Let's Talk Squarespace Commerce!
So you are thinking about selling products on your Squarespace website- awesome! I know commerce can seem daunting with so many ins and out but here is a checklist to help you get organized and ready!
*Squarespace is a trademark of Squarespace Inc. Nestingzone is not affliliated with Squarespace.
let’s get started
Commerce Photos
Have your photos ready in .jpg format. If you are selling artwork, make sure your artwork is true to color on a clean white background. I usually recommend using photo editing software like photoshop to clean up backgrounds. This is a great way to resize images as well.
In Commerce, you can pick one universal aspect ratio that your store photos will fit into (1:1, 2:3, 4:3, 4:5 or 9:16) Pick the size that fits all your products/artwork best.
For the photos I recommend the following:
A main photo.
1-3 detail images
A lifestyle shot / artwork faux framed. You can find frame mockups on sites like Creative Market.
Products Document
This is great to have for yourself or if you are working with a designer. It’ll help organized and along the way with so many moving parts.
Have everything you are thinking about written down. I recommend Excel/ Numbers or Google Doc so your document can be shared if needed. Here is a quick run down of you fields you’ll need:
A ‘romance’ statement. This is 1 - 2 sentences describing what you are selling. Then you can jump into the product details.
Product Details. What is it made of, materials, medium, what is the size of the product. Compile all the important info here. Color, Variants, etc.
For artwork, use the gallery rule of thumb: Title of artwork, medium, year created
If your product has variants that is good to know as well. Are you selling prints in varying sizes, what are those sizes and price points.
Are you selling works that are framed and unframed, what are those price points
Pricing. Set your pricing. if it’s a one off, what is the price, if it has variants (Colors, Size, etc what are those prices if they differ.)
Shipping
In the age of Amazon and big business that offer free shipping, this has really affected how small business have to think about shipping. With Squarespace you have a few options, to charge for shipping, include shipping in your pricing to have complimentary shipping, or use a plugin to calculate shipping. There are pros and cons for sure so lets tackle the break down
Charge for shipping Flat Rate or By weight
Flat rate: if you have a universal amount you’d like to charge you this is a great option. It breaks down into two section, per order and per item if you like.
Charge by weight: This is slightly more hands on but essentially you break down the weight of your product and come up with a calculation that works to cover shipping as close as possible. I recommend charting this out in pound increments until you hit your heaviest shipped item.
Then when you are importing your items, in the weight field of the product listing, you will add the weight of the product as though it is already packed for shipping. This is important so the calculator used the correct weight
Free / Complimentary shipping
This is easy for the most part, when you are coming up with the pricing of your products, just add shipping into your price to cover shipping.
Using the calculator (Advanced Commerce)
In this version, you’ll have to know the dimensions of your shipping boxes, the weight of each item and the system will use that data to calculate shipping accordingly to FedEx, UPS, or USPS rates.
Sometimes this can be inaccurate, just keep that in mind.
Sales Tax
I have to preface this section with I AM NOT AN ACCOUNTANT. Please reach out to your accountant to see what they suggest. Generally speaking, if you are starting a commerce store, make sure to know your state sales tax and add that into the backend of your commerce panel.
Other pages to think about
FAQ’s Page
These are some common question highlight
Shipping
Returns/Exchange Policy
Damages
Can customers cancel orders?
How does Domestic Shipping within the United States work?
Will you offer International shipping?
Legal Documents
Now that you are going to sell products, this is a good time to set up basic legal documents for your site: Privacy policies & Terms and Conditions. There are generators that can help you with this. Check out this blog post for more info!
These 6-ish areas will definitely help you move along whilst setting up your commerce store. There is plenty more to tackle but one thing at a time, we aren’t trying to syke you out of starting, if anything, I want to encourage you to take your website to the next level by having full control over what you sell, how it’s laid out and make it feel like you!
If you have any commerce question drop them down below! Let’s get your shop moving and grooving!
