Selling online without a website: a step-by-step guide for makers

You can sell online without a website: you need a ready-made shop where you upload your pieces, set shipping and take card payments. On Handsome that shop lives inside your maker profile: you need an Italian VAT number and a Stripe account, signing up is free and the platform takes no commission on your sales. Below is the whole path, from sign-up to the first parcel.

Up to date as of September 2026, for makers who want to sell their creations online and today sell at markets, in the workshop or in chat. No site to build: a few well-prepared pieces and one clear place to send buyers.

Handsome is an Italian marketplace for creative workshops. Since 18 September 2026 every eligible Maker can also sell handmade pieces online from their public profile, in the shop section, with cart and payment built in.

Can you sell online without a website? Yes, but choose where

Yes. You need a place that shows your pieces, takes payment and collects the address. There are four ways, each with its own cost, in money or hours.

• Instagram or WhatsApp messages. Free, but every sale is haggled by hand over photos, bank details and addresses: the real maths is in selling on Instagram without a website.
• Global marketplaces. They bring an audience, but your piece sits among thousands of others and the fees stack up on every order.
• Your own online store. Truly yours, but you pay for a plan, a domain, apps and setup time: the numbers are in your own store or a ready-made shop.
• A ready-made shop. Cart, payment and the buyer's address are already handled: you upload the pieces. That is the Handsome model.

None of the four guarantees buyers. What changes is the work left to you between “I want that one” and the parcel leaving.

What you need to sell handmade products online

On Handsome you need three things: a verified VAT number, a connected Stripe account and the selling terms accepted. No website, domain or software.

• An Italian VAT number (partita IVA). You enter it in your profile and we verify it. Until then, and until Stripe is connected, the Products section stays hidden.
• A connected Stripe account. Every payment is created there.
• The selling terms. You accept them once, from the dashboard, before publishing your first piece.

Stripe is the step people put off most, and it blocks everything: details in VAT number, Stripe and five listings.

From zero to your first order in eight steps

Here is the full path to selling online with no website and no store of your own. The long part is preparing the pieces.

1. You sign up for free and complete your profile: workshop name, city, a photo of you, two lines on your work.
2. You enter your VAT number and wait for Handsome to approve your profile and verify it.
3. You connect your Stripe account from the dashboard.
4. You accept the selling terms, once.
5. You upload your first pieces as drafts: photos, description, size, materials, price, quantity.
6. You set up delivery: shipping cost, optional free-shipping threshold, delivery days, pickup.
7. You publish your five best pieces and share your shop link.
8. You get your first order, pack it and mark it as shipped.

Prepare your first five pieces

Start with five: that is what the free plan keeps published at once, and enough to see what people like. Drafts are unlimited. Fill in every field: a complete listing answers the questions that would otherwise reach your DMs.

• A title of up to 120 characters: what it is, its material, who it is for.
• A description of up to 4,000 characters: how you made it, how to use it, what sets it apart.
• Size, materials and care instructions, each in its own field.
• Up to 6 photos per piece.
• A price from 1 to 10,000 euros and a stock quantity from 0 to 999.
• An optional English version.

Describe the irregularities too. Under Handsome's terms a piece is judged against its description: variation in glaze, grain or size within the stated tolerance is not a defect. Leave it out and it becomes a complaint. How to write it: the product listing that sells.

Shipping or pickup at the workshop: decide once

You ship, with rules set once for the whole shop. The buyer sees the cost before paying and, if you offer both, picks shipping or pickup.

• One shipping cost per order, up to 50 euros, however many pieces.
• A free-shipping threshold, if you want one, compared with the value of the pieces, shipping excluded.
• Delivery days, from a minimum to a maximum.
• Pickup at your workshop, free for the buyer, with a note on where and when.

At least one option stays on, so you can start with pickup only. Each order holds one Maker's pieces, so the parcel always leaves from you. Packaging and couriers: shipping handmade products.

Publish and share one link

Share one address, your shop's, wherever people already meet you. A product page can also appear on Google, but only when complete: your dashboard shows what is missing. Being indexed does not mean visits: look for first orders where people already know you.

Your profile and workshops are indexed too, and the profile leads to the shop, so looking after it matters: see getting found on Google without a website. The address is handsomemakers.com/en/artigiani/your-name/prodotti.

• Your Instagram bio. A link to pieces with a price and a cart, not a “DM me for prices”. How to write it: the bio that sells.
• WhatsApp. A saved reply for anyone who asks the price: two lines and the link.
• Markets. A QR code on your stall, for people who want to buy later from home.
• The end of a workshop. Someone who has just made something with you is your likeliest buyer: selling products at the end of a workshop.
• Inside every parcel. A card with the link, for the next purchase.

Your first order: what happens and what you do

When someone buys, you get an email and a dashboard notification, and the buyer gets an order confirmation. Then it is up to you.

1. Open the Orders page in your dashboard: pieces, total, shipping address or pickup choice, and any buyer notes.
2. Pack and ship within the days you stated. For pickup, the buyer already has your workshop address and note by email.
3. Press Shipped, or Collected: the order closes and, for shipments, the buyer is emailed that the parcel is on its way.
4. Issue the tax document for the full amount yourself, as the Terms say: you are the seller and Handsome is not party to the contract. Which one depends on your tax regime: ask your accountant.

The money is on your Stripe account the moment the buyer pays, and Handsome keeps none of it. The transfer to your bank is not automatic and has no promised date. Stripe's fees: Stripe's official pricing page.

What it costs to sell with the Handsome shop

Signing up and the shop are free, and Handsome takes no commission: the only cost on each sale is Stripe's card fee. The free plan keeps five pieces published at a time; beyond that, Handsome Pro costs 9.90 euros a month (7.90 for partner-association members) or 95 euros a year. If Pro lapses, the five most recent stay online and the rest go back to drafts.

What Handsome does not do, plainly

Handsome gives you a shop, a cart and a way to get paid. The rest is your work.

• It does not guarantee your listings reach Google, or that Google sends visitors: the dashboard shows what each listing is missing.
• It does not pack or ship for you.
• It does not check your tax or local-council obligations for selling: they stay with you.
• It does not guarantee sales: it takes the haggling out of your DMs, the pieces do the rest.

Frequently asked questions

How do you sell your handmade creations without a website? You need five pieces described well, a clear shipping rule and one link placed where people already meet you. The first order will teach you the rest.