Set up your shop

New to Big Cartel and eager to begin? Awesome! We're glad to have you with us. Once you've created your account, here's how to get your shop set up and ready to sell your work.

Shop essentials

Your shop essentials are covered during the onboarding process. We walk you through the very basics of getting started from the Dashboard section in your admin.

• Set your location. This is important for taxes, shipping, and selling in person but is never visible to your customers.

• Add your first product. Name it, upload images, set a price, establish shipping costs, and add variants like size or color. It's easy, we promise.

• Pick a template and customize it. Adjust the color scheme, set fonts, and upload a header image or logo to match your brand's vibe.

• Set up your checkout. Don't skip this! This step is essential for receiving payment for your sales. Utilize PayPal, Stripe, or both to facilitate online payments.

Premium features

If you're using a paid plan, make sure to fully utilize all the upgraded features Big Cartel has to offer. Remember, you can upgrade anytime from the plan and billing section in your admin

• Enable inventory tracking to keep track of what you have in stock. Products will automatically sell out once the quantity hits zero.

• Use a custom domain to give your shop its own home on the internet. Use a URL you've already registered, or create one through your Big Cartel admin.

• Create a variety of promotional discount codes to attract new buyers and reward loyal ones.

• Buy and print shipping labels from the Big Cartel admin (available to sellers that ship from the U.S. and Canada) to access discounted rates through Shippo and manage your orders and shipping efficiently.

• Automatically email your customers when you mark orders as shipped. You can split an order into multiple shipments and include tracking information to keep your customers in the loop.

• Managing products can be cumbersome. Simplify the process with bulk editing to make adjustments to multiple items simultaneously. Take advantage of the table view to really streamline the process.

• Connect Google Analytics for advanced analytics and detailed insights into customer behavior to improve marketing strategies and campaigns.

• Connect a Facebook pixel to your storefront while running your marketing campaigns to track customer actions post-ad exposure on Facebook and Instagram, enhancing your retargeting efforts.

• Connect a Pinterest Tag to track how users interact with your shop after engaging with your Pinterest ads, enabling more personalized marketing campaigns.

• Connect a TikTok pixel to provide insights into the effectiveness of your ads and user actions, like visiting specific pages or adding items to their cart.

Diamond plan features

In addition to our premium features, our Diamond plan offers even more ways for shops and sellers to elevate their online presence.

• Upload up to 25 images per product to showcase different angles, styles, and variants.

• Encourage customers to complete purchases with abandoned cart emails, which help recover abandoned carts and checkouts.

• Buy and print unlimited shipping labels from the Big Cartel admin (for sellers shipping to the U.S. and Canada), accessing discounted rates through Shippo and managing your orders and shipping efficiently.

• Create ads with audience targeting for Google, Facebook and more.

• Priority support ensures that Diamond sellers are the first to receive help from our dedicated team.

Finishing touches

To ensure your Big Cartel shop thrives, take some time to walk through these final touches!

• Use a custom page to add a returns or store policy page to your shop. You set the terms of your exchanges, returns, and policies.

• Add a profile image (like your logo) to the Account page of your admin for easy identification. It's also the image your customers will see when you

  share your shop on social media..

• Enter a shop description for search engines to track and rank your shop. Keep it simple and unique.

• Browse apps and integrations to enhance shop management, including printing and fulfillment integrations and promotion apps.