VAT number, Stripe and five free items: what you actually need to start selling

To sell your products on Handsome you need three things, and only three: a verified Italian VAT number, a connected Stripe account, and the selling terms accepted. Since 18 September 2026, selling is open to every Maker who has them. No waiting list and no closed numbers: two of the three requirements go through a check on our side, profile approval and the VAT number control. Once those are done, you publish.

The rest is simpler than it sounds. The free plan lets you keep 5 published items online, drafts are unlimited, and Handsome takes no cut of your sales: the only cost is the standard Stripe fee on the payment. Below: what you need, why, and what happens if one piece is missing.

The three requirements, one by one

Before you can publish, Handsome checks three things. They are not red tape we invented: they are the minimum conditions for a real sale, with an identifiable seller and a traceable payment.

• A verified VAT number. It has to be on your profile and verified. Until it is, the publish button stays locked.
• A connected Stripe account. That is the account where order payments are created. You connect it from your dashboard: a few minutes, if your documents are within reach.
• Accepted selling terms. You accept them once, from the pop-up in your dashboard. They cover warranty, returns and your responsibility for the item you ship.

Why the VAT number is not a whim

A workshop can be run occasionally, within precise limits: on Handsome an Apprentice publishes at most 5 a year, and the tax ceiling on occasional fees is something your accountant confirms. Selling objects you made, regularly, with shipping and a right of withdrawal, is something else: it is commercial activity, and commercial activity needs a VAT number. Handsome does not decide that, Italian law does, and the starting point is the Italian Revenue Agency website.

If you do not have one yet, it is not the end of the road. The flat-rate regime keeps costs low and bookkeeping light, and the right activity code for people who teach workshops and sell pieces is in choosing the ATECO code for workshops and the flat-rate regime. Starting from scratch? Our guide to opening a VAT number as a craftsperson lays out the steps and the timings.

Stripe: where your money is created

When someone buys one of your pieces, the payment does not sit in a Handsome account: it is created on your Stripe account. The technical name is Direct Charge, and Handsome adds no fee on top. The money is yours, and the only cost is what Stripe keeps on each payment: current rates are on Stripe's official pricing page.

Connecting Stripe is dreaded more than it deserves. You need your business details, an ID document and the IBAN of the account you want your payouts sent to; the checks are handled by Stripe through its standard verification process. If you already connected it for workshop deposits you are done: it is the same account. The step by step is in connecting Stripe and getting paid with no middleman.

Five free items, unlimited drafts

The free plan lets you keep 5 published products online at once. Nobody counts drafts: you can prepare thirty and decide every week which five go in the window. For a studio that is just starting out, that is not a painful limit: five well prepared pages, with real photos, real measurements and a price that holds up, are easier to get right than thirty rushed ones.

With Handsome Pro the cap disappears and you publish as many items as you like. Pro costs 9.90 euros a month, and the first month is a 30-day free trial that starts with no card: the card is asked for at the first charge, and the trial happens once only. There is also the yearly plan at 95 euros, paid upfront and covering twelve months: the discount is already inside the price, it is not a trial period.

• Counts towards the limit: published products, the ones visible in your shop window.
• Does not count: drafts, as many as you want.
• With Pro active: no cap at all.
• If Pro lapses: the 5 most recent stay up, the rest become drafts and come back on their own when you renew.

Who cannot sell products: Apprentices

There are two roles on Handsome. A Maker has a VAT number and can do everything: workshops and products. An Apprentice does not, and can offer experiences but not sell objects.

Without a VAT number, a workshop can sit inside the occasional-work bracket, with the cap of 5 workshops a year that the platform applies. A product cannot. The moment you ship an object to someone you do not know who paid online, you are a seller in full: tax document, legal warranty, right of withdrawal, liability for the item.

You fix it by opening a VAT number. As soon as it is verified the publish button lights up, and your pieces appear in the shop on your public profile, at /artigiani/your-name/prodotti. It is one single address: you send it in a chat, put it in your bio, print it on a card inside the parcel. And it lives inside your profile, next to your workshop pages: whoever lands there, or leaves one of your classes and comes back looking for you, finds the pieces already waiting. If you want to look around first, joining Handsome stays free while you wait.

From zero to first sale: the right order

1. Join for free and fill in your profile: studio name, a photo of you, your craft. Around 15 minutes.
2. Wait for your profile to be approved, then enter your VAT number and wait for the check.
3. Connect your Stripe account: business details, ID, IBAN.
4. Accept the selling terms from the pop-up in your dashboard.
5. Set your shipping: how much it costs and the order value above which it is free.
6. Upload your first pieces as drafts: three good photos, real measurements, a price that holds up.
7. Publish five of them and send the shop link to the customers you already have.

Handsome collects the shipping address with the order, so you are not chasing anyone through messages. What is actually left in your pocket compared with other shop windows, with the numbers on a 40-euro piece, is in what it really costs to sell one item online; how a sale works from order to parcel is covered in selling your handmade products online with no platform cut.