How to sell merch from your own website without running a store
Most bands, podcasters and creators selling merch have five to fifteen items, not a catalogue. You don't need a full shop for that. You need a page on your own site that shows the items well and a checkout from a commerce tool that handles stock, shipping and tax. Anticode builds the first; Shopify, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Whop or Stripe handles the second.
Pick your fulfilment model first
Before any page, decide who packs the parcels. It affects the checkout you choose and what you can promise on the page.
- You ship it yourself
- You hold stock at home or a lock-up. Cheapest per item, most work. Shopify or Stripe Payment Links collect the address; you post the orders.
- Print on demand
- A supplier prints and ships each order, usually connected to Shopify. No stock to hold, lower margin, longer delivery.
- Sell at shows, list online
- Most sales happen at gigs; the site lets fans order afterwards. Keep the online range small and stocked.
Prepare
- Photos of each item on a plain background, plus one worn or in use. Keep items in a products collection whose image field holds each hosted photo's address; uploads are used only by app builds.
- For each item: name, a short description, sizes, colours, material, and whether it's limited.
- A commerce account set up with products, stock levels, shipping rates and tax settings. Shopify is the usual choice once you post orders to several countries.
- Your shipping and returns policy in plain words.
Build it, step by step
- Ask for a Shop page. For a band site: "add a Shop page with our six merch items, photos, sizes and a buy button". The design engine has an online store kind and an optional separate Shop page on a multi-page site.
- Add your checkout link in Connectors. Buy buttons then open it in a new tab.
- Work with the one-link rule. An account has one payment link, so every buy button opens the same address. With several items, point it at a collection or storefront page at your provider (a Shopify collection, a Gumroad or Lemon Squeezy store, a Whop page) where fans pick the item, size and quantity. A single Stripe Payment Link only fits if you sell one thing, such as a bundle.
- Write sizes and delivery times on the page so people don't have to click through to find out.
- Run the release checklist and publish, then place a real low-value order end to end: page, checkout, confirmation email, parcel.
Running it week to week
| Task | Where | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Orders, payments, receipts | Your commerce tool | It does, automatically |
| Stock counts | Your commerce tool | You, after shows and restocks |
| Packing and posting | Your room or the print supplier | You or the supplier |
| Sold-out notes and new items | The Anticode site | You, by a change request or the visual editor |
| Shipping questions | Your inbox | You |
What goes wrong
- The site shows an item the store has sold out of. Anticode doesn't know your stock. Mark it on the page the same day, or remove it with a change request ("take the black hoodie off the Shop page").
- Fans expect a cart on the site. There isn't one on design-engine stores; the cart is at your provider. Say "choose sizes at checkout" by the button.
- International orders surprise you with postage. Set rates per region in the commerce tool before launch.
- Photos load slowly. Use sensible sizes; huge camera originals slow the page on phones.
How you know it's working
Fans can find the merch from your home page in one tap, the checkout shows the same items and prices as your Shop page, and orders arrive in your commerce dashboard without emails asking "is the large still available?". After a tour or release, the views by source in Anticode's analytics show which channels sent people to the site.
What Anticode doesn't handle
No inventory, shipping, tax, cart or order records on Anticode sites; payments happen on your provider's checkout and Anticode never sees them. The Fernwood template has a cart, but it runs inside its app sandbox only and takes no real orders. For a bigger range, run the shop on Shopify and link to it. See Shopify, adding a buy button, the merch website builder and the bands guide.
Questions people ask
Can each item have its own buy button and checkout?
Each item can have a button, but all of them open the same account-wide payment link. Point it at a collection page at your provider so fans choose the item there.
Does Anticode track how many T-shirts I have left?
No. Stock lives in your commerce tool. Update the site by hand when an item sells out.
What's the least work way to sell merch from your own website?
Print on demand through Shopify, a Shop page on your site with good photos, and the buy button pointing at your Shopify collection.