It’s not always easy with a side project like this. I launched SMaker3D publicly at Christmas 2021 and, at the time, opted for one of the best shop systems, which comes from Germany. I’d still say it’s the best shop system, but two minor issues have unfortunately made me change my mind.
Firstly, I signed up for their cloud service because small shops are free. Nevertheless, I pointlessly chose the €29 version to pay the provider a fair price. As early as April, an announcement was made that, from January 2023, prices would start at €199, which would be too expensive for this hobby shop.
But the real reason was something else. To avoid as much hassle as possible, I only used two plugins and developed the rest myself. For dispatch, there was an integrated interface with a provider, and for bookkeeping, a free plugin for my accounting software. Unfortunately, however, both extensions stopped working on several occasions, leaving me to create my parcel labels manually after all; and after a lot of hassle, I ended up programming the transfer of my invoices myself.
So if I’m then expected to pay €199 plus performance fees for an utterly unreliable solution in a German cloud, that’s where my enthusiasm ends, and I’ve opted for the second major provider. I’ve set everything up from scratch and got it online virtually overnight. Please bear with me if there are any teething problems, but given the size of my business, I can’t afford to spend weeks on a professional migration. I’ve also incorporated the lessons learnt from my first six months into building up my portfolio.
Oh, and… some fields will only be filled in gradually, and most of the product photos will be taken from scratch.