I am almost ready to open an online store. However it has been years since I had one and was without a pc for years. I would prefer one that I can really customize myself.
Does anyone have any suggestions of a good website?
Thanks!
#1 Website for Digital Scrapbooking and Hybrid Crafting.
Hi Julie,
Your question about a good website is a bit misleading.
There are stores you can open for free or for a small selling fee etc. and there are hosting companies that sell hosting packages, and then you can build a store on the platform from scratch. The latter is very time consuming, and you need to have some basic to intermediate knowledge of a cpanel, and installing and maintaining "Websites" while the former works just as well and your choices are wide, and you can "build up" to any upgrade you need or stay free in many cases, if you don't have numberous products.
Among being an artist and musician/entertainer in my life, I am also a publisher and spent lots of time researching free and paid platforms, everything from hosting, and website platforms, to stores, shops, forums, and more... plus I run and also design a plethora of networks of all types.
I would be glad to give you a few suggestions, based further on your actual needs. Please feel free to delve further into your questions and needs, and I and I am sure others will jump in.
Hi hun, I have built and maintained numerous websites, so I am not opposed to that. I actually have a degree in Graphic Design and Multimedia. However I see so many stores online I thought maybe I could find a cheaper way of doing it without the expense of a hosting company.
I also see a lot of blogs which look nice, are they free? I guess that was really my question. I see blogs everywhere selling stuff.
I used a host for my last store but that was like 8 years ago and I cannot even remember who I used.
Thanks again Angela for any insight you can give me.
Julie
OK now I have a better idea
So, the blogs you are seeing are most likely one of 2 things.
1: they are .org wordpress sites, and are hosted thru a hosted platform, and can be commercially used.
My stores are all WP stores, here is one, https://treasuredscrapsrva.net/digital/
2: they are .com wordpress sites that have been upgraded to premium so that the ability to sell commercially is applied
(this route is far more expensive than it is worth with the limitations)
My first suggestion for a great company I have used for about 4 years now is Meylah,
I have a few stores with them, and have sold from each, you can see an example of one of my stores here:
https://meylah.com/DigiScrapCafe
The platform is free for individual use, and you may sell anything, including instant digital downloads...
Very simple to use, low fees, both private website store, and marketplace if you choose to join one.
Load up to 100 products or use 1 gig, whichever comes first. All free.
StorEnvy is ok, and will also give you a private store, as well as optional marketplace.
Not so great for digital downloads, as you have to send manually, but works for plenty other products.
Free except for selling fees. My example:
http://digiscrapcafe.storenvy.com/
There is always Etsy, which I will state right now, I detest, but lots of folks like it and make money there.
I guess it depends on each person.
There are several more places that will let you create a free store, including Webnode.com as well as the old standbys
like Miduui and Zibbit etc... these are alternatives I can talk about later, but for now not my first choices.
Give Meylah a look, sign up for a new account, test it out, I will help you if need be.
Thanks so much Angela, I am going to save this info because I am still creating product. My pc crashed a couple of years ago and I am starting over so I am not quite ready yet. It will take me maybe 2 more months, I'm just trying to get all of my ducks in a row so I am ready to go.
I have checked out your sites (very nice) I have always liked the poser stuff too!
I have heard Etsy was not that great by a friend, but other than that I have no real feedback from anyone. Do you mind me asking why you didn't like it?
Julie
Etsy has high fees, charge you .20 for every product EVERY time it sells or every 4 months (if you have more than 1 in stock), they are constantly changing things that make everything not work, (much like FB) their search features are almost non existent for sellers, etc etc etc....
need more
I know the crashed pc feeling... ours crashed in 2015, took 5 months to get back, and took me about 2 years to get on track again...
it sucks, I feel for you
Enough said....LOL
It took me 2 years to get a pc, and I have only gotten Photoshop 2 months ago. So needless to say I started creating in November and I probably won't be ready for a store for a few more months.
However, like I said I want to have all my ducks in a row so when I am ready I can just dive right in. It will be nice to start generating some income again.
Thanks for all your help, I truly appreciate it!
I opted to go with paid hosting and a WordPress/WooCommerce based site. Choosing a good WP theme for my site and making a few graphics to give it a custom look only took a couple of days to have it fully functional, and it costs me about $100/year total for hosting and my own domain name. While that may seem like a lot, I have enough storage space that I don't have to worry much about keeping links active, and that's $8.50/month to have my personal shop online; if I can't sell $9 in product in a month, that's either a quality issue or a marketing one. They work with CloudFlare too, so I can have my site not be horribly slow for the Europeans and Aussies who visit, increasing the chance of making sales. They use cPanel and Softaculous, so you can install any of several CMS's in just a few clicks.
That may or may not work for you, but it's not something I'd dismiss out of hand. Namecheap's shared hosting has a 50% off your first year deal going right now, too, bringing it down to under $50 for a year's hosting. That's a cheap fast food meal or one drink from Starbucks per month. Check the prices.
Oh wow, thanks! I am going to go check it out now. Yes, $100.00 dollars a year is cheap and $50.00 is even better!
Would you mind posting a link to your site so I can get a better feel for what it looks like.
Thanks,
Julie
Mine's at hollywolfscraps.com. I'm using the Virtue theme, though I've modified it with a custom header image and small tiling background images. I haven't updated my colors or background in a while, so I'm considering doing that soon, assuming I manage to make time between fighting with my own health issues and creating more products.
Oh that's cute, I like it. I may just go with them.