Selling online
The big question: how do I sell my products online?
Step 1: sign up for a Shopify account
- Make sure you are using a modern web browser with javascript enabled and Flash installed (we recommend Firefox)
- Sign up!
- Explore the admin interface and make yourself at home
- Password-protect your shop while it’s under development
Step 2: add products to your Shopify store
- Enter descriptions
- Upload images
- Organize into collections
Step 3: sign up for a payment processor
- Get an account with PayPal or Google Checkout if you want to start selling as soon as possible
- You can also set up a merchant account along with one of the payment gateways that we support
- If you want to accept manual payments like money orders or bank transfers, you can do that too!
Step 4: set up a shipping system
- If you’ve got a small operation or just like to keep it done in-house, you can handle all the shipping yourself.
- If you don’t want the hassle of packaging and shipping each order to your customers, you can sign up with a fulfillment service like Shipwire. You can just send them a bulk shipment of your products every once in a while to keep them stocked, and they will take care of fulfilling your orders as they come in: Shopify lets Shipwire know the details of each order right away.
Step 5: Give it the final polish, open up shop, and start selling!
- Choose from one of the shop themes that come free with your account, or have one designed exactly how you want
- Open your doors to the public by removing your shop’s password protection
- Add your store to the Shopify Marketplace to get instant exposure for your wares
- Check out the handy marketing screen in your admin interface for links and tips on how to generate more hype for your shop
Not ready to sign up yet? Take the tour!