Member Avatar for Stefce

Hello am very new to selling online. I come up with an idea to sell something online like t-shirt or socks :P or whatever.
I googled "how to sell online" and company called shopify popped, i reviewed it and i think its pretty cool tool for e-commenrce business. Please is here someone who can explain me how can i sell my products online and is this shopify a good choice. Thank you very much :)

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by William_16

Dani AI

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A concise, practical path from idea to first sale (for and anyone new to e‑commerce)

Echoing and : validate demand before building a perfect site. Start simple, sell something real, learn from actual orders, then scale. Separate the three decisions that cause most mistakes: where to sell (marketplace vs. own storefront), how to produce the item (single samples, small batch, or print‑on‑demand), and how orders will be fulfilled (self‑ship vs. a partner).

Key operational points many replies did not fully unpack:

  • Production and pricing: create 2–3 samples first. Compute landed cost per unit = production + packaging + average shipping + platform fees + payment fees + returns buffer + tax. Set a target margin above that. Either show shipping separately or bake a “free shipping” cost into the price — both are valid but affect conversion differently.
  • Fulfillment options: handle shipping yourself to learn the process and costs, or switch to a fulfillment provider/3PL when volume grows. For low volume, simple solutions (buy postage online, print labels, use padded mailers, include tracking) keep margins and customer experience reasonable.
  • Customer experience and policies: clear photos, concise descriptions, visible shipping times, and a simple returns policy reduce disputes and chargebacks. Test packaging for protection and unboxing experience — it matters for repeat buyers.

Quick launch checklist (practical next steps):

  • Produce a sample and photograph it on a person and flat lay.
  • List the item on a simple sales channel (test with one channel).
  • Calculate the full landed cost and set price/margin.
  • Do a trial run: fulfill 5–10 real orders, time the workflow, note unexpected costs.
  • Tweak packaging, copy, and shipping profiles based on that trial, then scale.

Notes: was right to separate ordering from shipping; ’s marketplace note is useful for reach. The goal is one repeatable sale process before investing heavily in design or custom sites.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for rproffitt

I'll keep this to just one of many examples. I was asked about this years ago and suggested they use a ready to go shopping site like Godaddy. They had another consultant tell them to make a full custom site.

5 years pass and the site is not up and they are 6 figures and approaching 7 when the owner finally blows the project up.

New consultant comes in, sets up a Godaddy site and sales begin in 30 days.

Lesson? Sell your stuff. If you are not selling Web sites, then go with ready to go selling sites like Godaddy, Amazon, Ebay etc.

Edited by rproffitt
Member Avatar for Dani

I definitely feel Shopify is the right way to sell your merchandise online. Super customizable to grow with you but also super easy to get started. I highly recommend it for your purposes.

Member Avatar for AssertNull

5 years pass and the site is not up and they are 6 figures and approaching 7 when the owner finally blows the project up.

Took them 5 years and almost 7 figures to figure that out? Slow learner.

How 'bout sell it using GoDaddy WHILE you're creating the perfect custom site?

Would love to hear the details on this one if it doesn't hijack the thread too bad. Very often you see, six months into a project, "That was a really bad idea", but there's a psychological resistance to cutting your losses and admitting to yourself you did something dumb. All that code and money goes to waste if it's abandoned, and who knows, MAYBE it'll eventually work. The phenomenon shows up all over the place in life: losing battle plans in war, bad relationships, bad poker hands, bad startups, the list is endless.

Member Avatar for Stefce

Okay thanks for the info but how do i transport the product to my customer ? so for example 20 customers buy my product how do i send it to them i dont get it or should i bring somewhere my products?

Member Avatar for rproffitt

@Stefan_1. More at https://www.shopify.com/guides/shipping-and-fulfillment-101/shipping-your-package

. It's one of the longest times I've seen to date. My mother worked there but I was in another country at the time so I couldn't invest the time to help them avoid this. It was by chance I was there on holiday and had given them a recipe to install their own CCTV for a fraction of the cost of what they were paying a service for (another story.) I gave them the recipe, had it installed and while I was on vacation swung by to see if they needed some procedural assistance. After that was done they asked about how I would go about the web site. So the current consultant was asked and you betcha "Oh no, you need a full custom web site." I wasn't their to blow that out of the water and the story is now one to share.

Member Avatar for AssertNull

I wasn't their to blow that out of the water

I would think even someone not from the field could blow that one out of the water just from plain old life experience. Sometimes people don't trust their own instincts enough when they get that queazy feeling in their stomach.

To the OP: I would imagine you might want to consider the ordering and shipping as possibly two separate parts of the business. You might do your online ordering with shopify and your shipping with someone else or on your own. RProffitt's link makes it look like shopify allows that, if desired. Plenty of businesses do their ordering with one business and then deal with FedEx and UPS directly. And plenty do it with the same business (looks like shopify offers that).

Edited by AssertNull
commented: Typo. Missed that. As to the consultant, what a salesperson. +12
Member Avatar for Dani

If you just want to sell tshirts and such, just use Cafepress. You upload the artwork, specify what you want it to be available on, and they take care of everything else.

Member Avatar for Stefce

what this site is about can you please tell me more? Actually maybe this exactly what i want. So am just making a design and they sell it? how much will be my profit is it possible to know ?

Member Avatar for Dani

I haven't looked at Cafepress in years, so I don't know if they changed their business model. But the way that it used to work is they charged a specific price per shirt, mug, etc., and then you could mark it up to be sold for whatever price you want based on how much value you place on your artwork.

Member Avatar for Stefce

Okay so i have created my design and i would like to be printed 10 shirts of my design BUT its funny they want to charge me $24.99 per t-shirt so thats freaking $250 for 10 t-shirts!!! okay, i found a code for discount and the final price is $213.60. So how in the world someone will by a simple t-shirt which will be definitely more than $25?

Edited by Stefce
Member Avatar for AssertNull

So how in the world someone will by a simple t-shirt which will be definitely more than $25?

It would require some really really cool artwork for me to spend $25 extra, but I've done it occasionally. Some things are just so awesome that you have to have it at any price.

25 bucks just to print the design on the t-shirt? Or does that include the price of the plain t-shirt too? The printing fee per t-shirt generally goes down significantly when you order in bulk, and ten t-shirts isn't bulk. 25 dollars per shirt seems high even for that small order. It might be worth shopping around.

Member Avatar for William_16

eBay, Amazon
If you want a particular website, Shopify is a great option
if you want a particular website (not free), with many benefits, you can try Mostroid2 theme ( templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes.php ), which includes WooCommerce, for example
Good luck!

Edited by William_16 because: mistake
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