Hi forum,
First time here with a load of first questions. I have spent a few weeks building a clear theme/niche in my head for a print on demand store(s); researched and learned as much as I can. I’m very close to starting the building and launching of my first store (by the end of the week hopefully) but before then, I’ve jotted down a few questions - that I’m hoping I can get the majority of answered - before I start. In no particular order.
Right out of the gates, I want to be a bit different and allow the customer to somewhat customise a part of the design themselves on my site before adding a product to the checkout. I have little coding experience so I’m hoping some apps already exist that will get me 90% of the way there? Does anybody know if there’s a way of allowing advanced ‘customise’ options on my product screen? I’m hoping the customer can click the button and a simple box pops up with a custom page that somebody could code for me for relatively cheap.
The rest of my questions are a bit more generic. Thank you in advance for taking the time to answer any you can!
Is there a rule of thumb when to move through the package plans? I’ll obviously start with the basic £24 (I’m English operating in England by the way) a month plan. When do people usually move to £69 and £259 plans? Is there a rough revenue figure that’s an optimal point to shift?
What type of coding is used here, HTML? Following on from my first question, if I want a custom ‘customise’ screen created for me, would I need to search for a front-end HTML web developer? Do any operate here or do I need to search a freelance website for such a thing?
The basic plan allows me to have 2 accounts. Do you guys have an Admin account and a developer/”other thing” account? Can you add restrictions to the second account so a hired freelancer can work on my site without me worrying that they’ll change my withdrawal method/personal info etc.?
Do I need two email addresses for two different accounts? Do you guys run [email removed] or [email removed] etc.? Which names sound more professional?
Do I need to set up a business banking account with my bank? Or create a limited company or any of that? I’m only looking to print on demand so I was just going to buy a Shopify basic package and a domain name. Do I need a company credit card or if there any real benefit to a business account/credit card?
Anybody from the UK got any tips on taxes? I’m completely new to the forum as a source of education so any links to useful threads for this would be greatly appreciated!
Any must-have plug-ins that you recommend every store (particularly print on demand) should always run?
Apparently it’s good to collect data? I should be collecting emails for an email list or something?? I’ve heard/read that quite a bit from initial research. Newsletters?
Terms and Conditions. Is there a way of adding a tick box that customers need to tick before making a payment? If I write up some terms and conditions, do these need to be signed off to be legally binding by a certain type of company or, as long as I have a professional type something appropriate up, is this enough?
Custom packaging – I was thinking of placing a card in for future offers and to have a bit more branding control here? How do I go about this? Directly with the printing company? Any experience/tips in this area? Following on from that, how do you get samples?
Is there a way to offer discounts, gift cards and freebies? I’m thinking if I get an influencer’s interest, I’d like to offer a free product so a one-time discount code that I – as admin- have full control over would be handy.
Finally, any general first launch tips please? Any good-practice advice and things that became super apparent to you fairly quickly? If you could go back to your past self at the point of launching his/her first store, what nuggets of wisdom would you pass on?
Kind regards,
CPerry94.