This guide is here to clarify and explain the requirements of your listings; to explain the limitations.
The information embedded when you hover over the question marks (you can see when listing your product) is your first port of call; the most important information for listing your products can be found there.
This is where you write your product name. Please do not use all caps in your product name, this is considered yelling online and looks unsightly among the regular typed titles.
Calling your product something it is not, can result in your listing getting disabled or not getting approved.
Course language must not be included in product listing titles, you can use special characters to hide swear words.
Please do not over do it; 3-4 words for a title should be sufficient; we see a lot of vendors add a huge amount of ‘search terms’ into the title, it really does not benefit you at all If anything; it brings your SEO ranking down.
Here you choose what sort of product you are listing.
If you want to add attributes (expanded options) then you will need to make your product a ‘variable’ product type here.
Downloadable;
the product is DIGITAL and as soon as the customer orders, the product will be available for them to download.
No shipping will be added when this is ticked.
Virtual;
The product is DIGITAL but is either a service or it needs editing and/or personalising and will be sent to the customer as soon as it is ready.
No shipping will be added when this is ticked.
List the item’s/service’s price.
Pick maximum 5 (end) categories your listing will appear in.
Your listing will also automatically appear in the main categories you clicked to get to an ‘end’ category.
Please do not pick categories your product does not belong in, you are not improving the customer experience AND creating more work for ADMIN.
The categories you picked will be visible on the listing.
create and use tags here that the customer might use to find your product online.
These tags will be visible on the listing.
This should be short as it will show on the listing at the top under your listing title.
Make sure the words you put here count! It’s the main place you will create a WANT.
Adding external links or referring to them is not allowed. This also includes wording to motivate customers to come purchase elsewhere, to email you, your phone number, your social media, etc.
What you write in your description is what you are held to, it is vital your information is correct.
It is important you are aware of your product’s legal requirements when it comes to your description.
Those listing products categorised as, but not limited to: toys, sleepwear, cosmetics, supplements, electronics and food will be aware that certain legislation and “best practice” guides apply to those products. Sellers need to make sure all legally required information is listed. You are liable and responsible for your own content.
Please find our Seller Rights and Obligations file for guidance.
If and when you describe options for the customer, like different colours/fabrics or extra’s for them to purchase for a listing like gift wrapping or adding personalisation) then make sure you ADD this for the customer to choose – if you do not want to add these options within your listing, then do not mention them in your description.
Not only are you making it harder for the customer to just click and buy – they have to contact you first – you stop them in their buying tracks.
Adding external links or referring to them is not allowed. This also includes wording to motivate customers to come purchase elsewhere, to email you, your phone number, social media etc.
SKU: a SHORT code for your product, we advice up to 6 letters/nummers.
Tick the box if you want to manage the stock on the listing; how many are able to be sold.
Once a listing is out of stock, it will not be visible on the live site.
If you allow backorders on a listing, PLEASE always pick the one that notifies the customer.
Addons are the simple way of adding options.
With addons you can also add a text box, file upload, etc.
Go to our OPTIONS GUIDE
With SEO the most important thing to remember is that you need to think about what the customer will be looking for.
There’s a few websites that can help you in your research (we share them in our FB group) but your most valuable tool is asking your own customers.
What you write in your content FIRST will carry more weight than what you write 5th or 6th.
Consider carefully and keep it simple, to the point wording that still reads great for a human being.
For example; calling your doll ‘Amy the magnificent’ is a great idea BUT is that what the customer will be looking for? With a name like that and the focus on her name and who she is, search engines will also not pick up on it being this amazing handmade doll. Your Meta Description and Meta Tags will also assist with customer’s finding your product on search engines. Without this information and with a non-descriptive title such as this, the customer is not likely to find your product when they search for a handmade doll!
What you do here is greatly influenced by your store shipping settings so please check out the details regarding that, here.
Bumble Bees please note; when we review and approve products, we reserve the right to add related products by other sellers to your listings – these are to stay in place.
Besides making sure you add options for the customer to choose from – if you mention options for the customer, make sure you add them to you listing too.
Attributes are very similar to Addons BUT they have loads of added features. here’s just some;
To have the above features, you NEED to set your product type to ‘variable’ at the top or you get a very basic version of attributes.
Go to our OPTIONS GUIDE
Here you can set up a percentage discount when a customer orders more than a certain number of the listing.
you can override your warranty options here and even add a warranty rule with cost involved.
product status; make it draft if you want to keep the product but you do not want it to go to admin for approval.
visibility; for best results always keep the listing on ‘visible’ here.
enable product reviews; always have this ticked on, reviews help others decide to buy.
Here you can list a product as ‘featured’ which lists it to the home page (depending on demand) and at the top of categories.
Royal Bees get a certain amount of free featured listings with their plan, it will tell you how many slots you have left. These free slots stay featured for 21 days.
Vendors can buy featured listings for the small fee of $5, these stay featured for 14 days.
Adding external links or referring to them anywhere in your content of your store page, is not allowed. This also includes wording to motivate customers to come purchase elsewhere.
This also includes email or website links on images, etc.
You can add your social links in your vendor dashboard>settings>social profile.
Those listing products categorised as, but not limited to: toys, sleepwear, cosmetics, supplements, electronics and food will be aware that certain legislation and “best practice” guides apply to those products.
Remember, you are liable and responsible for your own content. If you are unsure, please find out! Ignorance is no excuse in the New Zealand legal system.
Please see our Vendor Rights and Obligations file for guidance.
The Hive NZ prides itself on being accepting of many product types and lifestyle choices. This means we do allow some risque and restricted products to be listed on our site.
To protect consumers from being exposed to content they may not wish to see, we have implemented a couple of “must do’s” when listing risque content to censor the content which could be seen as offensive.
If your product can be viewed as R18, risque or offensive to some, we ask you to either cover part of the image OR replace your first image with a ‘this is a R18 listing’ image.
We have tips on how to edit and more explanation of our image requirements in our Product Images file
From your dashboard>products you can ‘quick edit’ your listing. Simply make the status into ‘DRAFT’ and ‘UPDATE’ the listing. This will NOT send it to admin for approval.
When a vendor – within their products page – does a BULK ACTIONS>EDIT, it means those edits go into ‘pending approval REGARDLESS.
This ALSO applies to our pre approved Royal Bees!
From your dashboard>products you can delete your product. Simply hover under the product and click on ‘DELETE PERMANENTLY’
Accidentally deleted a product? If you contact us as soon as possible, there’s a possibility we may be able to retrieve your listing for you.
2 thoughts on “Product Listing Guide”
How long does it typically take to approve products?
We aim for 3-5 working days. This is when you’re on our free Bumble Bee plan of course, to which you can also buy an add on for pre approval here