shipping? Me, Hello Pretty, or the customer?
The customer will pay for shipping on checkout, and all that money will then go to you. Other than with our integrated Pargo services, your courier company will invoice you and you’ll pay them directly. Hello Pretty is not involved in, or responsible for, this at all.

Keep in mind is that we charge commissions / payment processing fees on the final sale price, so account for this when setting your shipping costs.

Why do you charge commission on shipping?! Uncool, man. Uncool.
For two very good reasons. We explain on our shipping commission help page.