Taking custom orders online

4wm · July 30, 2026, 1:46pm

Hello. I’m looking for ideas how to take custom orders. I make electric guitar items. Not the metal parts yet wood parts mainly bodies and some electronics (not on CNC for that). DIY’ers buy these finish them and assemble with all the metal hardware and electronics. I have a website gallery and I list items mainly on eBay.

I get request for custom orders, but I don’t have a good way to mange them. I have to go back and forth in email and take payment through Venmo or similar. Its just a pain and probably a lot of people lose interest and don’t follow through because of that. I was looking at something like Shopify which (to me) isn’t cheap even at base level. I have one supplier who uses it for custom orders like a product with a base price that can be customized with 10 different options with upcharges. That’s how I’d approach it. Also having a form would stop people sending me bizarre request I’m never gonna do like an airbrushed paint job.

How are people who do custom woodwork handling orders online? Any thoughts or suggestion would be great.

Someone will probably say Etsy but for I don’t know what reason they won’t approve my registration without providing bank login info which I’m never giving them.

thank you all…

CrookedWoodTex · July 30, 2026, 3:44pm

I reduced my web presence last year to Shopify “Starter”. I think I got to it by using their trial setup. Anyway, it is difficult to find it on their site (shopify.com), maybe because they don’t want you to go that way.

Its $5 per month. I get a gallery of my products with a click to each item and buy it. There are a lot of ways to customize a product, but be careful what you wish for! No, it doesn’t have all the web features that their more expensive sites have, but that’s what I wanted; simple.

Anyway, I’m satisfied with how simple it is. Provides me a web presence without breaking the bank.

fostinoguitars · July 30, 2026, 4:43pm

Whats your sites url?

SDGuy · July 31, 2026, 12:36am

I use Etsy. You can set up a single product with multiple variations.

I make Steal Your Face Flags and sell them there.
We offer:
12 x 23
16 x 30.5
19 x 37
24 x 46.5

You can even set up multiple customizations for each size. IE. Glossy, Matte, Satin. Finish.

You can also add a custom text box if they want to add customization. IE: Grateful Dead 1974 Boston, MA (if they went to that concert).

They do charge a listing fee .20 and a transaction fee for everything you sell.