• 427
  • More

Self-Hosting Online Shop?

Hey y'all!

Something that a few people have talked about here and there is the idea of having our shops on our own, personal websites.

I'm curious... Has anyone else tried that or is actively doing that?

If so, what's it been like?

I've been slowly working on making my websites be my primary space where I share my videos, write blog posts, etc as an attempt to get away from CorpoNet, which, as of recently, includes Etsy.

Replies (14)
    • I have my own shop on my website! auralynne.com - if you check it out it can give you a good idea of what's possible with Woocommerce and a ton of both free and inexpensive one-time-purchase plugins. :-)

      • Your website is so pretty! I see that you can also do sales, which is really cool! I think the fact that you have a specific design language throughout your whole site is the thing that's convinced me to try to build my own shop site. Now, I just need to figure out how to convey the idea or looks of an old trading posting...

      • I've had my own online web shop for several years. I use Shopify and love it. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

      • I’ve had my own site since 2009 and am currently using BigCommerce. PunkyJane.con

        I like BigCommerce because it allows me to have tons of variations and customizations for my different designs. I didn’t choose Shopify because I would have used a 3rd party plug in to get that…with another monthly fee.

      • I have my own website ( http://enrichedmacaroniproducts.com ) and I use Shopify as my web host.

        I picked Shopify as when I started testing out different services, I found it was the easiest shop manager for me to set up. (I tried Squarespace, which at the time was not great for shop creation, Weebly which I did not like, Wordpress seemed like it would take a lot of effort that I did not have at the time, and maybe one or two others?) While it is $40/month, it also integrates with my Faire wholesale shop now and I find the plugins very useful and I've never had an issue with their in-person card readers. I always suggest getting as many free trials as possible to see what service works best with how you function.

      • I have my own business shop but yes it is still on etsy....it seems there is problems when I dont link etsy with my website.... http://www.neptunis.net

        • I have my own website now through Shopify basic plan, which I'm really happy with, already had a couple of people just find me through Google search instead of me just driving the traffic there myself. I used to have a Shopify lite plan which mean I could create buy buttons on my old website, it was cheaper but really missed out on those organic visits as it wasn't great fro SEO.

          I also have a Folksy shop as a back up shop which is like the UK but better version of Etsy, at least in ethos, but don't drive many people there.

          • I'm on the same page as Kristi -- WooCommerce on Wordpress. I've spent precisely zero dollars (besides what I was already paying for hosting and domains, which I've had for decades at this point), and only had to get a code friend to tweak one little bit of code for me to get what I more or less want in place.

            • Oh man! Thank you to everyone who's replied so far! It seems that the two Big Boys in the shop hosting space are WooCommerce and Shopify. I think I might try out WooCommerce first since it's included in my Wordpress plan, if I'm remembering correctly, and then I'll try Shopify and see which works best for me!

              • I sort-of have my items on my own website: my domain is registered with GoDaddy, and I point it at my Square site/store. I have the free version of the Square site, so can't use my URL for the store, but there doesn't seem to be any problems (with that) since typing in my URL will take you to the store. Originally, I had a website (using my URL) that was hosted by Weebly, as well as a Square Market, but for some reason my website went "Poof!" when I tried to edit something after Square bought Weebly.... Most of my sales are in-person, and I use the Square cc processing via my cell phone, or occasionally now, Venmo. Or for "traditionalists"-- cash or checks work just fine. The website/"store" is there mainly for people who ask "what do you do?", although I have had a few sales via the site.

                • Okay I'm going to NecroBump my own thread to ask if anyone has tried using a hosting service like Neo Cities for hosting their online store? I have a spare Wordpress site to turn into a storefront, but I'm trying to figure out where I can have the most customization. (I'm trying to make my website feel like a western or otherwise older store, to go with the name Doorman's Trading Post.)

                  Login or Join to comment.