You want to sell online but don't know where to start. The internet is full of generic advice like "find your niche" and "build a brand," but nobody tells you what you specifically need to do to have a working e-shop with real orders within a month. This article fixes that. We'll walk through the entire journey from zero to first order, step by step.
Legal foundation: business registration
In most countries, you can't legally sell without some form of business registration. The good news: setting up a sole proprietorship or LLC is straightforward. In the US, you can register an LLC online in your state for $50–$500 depending on the state. In the EU, sole trader registration is typically quick and inexpensive. You'll also need a tax ID number and, depending on your jurisdiction, a sales tax or VAT registration.
If you're based in the EU, VAT registration thresholds vary by country — in many cases, you won't need to register until you exceed a certain annual revenue. In the US, sales tax obligations depend on your state and where your customers are located. Don't let this stop you from starting — most small e-shops operate well within simplified tax regimes in their first year.
If you already have a business, you may just need to add an appropriate activity or category. If you're operating as a company (LLC, Ltd., etc.), the process is similar, just with more paperwork.
What you'll sell
This should be clear before you start dealing with technology. You don't need a unique product — most successful e-shops sell ordinary goods better than the competition. Better photos, better descriptions, faster delivery, friendlier customer service.
But what you need to have figured out: suppliers, margins, and logistics. Do you know where you'll source the goods? At what price? How will you store and ship them? The e-shop is the technically easy part. The business model is what matters.
If you're still exploring what to sell, start with a small assortment. Twenty products in two categories is enough for launch. You can expand your offering anytime, but starting with hundreds of products without a tested process is a recipe for chaos.
Choosing a platform
You have three paths. Hosted platforms (Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, or regional options like Shoptet) — they work immediately, you pay monthly, but customization is limited. Open source (WooCommerce) — technically free, but requires maintenance and paid hosting. Ready-made template — you pay once, the e-shop is yours, and you make changes yourself with AI. A detailed cost comparison can be found in our article on e-shop pricing.
For a new e-shop where you want to control costs and aren't dependent on monthly payments, an owned solution makes sense. For a one-time investment of around $349, you get a complete e-shop with an admin panel, payments, and shipping — and you pay nothing more.
Payments: Stripe and global options
Customers today expect to pay by card, digital wallets, and sometimes bank transfer or cash on delivery. Card payments are handled by Stripe, the world's largest payment gateway. Registration takes about 15 minutes, account verification a few days. Fees are 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction in the US, or 1.4% + €0.25 for European cards.
Stripe automatically supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Link, so mobile customers can pay with a single tap. Money arrives in your bank account automatically, typically every two business days.
Bank transfers remain popular in some markets, especially in Europe. The customer receives account details and a reference number, pays by transfer, and you confirm the order. With modern e-shops, payment matching can be automated via bank API, but at the start, manual checking works fine for dozens of orders per day.
Cash on delivery is more expensive (the carrier charges a surcharge) and riskier (the customer may refuse the package), but some customers still demand it. Offer it, but incentivize card payments — for example, with a shipping discount.
Shipping: setting up carriers
Your shipping options will depend on your market. In the US, USPS, UPS, and FedEx are the main carriers. In Europe, options include DHL, DPD, GLS, and regional services like Zásilkovna (Packeta) in Central Europe with its network of pickup points. In the UK, Royal Mail and DPD are popular choices.
For launch, I recommend two shipping options: a pickup point network (if available in your market) and one courier for home delivery. Most carriers let you set up a business account online or through their sales team. Rates depend on your shipping volume.
Set your shipping prices to cover your costs without scaring customers away. Free shipping above a certain order value ($50–$75) works as motivation for higher orders. Free local pickup is a great option if you have a physical location.
Legal requirements: terms of service and privacy
Every e-shop needs terms and conditions, a privacy policy (GDPR in the EU, or state-level privacy laws in the US), and information about return and refund rights. In the EU, customers have a 14-day right of withdrawal for online purchases. In the US, return policies vary by state, but offering a clear, fair return policy builds trust.
Your terms should include seller identification (business name, registration number, address), a description of the ordering process, payment and delivery terms, complaint and return procedures, and consumer rights information. You don't need to write them from scratch — templates adapted to your jurisdiction are widely available. Ready-made e-shop templates often include terms of service that you just need to customize with your details.
Privacy regulations require you to inform customers about what data you collect, why, and how long you retain it. In practice, this means a privacy policy page and cookie consent if you use analytics or marketing tools.
Products: photos and descriptions that sell
You have an e-shop, you have payments, you have shipping. Now you need products that actually sell. Two things matter more than anything else: photographs and descriptions.
Photos don't have to be from a studio, but they must be clean, sharp, and on a light background. A phone on a white table can produce surprisingly good results. Every product should have at least 3 photos — an overall view, a detail shot, and the product in context (being worn, in an interior, in someone's hand). Customers can't touch the product online — photos are their only chance to judge quality.
Descriptions should answer the questions customers have. Not "beautiful quality sweater made of pleasant material" but "100% merino wool sweater, warm for winter, machine washable at 86°F (30°C), size M fits chest circumference 38–40 inches." Specific information sells. Superlatives don't.
Launch and first order
Before launch, go through the entire buying process as a customer. Add a product to the cart, fill out checkout, pay with a test card, check the confirmation email. Verify that shipping calculates correctly and the invoice looks right. This is your last chance to find bugs before customers find them.
Share the e-shop with your circle and on social media. First orders often come from people you know — and that's fine. What matters is that the whole process works: from order through payment to delivery. Every successful order is a system test and an opportunity to improve details.
Don't expect hundreds of orders in the first week. Building traffic takes time — SEO needs months, paid advertising costs money, organic reach on social media is limited. But with every order, you learn, improve the process, and build reviews that attract more customers.
What's next
You have a working e-shop and your first orders. Now the real work begins: optimization. Track where customers come from, where in the buying process they leave, which products sell and which don't. Improve descriptions, test shipping prices, add products based on demand.
And if you need to modify the e-shop — change the design, add a feature, improve checkout — you don't need to call a developer for that. With an AI assistant, you can handle it yourself, without coding, in minutes.