Start selling with Shopify in 4 easy steps!
- Basic account types available
- Low start up costs
- Integrate your social media
- 24/7 Shopify support
Updated . What changed?
If you’d like to start selling on Shopify, this guide will tell you how to find and price products, how to ship them to buyers and how much it costs to sell through the platform.
The list of things you can sell using Shopify is a long one. As well as just about any sort of physical item that can be shipped to customers around the world, you can also sell services (such as appointments, travel experiences or event management services) and digital products (e.g. online courses).
Of course, there are also a few items prohibited from sale, such as firearms, drugs, gambling-related products and counterfeit goods. Check Shopify’s terms of service for a full list of prohibited items.
Finding products to sell is one of the biggest barriers you’ll face when setting up an online store, but there are a few things you can do to simplify this process:
Before you decide whether Shopify is the right ecommerce platform for your business, you can sign up for a free 14-day trial and sample what it has to offer. If you’d like to continue using the platform, there are three main pricing plans to choose from.
Each plan entitles you to:
However, some account features vary depending on the pricing plan you select.
Basic Shopify | Shopify | Advanced Shopify | |
---|---|---|---|
Price | US$29/month | US$79/month | US$299/month |
Staff accounts | 2 | 5 | 15 |
Gift cards | |||
Professional reports | |||
Advanced report builder | |||
Third-party calculated shipping rates |
Payment fees also vary depending on the plan you select.
Basic Shopify | Shopify | Advanced Shopify | |
---|---|---|---|
Online UK credit card rates | 2.2% + 20p | 1.9% + 20p | 1.6% + 20p |
In-person credit card rates | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.5% |
Additional fees using all payment providers other than Shopify Payments | 2% | 1% | 0.5% |
Finally, Shopify also offers two other pricing plans designed to suit niche markets:
As an example, let’s say you run an online fashion store and you sell a top to a customer in the US for $100 (including shipping). The customer pays by credit card through Shopify Payments.
If you have a Shopify pricing plan:
This fee represents 3% of the total sale price. It’s also worth remembering that this doesn’t include the time and cost required to source or manufacture the item, nor does it factor in that you’re paying US$79 a month to sell on Shopify.
Whether you want to sell online as a full-time business or just as a side hustle, Shopify is a globally recognised ecommerce platform that offers stacks of useful tools to help you grow your business. And with over 800,000 businesses around the world having made more than US$100 billion in sales on Shopify, it certainly has the potential to help you make money.
However, nothing is guaranteed. Just like any other business venture, selling on Shopify comes with several risks and there is no certainty that you’ll actually make a profit.
That said, there are a few things you can do to maximise your chances of success, such as:
You can open an account and start selling on Shopify by completing the following steps.
There are two factors to consider when pricing items for your Shopify store:
It might take a little while, but you should soon be able to find a happy medium between a price that provides sufficient profit for you and one that is also acceptable to potential buyers.
There are several different payment methods you can accept through Shopify, but the main option is Shopify Payments.
Shopify Payments lets you accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover credit cards directly and save on transaction fees. You can also access accelerated checkout services, such as those offered by Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal and Shopify Pay, through the Shopify Payments service.
However, you can also set up your store to accept payments via more than 30 third-party providers, including:
If you’re paid in foreign currency, you’ll need to find an affordable way to convert your profits back into pound sterling. Instead of sending an international transfer via your bank, which will charge high fees and offer a poor exchange rate, you’ll find better value for money by opening an online seller account with a specialist international transfer service.
An online seller account is a multi-currency account that lets you send and receive payment in several currencies. It also offers much more competitive exchange rates when you want to repatriate funds to the UK.
You can find more details of the exchange rates, fees and features of several online seller accounts in the table below.
Disclaimer: Exchange rates change often. Confirm the total cost with the provider before transferring money.
Shopify does not have its own fulfillment centre, so you have two options when shipping items to customers:
Shopify also allows you to set up multiple shipping methods for each delivery zone so that buyers can choose the method that best suits their timeframe and budget.
There are several options to help you market your products on Spotify. Some of these options are included in the cost of your Shopify plan, but others will incur an additional cost:
You can also find third-party programs in the Shopify App Store to help with a wide range of marketing strategies and options, including:
Keep an eye out for these key problems when setting up and running your Shopify store.
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