How to start selling online: a roadmap from scratch
The steps to take from choosing a product to the first order, and the mistakes made most often at the start.
The biggest time sink when starting e-commerce is doing things in the wrong order. Weeks go into store design while payments and shipping are left to last, and then the first order turns into a mess. The order below reduces that risk.
1. Decide what you will sell
Starting with products you can reliably source, that are sensible to ship and have a low return rate makes everything easier. Fragile items, bulky items and anything where size or colour choice is critical create a return burden early on.
2. Complete the legal setup
Sole trader or limited company registration, your tax certificate and e-invoicing registration should be in place before you start selling. Payment providers and marketplaces ask for these documents.
3. Build your store
Using a ready platform is far faster than developing custom software at this stage. Keep the category structure simple; three or four main categories are enough. Product photos and descriptions affect sales more than the design does.
4. Connect payments and shipping
Offering a range of payment methods reduces cart abandonment. On the shipping side, the carrier agreement, the pricing and label generation are three separate jobs; running them from a single panel shortens the daily operation considerably.
5. Test the first order
Before going live, place an order with your own card. Follow payment, order email, tracking code and invoice end to end. This is where most mistakes surface.
The three most common early mistakes
- Not accounting for shipping cost. Volumetric weight directly affects the product price; build your margin around it.
- Starting with too many products. Describing 20 products well beats describing 500 poorly.
- Not planning the returns process. Decide up front what you will do when the first return arrives.
