About The Online Hab Bazaar

What is this all about, anyways?

The Online Hab Bazaar is a multi-vendor marketplace, established in early 2018. We connect buyers and sellers of H3 Haberdashery in a central location that’s easy for everyone to find and share.  It is a marketplace and not just a simple webstore… buyers purchase from several sellers in one purchase. As a vendor, our sellers have their very own webstore within the marketplace platform with no up-front costs or subscription fees.  It’s closest in concept to Etsy, but cheaper and by and for Hashers only.

In November 2018, we were very fortunate and proud to have won the Grand Prize at the Arcadier Inspire New Online Marketplaces competition, and used that as a launchpad to make The Hab Bazaar into what it is today. We’re very proud of what we’ve built here so please check it out!

We are a not a big business. Our goal is not to profit off the H3 family. We love the hash and want to make buying and selling Haberdashery as easy as possible. This site does not line anyone’s pockets, costs are quite high, and the goal is to break even with only a 3 cents per dollar fee being considered “hash cash”. See below for more.

Buyers:

It’s simple.  As a buyer you can purchase items from any number of vendors in one super smooth transaction, using a familiar e-commerce shopping cart and checkout experience. You will get confirmation emails, messages, updates, and alerts when your orders ship with tracking numbers (if applicable).  Shop with confidence as your purchases are always 100% guaranteed (vs. sending via PP friends/family where you have no recourse).

Vendors:

As a vendor, you will have your own webstore within the Bazaar marketplace. Get set up and items listed quickly without having to manage your own web hosting or design.  The Online Hab Bazaar is free to sign up and list items, and there are no commitments and subscriptions.  It is easier than handling payments processing subscriptions on your own, and you’ll benefit from the visibility created by the marketplace.  Anytime someone is on the site looking specifically for another vendor’s products, they will be exposed to yours as well.  Buyers routinely add additional products to their order in this way. 90% of all orders placed are for multiple vendors at once.  We also often share to our Facebook page and several groups we are a part of.

You will have your own “Vendor Dashboard”, which provides many features to help keep you organized especially without having to mess with outside spreadsheets.  You can pull a report and upload it into a shipping label service to buy and print shipping labels in bulk, saving yourself tons of time–no more waiting in line at the post office!! A full list of features are outlined below, and you can also click here to get a sneak peak of what it looks and feels like.

Rego to become a vendor at bit.ly/ohbsignup.  Once approved, you’ll be able to get set up easily with the help of our very thorough knowledgebase and hands-on support if needed to help get up and running.

Fees and Features

The Hab Bazaar Philosophy: All Fees are Hash Cash

We hate fees and if we could afford to make this free, we would. Our goal here is to provide a service that makes buying and selling Hab as awesome and easy an experience as possible, and to make selling Hab online within reach of those who never thought it would work for them.  We’re committed to building the best platform we can… because Hab makes hashers happy, and happy hashers make the hash reach its full fun potential :-). In order to do that, we’ve established the following small fees:

For US Sellers, there is a total transaction fee of 5.9% + 30 cents per each order.  “Hash Cash” is 3% of this amount, which covers development, updates, hosting, and maintenance costs.  PayPal gets the rest (2.9% + 30 cents).  When withdrawing your earnings, PayPal deducts a flat 25 cents.  There are no fees without a sale, such as membership or listing fees. Read more:

  • 3% of each transaction is charged as Hash Cash to support the Bazaar.  Building the Bazaar was and continues to be expensive.  Similar in concept to normal Hash Cash, this fee primarily goes to supporting costs already incurred as well as future development of the platform.
  • PayPal charges the site 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction, and this fee is added to the amount deducted.  Vendors have no direct PayPal transaction fees on their end.
  • The Bazaar does not automatically disperse the net earnings, again due to PayPal fees.  PayPal charges a flat 25 cents to “withdraw” any amount from the Bazaar, and this fee is passed to the vendor at the time of withdrawal.
  • Withdrawals can be made at any time, but waiting until at least $30 has accrued will limit the percentage impact of the 25 cent fee.  Please note that your balance is held in a secure, business-only PayPal account with guaranteed payments and backups.  There is no risk of losing your balance or the well being dry when you try to withdraw.

For Non-US Sellers, the total transaction fee is 9.4% + 39 US cents. The math is dynamic and variable for international to USD transactions, and we reserve the right to adjust this at any time on a per-vendor basis based on individual transaction history, with written notification prior to any changes. The difference is solely the higher PayPal fee and/or currency conversion fees and the goal is always for the Bazaar to only retain 3% of each transaction as a hash cash.

Selling items such as patches that benefit a charity:

  • If you are selling items where 100% of the proceeds will benefit a legitimate charity, the Bazaar will offer to list your items with the “Hash Cash” waived (normally 3%).  Unfortunately we can’t also cover the cost of PayPal’s transaction fees.
  • Hash Cash percentages will be determined on a case by case basis for listings where less than 100% of the proceeds will benefit a charity.

Features: Why the Fees are Worth it

The Hab Bazaar will do our best to offer a service better than everyone else, tailored to hashers, and with comparable fees that we do our best to make absolutely worth it.  Our marketplace is LOADED with features!

Marketplace features:
  • A marketplace by hashers, for hashers.  No random products cluttering up the site, meaning greater exposure to relevant items a customer may choose to purchase.
  • Buyers purchase from multiple vendors at once and the system handles the rest.
  • Gift Cards are sold and given away at events.  Can be used for any and all vendors on the Bazaar, and the vendor receives the full amount just like any other payment.
Features for Vendors:
  • Access to a powerful vendor dashboard to manage the hardest aspects of selling online for you.  Keep your orders organized and separate from your day-to-day.
  • No more managing through Messenger with manual payments.  Includes a post-order messaging system linked to each order. Handle issues, send proofs, and more.
  • No more copying and pasting names and addresses from PayPal emails to spreadsheets… print packing slips with addresses in one click.
  • Automatically create invoices for you and your customers in one click.
  • Enter tracking numbers and marked as shipped… your customers receive a professional email notification automatically.
  • Advanced sales reports… track your sales over time, check on your store visits vs. sales to learn the interests of your customers.
  • Hands-on support and assistance, to include setup.
Selling Features:
  • Variable Products – Colors, types, small and large, you name it.
  • Quantity Discounts – “1-10 are $2 each, 11-20 are $1.50 each” – auto-calculated in cart.
  • Special Offers – “Buy 10 get 1 free” – auto-calculated in cart.
  • Pre-Order Management with reduced price before the date you set.
  • Coupon Codes – Percent and fixed amounts off.  Create as you wish.
  • Advanced Product Options – Add radio buttons, checkboxes, choices that appear when specific options are selected, and much more.
  • Custom Input Fields on your product listing.  Input hash name, describe your project, and more.
  • File Uploads on your product listing – Logo upload for customization, etc.

Compare Us!

When comparing fee structures, it is important to first compare the overall business models.  Platforms like Shopify charge using a subscription-based model, where you pay the same fee monthly regardless if you have any sales.  Others, like Amazon or Etsy, do not have monthly subscription fees.  The Hab Bazaar is most closely related to Etsy in this regard only–but we have much more features and hands-on support.  So first, decide if you can handle the recurring expense or not.

Next, do some research on exactly how much each platform charges in total.  For US-based sellers, the Bazaar’s fees are a total of 5.9% + $0.30 per transaction (shipping charges not included), and a flat $0.25 cents to withdraw your balance.  That’s it.

Amazon fees:
  • A variable commission, varies by category but is typically 15% for most sellers (minimum $1-$2).
  • An additional flat $1.80 for items in the following categories:  Books, DVD, Music, Software & Computer/Video Games, Video, Video Game Consoles.
  • Normal accounts incur a $0.99 listing fee per item, charged when the item sells.
  • Pro accounts have $0 listing fee, but pay a subscription of $39.99 per month.

Source:  One

Etsy fees:
  • $0.20 to list an item.  Automatically renews when item is sold or every 4 months, and multiplies by quantity.
  • 5% of the sale price
  • 5% of the shipping charged
  • 3% plus $0.25 Payments Processing Fee

Sources:  One . Two . Three

Conclusion

The Hab Bazaar first and foremost focuses on the customer and vendor experience by striving to provide the best features of any platform.  We’re happy to be able to offer the service at a very competitive price, and hope you check us out to help you manage and present your Haberdashery sales.  There’s no risk or obligation to sign up and check it out.

Thanks again for stopping by!  On on!

Updated November 20th, 2023