You can make an online store with Google Sites by embedding a 3rd party storefront into your Google Site because this website builder allows you to embed HTML. Google Sites is a free website builder designed for personal use and not intended for e-commerce, but if you want to add an online store, it is possible.
First off, there is no natively supported shopping cart for Google Sites. You must create an account with a 3rd party option that allows you to embed their storefront, then use the “embed HTML” code snippet within Google Sites to have it appear on your website.
Thus, adding a storefront for physical and digital products is technically possible. The only thing you need to get started is an e-commerce platform that provides you a storefront and the ability to embed that storefront, then a dedicated page on your Google Site where the embedded store will appear.
My recommended shopping cart platforms for Google Sites
I’ll cover my top choices for any Google Site owner looking to do this. To add e-commerce functionality to your Google Site, you need a shopping cart and storefront to add your products. You have a few different options.
Here are my top choices:
- Ecwid
- Gumroad
- Payhip
- Stripe
Ecwid – A very generous free forever plan
Ecwid is my top choice for anyone with a Google Site looking to add on a store. With their free plan, you can have a storefront that you can embed into your Google Site. With that storefront, you get five products, tax invoices, and a website.
The “free” website, however, must be a subdomain of Ecwid.com, which makes using Google Sites all the better, as you can set a custom domain for Google Sites for free and set a page to be your storefront. This way, you can have a branded website with a simple online store.
Once your Ecwid account is set correctly (products added, taxes, shipping, payment processors selected, and so forth), you can then embed your Ecwid store into a page on your Google Site because the free plan does allow you to embed your store front into your own branded Google Site.
What’s the catch?
When you start to make a lot of sales or need to showcase more than five products, you can always upgrade to a paid plan within Ecwid. However, once you upgrade to a paid plan with Ecwid, you now have access to a proper online store, and it makes more sense to use Ecwid as you can build out a complete website that’s more feature-rich, customizable and includes a homepage, blog, and store.
The free plan is perfect for Google Sites, but beyond that, once you’re ready to upgrade, it’s better to move your marketing efforts 100% over to Ecwid from Google Sites. But if you only want to sell five or fewer products, then the free plan is fantastic.
Printful and print-on-demand
Another valuable aspect of Ecwid is that it integrates with many print-on-demand services as well, one of my favorites being Printful. So, if you want to do something simple like sell t-shirts, mugs, or backpacks, look at Printful.
You’ll have to set up a free Printful account and then follow a few steps to integrate with Ecwid, as there is no way to embed Printful into your Google Site. But the fact that you can add Printful to Ecwid makes POD with Google Sites possible.
Dropshipping Apps with Ecwid
Finally, if you’re not looking to sell your products but would rather dropship, you can do so with Ecwid, as numerous dropshipping apps are available. Again, you’re only limited to 5 products on the free plan, but this is an excellent way to understand how this business model works.
With dropshipping apps, the way it works is that you have to create an account with these apps and connect them to your Ecwid account, so their products are available in your storefront, which is then embedded into your Google Site.
Pros
- Totally free forever plan.
- Can embed your Ecwid free storefront into a dedicated page on your Google Site.
- The checkout process is all done within the embedded cart, so no need to worry about driving traffic off your website.
Cons
- Once you upgrade to a paid Ecwid plan, it makes no sense to continue using Google Sites.
- 5 product limit.
Gumroad – Sell a variety of products
Gumroad is a unique selling platform that allows you to sell a wide variety of products and services. They take care of hosting the products, providing the required pages (sales page, checkout page and so forth), running your own affiliate program and they also allow you to embed Gumroad products on your website.
From a membership similar to Patreon, paid email newsletter, podcast, ebooks or an online course. Gumroad can handle it. You can even sell physical goods as well. There really is no product vertical limit with Gumroad.
Best of all? Gumroad is free to use, there are no payment plans or limitations on the free plan as well.
So what’s the catch?
They take a 10% commission on everything you sell. This is quite a hefty fee, particularly if you start having success. But if you’re on Google Sites and you want a free, easy and stylish way to sell products then Gumroad is your best option.
Gumroad product pages can easily be embedded into any page on your Google Site using the HTML code snippet and the checkout process is all done within that embed as well so you don’t have to worry about driving people off your website and you can provide a consistent user experience.
To get started all you need to do is setup your Gumroad account, add and publish your products and then navigate to the widgets section of your Gumroad account.
From here just select “embed” and then copy and paste the script into your Google Site using the embed feature. Finally, simply adjust the embedded product within Google Sites to make it appear correctly and to your liking.
The checkout process is done all through the Gumroad embed so no need to worry about a poor user experience.
Pros:
- This platform supports a wide array of products.
- Run your own membership website or email newsletter with Google Sites.
- The embed feature is easy to use and customize with Google Sites.
Cons:
- The 10% transaction fee is quite high.
Payhip – Best for coaching and digital downloads
Payhip is a direct competitor to Gumroad and under cuts them on their transaction cost. Instead of 10%, their “free forever” plan charges you just a 5% transaction fee which I find quite fair and reasonable for a free plan.
Payhip does not support as wide of a range of products as Gumroad, but where they do shine is that you can offer coaching through Payhip as well as digital downloads like ebooks and online courses. If you’re a Google Site user and you want to offer coaching, then checkout Payhip.
If you are thinking about selling an ebook, then Payhip is clearly the better option than Gumroad as their transaction fee is lower and they provide a similar service as to where you can embed either the product or “buy” button on your Google Site.
Lightbox checkout
Last, one thing I like about Payhip is their lightbox checkout process. When you embed a product on your Google Site and a user goes to buy said product, a lightbox pops up asking them to enter their email and payment to purchase the product.
Normally I don’t like lightbox checkout processes, but since you’re embeding a product on Payhip I much prefer it over driving traffic off your website to an unbranded checkout page.
Pros:
- Free forever plan.
- Can embed products and services into your website.
- Offer coaching on your Google Site through Payhip.
Cons:
- Payhip only supports digital downloads, coaching offers and courses.
Stripe – Lowest fee option
Stripe offers a variety of tools to help businesses sell products and services, including Payment Links. With this feature, you can easily create a custom payment link that can be shared with your customers through various channels such as email, social media, or messaging apps.
Payment Links allow you to customize the product or service being sold, set the price and currency, start a subscription or collect a donation. On top of that, you can match the look and feel of your brand by adjusting the colors and adding your websites logo.
Stripe fees
Stripe has the lowest fees on my list at 2.9% transaction free + .30 cents per sale. There are also a range of other fees Stripe charges depending on your needs (read more here). But at the base, the 2.9% + .30 cent fee is what you can expect.
What’s the catch?
Stripe is a payment processor. As such, you can’t host your content with them. For that you’ll need a 3rd party solution. If you’re wanting to sell an ebook you could always provide a link to a protected Google Drive link and give access to it in the payment receipt that Stripe provides your customer.
You could also password protect your Google Site and share the login details with anyone who buys. But again, it’s not seamless user experience which is why Stripe is at the bottom of the list.
I do strongly suggest Ecwid, Gumroad or Payhip instead, but you should be aware of Stripe as a potential option.
Pros:
- Customize the checkout page to match your websites branding.
- Low transaction fees for a free option.
- Set the currency and price easily.
- Shareable link for websites and social media.
Cons:
- You need a way to provide product fulfillment.
Can you add a store to Google Sites? Conclusion
Yes, you can easily add a store to your Google Site using a 3rd party storefront and shopping cart service provider.
Ecwid is best if you want a simple, elegant looking store front with a few different physical products or if you want to do print on demand.
Gumroad is best if you’re looking to sell individual products, a membership website or want to offer a paid newsletter.
Payhip is the best for digital downloads and offering a coaching offer to your audience.
