Frequently Asked Questions

Do clothes really sell online?

An item of clothing sells every 6 seconds on the internet, that's 10 items a minute, 600 items an hour or 14,400 items every 24hrs.

In 2005-06, Australians spent $12,500,000,000 online, up 68% from the previous year. (Nielsen Net Ratings)

I am a Designer: Won't selling my label online cheapen my label?

Selling Online itself won't harm to your label, the important thing is WHERE you sell it online, and HOW you sell it online.

If you market your label on a cheap or bargain-oriented website, you can damage your positioning.
If you market your pieces at prices too low to support your positioning, you will also damage your label in the eyes of your target market.

Princess Fashion House is positioned as a Quality venue for finding exclusive, designer garments.
As a partner of Princess Fashion House, you have complete control over the price points and volume of garments for sale.

Unlike bargain-focussed websites or poorly maintained stand alone sites, alignment with Princess Fashion House can actually BUILD your brand positioning and increase consumer demand.

Examples of other designers who sell online while maintaining the integrity and value of their label include: True Religion, Cybele, Ginger & Smart, Josh Goot, Nicola Finetti, Calvin Klein, Little Joe by Gail Elliot, Yeojin Bae, Zimmerman, Camilla and Marc, Marnie Skillings, etc

I am a Designer: Wont selling my label online reduce the amount of potential stockists and agents?

No, in fact, you should find that being part of Princess Fashion House will help you ATTRACT more stockists and agents.

This is because Princess Fashion House will profile your label online, not just sell your items.

We expect most designers will initially be using Princess Fashion House to boost their profiles more so than just sell product. Some plan to use our site as a stepping stone greater consumer and industry awareness with plans to branch out solo in the medium to long term.

I am a Designer: Wont selling my label online be a conflict of interest with my stockists and agents?

This is a great question because some stockists and agents will feel threatened by your global exposure through Princess Fashion House.

However, there are some important steps we recommend, to ensure you maintain your existing relationships while making the most of the Princess Fashion House opportunity:

Only sell your garments at the Recommended Retail Price on the Princess Fashion House website. This will ensure you are not undermining margins for hard working stockists and agents who earn their margin through their active selling, marketing and warehousing of your product.
Ensure your stockists and agents understand that you are using Princess Fashion House as a major plank in your marketing strategy, and that all your partners stand to benefit from the increased consumer and industry awareness and demand that your online promotion will cultivate.
If you have exclusivity arrangements in certain states or territories, you could consider offering a small share of margin from any internet sales originating from an agent's territory. However, you will need to weigh up a number of factors when making this decision, and you should seek professional advice from your marketing consultant or business advisor.

I am a Boutique owner: Won't selling online be a conflict of interest with the labels I stock?

Unless you have entered into a restrictive sales agreement with your suppliers, you should view your sales activity through Princess Fashion House as an alternative sales channel that broadens your business model.

Furthermore, if you ensure you only sell items at Recommended Retail Price through Princess Fashion House, you leave yourself with room to move in your boutique during sales promotions.

Your boutique will also benefit through great consumer exposure through Princess Fashion House. If consumers find garments they like on Princess Fashion House, and many of them are from your boutique, you will find they will seek you out to view more of your range. Don't be surprised if locals discover you through Princess Fashion House - it's easy to overlook local bricks and mortar stores until you have found them or had them recommended through other means.

I am a Boutique owner / Designer where would I find the time to sell online?

The time you need to invest in running your Princess Fashion House listings is much less than you would think.

There are three main steps that involve your input:

First, you create your Profile Page - this is a one-off event, although you can edit it whenever you like.
Two, it takes about 5 minutes to list a new product for sale on the site. You do this as often or as rarely as you choose.
Three, it can take around 30 minutes a week to manage your Princess Fashion House listings, depending on how many items you have listed and how much turnover you are achieving.

The most useful way to view the time you spend involved with Princess Fashion House is to understand that the few minutes you put in during your working day, effectively keep your store open and functioning to a worldwide audience even when you have gone home for the day or taken a weekend off.

Therefore, if you had a store open conventional trading hours, seven days a week, your extra 30 minutes to half and hour spent on Princess Fashion House management, would equate to a bonus 100+ hours of extra selling time when you are not even at the store.

Why would someone buy online instead of in-store?

Fact - Many people especially in Australia, the UK, USA and Europe find it easier and more convenient to shop online, here are some examples why:

They are busy professionals, small business owners, students, single parents, shift workers, etc, all who are working long hours and are time poor
They want to find something different that's not sold locally
They are looking for a specific product or label
They find it more convenient, no traffic and no parking problems
They don't have transport
They have young children and find it difficult to quickly go to the shops
They live in remote locations or small towns and the internet allows them to shop anywhere they want at any time
They prefer to spend their spare time with family and friends and not shopping
They find it more economical to shop online because of their countries' strong currency

I am a boutique owner and I think that having a website is a waste of money?

Yes, for many small operators you would be correct!

There are more than 108,000,000 websites on the internet, making it difficult for a stand alone, small website to be found.

For small operators, it makes better sense to be part of a larger site that can build momentum and presence, and more readily achieve a "relevancy" rating with search engines so that internet users can find the site.

Princess Fashion House was developed for this reason as it provides a no cost website which you control, and it is optimized and linked to ensure that it is found when keywords are entered into an internet search. Furthermore, our site offers search facilities not found on any other website, enabling buyers to find a store by location, labels stocked, and products stocked.

Don't I have to discount the price because it's on the internet to get sales?

No, and we don't recommend doing so either, unless you are having a sale or clearing out end of season stock.

Most people buy fashion on the internet because they are after something different, not because they are wanting to find it cheaper.

Of course, there will always be bargain hunters, so our task is to market our products to entice them to buy on a quality proposition, not a price proposition.

Why would something sell on the internet instead of in my boutique?

- It may be end of season in Australia but it is in-season in another part of the world
- Simply because they never visited your boutique or knew about your label
- It may have sold out in other locations
- It may never have been available in other locations
- It may never have been available in another country
- By listing something on the internet for sale you are exposing that product to a potential customer base of 1.1 billion internet user's world wide, including 18 million from Australia, New Zealand and the Oceania region. That's a lot of potential customers!

Are my images protected?

We have right click disabled to help protect your images and designs which will stop someone trying to save or print an image. This is only limited protection you must remember that even flash files can be copied by anyone who knows how too.

Your only true protection is copyright and design registrations

We are working on other protection methods for new collections so that authentic potential stockists and agents can view and will introduce them in the coming stages of the website.

Click here for more information on copyright

What currency do I list my products in?

You list your products in your member account by setting up a shop. When setting up your shop you must choose a currency from the list which best suits your requirements. This currency will be your default currency and will apply to all the products you list and your freight rates.

How does the currency conversion work?

The currency conversion used on the website is updated from a live feed reguarly however the currencies used are indicative only. When a product sells and payment is made through the Paypal payment gateway the conversion will vary from that listed on the website.

Example: You live in the USA and list a dress for $100 USD

The dress is converted on the website to a buyer in Australia for $114 AUD based on a conversion of .88c

However when the payment is made through the Paypal gateway the conversion rate may be .86c and therefore the price actually paid is $98 USD

Or the payment could be processed at a conversion rate of .90c and therefore the price actually paid is $102.60 USD

if the buyer was from the United States then there is no currency conversion so the price paid is $1 for $1 hence the price paid is $100 USD

Why do the prices of my products change from day to day in other currencies but remain the same in my currency?

When you create a shop you choose a currency that best suits your requirements Eg: you live in the UK so you have chosen GBP to list your products in. This means that when buyers from the UK are on the website they will be viewing your products at the price you listed them at, however if a buyer from Australia is viewing you products the prices will be converted at the daily conversion rate which varies from day to day. This is to ensure that the prices you have listed your products for are protected from fluctuations in currencies

How does the commission work?

Product sales through your online shop are subject to a flat 10% commission charge to cover administration, transaction fees, currency conversion, hosting, advertising costs and the rewards program

There is No commission on postage (freight)
Commission is only charged if a product is sold

Is there any help available to create my profile page and to list my products?

If you require help in any area of setting up your profile, making a banner, creating your online shop, uploading a video, or listing products we have developed help files at each stage marked with a (?). If you find that you require more help just contact us and one of our customer care staff will contact you.

Need help now! click here to contact us

Alternatively we do offer a comprehensive service, however fees do apply as detailed below:

Profile setup - A support service is available for those with time constraints or who do not wish to set up their own webpage profile

$65 USD per profile

Shop setup - A support service is also available for listing products

$65 USD per hour

Media releases - We have an experienced public relations and media team who can provide you with media releases based on your requirements

Please contact us to discuss your specific requirements and prices

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Frequently Asked Questions