Getting started with Ecwid

We are excited that you start selling online! If you want to create a stylish and professional site with an online store without spending tons of money and time on programmers and designers, you came to the right place. This guide will help you through the basic steps to open your Ecwid store and start selling within a day. Once you sign up and set up your store, you don't have to do anything else — your store is up and running. Meaning it's open, and customers can check your storefront and make orders.

Okay, let’s get started!

Step 1: Sign up

You can sign up or log in to Ecwid on your desktop or by using the Ecwid app for iOS or Android. All you need is an email address.

To create a new account:

That’s it, now you have a store! As a new store owner, you will have a forever-free plan. After you log in, you will be taken to the Ecwid admin, where you can configure the store and manage your products and orders. In the admin, you can also upgrade your store plan at any time and chat with customer support when assistance is needed.

You can always sign out of your Ecwid account.

Step 2: Add and organize products

Now it's time to add products to your store. With Ecwid, you can sell physical or digital products, services, and anything in between. On a Free plan you can sell up to 10 items. You can sell digital goods on a paid plan only.

Note that after you sign up for Ecwid store, there will be items in your store. They are not real products but just a demo to show you how your store may look. Feel free to remove the demo items before uploading your products.

It’s very convenient to add products through the mobile app. If you download the mobile app, you can try the Venture plan free for 28 days.

To add a new product:

That's it! You have successfully added a product to your store!

Next, you can create product categories to organize your products, making it easier for your customers to navigate and search. For example, you can create the following types of categories:

• clothes for women, men, and children
• sale items
• items in a certain color or size
• seasonal items

Depending on how many products you plan to offer, adding and organizing your product listings can be the most time-consuming step in setting up your store. So give yourself enough time to do the work.

Step 3: Add business information

In the General settings and Legal sections, add your business information, such as your store name and work email, then enter your currency, language, legal information, etc.

Entering all of this information is crucial for both you and your customers. For example, your name and email will automatically be shown in customer email notifications. Setting up a timezone allows you to process the orders on time if you offer a scheduled local delivery or in-store pickup. You will need to give your customers access to your policies for refunds, privacy, and terms of service before they buy a product.

Make sure to add:

1. Company’s name, web address, and email
2. Company’s physical address
3. Currency
4. Legal pages

See help article on how to configure the general settings of your store for more detailed instructions.

Step 4: Decide where will you be selling

You can sell with an Ecwid Instant site, or you can add an Ecwid storefront to an existing website or blog. You can even open a store on Facebook and Instagram. With Ecwid, it is possible to sell in all of these places at once. The Ecwid storefront can be added to multiple platforms and you can manage them all from one central location.

• Use Ecwid Instant Site →
• Or add Ecwid to any existing website or blog →
• Open an online store on Facebook and Instagram →

Step 5. Personalize store design

To help you get started, the Design page of your Ecwid admin has a default set of settings to customize the look of your store. There are a lot of elements you can personalize in your storefront: header image, logo image, page layout, etc. With so many possible variations of design, you can create a very personalized and unique store. Ecwid has a responsive design, meaning that your store looks good on any screen size.

Every time you make a change on the Design page, you can preview how these adjustments appear in your store. Just click on the View [your store name] button in the top right corner to open your storefront in a new page. You may need to refresh the page to see the changes.

Check out this short video tutorial on making design and layout changes in your store:

For Instant site users If you decide to go with an Ecwid Instant Site, go to Sales Channels → Overview, scroll down to Instant Site and click Manage Instant Site. You can personalize your storefront design, choose a theme, and add content like videos, your company’s story, maps, and more using content blocks. Start with adding headline and cover image or video, then add your business’s story and information. Any changes you make are shown right there in the editor, so you can see how your store will look.

Step 6. Set up a web address

Every Ecwid store on the free Instant Site has a company.site web address in the form of yourstore12345.company.site. It’s a free subdomain where the first part of the address can be customized by you to better reflect your brand.

To customize the web address on Ecwid subdomain:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website, and scroll down to Domain name and site address.
2. Click Change Address.
3. Enter the preferred name.
4. Click Save.

Apart from using free subdomain with an Instant Site, you can also buy a new domain from a third-party provider, or connect an existing domain you already own.

In case you’ve already created a site on a sitebuilder like Wix or WordPress or any other, you don’t have to worry about creating a unique domain. Just add your Ecwid store to your site that already has a domain name. The same goes for stores on Facebook or Instagram — you can simply add an Ecwid store and start selling online.

Before adding your Ecwid store to the existing website, you can preview how it looks on your free Instant Site subdomain. Just go to Sales Channels → Website → Overview, and click Preview site.

Step 7. Enable payments

Next, you will need to add a payment gateway to collect sales revenue. Ecwid supports a variety of offline and online payment methods including PayPal, Stripe, Square, and many more.

Set up at least one payment method in your store by going to the Payment section in your Ecwid admin.

Step 8. Set up shipping and/or pickup

If you sell physical products that require shipping, you must decide how to distribute your products to your customers. There are three methods for distribution: self pickup, shipment via postal or delivery service, and third-party fulfillment services.

To set up shipping, you will need to:

1. Define your shipping strategy.
2. Calculate the rates.
3. Set up the shipping rates in Shipping & Pickup so that you charge your customers the appropriate amount based on your products and the customers’ location.

Follow our in-depth instructions to set up shipping for your business. Or watch this quick video tutorial on setting up shipping:

Step 9. Check the store before launching

Now, when everything is ready, one last step before launching is to check how your store works for customers. Here’s what you can do to make sure your store runs smoothly:

1. Make an overall store review: check the whole design and navigation. Make sure that pictures and descriptions match items in your store. To open your store’s page, go to Ecwid admin and click the link with your store’s name in the top left corner.
2. Place a few dummy orders to test the checkout flow. During the tests pay attention if shipping and tax rates appear correctly and that your shipping options are available within the right delivery zones. Make sure you receive the transaction for an order.
3. When placing a test order, enter your email to check how the notification about the order will look for a customer. You can also check that notifications about the order are sent to your store’s email. If you use Ecwid mobile app, you will receive a push notification every time a new order is placed.
4. If you changed the design with the help of CSS codes, make sure that all the buttons and links are clickable and the elements are not overlapping.

After you double-checked everything, it’s time to start selling. Check that your storefront is visible to everyone. Go to Settings → General → Store Profile, scroll down and make sure storefront is open:

That’s it. Everything runs like clockwork, it’s time to make your first sale. And don’t forget to spread the word on social media.

Next steps

Promote your store
Learn how to manage orders
Expand by adding your store on Facebook and Instagram