Big Cartel Reviews

To sign up for Big Cartel, follow these steps:

1. Head to bigcartel.com/pricing.
2. Choose the right plan for you.
3. Fill in your email, password, shop name, and shop URL.
4. Read and accept the Merchant User Agreement.
5. Click Sign up (or complete billing info for a paid plan).

Please ensure that you enter your email address correctly as it will be used for notifications about your new shop. Also, choose a secure password for your shop. The shop name can be anything you desire, and the shop URL is the web address you'd like for your shop. This is what you share with your audience so they can buy your stuff, so you may want to make it fairly brief and easy to remember. You're welcome to change this later on the Account page, or you can use a custom domain instead.

Yes, you can use your own domain name with Big Cartel. Custom domains are URLs unique to your brand that lead customers directly to your online content. Instead of relying on a more lengthy URL like myawesomeshop.bigcartel.com, you can choose a shorter and more memorable domain like myawesomeshop.com. This makes it easier for customers to find, remember, and share your shop and products.

If you have an established website and want to incorporate your online shop into it, utilizing a subdomain can come in handy. A subdomain acts as a prefix to your main domain and helps to further organize your online content. For example, you can have the primary content about your brand at myawesomeshop.com and create a subdomain like shop.myawesomeshop.com exclusively for selling your goods. This way, you can seamlessly integrate your shop into your existing website while maintaining clarity and organization for your customers.

Whether you need to register a domain or you've got one already, Big Cartel has made it easy to get your custom domain or subdomain set up with your Big Cartel shop even on their free Gold plan. If you don’t have a custom domain, don’t worry, Big Cartel can help get you connected to one for as low as $1 for the first year! After the first year, a domain generally costs between $10 and $20 a year.

To purchase a domain directly from your Big Cartel admin, you need to head to the Account page in your Big Cartel admin, click Edit your shop info > Add a custom domain, click Buy a new domain, enter a custom domain you’d like to purchase and click Search. If it’s not available, similar domains will be suggested or you can search again. Select your domain and complete the form to purchase your domain. That's it! You'll be redirected back to your Big Cartel admin. Within just a few minutes your shop should be showing up at your newly registered domain.

If you already have a domain, Big Cartel makes it easy to connect your existing domain to your Big Cartel shop even if it’s already connected to another website with a near-automatic configuration for the most popular domain registrars. It only takes a few clicks to get going! And if your provider is not on the list, Big Cartel has got you covered, you can connect your domain with their manual setup instructions. To automatically connect your domain from your Big Cartel admin, you need to head to Account in your Big Cartel admin, click Edit your shop info > Add a custom domain, tap Connect a domain I already own, follow the prompts and enter the domain you’d like to connect.

Big Cartel offers three different pricing plans. The Gold plan is free and allows you to list up to 5 products. The Platinum plan costs $9.99 per month and allows you to list up to 50 products. The Diamond plan costs $19.99 per month and allows you to list up to 500 products. All plans come with free themes to design your store with, and allow you to use a custom domain, sell online or in person, offer discounts and promotions. The number of products you can sell through your store varies depending on the plan you choose.

To sign up for Big Cartel, follow these steps:

1. Head to bigcartel.com/pricing.
2. Choose the right plan for you.
3. Fill in your email, password, shop name, and shop URL.
4. Read and accept their Merchant User Agreement.
5. Click Sign up (or complete billing info for a paid plan).

Please ensure that you enter your email address correctly as it will be used for notifications about your new shop. Set a secure password for your shop. Choose the name you'd like to give your shop and the web address you'd like for your shop. After signing up, you're welcome to change this later on the Account page, or you can use a custom domain instead.

Big Cartel is an online store builder designed for artists and creators. It offers a platform where you can sell your work and run a creative business. It's perfect for clothing designers, bands, jewelry makers, crafters, and other artists.

Big Cartel provides three different plans: - The Gold plan is free and allows you to list up to 5 products. It includes one image per product, free customizable templates, multiple payment options, real-time stats, and sales tax autopilot. - The Platinum plan costs $9.99/month and allows you to list up to 50 products. It includes all the features of the Gold plan, plus five images per product, use of a custom domain, template code editing, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, inventory tracking, discounts & promos, bulk editing, and shipment tracking. - The Diamond plan costs $19.99/month and allows you to list up to 500 products. It includes all the features of the Platinum plan, plus advanced Google Analytics & Facebook reporting, and priority customer support.

Big Cartel is a good option for new businesses, especially those looking to sell a limited number of products. However, it lacks advanced sales features and minimal third-party integrations, making it less suitable for larger sellers or those looking to scale their businesses quickly.

Here are some alternatives to Big Cartel:

1. Sellfy: A top choice among Big Cartel alternatives, with a setup as simple as, or even better than, Big Cartel’s. It offers features for selling physical products, subscriptions, and print-on-demand items without requiring integrations.

2. Gumroad: Becoming the go-to platform for artists selling art online. It’s a simple eCommerce solution.

3. Shopify: Known as the best overall ecommerce platform. It's a great alternative if you're looking to scale your business.

4. Ecwid: Another alternative that's been mentioned. It's a free shopping cart that allows anyone to easily create an online store and embed it into any existing site, blog, or mobile.

5. Etsy: Best suited for small businesses and individual artists looking to sell handmade or vintage items.

6. WooCommerce: An open-source eCommerce plugin for WordPress. It's particularly good if you already have a WordPress site and want to add eCommerce functionality.

7. Squarespace: Known for its best designed templates. It's a website builder with ecommerce functionality.

8. Storenvy: This is an online marketplace where independent merchants can sell their products through their own unique store.

9. Wix: Offers great value for money. It's a website builder with ecommerce functionality.

10. Shift4Shop: A feature-rich eCommerce platform that offers a wide range of tools to build and grow an online store..

Yes, you can use your own domain name with Big Cartel. This feature is available even on their free Gold plan. If you don't have a custom domain, you can purchase one directly from your Big Cartel admin for as low as $1 for the first year. After the first year, a domain generally costs between $10 and $20 a year.

If you already have a domain, you can easily connect it to your Big Cartel shop. They offer near-automatic configuration for the most popular domain registrars. If your provider is not on the list, they provide manual setup instructions as well.

You can also use a subdomain if you have an established website and want to incorporate your online shop into it. A subdomain acts as a prefix to your main domain and helps to further organize your online content. For example, you can have the primary content about your brand at myawesomeshop.com and create a subdomain like shop.myawesomeshop.com exclusively for selling your goods. This way, you can seamlessly integrate your shop into your existing website while maintaining clarity and organization for your customers.

Remember, it can take up to 24-48 hours for domain changes to update. If it's still not working after that, you should contact your domain host to help you figure out why.

At Big Cartel, you can accept orders through your online shop or in person using their apps for iOS or Android devices. On the web, customers can pay by card via Stripe, or with PayPal. Big Cartel shops using Stripe can also offer additional payment methods such as AfterPay and Klarna. If you have Stripe enabled, customers with Apple Pay can use it to complete their purchase directly from a product page, in addition to including it as a payment method on the Checkout page. If you have PayPal enabled, customers can pay with PayPal Credit. Payments you accept via in-person checkout can be processed with Stripe or cash. Big Cartel does not charge any fees on the things you sell, so you can keep more of the money you earn. However, processor fees from Stripe/PayPal still apply. When in doubt, enabling both Stripe and PayPal covers the broadest range of payment options your customers may want to use. Ultimately, it's up to you and what makes the most sense for your business. You can edit your checkout setup at any time on the Account page of your admin.

To enable PayPal on Big Cartel, follow these steps:

1. Head to the Account area of your Big Cartel admin.
2. Click Edit your payment options, and click Connect next to PayPal.
3. Follow the steps on screen to log in and authorize your PayPal account to be used with Big Cartel to accept payments.

That's it! Customers in your shop will now see an option to pay with PayPal or PayPal Credit. Please note that a verified PayPal Business account is required to accept payments with PayPal. Payments placed through PayPal should hit your PayPal account balance right away. From there you can transfer funds to your linked bank account. Transferring funds from PayPal to your bank should take about 1 business day. Qualifying buyers will see the Pay In 4 option when they get to PayPal-- 4 easy no-interest payments for them, and you're immediately paid in full.

Big Cartel allows sellers to set their own return and shipping policies. For returns, sellers can issue full or partial refunds through their PayPal or Stripe account, depending on the payment method used by the customer. They can also add a private note to the order for record-keeping. If sellers have specific stipulations regarding refunds, such as limiting refunds to a certain number of days from the purchase date, they can add those details to a policies page in their shop.

For shipping, Big Cartel offers two tools for sellers to add shipping rates to their product listings: Product-level Shipping and Shipping Profiles. Product-level Shipping is useful if products vary in size and weight and require different shipping rates. Shipping Profiles are useful for creating store-wide shipping rates with customizable shipping methods that apply to all products in the shop. The availability of products to different locations is determined by the shipping settings. Sellers need to determine shipping rates for their products based on size, weight, destination, and carrier.

Please note that these are general policies and individual sellers on Big Cartel may have their own specific return and shipping policies. It's always a good idea to check the policies of the individual shop before making a purchase.