UniSquare >> Reference Guides

Reference Guides and Information:

Our reference guide page offers help and instructions for using various features on the site and to provide additional useful information. If you have an issue related to UniSquare and it is not listed here, please contact us using the form or direct by email. If you could not find what you were looking for on our site or if you would like to visit third-party and non-commercial sites with related information, please visit our auction and marketplace resources page.

Major Topics:

Seller Fees: No Listing Fees - No Registration Fees!

There are no listing fees and the only fee we do charge is a low, flat 2% final value fee, only if the item sells. So essentially, we don't make money unless you do! A final value fee is charged on the total price of the items you sell. There are no category-specific fees at UniSquare and the flat 2% final value fee is just plain, simple and covers all categories equally. For example, if you sell a $100 item, the 2% fee would be $2. This is quite low when you compare it to a potential 12% fee at ebay, which would be $12 (not counting ebay listing fees).

At UniSquare, there are no registration fees and absolutely no listing fees for unlimited item listings. If your auction or fixed-price listing doesn't sell, you can simply relist the auction with no additional fees. Note that if you list fixed priced or buy-it-now (BIN) items, you have the option to let the item automatically relist every 30 days if it doesn't sell (this is free too, no fees).

To calculate fees and compare them to ebay, please visit our Marketplace / Auction Fee Calculators and Information Page. You can read more about the fees at UniSquare, the fees charged by PayPal or Google Checkout and use our calculators to calculate your fees at UniSquare vs ebay. In addition, these calculators will show you the extra profit margins you will make here vs ebay.

Browsing our marketplace categories

UniSquare has a category structure set up to mimic ebay's category structure. This means if you are used to buying and selling on ebay, you will be able to browse the categories the same way. We have 22,288 categories in total, which is more than ebay because we added a few more that we thought would be popular. You can view our main categories by looking at the left hand side of the screen starting with "Antiques" being the first category. When you click this link, you will be brought to the "Antiques" main category page. If you look again at the left side of the screen, you will now see sub-categories within the main "Antiques" parent category. You can continue to click these and "drill down" up to 6 levels deep in some cases.

Most of the categories will not go 6 levels deep unless there are a lot of variations and specialties involved. Here is an example of a category 6 levels deep:

UniSquare >> Motors >> Parts & Accessories >> Car & Truck Parts >> Lighting & Lamps >> Light Bulbs >> Neon Lights

How to sell items and list them up for sale

The first thing you need to do in order list an item for sale is to register an account with UniSquare. Our site uses SSL security when registering for a new account, so it is safe to do. It is also free to create an account with us. After creating your account, you then need to sign in (our login is also SSL secured). Once you are signed in, click the "Sell/Auction" link near the upper left corner of the page.

Next, you will get to drill down and choose a category to list your item in. You must narrow down the category as much as you can before you can continue to the next page. In addition, you can choose to list your item under a second category with no additional cost. This process works just like ebay. When you click the link to add your item under a second category, you will lock in the first category you have chosen and can then choose a second category. Note that the category selection boxes do not reset, so you do not have to start the selection process over from the beginning.

After you have chosen your category, you will be redirected to the item details page where you can enter the titles, descriptions, prices, format and etc. A title is required and you can also choose to enter an optional subtitle. The subtitle is free of charge so there are no fees for this. Next, you can enter the general description and details about the item.

Google product search feeds and optional details

After the description, there are optional details that you can enter in if they are applicable. These become particularly important if you want your items to be listed in Google Product Search. Not all items can be listed here, but only those that have the required attributes. The first field you can select is the condition of the item, whether it is used, new or refurbished. Another field you can enter is a brand name for an item. If you are selling a book, you can enter in an ISBN number. Otherwise you can enter a UPC (Universal Product Code) and/or MPN (Manufacturer Part Number).

If you're are selling variant items like apparel, such as shirts, shoes and clothing, or other variant items like different colored light bulbs for example, there are more details you can enter. UniSquare is unique in that members can list up to 30 different sizes and up to 30 different colors of an item. So if you are selling a shoe that has up to 10 different sizes, you can list each size number. The same thing goes with colors, if you have 25 different colors of shirts, you can enter each of the colors in. These options allow you to enter in a unique UPC and MPN for each color or size. (Please note that if you are selling variant items, you need to keep the "single item" UPC and MPN blank). Finally, you can even enter 1 photo for each color. There is no option for uploading photos for size as the image is usually the same. Also, you do not have to worry about a photo for each size in Google Product Search, but you do need to have a color photo for this. In the end, these options allow buyers to select sizes and/or colors of an item into the shopping cart. Important Note: Be sure that each size can be matched up with each color and vice-versa. For example if you list a shirt with small size and blue color, make sure that a blue color is available for other sizes that you list, such as large shirts.

Free gallery for images, pictures and photos

For each item, you can add up to 12 images to the image gallery. This is free of charge and there are no fees, so add your photos and pictures here.

Choosing listing format: auction or fixed price listings

Here is where you can choose what kind of format to list your products or items in. The first option allows you to select "Buy It Now" or "Auction". If you choose the "Buy It Now" auction, this means you are listing a fixed-priced item for sale. Next, you would select a price to sell the item and the quantity of items you want to sell. The last thing you can choose is a duration, which can be from 1 to 30 days. By default, you can choose the "Run Until Canceled" option, which lists it for 30 days. After 30 days, your item automatically gets relisted (give or take 1 hour delay between relist).

If you choose the "Auction" format, it will load up a few additional options. You can then choose the starting price for your auction, a buy-it-now price and a reserve price. If you enter a buy-it-now price, this means buyers can purchase the item for this price, which will promptly end the auction. Note that if enter a buy-it-now price, your auction will not show up in the "Auctions Only" tab, but it will show up in the "Buy It Now" tab. Next, only a quantity of 1 item can be chosen. If you would like to sell a bundle or a lot of items, you can do this but it will be listed as 1 item. Finally, you can choose a duration from 1 day up to 30 days. Unlike the But It Now fixed price listings, you cannot keep the auctions running until canceled. These must be manually relisted from your control panel. You do not have to rewrite the details again, but you can just click a "Relist" link and it can be relisted instantly.

Choosing payment methods - PayPal and Google Checkout

There are 4 different ways to be paid: PayPal, Google Checkout, Check or Money Order, or payment upon pickup. Note that once you create an account with us, you cannot sell anything until a payment method is chosen. When you begin the listing process for the first time and click the "Sell/Auction" link in the upper-left corner of the screen, you will automatically be taken to your account details page to configure your payment methods. This is only if you haven't already configured your payment methods. If you choose PayPal, you can then enter your PayPal email address. This is the same email address that you would use to log into PayPal or to send and receive funds through PayPal.

If you choose to use Google Checkout, you would need to sign up for a Google Merchant account and get a Merchant ID and a Merchant Key first. If this is new to you, please read our Guide to Google Checkout page where we explain how to get a merchant account set up and where to find your Merchant ID and Merchant Key numbers.

Finally, you can also choose to accept checks or money orders. PayPal and Google Checkout are secure and they have fraud protection services available, so you need to be more careful about checks and money orders. Make sure you understand how these work to prevent getting scammed. Lastly, you can choose to accept payment upon pickup. This is probably recommended for "big ticket" items like automobiles, high-end collectibles or item worth more than $10,000, which is generally the maximum amount of money you can send through PayPal in a single transaction.

Note that when you select a payment method, it applies to all of your items for sale. It is not possible to choose different payment methods for different items because this could cause complex confusion with buyers trying to purchase multiple items using multiple payment methods. So if you modify your payment methods, it will automatically be applied to all items currently listed and future listings.

Shipping methods, return policy and other information

You can choose up to 4 different shipping methods for the buyer to select. There are up to 35 different options to select ranging from economy shipping, UPS, FedEx, USPS, international shipping to the US, international shipping from the US, freight service, local pickup and more. You can enter a primary shipping rate for these and an additional item shipping rate. If you are selling items with a quantity greater than 1, you can choose to reduce shipping with the additional item rate. This is convenient if you have a box in which you could fit multiple items into and you would like to make a better deal for the buyer so they don't get charged the full shipping rate for each extra item. You can also choose to display the current location of the item to the buyer. Note, if you have more than one shipping option for items, our shopping cart allows the buyer to select a different shipping type for each item if they want. So you can set up some shipping rules.

In your account preferences page, you can choose to select 1 of 2 shipping rules. The first rule allows each unique item that a buyer has in the shopping cart to be applied the full shipping rate. For instance, item 1 and item 2 both have economy shipping (1-10 days) option available with the full shipping rate of $10 and an additional item shipping rate of $1.00 for more quantity of the same of each item. So with this first shipping rule, the total shipping cost is $20. This is a good option if you do drop shipping and don't have direct access to the items. For instance, a warehouse or distributor may force you to pay the full rate for different items and this shipping rule will help the seller from losing money in this case.

The second shipping rule allows the largest shipping amount for one item to be applied just once for each shipping method and the additional shipping rates to be used for additional items. For instance, if economy shipping (1-10 days) is $30 for item 1 and $10 for item 2, and the additional shipping rate is $1.00 on each item, then the total shipping is $31.00. So the largest shipping amount ($30) is applied just once for the economy shipping option. Then whatever the additional shipping rate is for the other items ($1.00 for item 2), is added to $30 to make $31.00. This option is best if you have direct access to your items could combine them into a single shipment. If you had a sale with 1 item having next day air requested and another item with 1-10 day economy shipping, the buyer would have to pay the full rate for each item so the seller wouldn't lose on shipping two different items on different days. It also provides a better deals for buyers as well.

Next, you can write up a return policy. You can select "Returns Not Accepted" or "Returns Accepted". If you choose to accept returns, more options will be made available. You can choose to have the item returned in 3, 7, 14, 30 or 60 days. In addition, you can select a return type consisting of either money back, exchange or merchandise credit. You can select whether the buyer or seller will pay for shipping. Below this option, there is a space where you can write additional details about your return policy. Finally, you have another space below this to enter other general information that hasn't yet been included anywhere else on the listing page if you would like.

Please Note: After you have selected your shipping methods and written up your return policy, it will be saved into UniSquare after you submit the item. This means that during the next time you list an item for sale, this information will be saved and you will not have to re-write your return policies, nor select the shipping methods again and again.

Building a Web Storefront - Adding Items to your Online Store

If you would like, you have the option to build a web storefront. It doesn't cost anything and there are no additional fees for listing items in a store. The web store gives you more options to customize and organize your listings. Members will be allowed to create a custom category structure and category names, upload a store logo, customize the color scheme a little bit and have a store search feature that allows buyers to search for items only inside your store.

The Basics: Setting up Your First Store

To get started, you must sign in and then click the "My Square" link near the upper-left corner of this page. When you are inside "My Square", click the store tab to view your store preferences. You can edit 5 options in your store on this page: Store Status, Store Name, Store Description, Store Logo and Store Background Color.

In order for anyone to view your store, you must edit the Store Status and "enable" it. You can disable and enable the store in order to hide or make it live at any time. When the store is enabled, visitors will see a "visit my store" link on all items that you list for sale and inside your member page. Next, you can edit the store name and create a custom title for your store. Editing the store description will allow you to write some details, history or background which will appear on every page of your store. The next option will allow you to upload a store logo or banner. The last option allows you to change the colors, particularly behind your store description header and categories.

Creating categories for your store

Members can create custom category names and structures. To edit categories inside your store, click the "Add Categories" link on the left-hand side menu on your store preferences page. You can then read the rules and instructions on this page about how build and delete your categories. Basically, you can build a list of parent categories and for each parent category, you can build a list of child sub-categories. These child sub-categories can also be parent categories for even more sub-categories and so on up to 6 levels deep. This means you can build a large store with many specialized categories. Note, that all categories will be organized alphabetically by default.

Adding items and products to your store

There are two requirements you must meet before you can add items to your store:

1) You must enable your store.
2) You must create at least 1 category inside your store to place items in.

After you have logged in, click the "Sell/Auction" link to begin selecting categories and listing an item for sale, just as was described in the tutorial above. Very Important: You must then click the "Click here to list this item in your store" link where you will then select the category inside your store to list your item in. After a store category is selected, you will be redirected back to the previous page to select the main UniSquare categories to also list your item in. After completing your listing, your item should all show up in your store, your member page and the main UniSquare categories!

Your member page is different than your store page. Every single item you list for sale on UniSquare will always show up on your member page, whether you have an enabled store or not. Only the items you choose when creating an item listing will show up inside your store. Like ebay, members could have more items listed for sale that are not found inside the web storefront. Here are the two URLs that distinguish your member page and store page:

Member Page: http://www.unisquare.com/members/[YOUR_USERNAME]/
Store Page: http://www.unisquare.com/store/[YOUR_USERNAME]/

The store page is not required, but it's there as an extra feature and customization tool for your listings. If you wanted to build your own ecommerce website with your own categories, you can do so here. Your store is hosted on our servers without overhead costs. You can create fixed-price listings and auctions, have PayPal and Google Checkout integrated into your store or accept Money Order, Checks or Payment upon Pickup. You can have all of this for free without having to learn HTML, web programming nor hosting server maintenance!

Disputes, non-paying buyers and feedback

We hope that there are very few disputes at UniSquare, but in the case that there are, we need to mention our policy. Timeframes for payments, payment policy and return policy is to be handled by the seller. We try to hand much of the responsibility to the seller as possible in this regard. After all, our site is designed for people to essentially build their own stores and sell their own products, much like having their own business website. As a buyer, it is important to follow the rules that the seller has set in their own stores and for their own policies. As a buyer, you need to hold the seller accountable to their own rules and obligations they have set forth. To some extent, there needs to be some slack and forgiveness when it comes to unforeseen events which results in delay shipment, delays in payment from the buyer or new inexperienced members. It is also extremely important for buyers read the title and description of an item closely as well as the policies regarding payment, shipping and returns before buying it. Sellers should not send anything out until a payment is received.

When it comes to non-paying buyers or feedback issues, UniSquare does have power to help in disputes of feedback. Unless there is a good reason, non-paying buyers can receive negative feedback and they cannot return negative feedback. If there isn't a good enough reason and negative feedback is left by a non-paying buyer, we will simply remove it upon request. No court orders are required, unlike ebay. Other kinds of feedback disputes need to be handled case by case. Again, it is extremely important for sellers NOT to ship out goods until payment has been received or if you trust the buyer enough. UniSquare has no power to return those items if a fraudulent buyer does not pay!

When it comes to payment disputes, UniSquare honestly has very little control over this. For example, if a buyer has made a purchase through PayPal, a payment dispute can only be initiated at PayPal and we have no control over what happens at PayPal. The same would go for Google Checkout, Checks, Money Orders or payment upon pickup payment options. If PayPal, Google, Law Enforcement or anyone else needs information from us to help settle disputes or fraudulent transactions, UniSquare will work cooperatively. There are many cases in which PayPal is able to protect against or recover money from fraudulent transactions.

Overall, disputes should be settled between the buyer and seller. To prevent disputes to begin with, both the buyer and seller must do their due diligence either before buying an item from an unknown seller or selling and shipping an item to an unknown buyer. Feedback helps determine the reputation of a member and may help build some trust. Members can add their ebay username and feedback count into their profiles and essentially transfer their reputation over to UniSquare. Of course, these figures can be made up and fake. So it could be wise to double check with the member on ebay to see if you are dealing with the real member or an imposter. You can also factor in feedback earned directly at UniSquare as well. Any members using PayPal should read into PayPal Buyer Protection and Seller Protection to help secure your money in the case of fraudulent transactions. We recommend PayPal as they have saved us once from a $5,000 fraudulent transaction.

Related, Useful and Miscellaneous Information

ebay Selling Limits
UniSquare Updates and Upgrades: http://www.unisquare.com/updates.php
Completed Sales and Auctions Archive: http://www.unisquare.com/reference-guides/recent-sales/

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Link To Us Online Fee Information Updates and Upgrades (5/7/2012)