Made a decision on e-commerce

[Peachy Clean Soap]

I wanted to update you all on my experience with Shopify. I've been very pleased with it. I've sold $200 in soaps the last month and a half. Slow and steady wins the race . I really have to credit Kenna from Modern Soapmaking again because I believe her soapmaker to money maker taught me details I needed to get going.

thats wonderful

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

I have a degree in Website Design and was going to design my own website, but soon realized that I didn’t need a “website”, I just needed a place where folks could place orders so I started looking around. I looked at Etsy, didn’t like all the fees…listing fee, transaction fee, commission, off-site advertising fee. And your customer base is limited to folks who have Etsy accounts.

I head good things about Shopify so I gave it a try. I just couldn’t get the hang of it. I read, I watch videos…nada. I was considering paying a company to set everything for me, but it pissed me off that I couldn’t make it work when I should and so I cancelled.

I recently checked out Squarespace…I found it easy to work with, it does what I want (a place for folks to place orders) and the terms are easy on the pocketbook.

Thats Sounds like a great place to start.

 

[Cat&Oak]

I sold on Amazon for a Minuet' It cost me to sale, by the time the fees & shipping I was out of pocket about 4-5 bucks each sale. This didn't account for the cost of making the soap just to sale on amazon, That ended quickly needless to say.

That sounds awful! I'm so sorry that happened to you Peachy. I thought about doing Amazon as well. Their fees are confusing aren't they?

 

[Rsapienza]

Just to add another very affordable option for someone just starting out.....Big Cartel. They offer a free tier that allows you to list 5 products, I believe. Then they go up from there. For $9.99, you can list 50 products with premium features. If you don't know web design, they have several themes to choose from. You basically just upload your pictures with descriptions and prices. You figure out your shipping (which is the 1 thing that is a pain), and they handle the checkout. It's a pretty good deal, especially for someone that knows web design and can customize even more than their themes.

 

[Kcryss]

Another budget option (Free!) is shift4shop (formerly 3DCart). No monthly fees.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

That sounds awful! I'm so sorry that happened to you Peachy. I thought about doing Amazon as well. Their fees are confusing aren't they?

Yes confusing & pricey. For me to make a profit off my soap' I needed to increase the price for each bar' then other sellers are selling for way less. On a good note I learned a few things which was get off Amazon quickly !
Update: Amazon is a wonderful place to sale once established' I started increasing my repeat sales, which is great though it was a loss opposed to profit' I think once established you can make a great profit but like everything takes time. Best of luck on your soap business

 

[TheoCaper]

Congrats on making a decision! Shopify is a great platform, and I know many YouTubers use it to have successful businesses.