Online shop websites.
A shop window of your own for the things you make: every product photographed properly, priced in full with delivery, and one tap from a secure Stripe payment page or your existing Etsy listing. I design your homepage as a free preview within 48 hours, before you pay anything.
What a product site has to do.
Sell something nobody can pick up
A shopper cannot turn your candle over or feel the felt. Photographs and description have to answer what a market stall would: size, materials, colours, making time and when it will arrive.
Get a stranger to pay a small maker
People hesitate before typing a card number into a business they found five minutes ago. Payment happens on a page they already recognise, run by Stripe or Etsy, and the full cost including postage is shown before they commit, so nothing at the last step makes them back out.
Meet the rules from the first sale
Selling to the public online brings legal duties whether you turn over thousands or a few hundred pounds: who you are and where, how cancellations work, and what the real total is. Those pages are part of the build, not a job left for later.
Etsy, your own checkout, or both
Most makers who come to me already sell on Etsy or eBay, and the marketplace does real work: it brings browsers, handles payment and gives you a shop page for nothing up front. The cost is fees on every sale and a listing that sits beside dozens of similar items from other sellers, each one a click away from your customer.
A site of your own changes who controls that moment. Somebody searching Google for a particular gift lands on your product, with your story around it and no competitor alongside. From there you choose how they pay. A Stripe Payment Link gives each product its own secure payment page and puts the money in your account, with only Stripe's processing fee to pay. A link out to your marketplace listing keeps reviews and order handling where they already live.
Scrooge & Co, a handmade Christmas keepsake business, does both: its catalogue of around thirty pieces sends some Buy buttons to Stripe and the rest to the matching Etsy listing. That mix is a sensible way to start, because you can move items across as direct sales prove themselves.
What the law expects of a small online seller
The Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002 require your business name, a geographic address (not a PO box) and an email address to be easy to find on the site at all times, plus your company number and VAT number if you have them. Prices must be clear about whether tax and delivery are included.
Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, most goods bought at a distance can be cancelled within 14 days, counted from the day after the customer receives them, with a refund that includes standard delivery. Goods made to the buyer's specification or clearly personalised are excepted, as is food that spoils quickly, which matters if you engrave names or bake. Before anyone pays, they should see the total price including postage.
Every shop I build carries a delivery and returns page and a privacy policy alongside your trader details. I write them around your products, but I am not a solicitor, so the final wording for your circumstances is yours to confirm.
What I build for you.
A catalogue of up to about 30 products
Each with photos, price, description, variants and dispatch time, grouped into categories.
Buy buttons that take real money
Stripe Payment Links set up per product, or links to your Etsy or eBay listings, or a mix. Payments land in your own account, never mine.
The seller's legal pages
Trader details in the footer, a delivery and returns page that covers cancellation, and a privacy policy, written for the things you actually sell.
Commission and wholesale form
An enquiry form for custom orders and stockists, for conversations that do not fit a Buy button.
Product pages Google can read
Structured data so individual items, not just your homepage, can appear in Google searches.
Fast photos on a phone
Images compressed, sized per screen and loaded as the shopper scrolls, so the catalogue opens quickly on mobile data.
Where this stops. Each Buy button pays for one product at a time. There is no shared basket, no live stock count, no discount codes and no customer accounts, and Stripe or Etsy fees are yours to pay. If you need a cart that gathers several items into one payment, stock that updates itself, or a range running into the hundreds, that is a Custom build from £1,500, quoted after a conversation about how you sell.
Product sites I've already shipped.
Two live client sites and one concept build. Every client site has to clear 90 on Google's mobile speed test before handover.
Shops sit in Own Your Area.
A product catalogue with checkout belongs in Own Your Area (£500 + £60/mo): up to 15 pages, copywriting for your product descriptions, the commission form and the 90-day page-one promise. If you only want a gallery that points people to your Etsy shop, Get Customers (£250 + £40/mo) covers up to five pages. Own Your Area can also start at £0 upfront and £110 a month for a 12-month minimum, then £60.
All tiers include coded build, free preview first, hosting, SSL, domain, unlimited updates, mobile-first design and lifetime price lock. See full tier comparison →
Straight answers for sellers.
How much does an online shop website cost?
A catalogue of up to about 30 products, with Stripe or Etsy checkout and the legal pages a seller needs, sits inside Own Your Area at £500 plus £60 a month. A full shop with a basket, stock control or discount codes is Custom, from £1,500. Either way, I design your homepage as a free preview before you pay anything.
Do I have to leave Etsy or eBay?
No. Plenty of makers keep their marketplace shop and use their own site as the front door: a place Google can send people, with your story and your full range. Buy buttons can point at your existing listings, at Stripe, or a mix of the two, and you can change the balance later.
How do customers pay if there is no basket?
Each product has its own Buy button. It opens a secure payment page hosted by Stripe, set up for that item with its price and delivery, or it opens the listing on Etsy or eBay. The money goes to your own account. It suits shops where most people buy one thing at a time.
Do I have to accept returns on handmade or personalised items?
Most goods sold online to consumers carry a 14-day right to cancel, starting the day after delivery. Items made to the buyer's specification or clearly personalised, such as an engraved name, are excepted, and so is food that goes off quickly. Your returns page should say which of your products fall into which group.
Can the site grow into a full shop later?
Yes. If the range outgrows about 30 products, or customers start asking to buy several things in one go, the site can move to a Custom build with a basket and stock levels. Your product photos, descriptions and page addresses carry over, so nothing you have earned in Google is thrown away.
See your shop before you pay for it.
Send me a few product photos and your shop name, and I'll design the homepage as a free preview. If it doesn't feel like your brand, you owe nothing.
Get my free preview Or WhatsApp James directly