Have you ever thought of having your own online shop to sell your creation? There are a few reputable ones out there to select from.
First let’s start with hosting your own option. Depending on you level of tech know how, it could cost you from as low as £10 a year to several hundred. Below are the basic requirements:
- Domain name : This is the address you type on your web browser, like www.handigift.co.uk . This cost from as low as £10 a year to around £50 depending on whether it ends in dot come or .co.uk or others. If you miss paying once, you risk losing you shop’s web address.
- Hosting : This is where you website will stay, like the URL, it is a subscription. Sometimes you have an allotted size of disk space included in your domain name for free. When your shop grows bigger, you can upgrade to accommodate your growth. To start with a basic website, check what our service provider is offering.
- Design/Template : How your website/shop looks and feel depends on your choice of design. You can achieve this by making your own or by buying templates. These are one-off purchases with option to buy support services. One we often use is Themeforest. There are many services like them but this is one we use all the time (over a decade lol). You can also hire your own web designer to help create a unique look. This will cost from several hundred to a couple of thousand.
- Other website services : There are companies that offers a ready to use website for an annual fee. They have ready made designs and e-commerce in place so all you need to do is customise your selected design/template with your blurb, photos and products. Two that I know of are Wix and Square Space. This is great option if you don’t want the hassle of creating from scratch and regular maintenance.
The next is selling on various selling platforms. There are a lot of them but I recommend using the ones you see and use. The biggest selling platforms are Ebay and Amazon. Both offer free listing* and commission based sales. On Ebay, when you list way over your free listing limit, you pay a listing fee and when your item sells, you pay 10% of the final transaction value. On Amazon, listing is free have no time limit but you pay commission of 15% per sale. The advantage with these two is millions of people use them, so all you need to do is present your product listings well and use keywords and well written product description.
If you’re a maker, you may have already heard of ETSY. But did you know that there’s also Folksy? Folksy is only for British sellers. Both require you to pay a listing of $0.20 for Etsy and they will take 5% commission. On Folksy, you pay £0.15+VAT listing fee and sales commission of 6%+VAT. Do not forget the fees to process payments via Paypal and Stripe. Folksy Plus is a monthly/yearly subscription and will allow you to list your products for free. Other places like these two are Not on the High Street and Nu Monday.
If you have bought or sold your makes in Craft Markets and craft fairs, you may be familiar with the card readers. The most popular ones we see in craft events are Zettle (previously called iZettle and now owned by paypal) and Sum up. Zettle have ecommerce integration services that’s useful if you decide to create your own website. But Sumup, offers you a free online shop with your account. It is very basic but it allows your customers to buy your products. The good news is the only take a commission of 2.5%
Have a look at my SumUp shop below.
So, if you’re just starting, I highly recommend starting with SumUp online shop. All you need to do is buy their card reader £29 (only £19 if you use this link) and sign up for free.
Well, I hope you’ll find this post useful. Thank you for stopping by!
