I'm trying to set up a basic online shop to sell some collectibles and other items that others might find useful. I used to sell on eBay, but the fees have become too high for me. I want something easy to manage—just product images, descriptions, and a purchase button. I'm not aiming for a big business, so I don't need to handle huge volumes of traffic. Here's what I'm thinking so far:
- Using Porkbun for domain and hosting.
- Building a few pages with Astro: home, product listings, and product descriptions.
- For payments, considering Stripe Link or Stripe Checkout, or PayPal.
- Shipping isn't a worry since these items are small and I can manage postage easily.
When I post an item, I want to be able to:
- Create an item description in a markdown file.
- Generate a payment link for the "buy" button in the markdown page.
- Upload the markdown file to production.
I'd like to know if there are any big issues with this setup. I also might need to consider email notifications for purchases, security measures, seller protection from fraud, and how to handle product inquiries. Thanks for any advice!
2 Answers
I did something similar years ago using Drupal and linking to PayPal, but it was overkill for what I needed. I find the idea of using markdown files for product pages really appealing. It seems like a much faster way to manage things rather than messing with a WYSIWYG interface again!
Your plan is looking good for a side hustle! Stripe Checkout can handle the technical stuff like purchase confirmations and security, so you won't have to stress about that. The only potential downside is that you'll be manually managing your inventory with markdown files, which can get cumbersome once items start selling. You might want to consider a simple CMS that tracks stock for you. As for fraud and seller protection, things should be fine with either Stripe or PayPal. Just don't overthink the question handling—adding your email for inquiries is probably the best route.
That makes sense! I was just trying to avoid answering the same questions repeatedly, but I guess an email works just fine.