Start a free online shop

A shop plan priced at £0 lets you start selling online without a monthly bill. You pay when you sell, through a small fee on each card payment.

What you keep from each sale

The first fee is the payment fee. The bank or payment company that takes card payments for a seller is called the acquirer, and the Payment Systems Regulator calls what a seller pays it the merchant service charge.

Some shop platforms add a fee of their own on each order. Look for it on the plan's price page. If there is one, add it to the payment fee.

To work out a fee written as a percentage plus a fixed amount, take the percentage of the sale price, then add the fixed amount.

A worked example

Every number here is invented, in round figures, to show the sum. None of them is any real company's fee.

The fixed part counts for more on a small sale. With the same made-up fees, a £5 sale carries 35p in fees, which is 7%, against 4% on the £20 candle. So it pays to price small items with the fixed part in mind.

Choosing a plan

On each plan's page, look for:

Ready for your first order

Before you take your first order, put these on your shop. GOV.UK's guide to online and distance selling lists what a customer must see before ordering, including "your business name, contact details and address", "delivery arrangements, costs and how long goods will take to arrive" and "how they can cancel and when they lose the right to cancel".

Tell customers they can cancel. The same guide says: "You must tell the customer they can cancel their order up to 14 days after their order is delivered. They do not need to give a reason for cancelling." Saying it clearly also keeps the period at 14 days: a seller who never tells them gives them up to 12 months.

Give an email address, and confirm each order "as soon as possible, for example with an email", as the guide asks.

If a customer cancels, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 set out the refund. It covers the price and the standard delivery charge, and it is due within 14 days of the goods coming back, or of proof that they were sent back, whichever comes first, with no fee taken off ("The trader must not impose any fee on the consumer in respect of the reimbursement").

Build the card fee into your prices. You cannot add it at the till when a customer pays with a personal card: the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 say "A payee must not charge a payer any fee" for paying that way, and the Payment Systems Regulator says this has applied since 13 January 2018.

Each of these rules applies across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Tax

For tax, start with GOV.UK's guide Working for yourself.

Sources