Sign up for an Account
The first step to building your free online store is, naturally, signing up for a new account. Be sure to choose our free end–to–end eCommerce plan, which offers all features without any fees or hidden costs. The only requirement to use the free plan is that your store uses Shift4 Payments to process payments on your store.
The first thing you need to do when signing up is enter your shop name and industry. Make sure that your shop name is unique, and choose your industry from the drop down menu. To sign up for our free plan, you must be a United States merchant. At this time, the free plan does not support international customers.
A Premium eCommerce Solution Completely Free For Life
Choose a Theme
Once you have started the signup process, you will be prompted to choose one of three themes that are the best fit for your business industry. Don’t worry if you don’t particularly enjoy any of the themes offered to you at this point you can always change it later. Next you will enter your contact information. Then click launch to be taken to your Online Store Manager
With your account created, you can now make any changes you would like to your shop, including choosing a new theme. There are over 100 free themes to choose from, each tailored to a specific industry and/or design style. From monochrome minimalism to extra elegance, and restaurants to tech stores, we have a theme that will fit your brand. Built on our Core Templating Engine, all our themes are mobile responsive and customizable.
To change your theme, navigate to Settings in your Online Store Manager. From there, you will select Design and click the Change Theme button.
Add Products and Categories
Now that you are able to use the QuickSetup Wizard to get right into building your online store. Here, you can add your main product categories and first product to get started.
Later on, you can add more details to your product and create more product listings. This can be done by navigating to Products in your Online Store Manager. In the Product List section, you can add a product manually by clicking the Add a Product button. You can also import multiple products at once via CSV file by clicking the Export/Import button.
To edit your first product and add more details to it, click on the product in your Product List. Here, you can add a price, stock level, description, photos, product options, and more
You can also add more categories and edit existing ones in the Products section of your Online Store Manager. Simply click on Categories to see all the categories and subcategories that you already have. Clicking the Add New button will create a new category, you can give it a name and decide where that category should go if it is a subcategory.
To edit an existing category, click on the gear icon next to the category you want to edit and select Details. From here, you can change the category name, SEO tags, category page settings, access permissions, and page content for the header and footer
Set Up Shipping Details
Also within the QuickSetup Wizard, you are prompted to set up a few basic delivery options. Choose what best fits your business; you can also change this later. You can add more advanced shipping options with real time rates as well.
To add real time shipping rates to your online store, you will need to connect to your preferred shipping carrier. Navigate to Settings, then to Shipping, and click on the Edit Settings button under Shipping Settings. Under Real time Shipping Settings, you can connect to your chosen carrier. We directly integrate with popular carriers, such as USPS, FedEx, UPS, and more. Add your credentials to connect your account, or register a new one if you don’t already have one.
Set up Payments
To sell products on your online store, you will need a way to take payments. Customers want their checkout process to be convenient and secure, which means you will need to have a quality payment gateway on your side.
All free online stores are automatically integrated with Shift4 for payment processing. Shift4’s gateway is fully PCI compliant and utilizes advanced tokenization to secure your customer’s data. Your customers will also be able to use both credit cards and digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay. Considering the fact that eWallets will be the most commonly used eCommerce payment method by 2022, this flexibility is vital.
To get Shift4 Payments set up, navigate to Settings in your Online Store Manager. Go to the Payments page, and then click on the Select Payment Methods button. Select Complete Payments Account Setup to be taken to the Shift4 Payments form page. From here, you will need to enter your bank information and extra information about your business. Once you are done, select Complete account setup
Register a Domain Name
We can also register your own custom domain name for free for the first year. If you already have a domain name, there is no need to worry, as you can easily point it to your new Shop site as well.
Customize Your Store
According to research from Blue Corona, 38% of online users will stop engaging with a site if they find its layout or content unattractive. With this in mind, it is important that you have full control over how your site is designed. You have access to intuitive and detailed site customization tools that can help your site stand out from the rest.
Of course, there are many more things that can be done beyond this list. With your online store built, you can start marketing and optimizing for SEO to help your site reach more customers. You can also create promotions to encourage customers to buy when they visit. The possibilities are nearly endless, so start exploring. Time to Launch
A Premium eCommerce Solution Completely Free For Life
