Did you know that online retail sales have been growing 17% every year since 2011?  This is true even though 79% of US small business owners still don’t sell their products online.

If you are a small business that sells products but doesn’t have an online store, you are missing out on a golden opportunity to exponentially increase sales and get a leg up on your competition.

In this guide we are going to show you how to add an online store to your Weebly website.  Using this guide you can be up and running today with a Weebly ecommerce site, and likely for less than the profit you make on your first few online sales.

To get your own Weebly Ecommerce store so you can follow along, click here.

If you haven’t already read our guide to building your Weebly site, start here.

Table of Contents:

• Step 1: Opening up editor and finding the store tab
• Step 2: Add a store page to your site
• Step 3: Add products to your store
• Step 4: Group products into categories
• Step 5: Configure your general store settings
• Step 6: Set up your checkout preferences (payment provider)
• Step 7: Tweak your display options
• Step 8: Set up your shipping rates
• Step 9: Set up your tax rates
• Step 10: Edit your follow-up emails

Why Weebly Ecommerce?

Weebly is a great fit for small business owners looking for an or online store option. They have many great ecommerce features, their site builder is easy-to-use, they have good customer service, and they are one of the least expensive options in the industry. With Weebly ecommerce, you can create an online store in no time and begin reaching more customers and selling more products. You can read more about why we recommend Weebly in our full guide to the Best Website Builders.

Although this article will focus on setting up a store to sell physical product, the same process can be used to sell digital goods and services as well.

Let’s get started.

Want to create a pro business website in less than 60 minutes? Click Here to get our FREE Website Builder guide and find out how.

Step 1: Open up the Weebly editor and find the store tab  

If you have not yet set up a Weebly website, make sure to read this in-depth Weebly Site setup guide before you continue setting up your ecommerce store. If you have already set up your site, then the first step is to sign into Weebly and open up your site editor.

Once you have your editor open, click on the “Store” tab at the top of the page.

Step 2: Add a store page to your site

Once you have clicked on the store tab, you will notice a complete dashboard and page dedicated to your online store. This is your Weebly ecommerce homebase, where you will configure and edit things in your store moving forward.

The first thing to do now, is to add a store page to your site. To do that, click on the “Add” button on Point 1 under the “Getting Started” section, as shown below.

You will then be redirected to the “Page” tab in your editor. On the left-hand side, in the elements bar, you will have the option of what kind of page you want to add. Click on the “Store Page” option.

Your store is now created. But, you still have to hit the “Save” button to make everything official.

Step 3: Add products to your Weebly ecommerce store

Congratulations, your store is up-and-running! Well, kind of . . . it might be good to actually add some products.

To do that, click on the “Add product” button in the middle of your store page.

You will be taken to the products tab in your store dashboard. To begin the process of adding a product, click on the blue “Add product” button on the top right of the page.

This is the page you will be directed to. At this point, it is basically just plug-and-play, you put in the info for the product you are adding in each of the corresponding fields. Put in the product name, write a description, decide on a price, upload an image, etc . . . You can also add a unique SKU and click the “Track inventory” box if you plan on monitoring your remaining inventory for each product via Weebly. At the bottom of the product page, you can also add options to your product, such as different sizes and colors.

When you are done editing all your fields, click the green “Save” button at the bottom right hand corner of the screen to finish the product adding process.

Once you have finished adding a product, it will show up on your main product screen in a descending list-style format.

Importing Products in Bulk

If you want to add your products in bulk, you can upload them via a CSV file, or add them from your Etsy or Shopify store.

First, you click on the “Import Products” button at the top right-hand of the page.

This box will pop-up, giving you the option of selecting a CSV file to upload, or clicking on the Etsy or Shopify boxes if you want to import from there. If you are doing a CSV upload, you simply click on the “Import CSV File” box, as seen below. Then, click the blue “Continue” button in the bottom right-hand of the box.

Next, hit the blue “Select CSV File” button. If you need instructions on how to format your CSV for import, click the “Read the instructions” text. Lastly, you just select the CSV from your computer and click “Open”

If you are planning on importing from Etsy or Shopify, the process is essentially the same. The only difference, is that Etsy and Shopify actually have export to CSV options for their inventory. So, you just have to export from either and then import that document into your Weebly ecommerce store.

Step 4: Group Products Into Categories

The best way to organize your products, is to group them into categories. Categories allow you to group products into certain sections, which then show up on your main shop page.

The first thing to do, is to go to the category tab from your main Weebly ecommerce store dashboard and click on it.

Next, is to go to the top right of the page and click on the blue button that says “Add category.”

The category creation screen is pretty straightforward. You simply name your category, select an image for the category if you would like to, select which products you want to add to the category, and then click the green “Save Category” button at the bottom right hand of the page.

You can create as many categories as you like. You can also add the same product to multiple categories. On your main Weebly ecommerce storefront page, categories will appear at the top of the page, with products underneath, as shown below.

Step 5: Configure Your General Store Settings

To get to your store settings page, simply click the “Store Settings” tab on the bottom of your Weebly ecommerce store dashboard navigation tabs.

That will take you to the general “Store Settings” page. Here, you will put in a variety of info, such as your desired currency, weight/measurement unit preferences, store mode (add to cart vs buy now), store address, email, phone number, etc. There are also two boxes where you can include your store’s return and shipping policies, if you prefer to do so. Lastly, you can turn a “note to seller” option on or off, depending on whether you want customers to have the option of leaving you a custom note when they buy.

When you are done adding your info, just be sure to hit the green “Save Settings” button at the bottom right hand of your screen.

Step 6: Set Up Your Checkout Preferences (Payment Processor)

To get to the checkout preferences screen, you simply click on that tab from the main “Store Settings” page.

If you do not have a business plan, then your only option to accept payments is to sign up with Stripe (if you have not already). To do that, you simply click on the blue “Enable” button next to the Stripe payment box option.

Then, you will have the option of either creating a new Stripe account or signing in and connecting one you already own.

If you already purchased the “Business” plan, then you also have the option of integrating Square, Authorize.net, or Paypal payments to your Weebly checkout. The process is similar, you just click on the blue “Enable” button next to whichever processor you want to use and then connect your existing payment account, or create a new one.

Whenever a customer checks out on your Weebly ecommerce site, they will have the option of paying via credit card via whichever processor your enabled, or via Paypal, if you enabled that option.

Step 7: Tweak Your Display Options

If you decide you want to tweak the way your store layout is displayed, you can do that via the display tab in your store’s general settings. Simply click on the display tab from your main storefront page and then tweak whatever settings you desire. You can change how many column categories there are in one row, decide how many products you want on a page, select your image ratios for your products/categories, and decide whether you want your categories displayed as a sidebar or as blocks on the page.

Again, just be sure to click the green “Save Settings” button on the bottom right-hand of the page.

Step 8: Set Up Shipping Rates For Your Weebly Ecommerce Store

If you are selling physical products you are planning to ship, then setting up your shipping options and pricing is very important. From your “General Settings” homepage, click on the “Shipping” tab on the left of the page.

From there, click on the “Add Location” button at the top right hand of the page.

Next, click on the countries you are going to ship to, and then click the green “Add” button at the bottom right of the window.

To start adding rates for specific countries, click the “Add Rate”  plus sign under the country tab.

Next, you have to decide how you want shipping determined, either by price or by weight of your product, and then put in the pertinent info, such as the shipping titles (ie. USPS Priority) and shipping price. When complete, hit the green “Save” button at the bottom right of the window.

You can add as many rates as you like for any country and even for regions and subregions within that country.

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Pro Tip!

Jason Rueger (FSB employee and owner of Rueger Pottery)

I have sold quite a bit of my pottery online and shipped it to my customers. When estimating shipping, pick your most standard weight and size of package that you will ship. Then, go to your carrier’s site (UPS, USPS, etc), pick a state, and estimate how much it would cost to ship that package to the city furthest away from you in that state. Make that your shipping price for that whole state. Using this method, you will always be really close on your shipping price without cheating yourself or your customers.

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Step 9: Set Up Your Tax Rates

Weebly allows you to set tax rates for your products as well. In most cases, you would only create a sales tax for customers buying from the state you are located in. For example, our employee that has his pottery business, charges a 7% sales tax to Indiana state residents when they purchase his product online, because that is the state he is located in. But, buyers from other states do not have to pay sales tax. Of course, certain products like tobacco, alcohol, etc. may have additional taxes, so be sure to do your research.

To set a sales tax rate, click on the “Taxes” tab from your main store settings screen.

Then, click on the “Add location” tab at the top right of the page.

You then add a location and Weebly will automatically enter the corresponding tax rate for you, as long as the location is in the US or Canada. If you are selling outside the US or Canada, then you will have to input the taxes you need to charge manually.

Step 10: Edit Your Follow-Up Emails

Weebly allows you to send automatic follow-up emails for certain actions that customer’s take or related to certain aspects of a customer’s order, like an order confirmation, download confirmation, shipped item, etc. These emails already have a general template and text, but you can edit as needed.

To edit an email, just click on the “Emails” tab from your general settings page.

Then, simply select the email you want to edit by clicking on it.

Weebly will take you to the email screen for that email and then you can edit various aspects of the email. In most cases, your options are fairly limited, just allowing you to add a message in the header/footer. To do that, you just click on the header or footer message area, write whatever message you desire in the pop-up box, and then click the green “Apply” button. The message will be saved and applied to all future emails in that category.

Summary

For the average small business owner, Weebly ecommerce is a great choice. It lacks some sophisticated ecommerce features like real-time shipping rate calculators and abandoned cart savers. But, it provides a great way to start selling products and services online without having to shell out $75 or more per month.

For more information on Weebly, check out our guide to the Best Website Builders or read user reviews and more at Fit Small Business.

Want to create a pro business website in less than 60 minutes? Click Here to get our FREE Website Builder guide and find out how.