Bravisa.com: Help and FAQ for earning money with free online stores, tools, and products

Bravisa is a commerce engine that makes it fast and easy for anyone to earn 20-40% profit from sales on their blogs or free personal online bStore. In 3 clicks, you can have Bravisa’s growing catalog of products ready for sale in your bStore and served to your blog. When customers buy products from your bStore, Bravisa takes care of the order fulfillment and pays you the profits.

How does Bravisa work?

1) Open your free bStore in 3 clicks: You can add products from Bravisa’s product catalog and automatically markup Bravisa wholesale prices to set your selling prices. You have complete control over the products in your bStore and can edit the information (price, description, keywords, and images) at any time. You now have a comprehensive online retail store with targeted products and full e-commerce functionality.

2) Get tools to attract buyers to your bStore: Bravisa provides several tools for you to promote your bStore and attract buying traffic. You can use Bravisa tools to:

a. Place contextual product widgets in your blog. Bravisa will serve products from your bStore that is relevant to the content in your blog.

b. Embed your bStore in other sites or stores.

c. Submit product data feeds to sites such as Google Base.

d. Make your bStore attractive to search engines by using meta tags in your bStore HTML.

3) Make money on every sale from your bStore: Each of the products in your bStore is available to you at a wholesale price. You can mark them up as you see fit to sell at, above or below standard retail prices. The normal markup for Bravisa wholesale prices to MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price) is between 20 and 40%. You make this markup on every sale, without any investment. Since your customers buy from your bStore, you have total visibility to and 100% tracking accuracy on all sales. When your customers buy a product from your bStore, Bravisa handles all the payments, service, and order fulfillment activities and pays you your markup for that product.

What are the benefits of using Bravisa?

Bravisa complements your other income streams by providing you a fast and easy way to earn retailer-size profits for disproportionately little effort. Here are some of the benefits of using Bravisa:

· Free personalized online bStore- You have complete control over your bStore and can personalize the look and feel and edit product prices and content. You can set up as many bStores as you like for free.

· World class shopping experience for your customers: Bravisa provides an easy and secure shopping environment for your customers to buy a variety of products from your bStore. Bravisa also takes care of order fulfillment, warranty, service, and returns related issues thus providing an end-to-end shopping experience for your customers.

· Growing list of products – Bravisa currently has over 1000 products and the number and variety of products are growing every day. Current products include home décor, gifts, fine foods, leather goods, children’s puzzles, toys, safety kits, handmade artisan goods, ethnic furnishings, kitchen & bath accessories, print-on-demand products, and more. You can suggest products for your bStore and Bravisa will try its best to include those in our catalog.

· Reputable manufacturers - Bravisa actively qualifies product manufacturers and suppliers based on analysis of their product quality, performance history, and business practices. Bravisa negotiates wholesale prices with them to give you room to markup the products to retail price.

· Promotion tools – Bravisa provides several tools to help you attract buyers to your bStore and everything they buy from your bStore can be completely tracked. You can place contextual product widgets in your blog, embed your bStore in other sites or stores, submit product data feeds to sites such as Google Base, and make you bStore search engine friendly by using meta tags.

· You own the customer- People buying from your bStore are your customers. Once they are in your store, Bravisa doesn’t cross sell them on products outside of your bStore or entice them to other stores…they are your customers.

· Market intelligence – Bravisa provides you rich data about your customers so that you can better serve them and increase your earnings. Bravisa also helps you increase your bStore earnings by tracking and analyzing a number of important statistics throughout the Bravisa system. This includes manufacturer performance, product prices, and more. Bravisa’s analytics help optimize your bStore revenue.

How much does it cost to use Bravisa?

Bravisa is free. For each product, you can markup the Bravisa wholesale price to set your retail selling price. When the product sells you will be paid your markup.

I would like to sign up with Bravisa. What do I do?

Great! Signing up with Bravisa is very fast and easy. You just need to get started.

Policies and guidelines

Am I eligible for selling products through Bravisa?

Anyone over 13 years of age can sell products through Bravisa. If you are between the ages of 13 and 18, you will need to get the consent of your parent or legal guardian.

What Bravisa policies apply to me?

As a seller on Bravisa, the following policies apply to you

· Bravisa Privacy Policy

· Bravisa User Agreement

What products can I sell through Bravisa?

You can sell any product listed in Bravisa’s Products Catalog. Currently there are over 1000 products in Bravisa’s products catalog and the list is growing every day. If you would like to suggest products that you would like to sell, please let us know

I have my own artwork or I’d like to change some product configurations, can I do this?

Yes, several products, including t-shirts, playing cards and poker tables can be customized with your images or with your selection of options. You can find those products in the Custom Product category in Bravisa’s product catalog.

I’d like to give my customers the option to upload their own image or design their own product, can I do this?

Yes, you can allow your buyers to customize products in your bStore. Simply add the product to your bStore.

I am not located in the US. Can I sell products through Bravisa?

As a seller you can be located anywhere. All payments and transactions will be in US Dollars.

Signing up

How do I sign up for Bravisa?

Signing up with Bravisa is free, fast and easy. Sign up now.

Why do I have to verify that I am older than 13?

In order to comply with The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), websites must provide a date of birth field to confirm a prospective member is 13 years of age or older. The primary goal of COPPA is to give parents control over what online information is collected on their children and how such information is used.

Why do I have to provide my SSN or Tax ID?

U.S. law requires Bravisa to collect tax information from sellers on Bravisa who are U.S. citizens, U.S. residents, or U.S. corporations.

If you are an individual, your Tax ID Number is your Social Security number, and your Tax Name is your personal name. Your SSN is required to issue any earnings payment to you.

If you represent a non-individual, such as a corporation, partnership, or non-profit organization, the Tax ID Number is the organization's IRS employer identification number (EIN), and the Tax Name is the name of the organization. Your Tax ID is required to issue any earnings payment to you.

If you represent a sole proprietorship, your Tax ID Number is either your Social Security number or the sole proprietorship's IRS employer identification number (EIN). The Tax Name is your personal name, not the business name of the sole proprietorship. Your SSN or Tax ID is required to issue any earnings payment to you.

In addition, if you are not a U.S. citizen or resident, but your business is taxable in the U.S., you must provide us with a completed IRS Form W-8ECI. We are obligated to have this information on file in order to issue any earnings payment to you.

What is Bravisa’s policy on sharing my info?
The Bravisa Privacy Policy describes how we treat personal information when you use Bravisa’s tools and services. In addition, the following describes the information we collect and how we use it.

Information we collect

Registration information - When you sign up for Bravisa, we ask for your personal information so that we can provide our service. Such information may include your name, email address, billing address, shipping address, and credit card number. To comply with IRS’ requirements for reporting your earnings, we require your taxpayer identification number or social security number. This information allows us to process orders, issue payments, and protect users from fraud. In some cases, we may also ask you to send us additional information or to answer additional questions to help verify your information. The information we collect is stored in association with your Bravisa Account
Information collected by Cookies – Cookies are used on the Bravisa Website. A cookie is a small text file on your computer which a website sends to your computer to allow the website to store information which uniquely identifies our users. Bravisa’s cookies do not collect or store personally identifiable information. Rather, the cookie stores a token which uniquely identifies a particular user at a particular time. That token is then linked to the user information in our secured databases. You can always reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to display a message when a cookie is being sent. If you reset your browser, some of Bravisa’s Website features and functionality may not be available to you.
Information collected by Web Beacons and Log Files- Bravisa uses “web beacons” for the purposes of analyzing or auditing traffic on Bravisa’s website. A web beacon is an electronic image in a web page, usually consisting of a single-pixel (1 x 1 GIF), that allows the website to analyze user traffic. Bravisa collects certain non-personally identifiable information through the use of web beacons and log files. Such information may include your IP address, browser type, site usage, and whether you opened emails you received from us.

Information security
Bravisa uses commercially reasonable and generally-accepted technological safeguards to secure any information we collect about you. The secure server software (SSL) we use encrypts all information you input before it is sent to us. In addition, your account information is password-protected for your privacy and security. You should always take steps to protect the confidentiality of the password you select. Bravisa conducts periodic reviews of data collection, retrieval, and storage, and processing policies to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. The security of your account also depends on keeping your account password confidential, and you should not share your account name or password with anyone. If you do share your account information with a third party, they will have access to your account and your personal information.

How Bravisa uses the information we collect
We use the personally identifiable information you provide to:

Provide the tools, features and functionality of the Bravisa Website;
Communicate with manufacturers to fulfill your orders
Communicate with you about the status of your orders and other inquiries about our products and services;

We use your email address to communicate with you about your account and to send you certain notification emails. We do not use your email address or other personally identifiable information to send marketing messages without your consent. We use non-personally identifiable information to monitor the use and performance of the Bravisa Website so that we can learn more about how people use the Bravisa Website and improve our products and services.

Bravisa will not sell or rent your personal information to companies or individuals outside of Bravisa and authorized manufacturers and affiliates. Bravisa provides information to its agents and trusted service providers and manufacturers for limited purposes, such as: fulfilling customer orders and processing credit card transactions; offering certain products and services; communicating with customers; providing customer service; managing information on our behalf; and enhancing the Bravisa Website features and functionality. In such cases, we require that these parties agree to use the information solely for the purpose for which we provided it to them and in accordance with our privacy policy.

Bravisa may also release information (including your name, addresses, telephone number, and account activity) when we, in our sole discretion believe that such release is necessary or appropriate to comply with law, comply with subpoenas, warrants, court orders, government investigations, or other legal process; enforce or apply the terms of any of our user or license agreements; investigate or respond to allegations of fraud, intellectual property infringement, or other unlawful activity; investigate fraud or similar claims; or protect the rights, property or safety of Bravisa, our users, or others.

Bravisa may disclose non-personally-identifiable information to third parties in aggregate form to potential business partners and investors.

What is a bStore?

A bStore is a free personal online store where you can add products from Bravisa’s catalog and automatically set your price markups. You have complete control over your bStore and can edit product information such as price, description, and keywords. Bravisa provides several tools to manage and promote your bStore. You can embed your bStore in other websites, place bStore level and individual product level widgets in your blog, and submit your bStore content to sites such as Google Base.

How do I set up a bStore?

You can set up your personal bStore in 3 simple steps.

Step 1 – Name your bStore and choose a bStore template from the given selection.
Step 2 – Add products to your bStore by selecting from the listed product categories. You can also search for products and add them to your bStore.
Step 3 – Set your price markups for the products in your bStore. The available markup for each product is the difference between Bravisa Wholesale Price and the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price.

I haven’t sold anything in a while. Will my bStore be deleted due to inactivity?

No. Bravisa will keep your bStore permanently active. Bravisa maintains the right to delete your bStore under very special circumstances including any copyright infringements and fraudulent activity.

How many bStores can I have with one account?

Bravisa currently does not have a limit to the number of bStores you can have under one account.

Does Bravisa have different versions of bStores such as Basic and Premium?

No. Currently all bStores have the same features and are free to registered sellers. Bravisa plans to continuously update the bStore features. Please let us know if you would like a certain feature and we will try to include this in our roadmap.

Are there any fees associated with my bStore?

No. Your bStore is free and there is no limit on the number of products you can have in your bStore.

Are there any maintenance or inactivity fees associated with my bStore?

No. Your bStore is free.

What Bravisa policies apply to my bStore?

As a seller on Bravisa, the following policies apply to you

· Bravisa Privacy Policy

· Bravisa Terms of Use

How do I add or delete products in my bStore?
To add products to your current bStore go to the Product Catalog page and check the “add to list” box next to the products you want to add to your bStore. Your products will appear in the list window. Click on the “add” button located at the bottom of the list window. You can then apply your markup to the products and add them to your bStore.

You can delete products by clicking on the delete button associated with each product in your bStore.

Can I temporarily inactivate products in my bStore?

Yes. You can inactivate products in your bStore by hiding them.

Products and Manufacturers

What products can I sell through Bravisa?

The Bravisa Products Catalog currently has 1000 products and the list is growing every day. You can sell any product configuration and any number of products listed in the products catalog. Several products can be customized with your images or with your selection of options.

Who fulfills the products that I sell through Bravisa?

Bravisa’s manufacturing partners fulfill each order. They ship the products directly to your customer.

How does Bravisa select manufacturers?

Bravisa qualifies each manufacturer based on analysis of their product price, quality, on-time delivery, and service. Bravisa negotiates wholesale prices to give you plenty of room to markup your products. Most importantly, we have identified and listed manufacturers who provide interesting, unique, and customizable products for you to sell.

Do I have to buy or pay upfront for the products I wish to sell?

No. You don’t have to incur any cost, subscription fees, registration fees, storage fees, or other monetary risks. Bravisa is free to use.

How can I be sure of the quality of products I wish to sell?

Product quality is one of Bravisa’s key criteria in evaluation and selection of manufacturers. The quality practices of each manufacturer on the Bravisa system are on par or better than the relevant industry standard.

Is Bravisa planning to add more manufacturers and products?

Yes. Our goal is to continuously add manufacturers and products. We are always on the look out for products and manufacturers that would be interesting to you. If you have any product or manufacturer in mind please let us know. You can also suggest new products in the Product Catalog area of the Bravisa site.

I want to upload my images to customize a product. How does Bravisa handle this?

The Bravisa site has a wide range of products that can be customized, each made by a different manufacturer with specific guidelines on the image size and formats. Use the "Upload Image" button and the associated design tools to help you get the right size and image placement. The guidelines will be located in the product detail pages and/or in the “Help” section of the Product Option section.

For general information on Image File Formats please refer to this Wikipedia entry.

When you add an image to your design, you must send the image file from your computer to our servers. The process is called "uploading." The upload time can vary widely depending on the size of the image file and the speed of your internet connection. Uploading a large image (1MB+) may take a few seconds on a fast internet connection (such as DSL) or more than 5 minutes using a slow internet connection (such as 28.8Kpbs modem).

There are many ways to create an image. For example, you can create one with a graphics design program, scan in a physical photograph or something you've drawn or painted, or use a digital photograph.

Do other sellers have access to the image I upload to create customized products?

No. The original files that you upload are stored in a secure location and can only be accessed by the authorized manufacturer of the product associated with your image. Visitors to your store will see a resized image (or a low resolution image) of the image you uploaded.

Who owns the artwork or images that I upload on products I add to my bStore?

You do. Please note that under our site usage policy, Bravisa and the relevant manufacturers will permanently retain a copy of the artwork you upload to create products. This helps minimize manufacturing set up time and ensure that repeat orders are processed expeditiously.

I would like to suggest new products. What do I do?

If you have a specific product in mind and don’t see it on the site, please feel free to drop us a line and we will do our best to get the product.

I have a question about a product I wish to sell. What do I do?

You will find detailed information about any of the products in the Products Catalog section of the website. If you have additional questions, please send us an e-mail and we will try to answer them.

I know a really interesting manufacturer who can benefit from Bravisa. Who should they contact?

Please have them send an e-mail and let us know about their offerings. Manufacturers can also view relevant info on the Bravisa Manufacturer site.

I’d like to give feedback about a manufacturer of a product in my bStore. What do I do?

We would love to hear what you have to say. Please send us an e-mail.

Pricing and Markup

How do I set prices for the products I want to sell through Bravisa?

Each product has an available markup associated with it. The available markup is the difference between the MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price) and the Bravisa Wholesale Price. You can select your markup as a percentage of the available markup. For example, if you select 100% for your markup, your selling price for that product would be equal to the MSRP. If you wish, you can price products in your bStore above the MSRP simply by selecting a markup percentage over 100%.

You can also directly enter the selling price for your product.

What do the terms “Bravisa Wholesale Price”, “MSRP”, and “Selling Price” mean?

Bravisa Wholesale Price refers to price at which the product is available to you. MSRP stands for Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price and it indicates the price at which the manufacturer recommends that you sell the product. Selling Price is the price at which you wish to sell the products.

Are there any restrictions to the Markup or Selling Price I set?