How to sell online for free: what free really means

By the Payly team · October 23, 2026 · 4 min read

You can open an online store without paying a monthly fee, but selling is never completely free. Someone has to process the card payment, and that someone charges a fee. This guide explains what "free" does and does not cover, compares the honest options, and shows how to set up a free store step by step.

What "free" really means

Three kinds of cost can sit behind an online store:

• The platform. A monthly plan, a fee on each sale, or both.
• Payment processing. A percentage plus a fixed amount on each payment. This applies to every seller, on every platform, and no platform can remove it.
• Extras. A domain name, shipping supplies and, on some platforms, paid add-ons.

When a company says its platform is free, check which of these it means. The processing fee will always be there. The question is whether the platform adds a second layer on top of it.

The free options, compared fairly

Several platforms have a $0 way in. They differ in what the free version can actually do.

• Big Cartel. The free Gold plan lets you sell with up to 5 products (variations count), one image each. It has no custom domain and no discounts. The paid Platinum plan is $15 a month, or $12 a month billed yearly, for 50 products and a custom domain. Big Cartel charges no transaction fees.
• Square. The free plan has no monthly fee. Online card payments cost 3.3% + 30 cents on that plan, against 2.9% + 30 cents on the paid plans.
• Wix. The free plan exists, but it cannot take payments. The first plan that can sell is Core, at $29 a month billed yearly.
• Etsy. There is no monthly plan. You pay $0.20 to list an item, a 6.5% transaction fee, and 3% + $0.25 payment processing. In exchange you get a marketplace where shoppers already browse.
• WooCommerce. The plugin is free, but you need hosting, which WooCommerce itself estimates at $25 to $350 a month for most stores.
• Payly. No monthly fee, no transaction fee, no commission, and every feature is available to every store.

Shopify has no permanent free plan. It offers a 3-day trial, then $1 a month for three months, then its normal monthly price.

How Payly can be free

Payly is an official PayPal and Stripe partner, and that partnership lets Payly run the platform without charging you. Customers pay your own PayPal or Stripe account directly, so your money never passes through Payly. The only fee on a sale is PayPal's or Stripe's standard processing fee.

Your store is hosted in your own free Cloudflare account. Cloudflare's free plan comfortably covers most stores, about 5,000 visitors a day. If a store ever outgrows it, Cloudflare's paid plan is $5 a month, paid to Cloudflare. Payly stays free either way. The details are in What does Payly cost?.

With your own store, you bring visitors through search, social media, email and word of mouth. Marketplaces like Etsy supply traffic but charge for it.

Set up a free store: the short version

1. Create your accounts. You need a Payly account, a free Cloudflare account and a PayPal or Stripe account. Sign up for Payly first.
2. Build your store. Choose a ready-made design, then change the words, colors and photos in the drag-and-drop editor.
3. Add products. Give each a name, price, photos and description. See Add a product.
4. Connect payments. Connect your PayPal account, your Stripe account, or both.
5. Test. Turn on test mode and place a practice order so no real money moves.
6. Publish. Press Publish. Your store goes live on a free workers.dev address.

Where the small costs still appear

Even with a free platform, plan for these:

• Processing fees. PayPal Checkout is 3.49% + $0.49 per sale, and a standard card payment through Stripe is 2.9% + $0.30. On a $40 order, that is about $1.89 with PayPal Checkout or $1.46 with Stripe. Build it into your prices.
• A domain, if you want one. Connecting it to Payly is free. The name itself comes from a registrar, typically about $10 to $20 a year for a .com.
• Shipping and packaging. Buy labels from your carrier, or connect your own ShipStation account to compare carrier rates and buy labels there.
• Your time. Photos, descriptions and replies to customers are the real investment.

Price from the fee backward. Add your cost, your processing fee and the profit you want, and the total is your price. Do not guess and hope the fee fits.

Questions

Is there a catch with a free platform?

Read what the free tier leaves out. Some limit products, block custom domains or cannot take payments at all. Compare the free version's limits against what your store needs on day one.

Can I use my own domain on a free store?

On Payly, yes. Connecting your own domain is free, and you pay only the registrar for the name. See Connect a custom domain.

What if my store grows?

Payly adds no fee as your sales grow. The only cost that can change is Cloudflare's, and only if traffic outgrows its free plan.

Prices as published by each company for the US in October 2026. Prices can change; check each company's own pricing page.