How To Create An Online Store In Minutes And Start Selling Your Products On The Internet

If you want to start selling a physical or digital product on the Internet, there are now a growing number of online services that make it very easy for you to create an online store in minutes. You, set the price, and these services take care of all the transaction and payment matters. In this MasterNewMedia guide, you will find the very best web services out there to build, create or set-up your own online store in the easiest and most economical way possible.

Photo credit: pavlen

Today, even small content producers and blog publishers can sell their own stuff online easily, cheaply and without having to go through any slow bureaucratic verification and accreditation process.

These services in fact, sensibly reduce or completely resolve one of the long standing obstacles to allow web publishers to easily sell online: having the ability to easily accept credit card payments online.

The business model on which these new simple ecommerce services operate is based on charging sellers a low-cost small monthly subscription fee and in levying a transaction fee on each individual sale your online shop makes. Many of these services actually do not even charge a monthly fee, but operate only by charging you a small commission on your actual sales.

The advantages and benefits of having such new sales-support tools and services readily available is that online publishers and entrepreneurs who were hesitant and discouraged by the complexity of testing the sale of certain products or services online, can now challenge their interests in a much easier fashion and with little or no budget at all.

In addition, these new online selling services are a new tangible opportunity for creating new, simple revenue channels, helping publishers large and small move gradually away from advertising-only business models to mixed approaches in which new types of high-value, highly unique content and information products are sold for a price.
The additional advantages of creating your own online selling outlet, where both physical and digital products can be sold, include:

• Web-based: You create, host and run your store entirely on the web, installing nothing on your computer or web server. You can fully manage your online store while on-the-move and from everywhere.
• Payment: People can pay you via credit card, PayPal or other payment gateway systems and transactions are automatically handled in your currency of choice.
• Protection: You are protected against frauds and malicious transactions.
• Ease of use: You are provided with access to a web dashboard from where you can browse and update your product inventory, manage transactions, track orders and everything else you need to take care of.
• Automatic inventory: Your product inventory is dynamically updated as soon as someone makes a purchase. You don't have to worry about sold out items or limited product quantities.
• Uniqueness: You can customize the appearance of your online store by choosing the layout of your storefront and by complementing it with relevant content components or widgets that may help your customers find what they are looking for more easily, while making it easy for them to share with their friends and colleagues their preferences and product suggestions.

To help you identify rapidly your ideal service to create an online storefront in minutes, the MasterNewMedia research team has searched, identified and collected all of the best simple store-building tools available and to make your evaluation as effective as possible, it has prepared a mindmap showcasing all of the services in this space, as well as our usual set of comparative tables illustrating the strength and weakness of each one of these services.

Here are the specific criteria MasterNewMedia has identified to test and compare these simple e-commerce services:

• Starting price
• Max no. of products for sale
• Social media integration
• Custom domain
• Payment gateways available
• Coupon / discount codes
• Transaction fees
• Pro price and features

Dive here below into all of the information you may need to identify to start selling any type of product or service online, in a matter of minutes.

How to Create an Online Store In Minutes - Comparison Tables

Best Tools to Create an Online Store In Minutes

1. Shopify

   

   Shopify is a web-based service that allows you to create an online store in minutes. With prices starting from $24/mo, Shopify lets you sell up to 100 products, customize your online store design, use a custom domain name, integrate your store with social media and more. Payment gateways supported are credit cards, PayPal and Google Checkout. For every sale, Shopify charges you a transaction fee of 2%. It is not possible to use coupon / discount codes. The next pricing level available ($99/mo) lowers the transaction fee down to 1%, allows you to sell up to 10,000 products, have real-time stats and also to sell discount codes to encourage purchases.
   
   http://www.shopify.com/
   
   
   
   
   
   

2. Etsy

   

   Etsy is an online marketplace for handmade products where you can sell your original stuff with a dedicated and customizable storefront. Etsy has no monthly subscription fee, but you are charged 20/c for four months when you put a product on sale. There is no limitation to the number of products that you can sell on Etsy and your online store can be integrated with social media services, but not have a custom domain. For every sale Etsy retains a transaction fee of 3.5% of the total sale price. Payment gateway systems accepted are credit cards and PayPal. Discounts are possible using the combined shipping function that allows you to sell multiple items by reducing the price of every additional item purchased.
   
   http://www.etsy.com/
   
   
   
   
   
   

3. Big Cartel

   

   Big Cartel allows artists and creative people to create a personal online store in minutes to sell their products and make money. The first pricing level is totally free and allows you to sell up to five products and have basic stats and store customization features. No custom domain, social media integration, nor coupon codes are available. Big Cartel retains no transaction fee for your sales. Payment gateways supported are credit cards and PayPal. If you want to have advanced features, you have to switch to a professional pricing plan (starting from $9.99/mo) that lets you sell up to 25 products, fully customize your online store, have a custom domain name for your shop, enjoy improved analytics and also have the ability to sell discount codes.
   
   http://bigcartel.com/
   
   
   
   
   
   

4. Vendder

   

   Vendder is a free online service that allows you to create an ecommerce store in minutes. You can sell up to 30 products, customize the layout of your online store, utilize a custom domain, integrate the store inside your own blog, sell in multiple languages and more. Vendder retains a transaction fee of 3.5% of the total sale price for every item you sell. No social media integration, nor coupon / discount codes are supported. The only payment method supported is PayPal.
   
   http://vendder.com/
   
   
   
   

5. Shoply

   

   Shoply allows yo to open a free online store without installing anything on your computer. You can sell up to 15 products, promote your stuff on social media, customize the layout of your online store, and much more. No coupon /discount codes are supported, nor you can create an online store with a custom domain name. The transaction fee applied by Shoply is set at 6% of the total sale price. If you want pro features like advanced analytics, a lower transaction fee of 5%, a custom domain name, or the ability to sell up to 50 products, you must opt for a professional plan starting at $19.99/mo. Payment gateways accepted are credit cards and PayPal.
   
   http://shoply.com
   
   
   
   
   
   

6. TynyPay.me

   

   TynyPay.me allows you to start selling your own products online for free in a matter of minutes. Right on the homepage you can fully customize your product offering and start selling right away without the need to customize or set an online store first. There is no limitation to the number of products you can sell, you can promote your products on social media and also geolocalize yourself to foster local sales. No custom domain, nor coupon / discount codes are available. For each sale you make, TynyPay.me retains a transaction fee of 5% of the total sale price. Payment gateway systems accepted are PayPal and credits cards.
   
   http://www.tinypay.me/
   
   
   
   
   
   

7. Vendr ***DEAD

   

   Vendr is an online service that allows you to create a free web-based store in minutes. By subscribing the first (free) pricing plan available, you can sell up to five products, customize the layout of your online store, sell in 15 languages, integrate your store inside your own blog, and more. Vendder retains no transaction fee on your sales. No custom domain, social media integration, nor coupon / discount codes are supported. Payment gateway system available are PayPal, credit cards and Google Checkout. If you want to sell up to 25 products, track your inventory and be able to sell coupon codes, you must go for a professional plan starting at $9.95/mo.
   
   http://www.vendr.com/
   
   
   
   
   
   

8. Upload N' Sel

   

   Upload N' Sell lets you sell your own digital products online in a matter of minutes and without spending a dime. Right from the homepage, you can fully customize your product offering and start selling right away up to five products without worrying about store customization or settings. Also, Upload N' Sell retains no transaction fee on your sales. No social media integration, custom domain, nor coupon / discount codes are supported. The only payment method supported is PayPal.
   
   http://www.uploadnsell.com/
   
   
   
   
   
   

9. Yokaboo

   

   Yokaboo is a web-based service that allows you to create a free online store in minutes. Yokaboo lets you sell up to six products, customize your online store design, track the statistics of your online store and more. Payment gateways available are credit cards and PayPal. Also, Yokaboo retains no transaction fee when you sell an item. It is not possible to use coupon / discount codes, have a custom domain name for you online shop, nor integrate your site with social media. If you want all these features you need to purchase a professional pricing plan starting at $14.99/mo, which also gives you Google Analytics integration and the ability to sell up to 50 products.
   
   http://www.yokaboo.com/
   
   
   
   
   
   

10. Sell Simply

    

    Sell Simply is a free auctioning service that leverages Twitter to sell your products on the Internet. You simply tweet your price offering and product details mentioning @sellSimply. You can also include a picture and hashtags in your tweets. When someone makes an offer, you will be notified via direct message so that you can evaluate and choose the winning offer. Payments are taken care using PayPal and no transaction fee is applied. You can sell as much products as you like and no custom domain, coupon / discount codes are available.
    
    http://sellsimp.ly/
    
    
    
    
    
    

11. Muncom

    

    Muncom is a web-based service that allows you to create a free online store inside your Facebook Fan Pages. You simply install Muncom on Facebook and then you can immediately start customizing your online storefront and selling your products. You can also chat with customers and embed Google Maps inside your store to geolocalize your position and specify from where you will be shipping your products. Payments are taken care using PayPal and credit cards and no transaction fee is applied. You can sell as much products as you like and no custom domain, coupon / discount codes are available. Registration is required before shopping on Muncom online stores.
    
    http://www.muncom.com/
    
    
    
    
    
    

12. Spiffy Stores

    

    Spiffy Stores is an ecommerce service that allows you to create an online store in minutes. With prices starting from $23/mo, Spiffy Stores lets you sell up to 100 products, customize your online store design, receive email notifications about your transactions, have detailed analytics integrated with Google Analytics and more. Payment gateways supported are credit cards and PayPal. For every sale, Spiffy Stores charges you a transaction fee of 3%. No coupon / discount codes, social media integration, nor custom domain are available. The next pricing level available for $54/mo lowers the transaction fee to 2%, allows you to sell up to 2,500 products and to sell discount codes.
    
    http://www.spiffystores.com.au/
    
    
    
    
    
    

13. Wazala

    

    Wazala allows you to create an online store to embed on your own website and start selling your products. You just have to place a piece of code on your pages and an online store will pop-up to your visitors allowing them to browse through your inventory and purchase your products right away. The first pricing level is totally free and allows you to sell up to five products in 15 different languages and have basic stats to track the performance of your online shop. No custom domain, social media integration, nor coupon codes are available. Wazala retains no transaction fee on your sales. Payment gateways supported are Google Checkout and PayPal. If you switch to a professional pricing plan, starting from $9.95/mo, you can sell up to 25 products, sell coupons and discount codes, track your product inventory and more.
    
    http://www.wazala.com/

Originally prepared by Robin Good and Daniele Bazzano for MasterNewMedia, and first published on Aug 9th, 2010 as "How To Create An Online Store In Minutes And Start Selling Your Products On The Internet".