Selling online: your own webshop, hosted platform, marketplace, or payment link?
Want to start selling online? Then you first choose a route, and only after that the software. There are roughly four ways: your own webshop, a hosted shop platform, a marketplace or a payment link. None of the four is always the best. In this article, you'll see what each route means, and which questions you ask yourself to choose.
The four routes side by side
| Route | Examples | Who handles the technical side? | What's yours? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your own webshop with open-source software | WooCommerce (in WordPress), PrestaShop, Shopware, Magento Open Source | You or your web builder, on hosting you choose yourself | Everything: files, database, products, orders and customer data |
| Hosted shop platform | Shopify, Lightspeed eCom, Wix, Squarespace | The provider | Your content and data, as far as the provider lets you export it |
| Marketplace | bol, Amazon, Etsy | The marketplace | Your products; the buyer is mainly a customer of the marketplace |
| Payment link or a simple order form | A payment link from your payment provider, a form with an invoice afterwards | The payment provider | Little technology, but also little shop |
What each route gives you, and what it costs
- Your own webshop. You own everything and can customise almost everything: custom products, prices per customer group, a link with your own stock. The downside is that you (or your web builder) update the software, check backups and track down errors. The software is often free, but hosting, extensions and especially your own time count towards the cost.
- Hosted platform. The provider handles hosting, updates and security, and often the payments too. You pay for it on an ongoing basis and you work within the possibilities of the platform.
- Marketplace. You get visitors straight away. The marketplace does set the rules, the presentation and often the price pressure too. Reviews and customer contact stay behind if you leave.
- Payment link. Enough if you sell a few products or services to people you already know, such as a workshop or a standing order. Quickly arranged, without a shop to maintain.
Questions to help you choose
- What are you selling, and how much? Five gift vouchers a month asks for something different than three hundred products with sizes and colours.
- Who does the management? You have to maintain your own shop every week: updates, backups, failed orders. If you don't want to or can't do that, and you don't have a regular web builder either, a hosted platform or a payment link suits you better.
- Do you need reach or a shop? You have to make a new shop findable yourself. A marketplace brings buyers along.
- Do you already have a website? If your site already runs on WordPress and your content is found well, a shop in the same place can be handy.
- Do you have special requirements? Links with a till or bookkeeping, custom products: that's often possible to a greater extent with your own shop than on a platform.
- How do you get out again? Think about moving in advance. With your own shop, you take the database and files with you to another host. With a platform, exporting products usually works, orders and customer accounts not always, and you don't take the design with you.
Many shops combine routes, for example your own shop for regular customers and a marketplace for reach. That can work well, if you keep track of stock and orders in one place.
Keep your domain and email separate from your shop
Whichever route you choose: make sure your domain name and your email stay yours and aren't tied to the shop software. Then you can switch routes later without customers losing your address or your mail. If you choose a hosted platform such as Shopify, Wix or Squarespace, you can keep your domain and email with us and only point the website records to the platform. You can read how that works in Your website at Shopify, Wix or Squarespace, your domain and email at WebOké.
Further reading
- Free WordPress course, lesson 1.1 What is WordPress (and what isn't)?
- Free WordPress course, lesson 5.3 Choosing and assessing plugins: every extension is extra code to maintain.