How to Start an Online Store, Step by Step

Starting an online store is easier than ever on the technical side. You can have a working site in a weekend. The hard parts are the decisions before and after: what to sell, how to price it so you actually make money, how to ship it without losing your margin, and how to get people to show up.

This guide is the end-to-end plan. It walks through 9 steps in order, from choosing a product to your first month of sales, with links to deeper guides on each piece.

Plan the product and the business

Step 1: Choose a product people already want

The most common reason new stores fail isn’t the website. It’s a product with weak demand, too much competition or no margin after fees and shipping.

Before you build anything, check 3 things:

• Demand: people are searching for it and buying it on marketplaces.
• Margin: after product cost, packaging, shipping, payment fees and returns, there’s enough left to pay for marketing and still profit.
• Shippability: it’s not so heavy, fragile or regulated that shipping eats your profit.

Our guide on how to find a product to sell online covers research methods using search demand, marketplace reviews and margin math.

Also decide how you’ll source it:

Model	How it works	Upfront cost	Control
Make it yourself	You produce the product	Low to medium	High
Wholesale	Buy finished goods in bulk and resell	Medium to high	Medium
Private label	Manufacturer makes it under your brand	Medium to high	High
Print on demand	Partner prints your designs per order	Low	Medium
Dropshipping	Supplier ships directly to the customer	Low	Low

Dropshipping is popular because it’s cheap to start, but it comes with real risks. Read how dropshipping works before you choose it.

Step 2: Set up the business basics

You don’t need a big legal setup to start, but you do need a few basics in place.

1. Choose a business structure. Many sellers start as a sole proprietor and later form an LLC for liability protection. Talk to an accountant or attorney about what fits you.
2. Get an EIN if you need one. The IRS issues Employer Identification Numbers online for free at IRS.gov. The IRS warns that you never have to pay a fee for an EIN, so avoid sites that charge.
3. Check licenses and permits. The SBA notes that state, county and city requirements depend on your activities and location. Some products, such as food, cosmetics or alcohol, have extra rules.
4. Register for sales tax. Most states require a seller’s permit before you collect sales tax. You may also owe tax in other states once your sales there pass their economic thresholds.
5. Open a business bank account. Keeping business money separate makes bookkeeping and taxes far easier.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Your state’s revenue department website is the best starting point for sales tax rules.

Build the store

Step 3: Pick your ecommerce platform

Your platform is where your store lives. The main choice is between a hosted store builder, a self-hosted store or a marketplace.

Option	Examples	Best for	Trade-offs
Hosted store builder	Shopify, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Wix	Most new sellers	Monthly fee, less low-level control
Self-hosted	WooCommerce on WordPress	Sellers comfortable with hosting and plugins	You manage updates, security and hosting
Marketplace	Etsy, Amazon, eBay	Testing demand with built-in traffic	Per-sale fees, less control, limited branding

If you choose Shopify, follow our Shopify store setup guide, and read Shopify fees explained so the bill doesn’t surprise you. Weighing a marketplace instead? Compare Shopify vs Etsy for new sellers or see how to start selling on Amazon.

Step 4: Build the store

Keep version 1 simple. A clean, fast store with clear product pages beats an elaborate design that takes 3 months.

Must-haves for launch:

• A short homepage that says what you sell and who it’s for
• Product pages with clear photos, honest descriptions, sizing or specs, price and shipping information
• An about page that explains who’s behind the store
• A contact page with an email address and, ideally, a business address
• Mobile-friendly layout, since much shopping happens on phones

Product photos and descriptions do most of the selling. Show the product from several angles, in use and at scale. Write descriptions that answer the questions buyers ask before purchasing. AI writing tools can help with first drafts; our guide to generative AI for small business covers practical uses, but always check facts and claims.

Shoppers are wary of new stores because of scams. Real contact details, clear policies and honest photos all help, and our guide on how to tell if an online store is fake shows what buyers look for.

Payments, shipping and policies

Step 5: Set up payments

Customers expect to pay with cards and digital wallets. Most hosted platforms have built-in payment processing, and you can add providers such as PayPal, Stripe or Square depending on the platform.

Payment providers typically charge a percentage plus a fixed fee per transaction. Compare total costs, including any platform fee for using an outside processor. Offer at least cards plus 1 or 2 popular wallets, and keep checkout short.

If you accept cards, you’re responsible for handling card data securely. Hosted checkouts reduce your burden, but you still have obligations; see our guide on PCI DSS compliance for small business.

Step 6: Plan shipping and fulfillment

Shipping decisions affect your margin and whether shoppers complete checkout.

Decide on a shipping pricing strategy:

• Free shipping built into product prices, often with a minimum order value
• Flat rate shipping per order
• Carrier-calculated rates at checkout for heavy or varied items

Set up your fulfillment workflow: packaging in a few standard sizes, a scale, a way to print labels and a pickup or drop-off routine. Our guide on how to print shipping labels at home covers printers, discounted postage and free pickups.

Know the shipping rule. The FTC’s Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule says that if you state a shipping time, you must have a reasonable basis for it. If you don’t state one, you must reasonably expect to ship within 30 days. If you can’t ship on time, you must notify customers and offer them the choice to cancel for a refund. This is not legal advice.

Key takeaway: Shipping is part of your product. Decide shipping prices, packaging and delivery promises before launch, because surprise shipping costs and late orders hurt both conversions and reviews.

Step 7: Write your store policies

Every store needs these pages, linked from the footer and checkout:

• Shipping policy: processing time, carriers, delivery estimates and costs
• Return and refund policy: return window, condition rules, who pays return shipping and how refunds are issued
• Privacy policy: what customer data you collect and how you use it
• Terms of service: the rules for using your store

If you collect personal data from customers in states with privacy laws, check whether those laws apply to you; our US state data privacy laws guide explains thresholds. This is not legal advice.

Launch and get customers

Step 8: Test everything, then launch

Before going live, place at least 1 test order using your platform’s test mode or a real order you refund. Check:

• [ ] Prices, variants and discount codes
• [ ] Shipping rates for different addresses
• [ ] Sales tax for your home state
• [ ] Order confirmation and shipping emails
• [ ] Inventory updates after purchase
• [ ] Mobile checkout from start to finish
• [ ] Every policy page and contact link

Then launch. Don’t wait for perfect; you’ll learn more from 10 real orders than from another month of tweaking.

Step 9: Get your first customers

Traffic doesn’t arrive on its own. Start with the people closest to you and widen the circle.

1. Tell your existing network. Friends, family, coworkers and any social following. Ask for honest reviews after purchase.
2. Collect emails from day 1. Add a sign-up form with a clear reason to join. Email is the cheapest channel for repeat sales.
3. Post where your customers already spend time. Pick 1 or 2 social platforms and share useful, product-related content regularly.
4. Optimize for search. Use the words customers search for in product titles, descriptions and collection pages.
5. Test small paid campaigns. Start with a small daily budget and measure cost per sale before scaling.
6. Recover abandoned carts. Set up reminder emails and fix the friction points in our guide on why shoppers abandon carts.

Track 3 numbers weekly: visitors, conversion rate and average order value. Our guide to data analytics for small business shows simple ways to do it.

Where to start this week

If you’re starting from zero, do these in order this week: shortlist 3 product ideas and check demand and margins, pick 1, apply for an EIN if you need one and check your state’s seller’s permit rules, then sign up for a platform trial and build a single product page. Budget with our guide on how much it costs to start an online store.

The bottom line

To start an online store that lasts, put most of your effort into the product, the margin and the marketing, not the design. Set up the legal and tax basics, choose a platform that fits your skills, get payments, shipping and policies right, and test before you launch. Then focus on getting your first 100 customers and learn from every order.

Sources

• IRS: Get an employer identification number — free online EIN application and eligibility
• SBA: Apply for licenses and permits — federal, state and local licensing depends on activity and location
• FTC: Business Guide to the Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule — shipping time representations, 30-day rule, delay notices and refunds