Links to external sites which you may find useful.

ecommerce / online shopping

Paypal fees Calculator

PayPal merchant fees are confusing. Use this simple calculator from wise.com to find out how much PayPal will charge you, wherever your customers are.

EKM - Support Knowledgebase
Telephone:  0333 004 0333 - Mon - Fri | 8:00am - 6:00pm
You will need your personal 'Support PIN' for telephone support - log in and find it displayed on your dashboard, top left.

You can also log in and use their instant chat (click blue Live Chat icon bottom blue corner) or raise a support ticket in the Support Centre, (click 'Help' from green bar, top left) or Email:  support@ekm.com and include as much detail as you can so they can contact you back.
 

Set up & manage your own online shop yourself. You can try it totally risk free on a 28 day trial. If you like it, you can keep it, don't like it, you can walk away without paying a single penny! Sign up for a no obligation free trial today, just click the banner below:



ECWID - Sign Up
Set up your Ecwid store to easily sell across a website, social media, and marketplaces. Ecwid makes it easy with centralised inventory, order management, pricing, and more. You can start selling online with a FREE FOREVER trial (up to 10 products to try it out), tiered pricing plans thereafter from £15 pm

UK Online Distance Selling Regulations for Businesses
GOV.UK website

General Rules for Distance Selling
Additional Rules for Selling Online


Sell Courses/Tutorials/Fitness Classes Online

Payhip - Sell and promote digital digital downloads, courses, coaching and more from one simple platform.

This all in one platform contains everything you need to start, scale and manage your online business. Sell:

  • Downloads - ebooks, software, design assets, video, music
  • Online Courses - with rich features such as videos, digital files, quizzes and assignments. Publish drip courses and provide completion certificates.
  • Coaching - Sell your expertise through 1:1 coaching sessions. Easily set up online meetings with clients using integrations with Zoom, Calendly and more.
  • Memberships - Allow your customers to pay you on a recurring basis to access your digital downloads or membership group. Manage your members easily.
  • Physical Products - Sell and manage inventory for any physical products. Manage your store, fulfill orders, run promotions and more.

Payhip is integrated with Paypal and Stripe and you can embed directly onto your website or you can use the store-builder to create a beautiful website to sell your work.

Simple pricing - Payhip offers 3 tiers Free Forever, Plus and Pro to suit your needs.

Learn more or enter your email address to 'Get Started for Free'

payhip partner, sell online courses, subscriptions and more


uscreen.tv - Looking to sell Video Content Online?
We've partnered with uscreen.tv to offer you an all in one video distribution and monetisation platform. Launch quickly in just a few simple steps - choose a pre-made theme and customise with your own logo and colour theme (no coding required). Offer a subscription service, rentals, on demand, live streaming or pay per view. Features include free period trials, discounts, bundles, you're in control. Everything is automated, expect seamless payment - accept monies via Paypal, Stripe etc with a flexible payout system. You even get a free app your customers can download from the PlayStore or Marketplace for free so they can watch your content on the go. Simple transparent pricing system too. Sound good? sign up for a free, no obligation trial -

Start Free Trial

Appointment Booking

Looking for an online appointment scheduling app? Schedule 1:1 or class appointments and optionally accept customer payments at the time of booking. Send Text Reminders, Host video meetings (paid tier), accept bookings on Social Media and more. Sync Calendars Seamlessly. Free Appointment Booking. Emailed call summaries.

Use completely free with unlimited appointments (up to 4 users) or upgrade to paid tiers if you require a more advanced system. See setmore.com/pricing for full details. All versions include a free app to use and website, facebook and instagram integration. Click below to open/sign up:

setmore


Self-Managed Forms With JotForm

Easy-to-use form builder enables you to create a variety of online forms to publish to your website.

Features include collection of data from your website users i.e. a contact or feedback form, ordering products/services, appointment booking or on the 'paid for' tiers you can securely collect payments or subscriptions.

Make your smart forms smarter with conditional logic. Set up your form to show or hide form fields, send emails to certain users, show different thank-you messages, and more — all based on how the user fills in your form.

Choose from pre-made themes or create your own - it's drag & drop interface means you don't need to understand web code to set up or manage your form. The form is placed inside a widget embedded onto your website - if you need to update it, just log into Jotform, make your tweaks and the form on your website will auto-update itself in real time.

View Free & Priced Plans/Sign Up


'Add to Calendar' Generator

Generate free 'Add to Calendar' link or buttons for your website (currently only supports Google Calendar). Example below:

Add to Google Calendar


Visit: https://addtocal.sznm.dev/


STOCK PHOTO SITES

DepositPhotos (paid for)
Depositphotos is your best source of high-quality stock photos in any subject and genre. Our photography collection will open new horizons for your visual projects and would be a perfect solution for anyone who needs high-quality photos at affordable prices. Choose from One Demand Downloads or Daily/Monthly Subscription packages.

BIGSTOCK Photo (paid for)
Sign up for a 1 week free trial! (credit/debit card required but won't be charged provided you cancel within the trial period. You can keep photos downloaded within the trial). Find millions of awesome royalty-free stock photos, images and vectors. Download affordable high-res stock photography and high quality stock footage videos.
 


PHOTO EDITING SITES

pixlr.com/editor
Free online image editor, no need for any installation. Best used from your desktop/laptop. Other options available - go to pixlr.com for more info.
 

www.gimp.org
Free & open source image editor/image manipulation program. Cross-platform available for Linux, Windows and other operating systems.
 

www.coolbackgrounds.io
A collection of tools to create compelling, colorful images for blogs, social media, and websites.

www.color-hex.com
Color-hex gives information about colors including colour hex codes to help you pick the perfect colour or palette of colours for graphic design or in creating swatches to depict available colours of products on online shopping sites.

Shopify Tips Article - Background Removal
Remove the Background of Your Product Photos with These 4 Editing Tools.

www.cssgradient.io
Besides being a css gradient generator, the site is also chock-full of colourful content about gradients from technical articles to real life gradient examples like Stripe and Instagram.


PARCEL BROKERS & P&P GUIDES

Parcel 2 Go
One Stop Shop for online parcel collection & delivery. Input your details & the system will provide a variety of couriers and choices based on your parcel parameters (national couriers such as Hermes, DPD, TNT, DHL, UPS, FEDEX, Parcel Force and more). Pay online, print off your label & track your parcel.

Inpost.co.uk
InPost is a click & collect 24/7 parcel locker service. "The ultimate in delivery convenience, InPost Parcel Lockers eliminate missed deliveries, closing times and the need to queue at depots. InPost allows you to send and collect a parcel at a time and place convenient for you". 

BRITDON
The Ultimate Guide to Postal Packaging

BRITDON
Cardboard Boxes - The Experts Guide


NEWSLETTER & FREE SOFTWARE

Mailchimp.com
Online bulk email marketing solution to manage subscribers, send emails, and track results. Offers integrations with other programs.
 

Open Office.org
Open source office suite.  For word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages (Microsoft). It can be downloaded and used free of charge.

Broadband Speed Checker
A useful gadget to check your broadband speed performance. (No downloads required)

'Helo Blod' from Business Wales
Using just a little bit of Cymraeg can make a big difference. Helo Blod is your fast and friendly Welsh translation and advice service. And it’s free.
 

Webmail Link


Local PC Repair Shop

COMPUMEDIC, Northop Road, Flint CH6 5LG
Open 9-5pm Mon-Fri for PC sales, repairs, upgrades and accessories. Ask for Gary.
Phone: 01352 733319
email: sales@compumedic.co.uk


Malware & Anti-Virus - Reporting Scams/Fraud

Malwarebytes
Malwarebytes provides the antivirus, anti-spyware and anti-malware defence you need to keep your home computers safe from today's threats. Free and paid for versions available.

AVG Anti Virus
AVG Free provides you with basic anti-virus and anti-spyware protection for Windows available to download for free.  A chargeable upgrade for complete online protection is available if required.
 

Report Scam emails, texts, websites and calls
You can report suspicious or fraudulent emails, texts, websites, adverts or phone calls that you think are attempting to scam you to the National Cyber Security Centre. If it's an email, don't forward it, take a screenshot and sent to the email address on their page.

If you think you may have been a victim of fraud or cyber crime, and live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, you should report this to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040.


Articles & Guides

6 Ways to Improve Your Online Security
'Cyber Aware' from the National Cyber Security Centre is the government’s advice on how to stay secure online. Offering a series of practical cyber security tips for sole traders & SME's you can get your Cyber Action Plan in place to help protect your business online.

Identity Theft Prevention
This resource from from the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) will provide you with advice on how to safeguard against potential invasions of your personal information. From understanding how you could be targeted, to strengthening your security measures and who to contact if you suspect you have been compromised with links to other third party government websites for advice.

Best affordable tools for social media managers
Here are the best tools you can extensively use - some are free, some are paid but definitely affordable and worth the time and energy one saves.

Guide to screen addictions and responsible digital use
Have you been spending more time on your phone or laptop? This useful guide explores how screen time has changed as a result of COVID-19, how to check your usage and how you can adapt to form form healthy habits for responsible digital behavour.

Guide to the best Card Readers 2022
To ensure you get the most out of your card reader and provide your customers with the best possible experience, CardSwitcher have rounded up what they consider the Best Card Readers for Small Businesses.



Please note: External hyperlinks listed do not constitute endorsement by Websorceress of the linked web sites, or the information, products or services contained therein as we cannot exercise any control over the information you may find at these locations. All links are provided as a reference, it is the users responsibility to ensure products/services and advice are correct for their individual requirements. Please let us know about existing external links which you believe are inappropriate or indeed which you believe ought to be included which others may find useful.

Websorceress Web Design, Flintshire, North Wales and Chester