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6 Tips for Selling Seeds Online on Local Seeds

6 Tips for Selling Seeds Online on Local Seeds

It’s very easy to create a store and start selling seeds online on Local Seeds. However, whether or not your seeds sell will depend on a few different factors. There are certain things that are out of our control, such as whether or not it’s the right season to sow your seeds. But there are also a few things you can do to help increase buyer’s confidence in your products. I wrote the tips below to help you improve your store and have better chances of success on Local Seeds.

Add a good description

It’s important to let buyers know exactly what you’re selling. Here’s some questions buyers may have about your seeds:

  • what species/subspecies are you selling?
  • how many seeds are included per pack in units or grams?
  • are your seeds open-pollinated, heirloom, or organically grown?
  • are they treated or untreated?
  • any special care or growing tips?
  • have you tested for germination rates?
  • how do you ensure they are true to type?

In addition to increasing buyer’s confidence in your product, having a good description also increases the chance of your seeds appearing on Google search results.

Add great product images

While photos of the seeds can be interesting to look at, it’s usually more helpful to show what your actual produce looks like. Displaying the parent plant is ok, but it’s even better if you have photos of produce you’ve grown from the same seeds you’re selling. That gives more confidence to potential buyers that your seeds will germinate and turn into healthy true to type plants.

Describe your process to save seeds

One of the most common concerns from people considering buying seeds from seed savers is whether the seeds are true breed.

A true to type seed or “true breed” seed is a seed that will produce plants of the same variety of the parent plant. Some species, such as brassicas, easily cross pollinate with different varieties, producing hybrids, so they must be isolated to produce true breed seeds.

Describe your process and explain how you make sure your seeds are “true breed” so you can give more confidence to potential buyers. This is especially important for seeds that cross pollinate with different varieties and may produce hybrids, such as brassicas and pumpkins.

Add product tags

In an effort to give more confidence for buyers we have introduced product tags so you can easily label your seeds for potential buyers.

See below the definitions of each tag you can add:

6 Tips for Selling Seeds Online on Local Seeds

Heirloom

Heirloom” refers to seeds that have been grown and maintained by gardeners and farmers for many generations through open pollination.

Hybrid

A “hybrid” plant is a cross between two different types, or varieties, of plants.

Open pollinated

Open pollination” refers to seeds that will “breed true” and have been produced by natural agency, such as by insects, birds, wind, or other natural mechanisms.

Organically grown

Organically grown” seeds are seeds that have been grown using organic practices and without the use of artificial fertilisers or chemical pesticides.

Add as many varieties as possible

While some seed varieties may be more popular than others, many buyers come to our store looking for very specific varieties. So the more varieties you have on your store the more likely you will be to receive regular orders.

Send us your list of seeds

We know it can be a bit tedious to add seeds one by one, upload photos and write descriptions. So we’re more than happy to help you with that. You can send us a spreadsheet or CSV file (see example here) and we’ll be happy to add them to your shop for you.

Selling Seeds Online on Local Seeds

There are a few factors that may affect how well your seeds sell on Local Seeds. While some factors are outside of our control, such as seasonality, there are a few things you can do to increase your sales. I hope the tips above help you improve your store and do justice to your hard work growing seeds.

Local Seeds growers who have a good track record of following our best practices are featured here.

If you have any other ideas please let us know in the comments below!