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by molsongolden 5172 days ago
I haven't used Shopify but I don't understand why someone would pay $29/mo for a tiny store when you can set up a Big Cartel store for free. BC limits your html access and you can only have five items but shopowners can still customize the css and it's free?!
1 comments
dkrich 5172 days ago
Well as somebody who has built stores from scratch and used Shopify, I don't think Shopify is a bad deal actually. Even when I build my own from scratch, I still have to pay for hosting that runs at least $30/month. Of course Shopify also takes a cut of sales revenues, but for somebody anxious to start selling, these costs are not huge. Add in difficulty and costs of setting up certificates, and to me, Shopify is not a bad option.

I think that if somebody is sitting there with a bunch of stuff they are eager to start selling, they are not going to mind pulling out a credit card and spending $20-$30 to get started. That's why I think these guys should raise their prices to capture that impulse buy up-front. I think there is a lot of value in knowing the brand. If I know Shopify is a proven product, I'll probably pay a premium rather than try an unknown service.

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molsongolden 5171 days ago
I agree that Shopify can be a good deal vs. building and hosting your own but I was trying to compare the $29 Shopify base plan to a Big Cartel free plan.

Big Cartel is a fairly established player in the "run your own storefront" game. With their most basic plan you can edit your storefront CSS, they don't take a percentage of sales, and you can have 5 products for free.

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That said, I see ShopLocket as competing more with Gumroad than with the "storefront management" companies. If I want to open a storefront then I will open an Etsy/Shopify/Big Cartel store but if I already have a website and I want to now offer a few items for sale then I would use ShopLocket.

I would be glad to pay the current ShopLocket fee after my first sale but would not be willing to pay an upfront setup charge. What if I'm not sure that anyone wants the item I am trying to sell? I'm not a retailer, I'm just a guy who wants to try selling something. ShopLocket would be driving away a large number of amateur sellers if they put up that barrier to entry. With no upfront fee there is the chance of catching the amateur seller who is testing the waters then ends up with a hit, with an upfront fee that person would go use Gumroad.

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