Start from what you sell. Knowledge sells through a course, newsletter or community platform, physical stock through a marketplace or your own shop, and services through proposals and invoices. A creator testing a first product can launch on Gumroad or Stan Store before committing to a $143-a-month course platform. Leave cross-listing and shipping software until orders arrive every week, and check where each tool works first, since several serve only the US.
Teachable fits a first paid course at $29 a month and deals with checkout, payments and sales tax for you. Podia costs $42 a month and adds email marketing, a website builder and a community, handy if you also sell downloads or webinars. Kajabi starts at $143 a month with no transaction fees, a price that makes sense once coaches have buyers waiting.
Substack puts a newsletter and a podcast in one account, and you switch on paid tiers once readers arrive. Beehiiv adds a referral programme and an ad network that places sponsors in your issues, so a list can earn before anyone subscribes. Kit, formerly ConvertKit, suits a list you plan to sell products to, with landing pages and automated sequences. All three start on a free plan.
Skool costs $9 a month and keeps a classroom, an events calendar and the community together, with points and levels that reward members who post. Circle starts at $89 a month and runs under your own brand on the web and in mobile apps. Patreon is free to start and fits creators with loyal fans, though it keeps a share of your earnings.
Payhip handles EU VAT on your sales and has a free plan, which matters when your buyers live all over Europe. Stan turns an Instagram or TikTok bio link into a mobile store from $29 a month and takes no cut of sales. Lemon Squeezy acts as merchant of record and adds licence keys, a good fit for indie makers selling software.
WooCommerce is a free plugin, so it fits if you already run WordPress and want to keep your own hosting and data. Squarespace costs $19 a month with hosting, domains and payments in the subscription, and suits makers who care about polished looks. Shopify runs your web store, in-person sales and social channels from one admin, which helps a brand planning to grow.
Whatnot runs video auctions where trading cards and collectibles sell well, in the US, UK, Germany and France. TikTok Shop lets you open a store for free and sell through shoppable videos, with creator affiliates promoting your products for a share. To send one show to YouTube, Facebook and more at once, Restream's free plan covers two channels.
Vinted charges sellers nothing to list or sell, since buyers pay a protection fee at checkout. In Spain and Italy, Wallapop adds in-app chat and shipping with buyer protection across the country. Etsy charges from $0.20 per listing and brings shoppers searching for handmade and vintage pieces, so it suits makers with small batches.
Crosslist covers Vinted alongside eBay, Depop and Poshmark, with a mobile app for listing from your phone, from $29.99 a month. Vendoo delists an item everywhere else once it sells, so resellers in the US and UK avoid selling it twice. List Perfectly suits US sellers moving lots of stock, with bulk edits across hundreds of listings from $29 a month.
Pirate Ship has no monthly fee and adds no markup on USPS and UPS postage, a good match for US sellers shipping every week. Shippo compares carriers including DHL and FedEx, with up to 30 labels a month on its free plan. ShipStation works in the US and UK on paid plans and prints labels in batches once you ship dozens of orders a day.
SumUp sells low-cost readers with no monthly fee or contract, and it covers Spain, Germany and Italy. Zettle, PayPal's reader, has no monthly fee either and accepts phone wallets as well as cards. Square gives cafes and service businesses a free point-of-sale app with appointments and invoices, in the UK, US and France.
Stripe has no monthly fee, retries failed payments and gives developers an API, though the tax side stays with you. Paddle collects sales tax and VAT worldwide as merchant of record for SaaS companies. Lemon Squeezy does the same job for indie makers and small teams, and adds an affiliate programme.
PandaDoc builds quotes with interactive pricing tables and e-signatures from $19 a month, and shows you when a client opens one. DocuSign starts at $10 a month with reminders and an audit trail under a name clients recognise, though the proposal itself needs another tool. Qwilr turns a proposal into a web page where the client picks options, signs and pays.
Chaser sends reminders from your own email address and stops once the customer pays, syncing with Xero or QuickBooks in the UK and US. FreshBooks suits freelancers billing for their time, with automatic reminders and online card payments. In Spain, Holded adds invoicing, e-invoicing and the official tax forms in one app.
Begin with the cheapest test of demand. Gumroad has no monthly price and takes a fee on each sale, and Stan Store sells downloads and coaching calls from your bio link from $29 a month with no cut of your sales. If your audience reads email, a free plan on Kit or beehiiv lets you grow the list before you charge anyone. Move to a course platform such as Teachable or Kajabi once people have paid you for something smaller.
A course suits knowledge you can package once, and Teachable starts at $29 a month with checkout and sales tax handled. A paid newsletter suits regular writing: Substack is free to start and recommends you to readers of other publications. A community suits people who want ongoing access to you, with Skool from $9 a month and Circle from $89. Kajabi and Podia put courses, email and a community under one login if you plan to offer more than one format.
Not at first. Etsy brings buyers looking for handmade and vintage pieces, with listings from $0.20 each, and eBay charges a final value fee only when an item sells. A store on Shopify, Squarespace or WooCommerce gives you your own brand and customer list, but you have to bring the visitors yourself. Many sellers keep the marketplace for discovery and open a shop once repeat buyers ask for one.
Paddle and Lemon Squeezy act as merchant of record, so they sell to the customer on your behalf and collect the tax due worldwide. That spares you registering for tax in every country you sell to. Stripe takes payments and runs subscriptions with no monthly fee, but you remain the seller and handle tax yourself. Teachable also takes care of sales tax on course sales.
Square links its point-of-sale app, card readers and online store to one inventory, though it serves only the UK, US and France. SumUp works across more of Europe, with tap-to-pay on your phone, payment links and a free online store, and no monthly fee. Zettle suits a stall that takes cards a few times a day: you buy the reader once and pay per transaction. Shopify also runs in-person sales from the same admin as your web shop.
