SoloWOS for online sellers: what helps when you already have a store

If a buyer needs to pick three items and check out, use a store or a marketplace; SoloWOS doesn't do that. It fits the orders that happen in messages: the custom pet portrait agreed in DMs, the coffee shop that wants 120 mugs with its logo, the boutique that wants your candles on consignment, and the month-end question of what you actually kept after fees and supplies.

A custom order, from the DM to the payment

1. Your Link in Bio page links your Etsy or Shopify store, a custom order form and an email signup for your next drop.
2. The buyer fills out the custom order form: item, size, colors, the date they need it and the ship-to state. If they pick "Wholesale (50+ pieces)", it asks for the business name and resale certificate status.
3. For a one-off piece, you send an invoice with the item and shipping as lines, and sales tax if you owe it for that state. They pay by card from the link, and it marks itself Paid.
4. For wholesale, you send a proposal with price breaks by quantity, a 21-day production time and a 50% deposit (example terms). The shop accepts online and you create the deposit invoice from it.
5. A card on your orders board moves from Paid to In production to Shipped, with the tracking number in the note.
6. A week after payment, an automation asks for a review or a photo of the piece in use.

A typical week

• Monday: three custom orders came in by DM over the weekend. Three invoices go out with pay links, and two are paid by noon.
• Tuesday: a coffee shop asks for 120 logo mugs. You send the wholesale proposal with the deposit and see they opened it three times.
• Wednesday: the shop accepts and pays the deposit by card. The order goes on the board with its ship date.
• Thursday: your Instagram story link had 340 clicks and your newsletter link 90, so the next drop gets announced in stories first.
• Sunday: you log clay, glaze, boxes, postage and Etsy fees in Expenses and see the month's profit.

All 13 tools, one by one

How someone who sells products online uses each tool:

• Link in Bio: Your page with links to your Etsy shop or Shopify store, your custom order form and a block that collects emails for drop announcements. It has no cart or checkout of its own.
• Short Links: A short link with UTM tags for each story, post and the thank-you card in the package, so you see which channel brings clicks. The printed QR keeps working if you move stores.
• Forms: The custom order or wholesale inquiry, with questions that change by product. No file uploads, so the customer's logo or reference photo comes by email.
• Scheduling: Barely used if you only ship. Helpful for a call with a wholesale buyer, or local pickup windows at your studio on Saturdays from 10 to 2.
• Proposals: Wholesale and corporate gift quotes with price breaks by quantity, a 15-day validity and a deposit, accepted online with the buyer's name.
• E-Signatures: A consignment agreement with a boutique (split, payout dates, who covers damage) or a production agreement with a maker who helps you, with a certificate and audit trail.
• Document Tracking: Your wholesale line sheet as a tracked PDF with an expiration date at the end of the season: see which shops opened it and which pages they stayed on.
• Screen Recording: Little use for selling. Helpful for showing a new stockist, on your line sheet on screen, how to place their first wholesale order.
• Notes & Boards: An orders board with columns for Unpaid, Paid, In production and Shipped, and a page with suppliers, material costs and your cost per product.
• Time Tracking: Times how long a custom piece really takes (design, making, packing) before you set its price.
• Invoicing: The pay link for an order agreed by message, with shipping and sales tax as you set them. Solo includes 50 invoices a month; hundreds of orders belong in your store.
• Expenses: Materials, packaging, postage, marketplace fees and Stripe fees, each with its receipt, so the month's report shows profit after costs.
• Automations: One moves the contact to Won and adds a card to your orders board when an invoice is paid; another asks for a review a week later.

1099-K, sales tax and shipping promises

• Form 1099-K: after the 2025 tax law change, the IRS says payment apps and marketplaces have to file a 1099-K when your payments for goods and services pass $20,000 and 200 transactions in a year. They can still send one below that, your state may have a lower threshold, and you report all your income either way.
• Sales tax: rules are set by each state. Etsy says it calculates, collects and remits sales tax on orders shipped to most US states; for direct sales from an invoice, it's on you to know where you owe it and add it. Check your state's revenue department.
• Shipping: the FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule says that if you don't state a shipping time, you need a reasonable basis to ship within 30 days. If you can't ship when promised, you must offer the buyer a choice to agree to the delay or cancel for a prompt refund.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by state; check yours with a lawyer or your licensing board.

SoloWOS or Shopify: which fits

Choose Shopify or Etsy if:

• Buyers pick products and check out on their own. That's a store or a marketplace, and SoloWOS has neither.
• You need inventory, variants, shipping labels or marketplace traffic.

Choose SoloWOS (next to your store) if:

• A good share of your sales are custom or wholesale orders agreed by message, and you want a quote, a deposit and a pay link without making a one-off listing.
• You sign consignment or production agreements and want a record of who signed and when.

Prices and features checked on October 23, 2026 on each company's site.

Start with these three

Invoicing for the next custom order, Proposals with your wholesale price breaks saved as a template, and Link in Bio pointing at your store and your custom order form. Expenses comes next, so the month's profit is real.

Free tools that help

• Payment fee calculator to see what a card payment costs you.
• Profit margin calculator for a product after materials and fees.
• Break-even calculator for how many pieces cover a craft fair booth.
• UTM builder for the links in your posts and newsletter.
• Free invoice generator for a single custom order.

What SoloWOS won't do for an online seller

• No store, cart, product catalog, variants or inventory counts.
• No shipping labels, rates or tracking. Paste the tracking number into the order's note yourself.
• No marketplace or Shopify integration; orders from your store stay in your store.
• No automatic sales tax by address. You set the rate on each invoice.
• SoloWOS doesn't file taxes, issue 1099s or collect sales tax for you. Invoicing sends the invoice with a pay link (card through your Stripe account) and your other payment details; your accountant or tax software handles the rest.