How to Set Up a Squarespace Shop from Scratch
This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Table of Contents Show
How do you set up a shop on Squarespace?
Quick Answer: To set up a Squarespace shop, start a free 14-day trial, then choose how you want to build: pick a template, use Blueprint AI to generate a starting point, or start from scratch. Customize your design, connect a payment processor like Squarespace Payments or PayPal, add your products, configure shipping and tax settings, and publish. All four 2026 plans support ecommerce, though Core at $23/month is the sweet spot for most sellers since it eliminates the 2% transaction fee that comes with Basic. If you have your product photos, descriptions, and brand assets ready, the whole setup takes a few hours.
KEY FACTS:
All four Squarespace plans (Basic, Core, Plus, Advanced) now include ecommerce
Basic plan charges a 2% transaction fee per sale on top of processing fees; Core, Plus, and Advanced charge 0%
Annual pricing: Basic $16/mo, Core $23/mo, Plus $39/mo, Advanced $99/mo
Payment processing fees start at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction on Basic (rates decrease on higher plans)
Abandoned Cart option available on all plan levels
Supported payment processors: Squarespace Payments (powered by Stripe), PayPal, Square (US in-person only)
Product types supported: physical, digital, service, gift cards, subscriptions
14-day free trial; no credit card required to start building
Setting up an online store sounds like it should be straightforward. And for the most part, it is on Squarespace. But there are a handful of steps that trip people up; things like connecting a payment processor (which is separate from choosing a plan), setting up shipping rules (which default to nothing), and turning on tax calculations (which exist but aren't automatic by default).
This guide walks through every step of setting up your Squarespace shop from scratch, starting with which plan to choose.
Step 1: Pick the Right Plan for Your Shop
This is where a lot of people get stuck before they even start. Squarespace restructured their plans last year (in most parts of the world), and if you're Googling around, you might still see references to the old Personal/Business/Commerce tiers. Those are gone. The current 2026 plans are Basic, Core, Plus, and Advanced.
Here are the Squarespace pricing plans:
Basic ($16/month billed annually): Yes, you can sell on this plan. But there's a catch. Squarespace charges a 2% transaction fee on every sale, on top of the regular payment processing fees (2.9% + $0.30). That adds up fast. If you're doing $4,000/month in sales, that's $80/month in transaction fees alone. At that point, upgrading to Core literally pays for itself.
Core ($23/month billed annually): This is the plan most shop owners will probably want to start with. Zero transaction fees. You still pay standard processing fees through your payment processor, but that 2% surcharge is gone. You also get customer accounts, which is nice for repeat buyers.
Plus ($39/month billed annually): Everything in Core, plus lower fees and more video storage. The two things that actually move the needle here: the digital product fee drops from 5% to 1% (a meaningful difference if you're selling courses, downloads, or memberships at any real volume), and video storage jumps from 5 hours to 50 hours. Payment processing also drops slightly, to 2.7% + $0.30. If neither of those apply to your shop, Core is probably fine.
Advanced ($99/month billed annually): Lowest processing rates, advanced discounts, and commerce APIs. Most small shop owners won't need this out of the gate.
My take: if you're testing the waters or selling a handful of digital products, Basic could work to get started., but I wouldn’t recommend it. If you're building a shop with regular sales, Core is the move. That 2% fee on Basic will eat into your margins.
→ You can start your 14-day free trial here and build out your entire shop before committing to a plan. You won't be able to process orders until you're on a paid plan, but you can set up everything else.
Step 2: Choose a Template (or Start Blank)
Once you've started your trial, Squarespace will ask you to pick a template. For a shop, you want something that's already structured for ecommerce so you're not building from scratch.
A few solid Shop starting points:
Essex is built specifically for product-focused shops with a clean grid layout
Alameda works well for clothing and boutique-style stores
Altaloma is set up for handmade and maker shops
Mariana is a good general ecommerce template with strong visual product display
If none of those fit your vibe, check out my full roundup of the best free Squarespace ecommerce templates for more options.
And remember: every Squarespace template is a starting point. You can customize colors, fonts, layouts, and pages to match your brand. Pick the structure that's closest to what you want, then make it yours.
(Want something more distinctive than what Squarespace offers built-in? Third-party template shops like Big Cat Creative, Kseniia Design, and Studio Mesa have ecommerce-specific templates with more unique designs.)
Step 3: Connect Your Payment Processor
Choosing a plan does NOT automatically set up payments. You have to connect a payment processor separately, or nobody can actually buy anything from you.
Here's how:
From your Home panel, go to Commerce → Payments
Choose your processor
Your options:
Squarespace Payments (powered by Stripe): This is the most common setup. Handles credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, and Afterpay/Clearpay if you're eligible. You'll enter your business info, bank account details, and tax ID during setup.
PayPal: Lets customers pay with their PayPal balance or Venmo. You'll connect your PayPal business account. Having both Squarespace Payments AND PayPal active gives customers more options at checkout.
Square: US only, primarily for in-person sales if you're also selling at markets or pop-ups.
You can connect more than one; ie both Squarespace Payments and PayPal.
Heads up: Squarespace Payments requires identity verification, which can take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days. Don't wait until launch day to set this up.
Step 4: Add Your Products
Now the fun part.
Go to Commerce → Products & Services → click the + to add your first product.
Squarespace supports five product types:
Physical: Shipped goods (clothing, prints, candles, whatever you make)
Digital: Downloadable files (PDFs, presets, templates, music)
Service: Bookable services or consultations
Gift Cards: Store credit your customers can buy for others
Subscriptions: Recurring product shipments or access
For each product, you'll fill out:
Title and description: Be specific. "Handmade ceramic mug, 12oz, microwave-safe, dishwasher-safe" tells people what they need to know. Vague descriptions = more customer service emails.
Price: Set your retail price. If it's on sale, you can add a sale price too.
Images: This is where a LOT of people sabotage themselves. Upload clear, well-lit product photos. And please, optimize them before uploading. Resize the longest side to 1500 pixels or less and keep file sizes under 500KB. Blurry or slow-loading product images don't sell. (I wrote a whole guide on how to optimize images in Squarespace if you want the full breakdown.)
Variants: Different sizes, colors, materials. Add these as variants rather than creating separate product listings.
SKU and inventory: If you're tracking stock, enter your quantities here. Squarespace will automatically show "Sold Out" when inventory hits zero.
For digital products specifically: Upload your file directly to the product listing. When someone purchases, they'll get a download link automatically. Max file size is 300MB per file.
Step 5: Set Up Your Shop Page
Your products need somewhere to live.
Go to Pages → click + → choose Store Page. This creates a dedicated shop page that displays your products in a grid or list format.
From here you can:
Organize products into categories: If you sell multiple types of things (say, candles AND prints AND stickers), categories help customers browse without scrolling through everything
Adjust the product grid layout: Choose how many columns, the image ratio (square vs. landscape), and spacing
Set the sort order: Newest first, alphabetical, price, or custom drag-and-drop
You can also add product blocks to other pages on your site (like your homepage) so products show up in multiple places. A "Featured Products" section on your homepage is a solid way to drive people into the shop.
Step 6: Configure Shipping (Physical Products)
If you're selling physical products, this step is non-negotiable. Squarespace doesn't set up any shipping rules by default. If you skip this, customers trying to buy a physical product might see errors at checkout or get charged nothing for shipping when they should be paying something.
Go to Commerce → Shipping.
You have a few options:
Flat rate: Charge the same amount regardless of what's in the cart. Simple and predictable. (Example: $5 flat rate for domestic, $15 for international.)
Weight-based: Shipping cost changes based on the total weight of the order. You'll need to enter the weight for each product.
Carrier-calculated rates (Plus plan and above): Real-time rates from USPS, UPS, or FedEx based on package dimensions and destination. This is the most accurate option but requires a Plus or Advanced plan.
Free shipping: You can offer free shipping across the board, or set it as a threshold (like "Free shipping on orders over $75").
Set up at least one shipping rule for your primary selling region before you launch. You can always add more zones and rules later.
For digital products: No shipping setup needed. Squarespace handles delivery automatically via download links.
Step 7: Turn On Tax Settings
Another thing Squarespace has built in but doesn't turn on for you. Taxes.
Go to Commerce → Taxes.
If you're in the US, Squarespace has automatic tax calculation built in. Toggle it on, and it'll calculate sales tax based on the customer's location using current tax rates. It's surprisingly solid.
If you're outside the US (or selling internationally), you may want to set up manual tax rates for your specific regions, or consult with a tax professional about your obligations. (Not the most exciting sentence I've ever written, but taxes are one of those things that are way less painful to set up correctly from the start than to fix later.)
Squarespace also supports VAT for EU sellers and includes options for tax-inclusive pricing if that's how your region works.
Step 8: Customize Your Checkout Page
Before you hit publish, take a look at your checkout experience. Go to Commerce → Checkout.
Here you can:
Add your store policies (refund policy, shipping policy)
Customize the checkout form fields
Enable express checkout (Apple Pay, etc.)
Add a custom "thank you" / order confirmation message
Small thing that makes a difference: write a thank-you message. Something like "Thanks so much for your order! You'll get a shipping confirmation email within 2 business days." It feels more personal than the generic default and sets expectations.
Step 9: Test Before You Launch
Squarespace doesn't have a built-in "test order" mode the way Shopify does, but you can still preview your entire checkout flow. Click through your shop as if you were a customer. Check that:
Products display correctly with the right images, descriptions, and prices
Variants (sizes, colors) work properly
The cart updates correctly
Shipping options appear at checkout (for physical products)
Tax is calculating
Your payment processor is connected and verified
If anything looks off, fix it now. Way easier than troubleshooting after you've announced your launch to the world.
5 Things People Forget
I've set up enough Squarespace shops to know there's a pattern. These are the things that get skipped and then cause headaches:
1. Connecting to Google Search Console. Your shop exists but Google doesn't know about it. This means nobody's finding you through search. I wrote a full walkthrough on how to connect your Squarespace site to Google Search Console; it takes about 5 minutes.
2. Optimizing product images. Uploading photos straight from your phone or camera. Files are 4MB each. Your shop page takes 12 seconds to load. Customers leave. Optimize your images before uploading. Every time.
3. Setting up shipping rules. Mentioned it above but it's worth repeating: Squarespace ships with zero shipping rules configured. If you're selling physical products and skip this, checkout will be broken or confusing.
4. Turning on tax calculation. It's built in. It works well. But it's off by default. Go turn it on.
5. Adding legal pages. Your shop needs a privacy policy (legally required), terms of service, and a return/refund policy. For privacy policies specifically, Termageddon is what I use because it updates automatically when privacy laws change. You can also check out my post on adding legal pages to your website for more detail.
So You've Got a Shop. Now What?
Once everything's connected, configured, and tested, publish your site and start sending people to it. Share it on social, add the link to your link in bio, email your list, tell your mom.
The setup is the foundation. Getting people there is the next chapter. But the good news is: you've built it on a solid platform that'll grow with you.
Start your free Squarespace trial here and start building your shop today.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I set up a shop on Squarespace?
Start a Squarespace trial, choose a template with ecommerce structure, connect a payment processor (Squarespace Payments or PayPal), add your products with optimized images and descriptions, configure shipping and tax settings, and publish. All four 2026 Squarespace plans support ecommerce, though Core ($23/month) is the most practical starting point for most sellers since it eliminates the 2% transaction fee on the Basic plan.
How much does it cost to have a shop on Squarespace?
Squarespace ecommerce plans start at $16/month (Basic, billed annually) and go up to $99/month (Advanced). Basic charges a 2% transaction fee per sale on top of payment processing fees (2.9% + $0.30). Core at $23/month removes that 2% fee, which saves most shop owners money once they're doing more than a few hundred dollars in monthly sales. Plus ($39/month) lowers the digital product fee from 5% to 1% and bumps video storage from 5 hours to 50 hours; worth it if you're selling downloads or courses, less relevant if you're not.
Does Squarespace take a percentage of sales?
On the Basic plan, Squarespace charges a 2% transaction fee on every sale. On Core, Plus, and Advanced plans, that transaction fee is 0%. All plans still have standard payment processing fees through your processor (starting at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction on Squarespace Payments), which is industry-standard and comparable to Stripe or PayPal rates elsewhere.
What Squarespace plan do I need to sell products?
All four current Squarespace plans (Basic, Core, Plus, Advanced) support ecommerce. The main difference is the 2% transaction fee on Basic that doesn't exist on Core and above. If you're selling occasionally or testing the waters, Basic works. If you're running a shop with regular orders, Core is the plan most people will probably want since it eliminates that extra fee and includes customer accounts.
What Squarespace plan do I need for abandoned cart recovery?
Good news: Abandoned cart recovery is included on all four current Squarespace plans: Basic, Core, Plus, and Advanced. You don't need to upgrade to Plus or any higher tier to access it. Once you're on any paid plan, you can enable it in Commerce → Customer Notifications and Squarespace will automatically send a recovery email 24 hours after a cart is abandoned. A lot of older articles (and even some current ones) still say it's a Commerce or Plus-only feature. That was true under the old Personal/Business/Commerce plan structure, but it's not how the current plans work.
Is Squarespace good for selling products?
Squarespace handles product-based shops well for small to mid-size sellers. It supports physical products, digital downloads, services, gift cards, and subscriptions. Built-in features include inventory tracking, automatic tax calculation, abandoned cart recovery, and integrations with Squarespace Payments, PayPal, and Square. For high-volume sellers who need advanced inventory management or marketplace integrations, Shopify might be a better fit, but for most small business owners and makers, Squarespace is a solid choice.
Can I build my Squarespace shop before paying for a plan?
Yes. The 14-day free trial lets you build out your entire shop; add products, design pages, configure settings, and preview everything. You won't be able to accept payments or process live orders until you upgrade to a paid plan, but you can get everything set up and ready to launch before you commit.
