Are you an artist looking for an online shop...

It's is a common question that I hear all the time "Where and or what should I use for an online shop to sell my products as an artist"... and there are quite a few out there, one of the most common ones is Big Cartel (Which is what SS.com uses... for the time being). We were recently approached by a brand new online marketplace called Shoply.com a great name for a cool new site to feature all your wares. There are so many variables to look for when "Shopping" for an online shop, like will it handle a massive amount of traffic, how does the cart hold up, is it customizable to skin, can you apply discount codes, etc.. Shoply is all about keeping things free, quick and easy. Their focus is on allowing sellers to open and run their store with the minimum of hassle and fuss. If any of this sounds interesting... please hit the jump to read the entire article on this new marketplace and know that YOU will have the opportunity through SpankyStokes.com to upgrade to their premium account for FREE for the first month, sound good... keep reading!

One of the really cool things I noticed about the Shoply.com shops is a large focus on social marketing tools, allowing you, and anyone that visits, the ability to connect through all social media outlets to get you product noticed. Another great thing is the implementation of site shop widgets which can be embedded on other blogs and websites. Another great feature is that their marketplaces are syndicated across the web, which helps drive traffic to sellers shops and really helps them grow their sales... and they have a frontpage marketplace that rotates product randomly, allowing viewers not searching for designer vinyl or plush to be exposed to such an awesome genre!

Now lets get down to the nitty gritty... can these Shoply accounts handle a load? Well according to them, their platform is very robust - influx's of traffic can be handled without a problem. And can you have a custom theme... as of right now they do not yet have custom themes, but will have VERY soon, and the same goes for generic and product specific discount codes. Now... they reached out to ME, which means that they are passionate about toys and are already working with a few toy designers including Fakir Design, and Sanchez and Friends (screen shot above).

Lets talk what their store offers... their personal plan is completely free and gives more sellers enough for their needs (10 products, each with 2 images and all the other bell and whistles). They do however have a premium account which provides 150 products each with 5 images, featured status in the marketplace and allows a custom domain, so shops can live on the sellers own domain rather than a shoply one... this is only $19.99 per month, not too shabby if you ask me, and if you want a premium account, Shoply has hooked the readers of SS.com up with a month FREE for anyone who upgrades. All you need to do is sign up for a free account then go to http://shoply.com/promos/spanky to get this special offer (it will look like the above image). Pretty rad huh?!?!

I sure hope this was helpful for you, and please by all means do some digging yourself to see if you like this for yourself... and do know that the basic account is totally FREE so what do you have to lose, go set up your own Shop now!