My feeds have been filled with a great deal of angst today regarding Etsy's new advertising policy and many have expressed their desire to open up shop under a new platform. A good portion of those are considering Shopify so I wanted to take a moment and offer some details about why I made the switch and why I love it. I figured I'd also share my favorite apps as well. First and foremost, let me make it clear that I am not endorsed by Shopify in any capacity. Anything I'm saying here is simply because I appreciate what they have to offer and I'm not receiving anything for doing so.
I have a dedicated Shopify store (as opposed to a WordPress integration or other options) that is linked to a domain I purchased on GoDaddy. I believe you can actually purchase a domain through Shopify directly (don't quote me on this) but I already owned darthcleavage.com and stuck with it. I'm also currently using the free Minimal theme with some customization.
I switched over to Shopify because I didn't feel that I had much control over my store on Etsy, and there was inconsistent application of policy that often left me in the lurch. I've had this shop open for I think five years now and haven't looked back. Nor have I ever been dissatisfied with their service or support. There are a good handful of free templates, there's a huge forum filled with customization options, fixes, and discussions, and they are willing to listen to their customers. There's 24/7 support and they are always responsive to inquiries. There have been a couple of occasions where I was able to log in to live chat and have my technical problem solved before I logged off. And when I say "problem" it's been more like, "I'd really like this to have 4 columns instead of 3, how do we make that happen" than any sort of functional issue.
I have a freelance background in web design and am comfortable editing style sheets and handling some minor html, css, and php needs. If you don't know what those are, it won't matter because the graphic user interface (gui) is seriously user friendly. However, you can also easily edit your site through the template editors if custom coding is your jam. The forums are full of tips and tricks from other community users who have done them themselves. If you don't have the time, but have the money, you can also have one of the Shopify staff design it for you.
There are also a ton of third-party apps, some free and some paid, that you can integrate based on your needs. Here's what I'm currently running:
I switched over to Shopify because I didn't feel that I had much control over my store on Etsy, and there was inconsistent application of policy that often left me in the lurch. I've had this shop open for I think five years now and haven't looked back. Nor have I ever been dissatisfied with their service or support. There are a good handful of free templates, there's a huge forum filled with customization options, fixes, and discussions, and they are willing to listen to their customers. There's 24/7 support and they are always responsive to inquiries. There have been a couple of occasions where I was able to log in to live chat and have my technical problem solved before I logged off. And when I say "problem" it's been more like, "I'd really like this to have 4 columns instead of 3, how do we make that happen" than any sort of functional issue.
I have a freelance background in web design and am comfortable editing style sheets and handling some minor html, css, and php needs. If you don't know what those are, it won't matter because the graphic user interface (gui) is seriously user friendly. However, you can also easily edit your site through the template editors if custom coding is your jam. The forums are full of tips and tricks from other community users who have done them themselves. If you don't have the time, but have the money, you can also have one of the Shopify staff design it for you.
There are also a ton of third-party apps, some free and some paid, that you can integrate based on your needs. Here's what I'm currently running:
- Auto Currency Switcher turns my prices to the currency of whatever country the individual is searching from.
- Automatic Backups regularly saves my content and design in case I accidentally screw something up while messing around with the design.
- Cozy Gallery is in progress as I work on an integrated gallery instead of my current external link to Flikr. I'm trying to get everything into one place.
- Digital Downloads is epic in helping me provide templates, patterns, or any other sort of digital document I want to offer for free or for sale.
- Email Template Editor adds some nice upgrades to my emails.
- Mega Menu is one of my faves as it's allowed me to change how my collections and other design aspects of navigation are handled.
- Order printer lets me select any order in my queue and print an invoice or pick-it-ticket sort of document.
- PageFly allows customization of page, blog, collection, and other site design templates.
- Printful allows me to design thousands of different print on demand items directly through my storefront.
- Printify works like Printful but has some items unavailable there.
If you are considering moving to Shopify and have any other questions, please feel free to reach out and I'll help where I'm able. Also feel free to cruise through the site and see if any design or bells and whistles catch your eye. I can let you know how I achieved that appearance. Happy designing!