How to Start Your Own Online Store with No Money

It’s 100% possible to start your own online store with no money. Starting an online store doesn’t require a business loan. Nor does it require some complicated business plan. It’s even possible to start one without buying products wholesale.

I know this because I’ve done it. I used to think starting an online store was too complicated. When I actually started my store I realized I was wrong. It’s not super easy but not so hard that you need to be an online business expert either.

Starting your own online store is a great way to make passive income, start a side hustle, and start your own online business. This also is a great way to make money from home.

With so many educational resources online there’s no excuse as to why you can’t start your own.
To make things easier for you I’ve put together a list of FREE online store platforms.

These are all sites where you can open your own online store with no monthly fee. I’ve personally tried most of these websites myself. There’s no gimmicks or scams here.

Starting your own online store doesn’t mean you’ll make money right away. It takes time, patience, and hard work. But once you do start making sales it’ll be worth it.

Read the rest of my blog post to learn how you can start your own online store with no money.

*Affiliate Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Please see my full disclosure for further information.

1) Etsy

Etsy is one of the best online store platforms. It’s perfect for physical and digital products. It’s not just for handcrafted goods. You can even sell vintage items and print-on-demand. Plus you can get your first 40 listings absolutely free.

Everything I know about Etsy I learned from her. It’s thanks to her that I make Etsy sales regularly. She even has a free Etsy course on YouTube.

Signup for Etsy 

Related Posts: How to Find Etsy Tags that Sell

2) eBay

Before I started a blog or Etsy shop I sold on eBay for years. It was one of my sources of income during college. I know first hand that it’s definitely possible to make money with eBay. The big plus to selling on eBay is that you don’t need to do any marketing.

With a lot of online store platforms, you have to bring your own traffic. With eBay, I never had to do that. eBay is a well-known platform. That means you don’t have to spread the word.

It does it for you. You just have to know what sells. You can start by selling items you no longer use. 

Signup for eBay

3) Zazzle

Zazzle is a print-on-demand website. All you have to do is upload your own designs. You don’t need to create any physical products yourself. People can also get customized items from the site. Plus there are no listing fees.

You get a percentage of each item sold. But you determine what the percentage is.

With Zazzle, they provide all the mockups for each item. They sell everything from mugs to wedding invitations. You can either upload your own design or use the design editor.

Out of all the print-on-demand websites I like Zazzle the most. It’s easy to use and figure out.

Signup for Zazzle 

4) Society 6

Society 6 is a print-on-demand site for artists and graphic designers. The designs you find on this site is different from everywhere else. They’re more unique. If you are a graphic designer or artist this site is for you. 

They sell everything from wall decor to outdoor furniture. The only drawback is you only get a 10% profit from items that sell. Wall decor is the only category where you can control your percentage of the profits. 

Signup for Society 6 

5) RedBubble

RedBubble is another print-on-demand site. It’s similar to Zazzle. You determine what your profit margin is. For example, if the base price of a coffee mug is $15 and your profit margin is like 30% then your profit would be $4.50. That would raise the price to $19.50. 

There are no listing fees either. They handle the shipping, product, and customer service. All you have to do is create the design and get the item sold. RedBubble has more of a hipster feel to it. 

For example, you’ll find merch created by fans of the shows Steven Universe, Borderlands, Rick& Morty, The Last Unicorn, and Adventure Time on the site. One of RedBubble’s featured products is a phone case with a snake& scissors design on it. 

If your designs fall into the hipster category then RedBubble is for you. 

Signup for RedBubble

6) TeeSpring

TeeSpring is another print-on-demand company like Zazzle or RedBubble. They handle production, shipping, and customer service. There are no listing fees or monthly fees. You also determine what your profit is going to be per item.

You can sell tees, hoodies, phone cases, leggings, socks, pillows, etc. Their selection isn’t as big as Zazzle’s or RedBubble’s. They mostly focus on tees. What’s different about TeeSpring is that you can connect your shop to YouTube. 

A lot of YouTubers sell their merch on TeeSpring because of this. Basically, TeeSpring is more for people who already have their own audience.

But for a fee, you can boost your item’s visibility. Or run an ad on Google’s shopping network. You can also sell merch while you stream on Twitch if you’re a Twitch streamer.

Signup for TeeSpring

7) Printful

Printful is a print-on-demand site like the others I mentioned. It’s free to use. There are no listing fees or monthly fees. They sell a variety of products. They handle shipping, production, and customer service. All you have to do is create the design, and sell the item. 

What makes Printful different from the rest is that you can integrate your Printful items on multiple platforms. Here’s a list of just some of the platforms you can sell your items on:

• Etsy
• Amazon
• eBay
• Wish
• WooCommerce
• Weebly
• Shopify
• Gumroad

This means that you can sell print-on-demand products from Printful on these sites. If you want to start selling on eBay you can sell items from Printful. This is a great way to start a side hustle from home. It’s a great way to start your own online store on a popular site. 

Plus Printful has its own mockup generator. Which helps to get your items sold. 

Signup for Printful

8) Gumroad

What’s great about Gumroad is you can sell both physical and digital products. You can offer promo/discount codes. You can charge for shipping on physical products. You can offer subscription plans, and create your own affiliate program.

With a free Gumroad account you’ll be able to:

• sell as many products as you want
• create and customize your own storefront
• setup 1 automated email workflow
• send out 4 updates per month

But they’ll take out 8.5% + $.30 per sale. If you sell info products Gumroad is a good alternative to SendOwl. Many bloggers sell their info products through Gumroad. Just to clarify Gumroad isn’t a print-on-demand site. But you can sell print-on-demand items on the site. 

Signup for Gumroad 

9) Payhip

Payhip is a site where you can sell digital downloads and memberships. If you sell info products or any type of digital download this site is for you. Here are the types of products you can sell:

• ebooks
• design assets
• music
• software
• memberships
• any digital download

Payhip has a free forever plan. You get access to all features, sell an unlimited amount of products, and unlimited revenue. They do charge a 5% transaction fee. Which is less than what Gumroad charges. 

Signup for Payhip

10) WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a great way to add a shop to your WordPress site or blog. It’s a free WordPress plugin. You can sell physical and digital products. You can even:

• create and manage memberships
• take and book appointments
• sell subscriptions
• give coupons
• integrate Google analytics

Plus you can download shop themes and fully customize your shop. But the shop themes aren’t free. The subscription extension, bookings extension, and memberships extension aren’t free.

But they do have a lot of free extensions too. It just depends on what you want.

Try WooCommerce

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Conclusion

Starting your own online store doesn’t have to cost a fortune. It doesn’t require a business loan either. Whether you want to sell digital or physical items there’s a platform for you. It’s just a matter of figuring out what features you want.

Take a look at each site for yourself. See what the pros and cons are. See how others are selling the products you want to sell.

See how they have their shops set up. Once you have your store set up you’re one step closer to making money from home.

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Until Next Time!