Hi friends!

I want to setup a super simple one page website store to give away and sell some preset packs and samples I make. A couple of years ago I spent a few weeks learning how to do this stuff and put together a store that worked ok, but it took weeks of tweaking for the most basic page and I don't wanna do it again if I can just get a free template or buy one for a reasonable price.

I'm thinking your standard rows of boxes, like 3 or 4 horizontal, and however many I add vertically. For each release, something like just a box with the product name, artwork, audio preview player and buy (or download or donate/gift) button. Really clean and simple, nothing fancy at all.

Most templates I have found in the little bit of searching I did either look horrible or have way too much going on with stuff I don't need and will likely never use. I worry I will spend weeks on cleaning out sections and may actually mess up the functionality.

As I said free or paid is fine. Any suggestions?

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jan 9, 2023

Or even just some current Wordpress plugin suggestions?

 

Did I forget to say please?

 

Don't use wordpress plugins, ever. While you are staying away from wordpress plugins, you will also want to steer well clear of wordpress altogether.

Wordpress is a security nightmare (https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-2337/cvssscoremin-4/Wordpress.html)
Wordpress plugins are even worse

 

Do some research before picking alternatives, a very quick search shows that shopify has only two published and patched vulnerabilities

Shopify: https://www.cvedetails.com/vendor/24508/Shopify.html

 

Thanks for the information. I had no idea Wordpress is such a mess. My domain name + hosting + Wordpress + plugins is what I used before, without any problems whatsoever. But if Wordpress + plugins are that bad, I will look elsewhere this time.


Shopify is way too expensive for my purposes (cheapest plan for an online only store is $350/yr + transaction fees). So yeah, not an option.

If it fits my needs perfectly, I'm ok with spending I don't know $50 or something one time fee for a template, small transaction fees and such, but not half my yearly grocery shopping budget Yes, I fit the description of the starving artist, im that fcn poor right now.

Keep in mind I want to give away packs, charge small prices for some of the packs that require a lot of time and resources in creating and/or offer a donation option. In fact, I might be ok with a fully donation based "store" if there are some good options available for implementing that.

I already have a domain and hosting plan which I use for my artist home base, information, original music, news, subscription, links etc- but I dont have to use the hosting plan for my webstore if theres a better solution. This is a Wordpress site... from a design perspective, for a simple artist website like mine, what alternatives are better ?

I don't use Paypal, so anything that requires it is a firm no. Ideally the store (or donations) will link directly with my bank account or Stripe if that isn't possible.

Hey, im open to whatever and here to learn, so any and all ideas and suggestions are welcomed!

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jan 10, 2023

Wordpress is a huge gaping hole in the internet, I read about vulnerabilities in WP plugins at least once per week.If you are using them and don't regularly keep them up to date, then it is just a matter of time before someone realises you are vulnerable and fscks you over.

I can't offer advise on what platform is best, I won't use any template solutions due to the security they don't bring

 

If it was me doing this, I would use:

Apache (For hosting)
Angular (For UI)
DropWizard (Back end business logic)
Postgres (User accounts, products etc)
Stripe (payment)

 

Just browsing through some FAQ's on my hosting providers site and apparently some of these options you listed are available but will take some configuring. And this was supposed to be easy this time, buy and install a template, upload my content, link bank and done. FFS!

It appears I can easily remove Wordpress and just use Cpanel to build a site, but on that CVE site it looks like that has lots of issues too. Looks like i'll have to waste weeks upon weeks with this again. Now I dont even want a website anymore

Or maybe I just say f'it and stick with what I know, plan A, roll the dice and if some malicious arsehole wants to screw my poor ass over, fine. Are there really zero "secure" store templates or plugins or platforms? I dont know.......

 

Check this out,the have a free plan , so no monthly fees, they just charge you if you sell something (you can even link your own domain)

https://payhip.com/

 

At first I thought maybe this was spam, but after looking over the site and platform plan details, might actually be a good solution. I have yet to read the fine print, but initial impression is yeah maybe.

One big question I have about it though is the PayPal integration. They say "You get paid instantly directly to your paypal or stripe account" so im wondering if because they have the PayPal or card options when checkout purchases are made, if they require store owners to have both (ie, PayPal account to receive PayPal purchases / Stripe to receive all other debit/CC purchases). As I mentioned, for too many reasons to list here, PayPal is a firm no for me. But sure if people buy something using PP and I can still get paid via Stripe, thats fine.

Anyway, thanks for the tip!

 

Quick and likely dumb question maybe someone knows the answer to.. with platforms like this one above, would I even need hosting or can I just use my custom .com domain and their platform to build the site/store all-in-one? Would save me a bunch of cash on hosting plan and the headaches that go along with it.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jan 11, 2023

just register and try, i was surprised myself and use this shop until i built my own. Best of all free I tried and I tried a lot. Yes you can link your own domain to their server, so no hosting required, and they even allow you to upload you digital products no matter how big they are !

 

Awesome. My last question about them is whether or not they have any restrictions on user location, as I believe theyre a UK based company and I'm not in the UK.

Last night I was comparing this to Shopify, which looks good too, but way overpriced with the monthly nut + fees + more fees..

Oh and I found out PayPal is NOT required

 

Curious as to why you built your own if this is an all-in-one solution? Was it the 5% fees or just to have more control or something?

 

more freedom and becvause I love coding But that will take time , so I just use it until I am some day ready

Yeah shoplift, gumroad and any other make only sense if you sell monthly more than you have to pay