Choose how to sell from a small site: one product, digital downloads, courses, memberships, donations or a full store, with fees counted.
Begin with what you sell and how often. A single product, a donation button, a course, a membership and a growing physical catalog each point to a different setup, and the guide to selling one product from a small site is the shortest path if you are not sure yet.
Once you know the shape of the shop, read the comparison for your two finalists and then the real-cost guide for the platform you lean toward. Count every layer: the plan, card processing, any platform transaction fee and the apps you would add to fill gaps.
Before launch, use the setup and checklist guides to test payments, delivery and refunds with a real order. A trial period is the time to confirm the store works end to end, not just that it looks finished.
Compare systeme.io and Shopify for ebooks, templates and courses: delivery, plan cost, platform and card fees, included email, and a worked net-revenue example on 100 sales.
Compare Shopify and Squarespace commerce plan prices, card rates and platform fees, then see the net monthly cost at $2,000 and $20,000 in sales and where each upgrade pays for itself.
WooCommerce is a free plugin that still needs hosting, extensions and payment fees; Shopify bundles hosting into a plan. Compare first-year cost for a 50-product store and who carries maintenance.
Documented gateway support, platform fees on top and country notes for Carrd, Framer, Webflow Ecommerce, systeme.io and Shopify, with worked monthly totals at $1,000 in sales.
Build and sell a course in systeme.io: modules, drip and partial access, bundles, price plans, payment gateways, plan course limits, and a checklist to the first sale.
Set up a paid membership on systeme.io with subscription price plans, course and community access, cancellation options and failed-payment retries, plus plan limits and when a dedicated platform fits better.
Connect Stripe or PayPal to systeme.io, see which other gateways it lists, what systeme.io charges (0%), what Stripe and PayPal charge, net on a $49 sale and how refunds work.
Shopify Starter was built for selling through product links on social media, but Shopify says new stores cannot choose it. See its limits, the current plans, and a worked fee example for a link-based seller.
Current Shopify trial terms, what you can and cannot test before choosing a plan, how to cancel or pause, and a day-by-day checklist so the trial ends with a clear decision.
How systeme.io lets other people promote your course or product: plan availability, the four required settings, per-offer commissions, the monthly invoice and payout cycle, and record-keeping checks.
From customer charge to bank deposit using Shopify's help docs: settlement times by country, payout schedules, weekends, holds and reserves, and a worked $100 order with fees from the current pricing page.
Which Shopify plan you need for the Buy Button channel, the Carrd tier that allows the embed, how Framer takes the code, checkout behaviour, and a worked monthly cost for selling five products.
Shopify's documented file size, dimension and format limits for product images, video and 3D, the recommended square size, alt text limits, and a catalogue consistency checklist, including an accuracy check for AI-generated images.
What Squarespace lets you export, how Shopify's documented CSV imports expect it, what has to be rebuilt by hand (images, reviews, blog, subscriptions), how to set redirects, and a launch-week checklist.
How to download Etsy's listings CSV, import it with Shopify's Store Migration app or a hand-edited CSV, fix variants and images, decide whether to keep Etsy live, and compare fees on a 50-order month.
Shopify's documented WooCommerce path: product and customer exports, the free Store Migration app, field mapping, what needs an app (orders, reviews, coupons, blog), password handling, redirects and a cutover order.
Every fee line between a buyer's card and your bank, where it appears on Shopify, Webflow Ecommerce, systeme.io, Stripe and PayPal, and one $50 sale broken into each fee.
A sourced table of what each platform calculates automatically, what it charges for tax features, and the registration and filing work that stays with the seller.
Which policy pages Stripe and Shopify expect, what each must state, what Shopify's automated policy templates do and do not cover, and how refunds work for systeme.io digital products.
How Shopify shipping profiles, zones and rate types fit together, which features depend on your plan, how rates combine at checkout, and a worked setup for a store with one heavy and one light product.