Which online sales platform to use?

Hi All;
I'm just starting a new online business.
For a computer dinosaur like me its all overwhelming.

Liz uses Etsy  she loves it and thinks it would be a good choice... except  some of my product would be hand made and some would be resale... There is no running cost on etsy only sales.

Then there is shopify... sounds very professional.  Thing is it costs a monthly fee   of $9 to several hundred (A MONTH) just to be a member...  The $9 program is VERY basic,they really want you to use the $29 progam...

Then there is Square stores... can be free or $12 up to $74  not nearly as spendy as shopify.

Goimagine is a new platform, but they like etsy are handmade only.

There may be others that I have not heard off.

I would like to use etsy as its "free" until you sell.  We need to see if my resell items qualify as "parts"  if they do then I'll go with etsy.

I'm leaning towards Square otherwise, as a $12 a month fee sounds sort of reasonable.... Their "free' program has no domain name and advertisements on your site... so its a poor choice.

Any experienced sellers out there with opinions to share.

I really HATE all this confusing information.

HELP anyone?

Ebay, maybe? Craigslist?

Hi Thomas,

It sounds like what you want is an online store, also known as an ecommerce website. As you already know, there are so many options! Shopify is an ecommerce website building platform. Their specialty is ecommerce websites. Their $9 option, also known as Shopify Lite, is only for using their shopping cart and plugging it in somewhere else, such as another website. If you used Shopify, you would really need to pay the $29 to get the full website.
I haven't looked at Square stores, is that $12 option for an ecommerce website? If so, that would be a good deal. Square is a credit card payment processor (like Stripe is as well).
The difference between an ecommerce site and a regular site is whether or not people wanting to buy will be able to add something to their cart, then pay for it through a credit card processor. But for that you first have to have a cart on your site. You could do a simple website somewhere, Wix, Weebly, Bookmark, Jimdo, etc., then integrate a cart from somewhere else to the site, such as the ShopifyLite option. That should cost you about $20-$25/month. Or you could just pay for the platform's ecommerce option, if they have one, and pay a bit extra for that. We finally opted for our store to be on the Wix platform. I like Wix because it gives complete freedom as far as how to build the site as far as pictures placement, text placement, etc. whereas Weebly and Squarespace, and most others, give much limited options as far as where to place things like pictures, etc. They are much more restricted.
The real trick will be getting seen by potential customers. With the millions and millions of ecommerce stores out there, getting found is a bit tricky. But if you have niche-y type of items, that will certainly be helpful. It will also be helpful to get social media accounts going, such as facebook and instagram and also post on them.
Good luck with it all!

Okay, I was curious and took a look at the Square site. It does indeed look like it is $12/month (if you pay a full year ahead. I don't know how much it is if you pay monthly, but usually the companies charge another $3 or so if you don't do a full year prepay. So it may cost $15 with Square if paid on a monthly basis.) That is definitely a good deal, especially if you are just looking for a simple online store without a lot of bells and whistles. They have a free trial that you may want to check out to see how you like the feel of working on the site. You would also be able to get a handheld payment processor should you ever want to sell at markets direct to consumer.

Thank you so much Annie for looking at that!

I will still investigate if etsy will let me sell "parts" with my hand made rocket doors.
If they will, I will start out with them simply because Liz is so familiar with them.

If not then I think the square deal sounds like it might be a good fit.

Depending upon what etcy considers to be handmade, wondering if you do a few add-ons to a resale item, it would then become alright to sell?
For instance, buying cf blanket and cutting it to size for the consumer, or adding a clip to hold a T&G thermometer upright etc...

there are etsy stores that sell antiques and ‘collectibles’, so there’s got to be some option there. i know when setting up a listing, you can choose ‘i made this’...presumably there’s some other option that is still allowed?

etsy is the only one of the places you listed that i’ve got a lot of experience with, and is pretty nice in a few ways. i assume since there aren’t as many upfront costs that they take a larger cut when you do sell...but that’s just an assumption.

the other thing is, will people be searching for your kind of items on etsy, or would they be more likely to look somewhere else for them?

I set up my own e-commerce site on my website and used a free WooCommerce plugin to handle the cart/money stuff.  I won't say it was without hair pulling and teeth gnashing to set up but I, a fellow computer dinosaur did manage to do it.  I have it set to offer PayPal, Stripe, or mailing in a check for accepting money.  My only fees are the PayPal and Stripe fees when they are used, as well as the regular fees for website domain names and hosting.