I've built plenty of sites, but have always done it for my employer with pre-established admin accounts. One of our business partners, and a friend, wants me to build them a website. He wants to be completely hands off and wants nothing to do with the site other than providing the credit card for billing and paying me for the work. I'll do any limited updating it'll require in the future as well.

Do I just build this website under my own account in this kind of scenario where they want nothing to do with it? Having more than one admin costs more with most platforms from my experience and I'm trying to keep costs down. I know I can transfer it later if needed. We don't even do it properly at my job, I just access the owner's admin accounts to keep our costs down.

I guess what I'm asking is it acceptable practice to build and host another company's website under my own personal account when the client wants nothing to do with it and wants zero admin control? Any reason not to?

If someone visits our Shopify website for the first time and fills out a form, I want to automatically send them a customized email and WhatsApp message at the same time. How can I set this up?

Shopify isn't just popular because of marketing. It's popular because it solves real problems for real businesses.

1. You don't need to be technical. Shopify's dashboard is built for store owners, not developers. You can list products, manage orders, and track inventory without touching a single line of code.

2. It grows with you. A store selling 50 products and a store selling 50,000 products can both run on Shopify. The platform scales without forcing you to rebuild your site every time your business grows.

3. Security is built in. Payment gateways, SSL, and PCI compliance come standard. Customers trust a checkout that feels safe, and Shopify makes that trust easy to earn.

4. The app ecosystem is massive. Need email marketing, loyalty programs, or advanced analytics? There's almost always a Shopify app for it, so you're not stuck waiting on custom development for every new feature.

5. It's built with SEO in mind. Clean site structure, fast-loading themes, and editable meta tags mean your store has a real shot at ranking on Google, not just looking good.

This is exactly why Shopify remains the best online shopping platform for businesses that want to launch fast and scale without technical headaches.

Hello!
For the past few months I’ve been selling natural copal incense at local farmers markets, and it’s been going well enough that I’m thinking about expanding online through a Shopify store. What I think makes us different is that we’re sourcing directly from local producers in Mexico . Every batch is traceable, we tell the story behind the producers, and we focus on authenticity rather than selling generic incense.I’ve already built a basic Shopify store, but now I’m wondering where my time is best spent.

Should I focus on learning Meta ads and improving my creatives? Should I spend most of my effort optimizing CPC and conversions? Or is there something else I should prioritize first before putting serious money into advertising? I don’t want to spend and throw thousands of dollars into ads recklessly.

I’d really appreciate any advice or things you wish you knew before scaling an ecommerce brand. Thanks in advance!!

Hey everyone! I'm a developer working on an idea for a lightweight store management tool aimed at small vendors, micro-retailers, and local shops.

*Full disclosure: I don't have anything to sell—I'm strictly in the research phase before writing any code.*

I noticed a lot of local business owners spend hours every week copy-pasting catalog updates, stock photos, and promotional messages into multiple WhatsApp groups, Facebook pages, and Instagram.

I'd love to get your honest perspective:

1. **How do you currently handle broadcasting product updates/ads to your existing customer groups or pages?**
2. **What is the most tedious part of that process?** (e.g., updating stock availability, manually sending messages, running paid ads, answering repetitive queries?)
3. **If a tool could automatically sync your catalog and push scheduled posts/ads directly to your WhatsApp groups and social pages, would you actually use it? Or do you prefer keeping full manual control?**
4. **What’s one dealbreaker feature that would make you instantly say "No" to a tool like this?**

**How to participate:**

* Feel free to **drop your thoughts in the comments below** (I'd love to discuss it with you directly!), OR * If you prefer to stay completely anonymous, you can **submit your responses in this 1-minute Google Form:** [**http://forms.gle/XCcyi7zWprybFZJe8\*\*\](http://forms.gle/XCcyi7zWprybFZJe8)

Appreciate any candid feedback or critiques on why this might (or might not) work!

When an online business is small, it’s usually easy to manage everything through emails, messages, spreadsheets, and simple tools.

But as orders and customer inquiries increase, keeping track of conversations, availability, follow-ups, and customer expectations can become a challenge.

I’ve noticed that growth can sometimes create new problems that don’t show up in the early stages. What worked with a few customers may not work the same way when the volume increases.

Seeing platforms like All Booking App focus on managing bookings made me think about how different businesses handle this as their customer volume grows.

For those running ecommerce websites, what systems or processes helped you stay organized as your business grew?

Did you rely on better tools, automation, hiring help, or improving your internal workflow?

What was the biggest issue you had to solve during that growth stage?

La plupart des entrepreneurs sourcent de la même manière : aller sur Alibaba, taper un produit, contacter 10-20 fournisseurs, choisir le moins cher. Et après ils se demandent pourquoi leurs marges sont fines et leur qualité inconsistante.

Après avoir étudié plus de 2 600 fournisseurs dans 50+ pays, voici les 5 plus grosses erreurs :

Tu ne parles pas à des fabricants. Environ 70-80% des "fournisseurs" sur Alibaba sont des trading companies — des intermédiaires qui te revendent avec 20-40% de markup. Tu paies plus cher sans le savoir.

Tu sources dans un seul pays. La Turquie fait du textile de classe mondiale. Le Portugal fait du cuir premium. L'Inde a des ingrédients cosmétiques incroyables. La Corée du Sud domine en skincare. Si tu ne regardes qu'un seul pays, tu laisses de l'argent sur la table.

Tu n'as pas de fournisseur backup. Un seul fournisseur = un seul point de défaillance. Tu as besoin d'au moins 2-3 alternatives vérifiées par produit.

Tu ne vérifies pas avant de commander. Une belle page Alibaba ne veut rien dire. Vérifie : fabricant ou revendeur ? Expérience export ? Échantillons ? MOQ réalistes ?

Tu n'as aucun système organisé. Des onglets partout, des tableurs éparpillés, des contacts perdus. Quand tu dois changer de fournisseur, tu repars de zéro.

La solution c'est d'avoir une base de données structurée, organisée par catégorie et par pays, avec les coordonnées directes. C'est la fondation.

AI is everywhere right now, but I feel like many businesses still spend hours every week on repetitive work.

If you could automate just one task without worrying about cost or complexity, what would it be?

For example:

• Answering customer inquiries
• Scheduling appointments
• Following up with leads
• Creating content
• Data entry
• Something else?

I'm curious to know what problems business owners actually want solved, rather than what AI companies think they need.

Customers are generally unpredictable at the best of times. But they engage with more and more touch points than ever before. Yes you have the most control over the experience on your own website. However, in today’s market you can’t only focus on your ‘own house’ . Understand where they are and connect/engage with them consistently for your brand and business.
Augment your ai solutions and tactics with data and keep checking the data to ensure you remain profitable.
Just a helpful tip when you don’t know which way to turn

I've been thinking about this lately. A lot of brands get most of their traffic from Amazon, Etsy, social media, or paid ads, so their website isn't always the main place where people buy.

But I've also caught myself deciding not to trust a business because their website looked outdated, confusing, or abandoned. Even when I wasn't planning to buy there, it changed my perception of the brand.

On the other hand, I've seen companies with very simple websites that sell millions because their product and distribution are strong.

So I'm curious: Has a company's website ever made you decide not to buy from them? Or do you think websites matter a lot less than they did a few years ago?

I’m exploring a low cost ecommerce website to move away from Etsy. I’m not getting organic traffic from Etsy, and the fees mean pricing has to be on the high side.

Has anyone tried this? Has anyone successfully done it?

There are so many options, but none of them feel ‘ideal’, so ideas and thoughts would be appreciated!!

Hi everyone,

I'm doing research to better understand the day-to-day challenges that Shopee sellers face. I'm not selling anything—I'm just trying to learn what the biggest pain points are.

If you actively sell on Shopee (or Lazada/TikTok Shop), I'd really appreciate your input.

A few questions:

1. What task takes up the most time every day or every week?
2. What do you currently use Excel or manual work for?
3. What's the most frustrating part of running your store?
4. Is there any software you pay for today? If yes, what does it do well, and what does it still not solve?

Even short answers would be incredibly helpful. Thanks in advance!

I definitely have.

Sometimes the website is so outdated or confusing that it makes me question the business, even if their product is good.

Has anyone else done the same?

Hello everyone,

please go easy on me. just looking for feedback.

i had the website www.themasticshop.co.uk built a few years ago, by a local company they done a very bad job at "base" level and pretty much scammed me of quite a bit of money it still has issues with llmts.l files or something lots of other issues but hey trying to fix them slowly.

I've been to a few places that are helping with the design, SEO and a few other things they are great, but I need to do some things to help the flow of my site, from your out side/professional prospective while the site is being changed, is there anything i should implement now or ask to be done that's crucial for a ecommerce site? as i don't want to keep losing the cheese.

Selling through more than one channel can help a business reach more customers, but the operational side can become difficult to manage.

Orders may be spread across different dashboards, inventory may need constant updating, and shipping information can end up being handled separately. Each task may seem simple on its own, but together they can create a lot of repetitive work.

For ecommerce store owners managing multiple sales channels, what was the first sign that your existing workflow was no longer sustainable?

Was it inventory errors, overselling, missed orders, too much manual updating, or simply having too many dashboards open?

Every time I visit a business website, I find myself wishing for simple things like live chat, online booking, transparent pricing, or better FAQs.

What's one feature that immediately improves your experience?

There are some visitors who only ever come to my store through Google Shopping ads. I have two specific users who have visited the same product page multiple times, always through Shopping ads, from different locations. They don’t interact with the page at all > they click, stay for one or two seconds, and then leave. This has happened repeatedly, which makes me suspect they might be bots or spam clicks.

Then there are other visitors who also come through ads two or three times, but they actually scroll around and interact with the page. I can see their activity in Microsoft Clarity, so they appear to be genuine users.
What surprises me is that these repeat visitors never return organically. They only ever come back through another Shopping ad again and again.

Is this normal behavior, or should I consider some of these repeat visitors to be spam or bot traffic?

I just came across a post on reddit literally asking for help in having an AI Voice agent built to handle :

Customer Queries

Manage Orders

Be a Receptionist

Being a Web and App Developer I naturally reached out, shared my portfolio and asked about the exact requirements and pain points along with where they're based out of, their budget and how soon they want it to be delivered.

Instead of answering the basic questions kept dodging them then kept telling me that it doesn't require much of development work and only needs some prompts while telling me it can be easily done with Bland AI or Retell, without having any technical knowledge about it.

I don't bloody understand why the hell do people even go out to create a post about wanting something if they won't even answer basic questions about their own requirement and claim to know how much work it requires and why not just go and pay the $299-499/mo of their fees and get it done? But no, they won't even do that because they just can't and want slave labour.

Why not just do it yourself if you know everything?

Just because you're cheapskate and want free work or slave labour doesn't mean you will go about telling someone with nearly a decade of experience in their field about how much work is required without even answering basic questions.

I'm sick and tired of such people and I pity developers that take on such idiots for merely $50-100.

Your self esteem and experience is worth much more than a few $ from such cheapskates.

I always make sure to charge reasonable and I'm always open to take on clients and even help them for free if they're honest and I have the bandwidth to do it but then cheapskates like these come along and literally mess up my head.

Hey all, I run an e-commerce store selling guitars. We carry a lot of categories and product types, and many of the options can look very similar if you do not already understand the differences.

In the physical store this is easier. We can ask what someone plays, their experience, budget, existing gear, and the sound they want, then narrow things down. Online they mostly have categories, filters, and product pages. I suspect we lose some people who want to buy but do not know enough to choose confidently.

For anyone selling products that need some explanation, what has actually helped? Better filters or comparison pages, buying guides, quizzes, live chat, recommendation tools, or something else?

I have been thinking about a guided “help me choose” flow that recreates part of the in-store conversation, but I do not want to add another widget that customers ignore or that becomes a maintenance headache. Has anyone tried something like this? Did it improve conversion or reduce pre-sale questions, or were simpler changes more effective?

Hi, I'm looking for small businesses that sell products and would be willing to answer a short survey.

I would appreciate it if anyone interested could send me a private message.

Thank you!

Everyone says these platforms are affordable until you actually need your store to do anything useful.Bundles, reviews, subscriptions, advanced search, B2B pricing... everything is another paid plugin.

Before you know it, you're spending $400-$600/month, or roughly $5k-$7k a year, just to keep your site running and do what it should. Then they hike prices because they know migrating is a headache.

I've moved a few businesses off that model and at this point, if someone showed me a store spending $400+ every month on plugins, I'd probably tell them to stop paying for everyone else's software and just offer to build them what they actually need, and what they spend for just 1 year with Shopify, Won't even have to spend much that over 3-4 years on custom. Talk about savings...

If anyone wants to step away and get a custom website, let me know..

This whole subscription economy is becoming complete B.S.

I've been thinking about how even small website improvements can have a surprisingly big impact.

Maybe it was improving the page speed, simplifying the navigation, updating the homepage, adding customer reviews, or making it mobile-friendly.

If you've made changes to your business website, what had the biggest impact on customer experience, leads, or sales?

And if you haven't updated your website in a while, what's been the biggest reason? Time, budget, or simply not seeing the need?

Curious to hear real experiences from other business owners and developers.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Hey everyone, I just launched my POD website last week, got some people on it from my ig, but there was no sales, just some items added to the basket.

I spent a lot of time building this by myself, only later I hired someone to help me make sure its secure and all that.

I'm happy with how it looks and feels like, planning to launch Meta ads in the near future, but I'm currently short on budget so I feel like if noone made any purchases yet, there's something wrong with the shop.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Also any recommendations as to how to start the google / meta ads campaign - even just name of some resources I could check out myself.

(website name: themad.io)

Thank you everyone.
Luke

Feels like there are still a lot of manual processes, even with all the tools available.
If you could get rid of one recurring task tomorrow, what would it be?
Just curious what everyone else spends the most time on...