Module 4: Payments, Shipping & Fulfillment

Set up payments without headaches

Connect a mainstream payment processor through your platform's built-in integration — the setup is usually a guided wizard taking under an hour. You'll need your business bank account, tax ID (EIN if you're a US LLC), and a government ID for verification. Enable the payment methods your customers actually use: credit cards are mandatory, and digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal) measurably lift mobile conversion because they remove typing.

Run a real $1 test purchase with your own card before launch, then refund it. Walk the entire flow as a customer: add to cart, enter details, complete payment, receive the confirmation email. Check that the order appears correctly in your dashboard and the money lands in your account on the expected schedule (typically 2-7 business days for new accounts). Every hour spent testing checkout saves ten hours of lost sales and support tickets later.

Understand your fees precisely: most processors charge around 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction, and your platform may add its own cut depending on your plan. Factor these into your unit economics from Module 2 — a product with thin margins gets thinner with every fee. And set up basic fraud protection (address verification, CVV required); a single chargeback costs you the sale, the product, and a $15-25 fee, so prevention pays.

Shipping strategy that doesn't eat your margin

Shipping is where beginner stores bleed money. Start by weighing and measuring every product with its packaging, then get real rates from two carriers for your typical order to your three most common destinations. You'll discover that dimensional weight (package size) often costs more than actual weight — right-sizing your packaging is free money.

State shipping times honestly on every product page and at checkout — "ships in 1-2 business days, arrives in 3-5" beats vague promises that create angry emails. Buy a small digital scale ($20) and print labels through your platform or carrier accounts for commercial rates (typically 20-40% below retail counter prices). These boring operational details are the difference between shipping profitably and subsidizing every order.

Revisit your shipping strategy as order volume grows: what works at 20 orders a month (hand-packing at the kitchen table) breaks at 200. Watch for the signals — packing eating your evenings, shipping errors rising, carrier pickups making sense. Plan the next stage before the current one breaks; logistics done proactively is cheap, done reactively is expensive.

Fulfillment options: DIY, 3PL, or supplier-direct

Three ways to get orders out the door. DIY fulfillment (you store, pack, and ship) costs the least per order at low volume and gives you total quality control — perfect for the first 50-100 orders a month, when you can pack boxes at your kitchen table. The hidden cost is your time: value it honestly, because packing boxes at midnight doesn't scale.

A third-party logistics provider (3PL) stores your inventory in their warehouse and ships orders for you, charging per order plus storage fees. The math flips in your favor around 100-200 orders per month, or sooner if your time is better spent on marketing than packing. Vet 3PLs like suppliers: ask about error rates, integration with your platform, and what happens during your peak season.

Supplier-direct (dropshipping or print-on-demand fulfillment) means you never touch inventory — the supplier ships to your customer. It's the lowest-effort option but gives you the least control over packaging, speed, and quality. Many stores blend models: DIY for hero products where presentation matters, supplier-direct for long-tail items. Match the method to each product's economics, not to ideology.

Decide your switch points in advance: "I'll move to a 3PL when packing takes more than 10 hours a week" or "I'll bring fulfillment in-house when 3PL fees exceed the cost of a part-time packer." Pre-decided triggers prevent the two failure modes — switching too early and paying for capacity you don't need, or switching too late and drowning in boxes during your busiest month. Write your triggers down now while you're thinking clearly.