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When deciding on a software to sell your shop items, try not to get caught up in analysis paralysis. This is the number one reason so many of you haven’t started a shop at all! The reality is, no one option will be perfect for every scenario!
If you’re just starting out, I recommend that you take 15 minutes to research what each platform has to offer, and then make your decision!
If you only have a few products and you don’t have affiliates, it will be simple to switch platforms in the future.
You can start selling from your website today, no matter which option you choose!
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We know the options seem overwhelming, so we are going to break down our options for you so you can make the best decision for your needs!
Gumroad
Price: No monthly fee but their transaction fees are a little higher per transaction than other options
Free Trial: There is no free trial, but since the platform is free it’s not needed. You can easily create an account and try it out at any time.
Digital/Tangible Products: You can sell just about anything with gumroad. Tangible and Digital products and even subscriptions.
Cart Feature: With Gumroad, your customer can only purchase one item at a time. It’s not a typical “cart” where you can add multiple items into and then place your order.
Best feature: That it’s free!!
Biggest Con: It can be a little wonky, and your customization options are limited.
Gumroad offers a free plan that’s perfect for bloggers with little traffic or no email list. While you won’t have to pay monthly fees, the Gumroad transaction fee is more than the other options. So, the plus side is that you won’t have to add a fixed monthly fee to your business budget. The downside is that you will have less profit per sale due to the higher transaction fees.
Also, at the time of writing this blog post, the platform seems, for lack of a better term, “wonky.” Occasionally, I’ve seen the Buy Buttons act up here and there, so that is something to consider.
So, why do we include Gumroad on this list? Because despite the wonkiness and higher transaction fees, “FREE IS FREE” – many new bloggers need an option that doesn’t include a fixed monthly fee.
And I’ve saved the best for last. The free Gumroad plan does allow you to sign up affiliates. So, if you are a new blogger, you can invite your business bestie or a blogger who is further along than you, to promote your shop so you’re not the only one trying to drive traffic to your products. If they have a large email list, think about doing a collaboration with them… how awesome would that be!?
Pros:
It’s free!
You can create an affiliate program
When setting up your affiliate program you can use your blog shop URL, not the Gumroad URL
Cons:
Higher per transaction fee
Can be a little wonky at times
No options to design your own button or change colors so you’re stuck with their colors.
Can’t alter the email that automatically gets sent to your affiliates
SendOwl
Price: $15-24/month
Free Trial: You can try SendOwl for free for 30 days to see if it’s the right fit for you.
Digital/Tangible Products: SendOwl is only for digital products
Cart Feature: You can set the cart to whatever your needs are. Either a single item purchase with order bumps, or a traditional cart with the ability to add multiple items.
Best feature: Everything you get for the price! Yes you have to pay a little monthly fee, but their features are pretty robust.
Biggest Con: If you sell tangible items or plan to in the future, SendOwl won’t work for you!
SendOwl is a platform that many bloggers love and have used for years.
One of the great things about SendOwl is if you upgrade to the $24 per month plan, you can create upsells and bundles which is very helpful in increasing your average order value.
My friend Grayson Bell at iMark Interactive also recommends Send Owl because of the ease of use and affiliates option. Sometimes it’s worth paying for things to make your life easier!
Pros:
Your customers can add multiple items to their carts
For an additional monthly fee, you have the option of having upsells and bundles
You can have your own affiliate program right inside their platform
Can start with a free trial to test it out
Cons:
$15-$24 a month instead of free
You can only sell digital products so if you plan to sell tangible products this platform isn’t for you!
Shopify
Price: $29-$299/month (depending on needs)
Free Trial: You can try Shopify free for 14 days
Digital/Tangible Products: You can sell both digital and tangible products with Shopify Online Stores. You will need a free app installed in order to deliver the digital files.
Cart Feature: Shopify Online Stores have a traditional cart experience where the customer can add multiple items to the cart before checking out.
Best feature: Ease of use. Their software is very easy to use and takes the technology part out of the equation when trying to launch a new shop.
Biggest Con: Your shop won’t match your main site.
I know a lot of you have heard about Shopify and most people know of their Shopify Online Store feature, but there is another option with Shopify Buy Buttons that we will cover shortly, but let’s talk about the Shopify Online Store option first!
One of the most common things I hear is that you all have tried some other options and then landed on Shopify and you like their ease of use! I gotta say, Shopify Online Stores are very easy to get up and going quickly and their platform is very robust with features.
Most people don’t want to install something like WooCommerce onto their WordPress site in fear that it will slow things down. Therefore, they decide to use something like Shopify instead.
There are a few downfalls with Shopify Online Stores, however. First off, since the online store stands alone, the design of the shop will differ from your main website. Some people don’t love this, and others don’t care. Since I love design so much, this is what pushed me away from Shopify for our own business.
Second, for additional features like Order Bumps, adding an affiliate program, etc you have to add an app onto your Shopify Online Store. Most of these charge a monthly fee in order to use this feature. So on top of the monthly fee that Shopify charges for the Online Store feature, you also have to pay for additional apps. Depending on your needs, this can quickly get costly.
In summary, my general rule of thumb is that if you’re selling a lot of tangible products, then a Shopify Online Store is likely your way to go. If you’re only selling digital products, I personally wouldn’t recommend a Shopify Online Store simply because there are lots of other options available for less money.
Pros:
It’s so easy to use!
Their features are pretty robust for the monthly cost.
They have an app that you can install on your phone which is quite helpful
Cons:
Can get costly depending on your needs
Your shop won’t match your main site
Price: $9/month
Free Trial: You can try Shopify free for 14 days
Digital/Tangible Products: You can sell both digital and tangible products with Shopify Buy Buttons. You will need a free app installed in order to deliver the digital files.
Cart Feature: Shopify Buy Buttons have a traditional cart experience where the customer can add multiple items to the cart before checking out.
Best feature: You get the ease of use that Shopify provides, but you can still have the buttons and product details on your own website so your branding remains consistent.
Biggest Con: Not all of Shopify’s apps are available for the Buy Button feature.
One of the Shopify Buy Button misconceptions is that you need additional plugins and it’s complicated. It’s really not though! In fact, you don’t even need any additional plugins to use Shopify Buy Buttons on your WordPress website.
With Shopify Buy Buttons, you gain the ease of use that Shopify provides but you can still keep your shop branding consistent. The only downside to this is if you plan to have more than say, 30 products, this may get to be an awful lot on your website. If you have fewer products, then this option is perfect for you!
Pros:
The monthly fee is $9 and includes more customization options that will allow you to stay consistent with your brand.
Get the ease of use that Shopify provides
Cons:
If you plan to have more than 30 products, this will get to be a lot to manage between the Shopify interface and your pages on your WordPress website, so that option may not be the best fit.
Thrivecart
Price: $495/one-time. There are additional fees if you’d like ThriveCart Pro or Learn Pro. But keep in mind that this is a ONE TIME fee! Pay once, use forever!
Free Trial: There is no free trial with Thrivecart but they have a refund guarantee if you purchase and decide it’s not for you.
Digital/Tangible Products: You can sell both digital and tangible products with Thrivecart.
Cart Feature: With Thrivecart your customer can only purchase one item at a time. But you can add bump offers and upsells on your one item.
Best feature: I love that this is a one time fee and I never have to pay again. The amount of features they have to offer is fantastic as well. You can even create a full course in Thrivecart.
Biggest Con: Your customers can only purchase one product at a time.
ThriveCart is another amazing platform that is a great option for some of you! Their upfront cost is quite a bit more than any of the other options I cover in this post, but it’s a ONE TIME fee! You can pay once, and use it forever!
The one thing I don’t love about Thrivecart, however, is that it doesn’t operate like a traditional shopping cart. Your customer has to make one purchase at a time. This is great if your goal is to offer bump offers and upsells for sure and can really help increase your per order average, but if you need the ability to add multiple things to a cart, then ThriveCart isn’t for you.
I actually use ThriveCart for my Style Anything Course and everything on Waymaker Designs . I have ThriveCart synced directly to Teachable so when someone places an order for my course, they are then automatically added to Teachable, where the contents of my course are held. That said, just a few months ago, ThriveCart launched their own course platform called Learn. If you want to build a course and have everything housed in one place, ThriveCart can now do that! In fact, my next course will be built right inside of Learn in my ThriveCart account.
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Pros:
Can easily offer order bumps and upsells
Can easily create your own course and sell it on their platform
Cons: