1️⃣Stripe
Stripe Payment Links let me take money the same day with no site rebuild. The hosted checkout converted like crazy and cut failure rates. Multi-currency and wallets opened up buyers I could not reach before.
Address: Dublin, Ireland
- setup in minutes
- high conversion hosted checkout
- global cards wallets and Apple Pay
- smart retries and fraud protection
- instant payouts in supported regions
- clean APIs if you want to build more
- business verification can slow first payout
- fees add up at very high volume
- some advanced settings require developer help
2️⃣Shopify
I launched a storefront in a weekend and started taking orders fast. Shop Pay pushed checkout speed and trust. Upsell and bundle apps raised average order value with almost no code.
Address: Ottawa, Canada
- fast to launch even for non coders
- high converting themes and checkout
- Shop Pay increases trust and repeat buys
- huge app ecosystem to extend revenue
- solid analytics and abandoned cart recovery
- scales from one product to full catalogue
- monthly app fees can stack up
- deep design freedom needs Liquid knowledge
- app conflicts sometimes need debugging
3️⃣Meta Ads Manager
Paid social was my volume engine when creatives hit. Lookalike audiences and broad targeting found buyers quickly, then retargeting closed the loop. Performance can swing with policy reviews and seasonality.
- powerful audience tools
- fast scale when creatives resonate
- robust retargeting and attribution windows
- excellent creative testing workflows
- results are volatile week to week
- account flags and policy reviews can pause spend
- auction costs spike in peak seasons
- needs frequent creative refresh to maintain ROAS
4️⃣Klaviyo
Email and SMS flows printed profit after the click. Segmentation let me send the right offer at the right time. It takes discipline to warm domains and keep lists clean.
Address: Boston, United States
- automation for welcome cart and winback flows
- deep segmentation and personalization
- tight Shopify and Stripe data sync
- A/B testing to lock in winners
- pricing grows with list size
- deliverability needs warming and list hygiene
- you must write strong copy and build flows to see returns
5️⃣Gumroad
Selling digital products was painless and fast. No storefront overhead, and taxes for EU buyers were handled for me. Discovery inside the marketplace is limited and payouts follow a schedule.
- setup is simple
- no monthly platform fee
- handles EU VAT automatically
- coupons bundles and license keys built in
- platform fees reduce margin at scale
- limited storefront customization
- no instant payouts
- marketplace discovery is competitive