The new shop is ready to switch! Please don’t worry about the move though, if I’m doing my job, you’ll hardly notice the difference (except in all the ways that make it better). The URL (web address) is the same: olivemanna.com or olivemannashop.com and an additional domain I picked up, shopolivemanna.com.

As of this post olivemannashop.com is still going to the old store, but the others are pointing correctly. It takes a day or two for changes to go through.

First, for the record, I’m not going to tell anyone to leave Big Cartel just because I am. That decision has been on my mind for a few months and it has been a difficult one. I still LOVE Big Cartel and recommend them to everyone starting an online shop. The service is fantastic and there’s no one else out there with as many features for the same price.

The reason I’m leaving is simply that there are a handful of features I’ve come to need desperately that Big Cartel hasn’t been able to keep up with. Essentially, the same way I outgrew Etsy last year, I’ve not outgrown Big Cartel. It’s no fault on their end, just the way things worked out.

So the new shop is run by Shopify. If you’re interested, go take a look, but be warned, I’m not recommending them for small businesses starting out. The fees will knock you down pretty quickly. They’re like Etsy in that regard (starting at 3%) but with a fairly high flat rate on top of it (rates start higher than Big Cartel). I recommend them only after you’ve reached a point in which your business is beginning to suffer WITHOUT the extras they provide. If you can do without, DO for as long as you can.

Go on over and use the code SHOPIFY for $5.00 off your order through this week (ending midnight CST saturday night).

THE IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES

Weight-based shipping

The biggest change is the shipping. I can’t tell you how many people have written to say things like, “does it really cost $__ to ship this”, or worse, “OMG, it can’t possibly cost that much!” It hurts because hard as I try to be fair, Big Cartel just can’t give you different shipping prices for different product options, no matter what their difference in weight.

So now every variation of every product in the shop is assigned a weight and the system send that information over to USPS/UPS/FedEx and the carrier sends back the price based on the total weight of your cart. Then you get to choose from a number of options for shipping either based on carrier, speed, or lowest price if you prefer (previously you were limited to Priority Mail, but now you can choose first class or parcel post).

Customer accounts

This is totally optional, but it IS an option now. You can sign up for an account and have the shop keep track of your order history as well as store addresses for future use. You can even have separate billing and shipping addresses, which has been an issue dealing with Paypal before. Sending a gift is now much simpler!

Better categorization

Shopify has what are called “smart collections” which automatically pull products into categories based on criteria I set on the back end. This means there are a lot more ways to separate products so you can find them more easily.

Scroll to the bottom of most every page and you’ll see two lists on the left of the footer with categories and subcategories. Then to break things down even more, there are tags which will let you view things like “spools” or even “kraft” to see all things kraft. Or, try a color, look for the word “white” and see everything that’s white.

And if you’re really lost, just type what you’re looking for in the search bar, or email me and I’ll help point you to it.

Mobile interface

There’s also a new mobile website so you can browse and shop right from your phone. It looks very cool on my iPhone and super easy to use, but I’d love your feedback if you use another device to shop.

OH! ONE LAST THING… because I’m also a web designer, I need to disclose that I did not design this one. It’s the first time in probably 6 years that I have used a template right out of the box, but that’s how awesome this Shopify template is. It just happened to be everything I was looking for in my store, so why build it myself?!?!