Guide to Selling Online – 10 Platforms to Setup an E-Shop In a Day [for $0]

BigCommerce Are you thinking about starting your e-commerce store and looking for a guide to selling online?

Starting an eShop can be done with a less hustle than ever before.

Nowadays anyone can do that – with or without software development & marketing knowledge.

This post covers the following:

1. Criteria for picking an eShop software;
2. Which are the best e-commerce platforms;
3. What it takes to start;

With all the customer-friendly solutions available these days, you can set up your e-commerce store up in a day, and have your first sales rolling in straight after.

This article is here to help you hit the floor running.

1.0. Guide to Selling Online – the e-commerce platform checklist

We prepared a list of things that are important for picking the platform that would suit your needs the best.

See if the e-commerce store meets the following requirements:

• Can sell physical and digital goods;
• Has product listing options and warehouse management;
• Easy to browse shopping cart for customer convenience;
• Using your own domain name is part of the deal;
• Easy order management in the back-office;
• Check if the free themes are good for you to take your first steps;
• Make sure that the plugin prices ain’t high;
• 24/7 support is a huge advantage.

2.0. E-commerce platforms to start e-shop for $0

In this section you will find platforms to start your e-shop in a day and spend close to $0.

With this guide to selling online anyone can start an e-commerce business.

1. Is SELZ Good for Ecommerce?

• Free for up to 5 products
• $19.99/month + 1% transaction for Plus plan
• Add-ons and extra pages

Not everything that’s great has to be difficult.

This basic store has all that you might need – it’s easy to list your products and has friendly UI/UX.

For only $4.99 you can setup the checkout page and your e-store will be ready.

What’s cool, adding your own domain is free.

Selz has customizable themes and built-in blog to tell the story of your brand.

Here is the simplest guide to selling online in literally minutes.

2. Is Jimdo Good for Ecommerce?

• Free for a branded store with core features
• from $7.50/month for JimdoPro plan
• Customize directly on page

Want to find a guide to selling online that would help to start e-shop in a few clicks?

Select a template, add the products as well as the relevant info and you are good to go.

A simple 4 step guide can be found on Jimdo’s own support page.

3. Is Big Cartel Good for Ecommerce?

• Free for up to 5 products
• From $9.99/month for a full-feature Premium plan.
• Simple interface
• Customizable themes

Big Cartel is another great platform that can be completely free to use when listing only up to 5 products.

Moreover, it’s easy to add the product information (prices, description & shipping fees) that usually is a bit of a hustle. For the ones who are a bit more tech savvy the best part is that the website’s code is fully customizable.

A not so good news for the e-commerce stores that want to focus on product quantity is that the item amount is limited to maximum 300 items.

4. Is WIX Good for Ecommerce?

• From $17/month for e-commerce plan
• Photoshop style editor
• Add-on market

If your priority is website’s design, this drag and drop website builder could be the one for you, especially if you don’t need to build a very complex online marketplace.

You can add content pretty much anywhere on the site.

However, if you compare WIX to Shopify and BigCommerce, you might find that the plugin offering a bit limited.

With this simple guide, it will take no time to set up your store.

5. Is Weebly Good for Ecommerce?

• From $8/month + 3% transaction fee per sale with Starter plan
• Drag and drop page editor
• Automated functions

Weebly could be the easiest store builder that we have on this list. Definitely one of the best because of the competitive price.

Besides, it integrates with the most popular payment systems, making the launch very easy from the start.

With a variety of tools and themes, this is the platform for the people who are serious about selling products online.

The best part is that Weebly’s help center will guide you through building an e-commerce in no time.

6. Is Squarespace Good for Ecommerce?

• From $26/month for basic plan
• Easy page editor
• Customizable site

We love the minimalistic and beautiful website templates on Squarespace. If that’s also on your priority list, you should definitely check out this platform.

Squarespace is super simple to use, with drag and drop features and additional widgets to choose from to take your online store to the next level.

Here is a list of video guides for those visual learners.

7. Is WooCommerce Good for Ecommerce?

• Free with the WordPress site
• Easy to use
• Customizable with WooCommerce extensions and WordPress plugins
• iOS app to run your store

If you already know your way around WordPress, implementing the WooCommerce store will be as simple as writing another great blog post.

All you have to do is to install the plugin and add the products.

The best part – it’s totally free.

WooCommerce offers a variety of extensions to add to your store. We suggest checking the standard WordPress plugins page before you purchase any, as there could be one that fits your needs and is free.

These video guide series have all the info to start right away. And when the answer is not there, we turn to pros’ in the Facebook community.

8. Is Volusion Good for Ecommerce?

• From $15/month
• Customizable themes
• Built-in SEO

If you want your online store to work for you even when you’re not there, Volusion will do exactly that.

The built-in flash sales tool is great for creating drip campaigns that will run automatically as soon as your mailings list starts to fatten. This platform also includes tools to help you with SEO.

What’s more, you can cross-list your products on eBay, Amazon, and Facebook Store.

To start, Volusion has created a tutorial section with videos or articles to choose from.

9. Is Shopify Good for Ecommerce?

• From $29/month
• Quick building features
• 70 built-in payment processes
• Mobile support for iOS & Android

Shopify is the most popular kid in this playground.

Rocking one Shopify store already for a while, besides the price, I am loving it.

This market leader has over 100 templates to choose from and App Store that lets you integrate dozens of additional tools. You also get a 24/7 support and team of designers that can help you customize your website into something remarkable that will clearly stand out.

Here is a detailed video guide to selling online that will get you to sell things online in 25 minutes.

10. Is BigCommerce Good for Ecommerce?

• From $29.95/month for a standard plan
• 60 built-in payment processes
• Individual design option

This is one of Shopify’s top rivals. It has a lot to offer.

BigCommerce platform provides you with over hundred professional looking templates, add-ons, and 24/7 support.

Want’s cool, you can cross-list your products to Amazon, eBay, Etsy and other marketplaces by adding the items to BigCommerce.

Here are all your questions answered on how to start things up on this platform.

3.0. Start Marketing Early

Alright, we promised to have your store running in a day. While setting up the platform, you should remember that creating a customer acquisition plan is something you should keep in mind already from the start.

You won’t have all the questions answered right from the start, but take them as you go.

As soon as you are ready to hit the floor running, make sure to check this post with 128 marketing growth strategies.

For further reading check out other articles on e-commerce or this excellent guide on starting an online business.

With this guide to selling online, you can see that starting an e-shop isn’t mission impossible.

It’s doable for everyone, no matter your skills or experience. Find your niche and make it happen.

Get in the right mindset, keep the checklist handy, pick the right platform to suit your needs and you will be on the right track.

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To help each other let’s share the wisdom

Which is your favorite e-commerce platform in this guide to selling online?

We would also love to see how your e-commerce page turned out with one of these easy to use tools.

Share in the comments below.